Cirrus@Austlit

Australians have variously been described as a nation of sporting champions, yet we lose more often than we win; of 'battling' when we live in relative wealth; and of settling in the 'outback' while we sprawl into cities. We've been characterised as a 'classless' society and an equal one, which is at odds with the experience of many women and unemployed people. We've been introduced as descendents of convicts and 'Poms' when our families are just as likely to have emigrated from Eastern Europe or Asia or lived on this land for thousands of years. Students in this course will learn how each of these descriptions have been evoked for a purpose. They are used by politicians willing to appeal to a particular constituency, and by opponents in debates about federation, immigration, aboriginal rights, welfare, the status of women, and the possibility of Australia becoming a republic. In this course, the trajectory of these debates, which have shaped Australian identity, will be explored in addition to the social effects of the 1930s Depression, the legacy of the Menzies and Whitlam Governments, Australia's participation in war and its place in the global village. Students will have the opportunity to recall our long-felt deference to Britain, our more recent acceptance of our Aboriginal heritage, our brief flirtation as an Asian nation, and our current 'coalition' with the United States, and ponder where our future might lay.