Peter Cochrane Peter Cochrane i(A2865 works by)
Born: Established: 1950 Melbourne, Victoria, ;
Gender: Male
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Works By

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1 Switching to Fiction Peter Cochrane , 2020 single work essay
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , July 2020;

'Since the publication of my novel The Making of Martin Sparrow in 2018 I have often been asked the question ‘What made you turn to fiction?’ This has turned out, usually, to be a question with a sub-text: ‘What made you, a long-time historian, cross over to the other side?’ But whatever form the question takes, my answer is always the same: ‘That’s easy,’ I say, ‘you get to make things up.’' (Introduction)

1 Fighting Words Peter Cochrane , 2018 extract criticism (Best We Forget : The War for White Australia, 1914–18)
— Appears in: Inside Story , August 2018;

'As the first world war approached, anxiety grew about the vulnerability of Australia to attack from the north. A key role was played by the man who would be the official war historian'

1 2 y separately published work icon Best We Forget : The War for White Australia, 1914–18 Peter Cochrane , Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2018 14218558 2018 multi chapter work criticism

'In the half-century preceding the Great War there was a dramatic shift in the mindset of Australia’s political leaders, from a profound sense of safety in the Empire’s embrace to a deep anxiety about abandonment by Britain.

'Collective memory now recalls a rallying to the cause in 1914, a total identification with British interests and the need to defeat Germany. But there is an underside to this story: the belief that the newly federated nation’s security, and its race purity, must be bought with blood.

'Before the war Commonwealth governments were concerned not with enemies in Europe but with perils in the Pacific. Fearful of an ‘awakening Asia’ and worried by opposition to the White Australia policy, they prepared for defence against Japan—only to find themselves fighting for the Empire on the other side of the world. Prime Minister Billy Hughes spoke of this paradox in 1916, urging his countrymen: ‘I bid you go and fight for white Australia in France.’

'In this vital and illuminating book, Peter Cochrane examines how the racial preoccupations that shaped Australia’s preparation for and commitment to the war have been lost to popular memory.'  (Publication abstract) 

1 2 y separately published work icon The Making of Martin Sparrow Peter Cochrane , Melbourne : Viking , 2018 13874784 2018 single work novel historical fiction

'Martin Sparrow is already struggling when the Hawkesbury’s great flood of March 1806 lays waste to him and his farm.

'Luckless, lovelorn and deep in debt, the ex-convict is confronted with a choice. He can buckle down and set about his agricultural recovery, or he can heed the whispers of an earthly paradise on the far side of the mountains – a place where men are truly free – and strike out for a new life. But what chance of renewal is there for a man like Sparrow in either the brutal colony or the forbidding wilderness?

'The decision he makes triggers a harrowing chain of events and draws in a cast of extraordinary characters, including Alister Mackie, the chief constable on the river; his deputy, Thaddeus Cuff; the vicious hunter, Griffin Pinney; the Romany girl, Bea Faa; and the young Aboriginal men, Caleb and Moowut’tin, caught between war and peace.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

1 Introduction Desert Masterpiece Peter Cochrane , 2017 single work criticism
— Appears in: Tobruk, 1941 : Capture - Siege - Relief 2017; Australian Book Review , June-July no. 392 2017;
1 ‘Diamonds of the Dustheap’ : Diaries from the First World War Peter Cochrane , 2015 single work essay
— Appears in: Humanities Australia , no. 6 2015; (p. 22-33)
'The comparison may be unlikely, but Virginia Woolf’s insight into her diary keeping is a pointer to what defines almost all the soldiers’ diaries that I have examined in the remarkable collection held by the Mitchell Library in the State Library of New South Wales. They are not carefully planned, they are raw and unpolished, they are a more-or-less spontaneous record or narrative of the day or the week, and they are rich with ‘diamonds’. Their pre-eminent quality is an unpretentious authenticity and immediacy, a realism matched by no other literary form in the records of wartime experience.' (Author's introduction)
1 The Past Is Not Sacred : A Dangerous Obsession with Anzac Peter Cochrane , 2015 single work essay
— Appears in: Griffith Review , April no. 48 2015; (p. 13-24)

'THE TERM ‘HISTORY wars’ is best known in Australia for summing up the fierce debate over the nature and extent of frontier conflict, with profound implications for the legitimacy of the British settlement and thus for national legitimacy today.

