Ken Inglis Ken Inglis i(A20041 works by) (a.k.a. Kenneth Stanley Inglis; K. S. Inglis)
Born: Established: 7 Oct 1929 Melbourne, Victoria, ; Died: Ceased: 1 Dec 2017
Gender: Male
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BiographyHistory

Ken Inglis, M.A., PhD., was a renowned Australian historian.

In 1956, he was appointed as a lecturer to the University of Adelaide. He subsequently became Professor of History at the Australian National University, and the University of Papua New Guinea. Later in life, he was Emeritus professor of history at the Australian National University.

Inglis published a number of significant works during his career, including a two-volume history of the ABC: volume one (published 1983) won the Ernest Scott Prize, while volume two (published 2006) was shortlisted for the Queensland Premier's Literary Award, the Victorian Premier's Literary Award, the New South Wales Premier's Literary Award, and the Manning Clark House National Cultural Award.

Inglis won the Ernest Scott Price again in 1999 for Scared Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape. Among his other works are The Stuart Case (1961), an examination of the trial and conviction of Kwementyaye Stuart; Australian Colonists: An Exploration of Social History 1788-1870; and Nation: The Life of an Independent Journal of Opinion.

Inglis died in late 2017, aged 88.

Most Referenced Works

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Sacred Places : War Memorials in the Australian Landscape Carlton : Miegunyah Press , 1998 Z1065027 1998 single work non-fiction

'Memorials to Australian participation in wars abound in our landscape. From Melbourne's huge Shrine of Remembrance to the modest marble soldier, obelisk or memorial hall in suburb and country town, they mourn and honour Australians who have served and died for their country. Surprisingly, they have largely escaped scrutiny. Ken Inglis argues that the imagery, rituals and rhetoric generated around memorials constitute a civil religion, a cult of ANZAC. Sacred Places traces three elements which converged to create the cult: the special place of war in the European mind when nationalism was at its zenith; the colonial condition; and the death of so many young men in distant battle, which impelled the bereaved to make substitutes for the graves of which history had deprived them. The 'war memorial movement' attracted conflict as well as commitment. Inglis looks at uneasy acceptance, even rejection, of the cult by socialists, pacifists, feminists and some Christians, and at its virtual exclusion of Aborigines. He suggests that between 1918 and 1939 the making, dedication and use of memorials enhanced the power of the right in Australian public life. Finally, he examines a paradox. Why, as Australia's wars recede in public and private memory, and as a once British Australia becomes multicultural, have the memorials and what they stand for become more cherished than ever? Sacred Places spans war, religion, politics, language and the visual arts. Ken Inglis has distilled new cultural understandings from a familiar landscape.' (Publication summary)

1999 winner The Age Book of the Year Award Non-Fiction Prize
1999 winner The Age Book of the Year Award Book of the Year
1999 winner Ernest Scott Prize
y separately published work icon This Is the ABC : The Australian Broadcasting Commission, 1932-1983 Melbourne : Melbourne University Press , 1983 Z1304993 1983 single work criticism

'As the bells in the tower of Sydney's General Post Office chimed eight o'clock on the evening of Friday 1 July 1932, the peals were picked up by a microphone and carried to every State of the Federation. 'This is the Australian Broadcasting Commission,' said the announcer, Conrad Charlton.

'So begins K.S. Inglis's compelling history of the first fifty years of the ABC. In a sparkling tour de force Inglis shows us the ABC's triumphs and failures, its great medley of personalities and the effects it has had on Australian public life. Based on the Commission's own archives, on newspapers and journals, on a rich assortment of interviews and on the author's own listening and viewing, this is a social history of the highest order.' (Publication summary)

1982-1983 winner Ernest Scott Prize
Last amended 14 Feb 2024 15:35:54
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