Cirrus@Austlit

'Brisbane in the 1980s provides a case study of how a small, but intensely self-conscious experimental art-scene could be created by a very few people marginalised within a conservative culture. This was a uniquely Australian phenomenon, possible only in a country of densely-populated, capital cities, isolated from each other by great distances.

Within the period specified there existed a radical network of artists and writers, performers and musicians. Working in collaboration, they produced a rapidly-changing series of art-exhibitions and performances at artist-run spaces such as One Flat, Red Comb House, the Institute of Modern Art, John Mills National, A Room, Belltower, the Observatory and THAT Space. The same participants revived the artists' union in 1984, renamed the Queensland Artworkers' Alliance, and founded the national art-magazine eyeline in 1987.' (Introduction)

'In 1945, as Australians unknowingly entered the last year of the Second World War, the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) in Queensland undertook a unique radio history project that ran for two years. The original intention of the programme, as suggested by its title The Q Story, appears to have been propagandist and thus in keeping with official policy: to provide morale-boosting entertainment with a nationalist theme in the context of wartime. As the programme progressed, however, it appears to have developed an alternative legitimacy in response to public demand.' (Introduction)

'If any characteristic has distinguished the police in Australia from their original models in England or Ireland, it has been their continually changing role in the government of Aborigines.

In the 1830s and 40s, in the absence of any real law enforcement body, uncontained conflict between settlers and Aborigines in what was to become southern Queensland resulted in a spiral of violence that was at times gratuitous. Some whites killed blacks out-of-hand. For their part, Aborigines retaliated when and how they could. One settler, for example, told how in a little over two years fifteen of his shepherds had been murdered and whole herds of his animals had been butchered simply for the fat their kidneys contained.' (Extract)

'Throughout the history of British colonies, the intermingling of commerce and ‘civility’ produced the kinds of colonies that Britain (like other imperial nations) most needed — colonies which not only produced raw materials or space for recalcitrant criminals, but also spaces in which imperialist discourses could educate, convert, and expand what was known of human consciousness. The imperial ‘duty’ was to civilise and conquer the unknown non-Western world for imperial consumption and ‘native’ edification. Through education, both religious and secular, European missionaries sought to inculcate native minds and bodies with the tenets of Western Christianity and culture. Whilst many recent studies have examined the ways in which imperial discourses conquered and codified ‘other’ cultures and peoples, the history of the missionary movement exemplifies a particularly overt form of the dissemination of imperial/Christian discourses. Through Christian teachings, which not only codified religious thinking but also appropriate social behaviour, imperial discourses shaped the manner in which life was experienced under Christian and imperial rule. This paper will explore the ways that missionary activity assisted and effected colonial control.' (Extract)

'In December 1995 I spent a week with the Aboriginal community of Palm Island. Here seven elderly men and women shared with me their life stories; stories of families torn apart by police deportations, of confinement in dormitories, of hunger and hardship, of decades of forced unpaid labour, and recent years of struggle on partial wages. These Aboriginal workers have been fighting for ten years to force the Queensland government to abide by the laws of the nation. Citing 1975 Federal anti-discrimination legislation which confirms that no worker should be paid less than the legal entitlement solely on the grounds of race, religious beliefs, or gender, these workers had turned to the Human Rights Commission for justice.'

'All authored by Aboriginal people, the eighteen chapters in this in this book are mainly based on key papers presented at the August 1996 conference, held in Old Parliament House, celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the Aboriginal Land rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. Appropriately described as '...the most successful and far-reaching land rights legislation in Australia', the 1976 act has been the forerunner of further legislation and judicial decisions giving recognition to native title and other forms of property rights.' (Introduction)

'The focus of the Brisbane River Story: Meanders through Time, is stated in the preface: 'This book draws together early and more recent observations and analyses of the Brisbane River and its capacity to service the demands of the growing city of Brisbane and the needs of other centres of settlement, particularly Ipswich, situated on its major tributary the Bremer.' The book documents the changes in the river due to the effect of European habitation around it, highlights past priorities that have caused its degradation, and discusses its need for future survival.' (Introduction)

'Who was the man whose distinctive surname has achieved such prominence in recent times? Late 20th Century Australian history may well be divided into pre- and post-Mabo periods, such has been the impact of the historic High Court decision of 1992, overturning the doctrine of terra nullius. This book will undoubtedly assist the lay person and the more recent scholarly reader to begin to develop a more complete picture of Edward Koiki Mabo, a man of our time. Professor Noel Loos of James Cook University and the University of Queensland Press have produced a book which deserves to take its place on the bookshelf of every 'thinking Australian'.' (Introduction)