'That debate, though hardly resolved, is now taking something of a back seat to a public controversy focused on Australia’s wars of the twentieth century and particularly on the war of 1914–18, called the Great War until the Second World War redefined it as the First.' (Introduction)

1 Selective Truths Peter Cochrane , 2014 single work column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 25-26 January 2014; (p. 17-18)

— Review of Simpson and the Donkey : The Making of a Legend Peter Cochrane , 1992 single work biography
1 4 y separately published work icon Governor Bligh and the Short Man : A Novella My Voyage with Papa Peter Cochrane , Ringwood : Penguin , 2012 Z1905179 2012 single work novella 'Some seventeen years after the mutiny on the Bounty, William Bligh sets sail for New South Wales as Governor-elect of the fledgling colony. He is accompanied by his daughter Mary, the narrator of this extraordinary shipboard tale. A cultured young Englishwoman, Mary is entirely unprepared for the voyage - the great emptiness of the ocean, the unfamiliar rituals, the terrifying storms, the bedazzling natural wonders. Most confronting of all is the bizarre quarrel between her father and the captain of the convoy, Joseph Short, a man whose sensitivities are almost a match for Bligh's and whose temper brings the voyagers to the brink of catastrophe.

Mary's ardent and witty journal takes us beyond the quarterdeck rivalries into the private world of the Blighs - their family and friends, and the tragedies and failings of a man embarking on his last great command.
1 Pastoral Scions Were Sisters of Art and Mercy Peter Cochrane , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 30 June - 1 July 2012; (p. 22-23)

— Review of True North : The Story of Mary and Elizabeth Durack Brenda Niall , 2012 single work biography
1 Unknown Potential Lost on the Wire Peter Cochrane , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 19-20 May 2012; (p. 24-25)

— Review of Farewell, Dear People : Biographies of Australia's Lost Generation Ross McMullin , 2012 selected work biography
1 Faux Sublime Peter Cochrane , 2009 single work correspondence
— Appears in: The Australian Literary Review , September vol. 4 no. 8 2009; (p. 26)
1 1 Roadhouse Poets Too Good To Be True Peter Cochrane , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian Literary Review , May vol. 4 no. 4 2009; (p. 16-17)

— Review of The Red Highway Nicolas Rothwell , 2009 single work prose
1 William Charles Wentworth Peter Cochrane , 2008 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Greats 2008; (p. 65-67)
1 The Private History Man Peter Cochrane , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 15 November 2008; (p. 21-22)

— Review of Manning Clark : A Life Brian Matthews , 2008 single work biography
1 The Small World of Big Men Peter Cochrane , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian Literary Review , November vol. 3 no. 10 2008; (p. 12-13)

— Review of The Tall Man : Death and Life on Palm Island Chloe Hooper , 2008 single work prose ; A Question of Power Michelle Schwarz , 2008 single work non-fiction
1 2 y separately published work icon Australian Greats Peter Cochrane , Sydney : Heinemann Australia , 2008 Z1541886 2008 anthology essay

'What makes Australia great? Is it the sport we play, the food we eat or the art we create? Is it the way we talk or the discoveries we've made? Does greatness reside in our noteworthy individuals, our political institutions or in the everyday aspects of life? Is Australian greatness the sum of all these factors or a quality that transcends them? Fifty-one outstanding Australians present a range of subjects that are characteristic of who we are and weigh their merits - and the very notion of greatness itself. Australian Greats is a spirited colloquy on identity and nationhood for those of us who call Australia home. (Publisher's blurb)

1 Rescuing 'The Sentimental Bloke' Peter Cochrane , 2001 single work criticism
— Appears in: Remarkable Occurrences : The National Library of Australia's First 100 Years 1901-2001 2001; (p. 77-85)
Describes the National Library's successful efforts to help rescue the 1919 film The Sentimental Bloke made by Raymond Longford and Lottie Jyell.
1 6 y separately published work icon Remarkable Occurrences : The National Library of Australia's First 100 Years 1901-2001 Peter Cochrane (editor), Canberra : National Library of Australia , 2001 Z931371 2001 anthology criticism
1 Storylines Awaiting Their Makers Peter Cochrane , 2001 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Age , 9 June 2001; (p. 5)
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