Australia in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: Times of Debate and Change

Abstract

This subject will develop students' understanding of Australian history during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Through a selection of key historical periods, events and individuals, students will analyse, discuss and form conclusions on how elements of Australian society instigated, influenced and enacted change in politics, social attitudes and behaviour. Students will investigate and interpret history where selected moments and causes evoked different voices towards activism and change including Indigenous Australians, gender groups, the family, workers, youth and the counter-generations, and immigrants. Students will learn how contemporary historians and revisionist history accounts have interpreted key moments and individuals; how the contexts and events of former times are viewed and interpreted today; and in what ways such views may alter, and why, into the future.

Syllabus

The role of the historian, revisionist history and political power.Ideological foundations of British Australia, experiences of violence, and legalised processes of dispossession and exclusion.Elastic notions of egalitarianism: convicts, social mobility and community life until the 1850s.Colonial contexts of crime and criminality.On the road to Federation: creating an Australian culture.The ANZAC … For more content click the Read More button below.

The role of the historian, revisionist history and political power.
Ideological foundations of British Australia, experiences of violence, and legalised processes of dispossession and exclusion.
Elastic notions of egalitarianism: convicts, social mobility and community life until the 1850s.
Colonial contexts of crime and criminality.
On the road to Federation: creating an Australian culture.
The ANZAC legend, soldier settlement, rural decline and economic hardship in the interwar period.
Robert Menzies' new Liberalism and post-war Australian society.
Post-war pop culture in Australia.
Interpretations of 20th century activism, civil rights, and the role of the media.
The Bicentenary of 1988, political power and identifying revisionism.
Change and challenge for the 21st century: inter-generational conflict, same-sex marriage, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender movements and re-imagining 'reconciliation'.

Assessment items

1. 'My History Journal' - Part 1

2. Research Essay

3. 'My History Journal' - Part 2

Learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of this subject, students should:

be able to analyse where particular moments and individuals in Australian nineteenth and twentieth century Australian history caused debate and changed attitudes and action;

be able to analyse how Indigenous Australians and other minority groups were denied a voice and/or had a distorted representation in Australian history through power, the media and popular perceptions;

be able to evaluate attitudes and debates in historical source material together with those of contemporary historians and revisionist history accounts;

be able to assess how relevant historical themes and interpretations may be represented in community story-telling, cultural sites and collections;

be able to make informed arguments on how historical interpretations may change in the future; and

be able to communicate in oral and/or written form complex ideas in relation to history using research, critical thinking and theoretical application.

Enrolment restrictions

Not available to students who have completed HST204 as it shares similar content.

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