HISTORICAL EXPERTS AND INDIGENOUS LITIGANTS: the role of Historical Expert Evidence in Federal Court Cases. Since Mabo, historians are increasingly being called as expert witnesses in cases involving indigenous litigants. Historians perceive serious difficulties in the Court's treatment of qualitative, historical material, resulting in a possible denial of access to justice. The project investigates this treatment, pursuing issues such as expert evidence generally, the specific relationship betw ....HISTORICAL EXPERTS AND INDIGENOUS LITIGANTS: the role of Historical Expert Evidence in Federal Court Cases. Since Mabo, historians are increasingly being called as expert witnesses in cases involving indigenous litigants. Historians perceive serious difficulties in the Court's treatment of qualitative, historical material, resulting in a possible denial of access to justice. The project investigates this treatment, pursuing issues such as expert evidence generally, the specific relationship between Law and History, and the particularity of cases involving indigenous claims. The investigation asks whether historians as expert witnesses can retain both their historical professionalism and adapt to the requirements of the courts, or whether the courts? rules of evidence themselves require adaptation.
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Learning to Drink:a socio-cultural history of the introduction of alcohol to Indigenous Australians and a critique of existing explanations. The wide distribution of alcohol-related problems among Indigenous people is undoubtedly related to the ongoing legacy of Australia's colonisation. This study examines forces and factors that have shaped distinctive present-day Indigenous alcohol-related behavioural patterns, by analysing the history of interactions between Aborigines and colonisers around ....Learning to Drink:a socio-cultural history of the introduction of alcohol to Indigenous Australians and a critique of existing explanations. The wide distribution of alcohol-related problems among Indigenous people is undoubtedly related to the ongoing legacy of Australia's colonisation. This study examines forces and factors that have shaped distinctive present-day Indigenous alcohol-related behavioural patterns, by analysing the history of interactions between Aborigines and colonisers around alcoholic beverages. In this endeavour, the historical and cultural continuities in the style of drinking are the focus, rather than the number of consumers. Current understandings of problem drinking, emphasising distress and biology, impede progress and will be challenged. In contrast, a social learning model is conducive to optimism about implementing new treatment approaches.Read moreRead less
The NSW Aborigines Protection/Welfare Board 1883-1969: A History. Between 1883 and 1967 the lives of Aboriginal people in New South Wales (NSW) were in the hands of the NSW Aborigines Protection/Welfare Board. The impact of the Board's systematic control over Aboriginal communities through policies of segregation, assimilation, child removal and wage withholding would endure for decades, and the negative results of those government directives are still being seen today. To date, however, no subs ....The NSW Aborigines Protection/Welfare Board 1883-1969: A History. Between 1883 and 1967 the lives of Aboriginal people in New South Wales (NSW) were in the hands of the NSW Aborigines Protection/Welfare Board. The impact of the Board's systematic control over Aboriginal communities through policies of segregation, assimilation, child removal and wage withholding would endure for decades, and the negative results of those government directives are still being seen today. To date, however, no substantive history of the NSW Aborigines Protection/Welfare Board exists. This project aims to provide such a history, based on extensive archival and oral history research. Holding critical importance to NSW Aboriginal communities, the project expects to encourage the development of Indigenous historians in the process.Read moreRead less
Letters between Vance and Nettie Palmer, 1909-1959: The Complete Correspondence. Nettie and Vance Palmer were two highly influential national figures, of considerable significance in literary and cultural circles especially in the inter-war period. This project, the preparation of Collected Letters, will considerably extend knowledge of their public contribution to cultural production in Australia and also of their private lives. It will provide a vital reference tool for historians, literary ....Letters between Vance and Nettie Palmer, 1909-1959: The Complete Correspondence. Nettie and Vance Palmer were two highly influential national figures, of considerable significance in literary and cultural circles especially in the inter-war period. This project, the preparation of Collected Letters, will considerably extend knowledge of their public contribution to cultural production in Australia and also of their private lives. It will provide a vital reference tool for historians, literary critics, biographers and scholars as well as be entertaining and compelling for the general reader. As a highly innovative example of the genre of the edited letter, in retrieving these writings of two gifted individuals, Australia's cultural heritage will be enriched.Read moreRead less
Cities of Words: Women's cultures of reading and writing in colonial Melbourne and beyond. This project will promote community awareness of the honour bestowed upon Melbourne and Australia by the United Nations, by uncovering the foundations of Melbourne's literary cultures and situating them nationally and internationally. By showing that Melbourne has ever been a city of words it will provide impetus for present and future literary activity, and enhance the understanding of the cultural life o ....Cities of Words: Women's cultures of reading and writing in colonial Melbourne and beyond. This project will promote community awareness of the honour bestowed upon Melbourne and Australia by the United Nations, by uncovering the foundations of Melbourne's literary cultures and situating them nationally and internationally. By showing that Melbourne has ever been a city of words it will provide impetus for present and future literary activity, and enhance the understanding of the cultural life of the city and the country. It takes part in an international conversation about the transcultural importance of books, reading and writing, staking a claim for Melbourne, and Australia, in the global exchange of ideas.Read moreRead less
