Anna Clark Anna Clark i(A147764 works by)
Gender: Female
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BiographyHistory

In 2018, Anna Clark was an Australian Research Council Future Fellow at the Australian Centre for Public History at the University of Technology Sydney. In addition to works listed on AustLit, she is the author, with Stuart Macintyre, of History Wars (Melbourne University Press, 2003), exploring the intense public debate over the significance of the Australian national story.

Most Referenced Works

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Making Australian History Sydney : Random House Australia , 2022 23811097 2022 multi chapter work criticism

'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)

2023 shortlisted Ernest Scott Prize
2022 longlisted Walkley Award Best Non-Fiction Book
2022 longlisted Mark and Evette Moran Nib Award for Literature
Last amended 1 May 2018 13:48:27
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