'The first detailed history of imperial and national honours in Australia, Honouring a Nation tells the story of the honours system’s transformation from instrument of imperial unity to national institution.
'From the extension of British honours to colonial Australasia in the nineteenth century, through to Tony Abbott’s revival of knighthoods in the twenty-first, this book explains how the system has worked, traces the arguments of its supporters and critics, and looks both at those who received awards and those who declined them. Honouring a Nation brings to life a long history of debate over honours, including wrangles over State rights, gender imbalances in honours lists, and the emergence and hardening of the Labor/Liberal divide over British awards, illuminating issues that are still part of Australian life—and of the honours system—today. The history of the honours system is equally the history of the nation, revealing who Australians were, what they have become, what they value, and the things that have unified and divided them.' (Publication summary)
'Karen Fox begins her fine study of Australia’s honours system with an account of Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s controversial decision in March 2014 to return damehoods and knighthoods to the Order of Australia and the even more contentious selection of Prince Philip in January 2015 as one of the new knights. Fox argues that these events revived what she describes as ‘an important and ongoing debate in Australia’s national life’ (2) on how the honours system should express the nation.' (Introduction)
'Most academic authors pitch their books to a publisher by claiming to fill a gap in the literature. In the case of Australia's honour system, it is more like a gulf. Like the national flag, the honours system can appear such an obvious and well-defined symbol that its complex history escapes academic attention. Elizabeth Kwan has addressed one of those issues with Flag and Nation (NewSouth, 2006). Now Karen Fox has provided the first comprehensive history of the Australian honours system.' (Introduction)
'Most academic authors pitch their books to a publisher by claiming to fill a gap in the literature. In the case of Australia's honour system, it is more like a gulf. Like the national flag, the honours system can appear such an obvious and well-defined symbol that its complex history escapes academic attention. Elizabeth Kwan has addressed one of those issues with Flag and Nation (NewSouth, 2006). Now Karen Fox has provided the first comprehensive history of the Australian honours system.' (Introduction)
'Karen Fox begins her fine study of Australia’s honours system with an account of Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s controversial decision in March 2014 to return damehoods and knighthoods to the Order of Australia and the even more contentious selection of Prince Philip in January 2015 as one of the new knights. Fox argues that these events revived what she describes as ‘an important and ongoing debate in Australia’s national life’ (2) on how the honours system should express the nation.' (Introduction)
