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y separately published work icon Making Australian History multi chapter work   criticism  
Issue Details: First known date: 2022... 2022 Making Australian History
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'A bold and expansive history that traces the changing and contested project of Australia's national story. You will think about this country differently after reading this book.

'Australian history has been revised and reinterpreted by successive generations of historians, writers, governments and public commentators, yet there has been no account of the ways it has changed, who makes history, and how. Making Australian History responds to this critical gap in Australian historical research.

'A few years ago Anna Clark saw a series of paintings on a sandstone cliff face in the Northern Territory. There were characteristic crosshatched images of fat barramundi and turtles, as well as sprayed handprints and several human figures with spears. Next to them was a long gun, painted with white ochre, an unmistakable image of the colonisers. Was this an Indigenous rendering of contact? A work of history?

'Each piece of history has a message and context that depends on who wrote it and when. Australian history has swirled and contorted over the years- the history wars have embroiled historians, politicians and public commentators alike, while debates over historical fiction have been as divisive. History isn't just about understanding what happened and why. It also reflects the persuasions, politics and prejudices of its authors. Each iteration of Australia's national story reveals not only the past in question, but also the guiding concerns and perceptions of each generation of history makers.

'Making Australian History is bold and inclusive- it catalogues and contextualises changing readings of the past, it examines the increasingly problematic role of historians as national storytellers, and it incorporates the stories of people.' (Publication summary)

Notes

  • Author's note:

    In memory of Stuart Macintye 1947-2021

  • Selected as one of the ABR Podcast's  best books of 2022

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

Anna Clark Explores How Australian History Has Been Made and Why It Matters Nancy Cushing , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: History Australia , vol. 20 no. 3 2023; (p. 454-455)

— Review of Making Australian History Anna Clark , 2022 multi chapter work criticism

'The intention of this book is clearly stated on the first page, immediately following the acknowledgement of Country. Anna Clark sets out to document the role of the capital ‘H’ History discipline – that taught in schools and universities, with its formal qualifications and professional bodies – in the colonisation of Australia. She also seeks to identify other forms of history-making that have told the story of the continent and its people over millennia and to explore ways in which historical reconciliation could occur as part of wider processes of individual and collective healing.' (Introduction)   

[Review] Making Australian History Annemarie McLaren , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Historical Studies , vol. 54 no. 1 2023; (p. 168-169)

— Review of Making Australian History Anna Clark , 2022 multi chapter work criticism

'This book is a lyrical, meditative exploration of the making and re-making of Australian History. In particular, it ponders the place of Australian ‘History’ as a scientific, evidence-based discipline bound up with nationhood and national identity, themes felt perhaps strongly with self-conscious colonisation in 1788, the ‘progress’ of nineteenth-century frontiers, the cause of Federation, and of course throughout the long echoes of the History Wars since the early 2000s.' (Introduction)

[Review] Making Australian History Bruce Pennay , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society , December vol. 108 no. 2 2022; (p. 260-261)

— Review of Making Australian History Anna Clark , 2022 multi chapter work criticism
Distance, Dispassion and the Remaking of Australian History Tim Rowse , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 21 March 2022;

— Review of Making Australian History Anna Clark , 2022 multi chapter work criticism

'Anna Clark could have titled her book “Remaking Australian History”, for that is its narrative arc.'

Memory. Silence. Time. A Puzzling, Provocative Look at Historiography Penny Russell , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 440 2022; (p. 13, 15)

— Review of Making Australian History Anna Clark , 2022 multi chapter work criticism
'There are many ways one might write a history of Australian history, but from any angle it is a heroic project. In Making Australian History, Anna Clark is open about the difficulties, the possibilities, and her choices. How do you make sense of Australian history, she asks, amid a ‘swirl of changing sensibilities, methods, culture, politics and place’? How do you trace the story of a discipline across time, when each generation has defined the contours and boundaries of that discipline differently? How do you write a genuinely inclusive history of Australian History – one that gives due place to the full range of historical forms, not just those approved in academic circles?' 

 (Introduction)

‘How’s This for a Beginning?’ : The Tricky Work of Writing the Story of Australian History Paul Daley , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 13 February 2022;

— Review of Making Australian History Anna Clark , 2022 multi chapter work criticism

'Anna Clark set out to write the history of Australian history. In grappling with the past, she faced up to the giants in her own family.'

Memory. Silence. Time. A Puzzling, Provocative Look at Historiography Penny Russell , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 440 2022; (p. 13, 15)

— Review of Making Australian History Anna Clark , 2022 multi chapter work criticism
'There are many ways one might write a history of Australian history, but from any angle it is a heroic project. In Making Australian History, Anna Clark is open about the difficulties, the possibilities, and her choices. How do you make sense of Australian history, she asks, amid a ‘swirl of changing sensibilities, methods, culture, politics and place’? How do you trace the story of a discipline across time, when each generation has defined the contours and boundaries of that discipline differently? How do you write a genuinely inclusive history of Australian History – one that gives due place to the full range of historical forms, not just those approved in academic circles?' 

 (Introduction)

Distance, Dispassion and the Remaking of Australian History Tim Rowse , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 21 March 2022;

— Review of Making Australian History Anna Clark , 2022 multi chapter work criticism

'Anna Clark could have titled her book “Remaking Australian History”, for that is its narrative arc.'

[Review] Making Australian History Bruce Pennay , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society , December vol. 108 no. 2 2022; (p. 260-261)

— Review of Making Australian History Anna Clark , 2022 multi chapter work criticism
[Review] Making Australian History Annemarie McLaren , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Historical Studies , vol. 54 no. 1 2023; (p. 168-169)

— Review of Making Australian History Anna Clark , 2022 multi chapter work criticism

'This book is a lyrical, meditative exploration of the making and re-making of Australian History. In particular, it ponders the place of Australian ‘History’ as a scientific, evidence-based discipline bound up with nationhood and national identity, themes felt perhaps strongly with self-conscious colonisation in 1788, the ‘progress’ of nineteenth-century frontiers, the cause of Federation, and of course throughout the long echoes of the History Wars since the early 2000s.' (Introduction)

Last amended 3 Jan 2023 12:34:35
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