Voices From the West End: The Fremantle Living Histories Project. 'Voices From the West End' is a pioneering collaborative research project that focuses on the multifaceted history of the West End Conservation Area, Fremantle's central heritage district. The aim of the project is to assemble and interweave the multiple and varied voices of the people of the port city, past and present, so as to produce an historical mosaic reflecting its evolution from the time of settlement until the present da ....Voices From the West End: The Fremantle Living Histories Project. 'Voices From the West End' is a pioneering collaborative research project that focuses on the multifaceted history of the West End Conservation Area, Fremantle's central heritage district. The aim of the project is to assemble and interweave the multiple and varied voices of the people of the port city, past and present, so as to produce an historical mosaic reflecting its evolution from the time of settlement until the present day. This highly original project will produce histories in two formats: in publications designed to reach a wide scholarly audience; and in a digital interactive documentary form.Read moreRead less
A History of Manners: Savagery and Civility in Colonial Australia. The lessons of the past are vital to Australia's future. In the twenty-first century, Australia faces the urgent need to communicate across cultural barriers, and to acknowledge and respect divergent codes of conduct and manners. The history of manners in nineteenth-century Australia helps us to come to terms with our contested past by illuminating the complexities of a colonising culture, and the difficulties of adapting codes o ....A History of Manners: Savagery and Civility in Colonial Australia. The lessons of the past are vital to Australia's future. In the twenty-first century, Australia faces the urgent need to communicate across cultural barriers, and to acknowledge and respect divergent codes of conduct and manners. The history of manners in nineteenth-century Australia helps us to come to terms with our contested past by illuminating the complexities of a colonising culture, and the difficulties of adapting codes of conduct to the needs of a young, disparate and ever-changing society. Exploring the limitations of Australian elitism and egalitarianism, it opens the way for diverse and inclusive understandings of identity and national character. Read moreRead less
Imagining Assimilation. The Australian Experience. The project will produce the first comprehensive cultural history of assimilation in Australia, with explanations of how this experience differed from other settler societies. This study is central to our understanding of Australia as a nation and to national development. Drawing on the concept of the 'social imaginary', the project will generate new readings of assimilation linked to broader issues in public debate. Sources will include officia ....Imagining Assimilation. The Australian Experience. The project will produce the first comprehensive cultural history of assimilation in Australia, with explanations of how this experience differed from other settler societies. This study is central to our understanding of Australia as a nation and to national development. Drawing on the concept of the 'social imaginary', the project will generate new readings of assimilation linked to broader issues in public debate. Sources will include official publications and works from the media, the arts and popular culture. Expected outcomes include a monograph, two articles, and a museum exhibition brief.Read moreRead less
Sounds of Empire: Popular Politics and Music in the Nineteenth Century. This research will critically locate Australia within a global system of cultural transmission and showcase a significant innovation in methodology through an interdisciplinary approach. This will provide an opportunity to bring to light Australia's role in the transmission of popular politics and culture to a broader international audience. It will make a direct and immediate contribution to Australian studies by examining ....Sounds of Empire: Popular Politics and Music in the Nineteenth Century. This research will critically locate Australia within a global system of cultural transmission and showcase a significant innovation in methodology through an interdisciplinary approach. This will provide an opportunity to bring to light Australia's role in the transmission of popular politics and culture to a broader international audience. It will make a direct and immediate contribution to Australian studies by examining in depth the transmission, adaption and encounter of musics in the making of the nation. Many of the ideas that shape our modern democracy were brought informally in speeches and songs. A better understanding of the ways and means of their transmission brings us to a deeper appreciation of Australia's past and present.Read moreRead less
Europe and Identity: A transcultural history of European communities in the Islamic world 1685-1800. This project originates from the pressing need to reconceptualize histories in the context of multicultural societies. To address the mutual hostility of the historical narratives reinforced by recent global political events, we must open European history, and particularly the crucial period of the Enlightenment, to an inclusive cultural dialogue about the past. This project is built on a strong ....Europe and Identity: A transcultural history of European communities in the Islamic world 1685-1800. This project originates from the pressing need to reconceptualize histories in the context of multicultural societies. To address the mutual hostility of the historical narratives reinforced by recent global political events, we must open European history, and particularly the crucial period of the Enlightenment, to an inclusive cultural dialogue about the past. This project is built on a strong track record of dialogue with a region from which Australia is too often disconnected, despite the significant Arab and Turkish communities within the Australian polity. Recent conflicts have reinforced the urgency of opening this cross-cultural dialogue within our own multicultural cities.Read moreRead less