The Reading Culture of Interwar Australia. This project - an historical study of reading in Australia between the Wars (1920-1940) - will provide a basis for revaluing reading, and reasserting its role in English teaching and in the broader Australian community as a creative, educative and pleasurable activity in its own right. It also contributes to the ongoing process of recovering the international dimension present (but often overlooked) in much of Australia's early history. Finally, it will ....The Reading Culture of Interwar Australia. This project - an historical study of reading in Australia between the Wars (1920-1940) - will provide a basis for revaluing reading, and reasserting its role in English teaching and in the broader Australian community as a creative, educative and pleasurable activity in its own right. It also contributes to the ongoing process of recovering the international dimension present (but often overlooked) in much of Australia's early history. Finally, it will generate a wealth of reading-experience data for use in establishing an Australian Reading Experience Database, a major new resource - only the second of its kind in the world - for national and international research on the history of reading in Australia.Read moreRead less
Veteran suicide: investigating the historical and social dimensions . This project aims to address veteran suicide by conducting an historical and cultural analysis of the ways government, the military and the community have understood, governed, and serviced veterans from 1914-present. This project will generate new knowledge, moving beyond orthodox medical and cultural assessments to explore wider historical, cultural and sociological relations of veteran suicide, including civil military rela ....Veteran suicide: investigating the historical and social dimensions . This project aims to address veteran suicide by conducting an historical and cultural analysis of the ways government, the military and the community have understood, governed, and serviced veterans from 1914-present. This project will generate new knowledge, moving beyond orthodox medical and cultural assessments to explore wider historical, cultural and sociological relations of veteran suicide, including civil military relations, and the influence of the veteran sector and families and community. The project will develop an innovative survey that will form the foundation of a longitudinal social health and wellbeing dataset on veterans, and contribute to policy and service provision to reduce veteran suicide and improve their wellbeing.Read moreRead less
A biography of Roma Flinders Mitchell 1913-2000. Dame Roma Mitchell is best known for her outstanding succession of public achievements. A biography of a prominent and widely-admired figure is no innovation. But a biography of such a figure who is also a woman, necessarily moves onto new ground. It brings questions of gender, gender-difference, and the relation of both to public life and power to the fore of its analysis. This project will compose a biography which is also a social history, and ....A biography of Roma Flinders Mitchell 1913-2000. Dame Roma Mitchell is best known for her outstanding succession of public achievements. A biography of a prominent and widely-admired figure is no innovation. But a biography of such a figure who is also a woman, necessarily moves onto new ground. It brings questions of gender, gender-difference, and the relation of both to public life and power to the fore of its analysis. This project will compose a biography which is also a social history, and a social history which is distinctive because it is focussed on the life of a woman.Read moreRead less
The Making of the Australian Middlebrow: Nationalism, Modernity and Middlebrow Culture in Australia. This project aims to investigate the history of middlebrow cultural values and institutions in 20th-century Australia. It will be the first such study, and will build on recent major international work on the middlebrow. Reading Australian cultural history through the concept of the middlebrow will revise familar assumptions about literature, nationalism and modernity in Australia. The study will ....The Making of the Australian Middlebrow: Nationalism, Modernity and Middlebrow Culture in Australia. This project aims to investigate the history of middlebrow cultural values and institutions in 20th-century Australia. It will be the first such study, and will build on recent major international work on the middlebrow. Reading Australian cultural history through the concept of the middlebrow will revise familar assumptions about literature, nationalism and modernity in Australia. The study will examine the rich archive of Australian magazines, newspaper review pages, writer and reader associations and publishing records. It will engage theoretically with contemporary theories of popular culture and modernity. The outcome will be a monograph on middlebrow culture in Australia.Read moreRead less
Face to Face with Asia: Australia, the Colombo Plan and the Asian Engagement Debate, 1950-1975. This project will be the first comprehensive study of Australia's involvement in the Colombo Plan for aid to South and Southeast Asia. It will examine this involvement as a central part of Australia's engagement with Asia in the postwar period. It will do so under three main headings: Australian foreign policy; cultural diplomacy; and the internationalisation of higher education. The project will be i ....Face to Face with Asia: Australia, the Colombo Plan and the Asian Engagement Debate, 1950-1975. This project will be the first comprehensive study of Australia's involvement in the Colombo Plan for aid to South and Southeast Asia. It will examine this involvement as a central part of Australia's engagement with Asia in the postwar period. It will do so under three main headings: Australian foreign policy; cultural diplomacy; and the internationalisation of higher education. The project will be innovative in bridging the gap between histories of Australian foreign policy and cultural histories of Australian-Asian relations. It will provide an excellent foundation for on-going research into the consequent reconfiguring of our identity as an Asia-Pacific nation.Read moreRead less