Sketches of Bali in 1830: The unpublished letters and papers of Pierre Dubois, Dutch agent at Kuta, 1828-1831. The primary benefit of this work is its scholarly contribution to knowledge of Indonesian history in the nineteenth century. Perceptions of Bali forged in the colonial period provide the foundation on which contemporary ideas of identity are constructed. These images, notably those pertaining to Bali's Hindu religion and unique culture, remain important to contemporary Indonesian region ....Sketches of Bali in 1830: The unpublished letters and papers of Pierre Dubois, Dutch agent at Kuta, 1828-1831. The primary benefit of this work is its scholarly contribution to knowledge of Indonesian history in the nineteenth century. Perceptions of Bali forged in the colonial period provide the foundation on which contemporary ideas of identity are constructed. These images, notably those pertaining to Bali's Hindu religion and unique culture, remain important to contemporary Indonesian regional identities. They also point to some of the complex interconnections across Western and Indonesian cultures. As Australia-Indonesia relationships enter a more optimistic phase, this historical research thus has the potential to broaden our understandings of cultural differences to enhance Australia's capacity to interpret regional issues. Read moreRead less
Hostels, Hosts and Hospitality: A Social and Cultural History of Migrant Temporary Accommodation in Australia Since the Second World War. Because it promotes a deeper understanding of migrant experience, the social relations and outcomes that derive from that experience, on-arrival settlement services, the role of the nation as 'host', and the complexity of national and immigrant identities, this project strengthens Australia's social fabric and capacity to interpret and engage with its regional ....Hostels, Hosts and Hospitality: A Social and Cultural History of Migrant Temporary Accommodation in Australia Since the Second World War. Because it promotes a deeper understanding of migrant experience, the social relations and outcomes that derive from that experience, on-arrival settlement services, the role of the nation as 'host', and the complexity of national and immigrant identities, this project strengthens Australia's social fabric and capacity to interpret and engage with its regional and global environment. The experience of regional and global migration, often entailing processes of acute disjuncture, enjoins both an urgent need for, and specific difficulties in, the creation of a coherent identity. This study contributes to an understanding of anxieties about place and belonging and how we might interpret and engage such challenges today.Read moreRead less
The Construction of Race and Racial Identity at the Antipodes of Empire, 1788-1840. The view that Australia was always a racially based society, pursuing racial policies to the detriment of indigenous Australians and our Asian neighbours, is subject to rancorous national debate. Polemical assertion by high profile journalists that race was never a driving force in Australian history is not conducive to understanding complex history, nor are derogatory attacks on historians helpful in explaining ....The Construction of Race and Racial Identity at the Antipodes of Empire, 1788-1840. The view that Australia was always a racially based society, pursuing racial policies to the detriment of indigenous Australians and our Asian neighbours, is subject to rancorous national debate. Polemical assertion by high profile journalists that race was never a driving force in Australian history is not conducive to understanding complex history, nor are derogatory attacks on historians helpful in explaining the past to our neighbours. Whether colonial Australia was a race-based society remains to be established. With indigenous uncertainty over the demise of ATSIC and rising antagonism among our Islamic neighbours, there is need, as never before, for dispassionate scholarship to provide a complex interpretation of Australia's past.Read moreRead less
Parklands, culture and communities: strategic research for building social, cultural and environmental capital in urban parklands. Parklands, Culture and Communities is an innovative collaboration between park managers and academic researchers. It will result in deeper knowledge about how cultural and ethnic diversity affects the way communities use urban parks and how they interact with each other in those parks. The project focuses initially on four groups on the Georges River in suburban Sydn ....Parklands, culture and communities: strategic research for building social, cultural and environmental capital in urban parklands. Parklands, Culture and Communities is an innovative collaboration between park managers and academic researchers. It will result in deeper knowledge about how cultural and ethnic diversity affects the way communities use urban parks and how they interact with each other in those parks. The project focuses initially on four groups on the Georges River in suburban Sydney: the Indigenous, Anglo, Vietnamese and Arabic-speaking communities. A study of their use of parklands will then be the basis for developing best-practice research, planning and interpretation resources to assist park managers in other locations to collaborate more effectively with their changing local users, thus enhancing positive cross-cultural relations in urban parks.Read moreRead less
GENDER IDEOLOGY, RACIAL MYTHOLOGY AND THE CULTURAL POLITICS OF CHILD REMOVAL IN COLONIAL BURMA, CAMBODIA AND WESTERN AUSTRALIA, 1886-1947. The project aims to further understanding of colonial policies, missionary practices and public discourses supporting the removal of mixed-race children from Indigenous mothers and milieu. Its significance lies in its comparison of three diverse colonial regimes: British Burma, French Cambodia and Western Australia. Equally significant is its analysis of t ....GENDER IDEOLOGY, RACIAL MYTHOLOGY AND THE CULTURAL POLITICS OF CHILD REMOVAL IN COLONIAL BURMA, CAMBODIA AND WESTERN AUSTRALIA, 1886-1947. The project aims to further understanding of colonial policies, missionary practices and public discourses supporting the removal of mixed-race children from Indigenous mothers and milieu. Its significance lies in its comparison of three diverse colonial regimes: British Burma, French Cambodia and Western Australia. Equally significant is its analysis of the transcolonial traffic in ideologies of race and gender and the contingent development and deployment of such universalizing tropes as the "Half-Caste Woman" to rationalize policies of child removal. The final outcome will be a book. Interim outcomes include a graduate workshop, an international conference and journal articles.Read moreRead less