Cirrus@Austlit

'Australia is a "young" nation with a population that is one of the most polyethnic in the world. Australia's "older" Anglo-Celtic identity developed, it can be argued, out of a mythological relationship to the natural environment. This older form of cultural nationalism continues to be played out and contested in the contradictory denunciation of colonial attitudes and actions, and in the naturalisation of their resulting legacy. A key theme of Australian environmental texts is the idea that temporally and spatially, nature is simultaneously a place where settler Australians may find themselves and a place where they do not belong, precisely because they cannot yet imagine themselves as indigenous. The focus of this article is the historical co-development of Australian environmentalism and nationalism (eco-nationalism). Drawing on an eclectic range of sources including: environmental history texts; texts concerning the origins of nationalism; literature addressing the 'national character'; educational resources produced by conservation agencies; natural science journals; newspaper reports; weekly news magazines, websites and other anthropological writing on environmentalism this paper charts the historical trajectory of nature, native and nation in the Australian imaginary with particular reference to the ecological debate concerning ideas about what belongs (and what does not belong) in the past and present Australian landscape. ' Source: The author.

'Interracial couples at home, within the bounds of domesticity and the nation, offer difficult or somehow troubled subject matter that is seldom confronted on screen in Australian cinema. This essay explores the representation of intercultural domesticity in Aya and The Home Song Stories. It draws on theorisations of melodrama and national cinema in order to examine the figure of the first generation Asian Australian woman. I argue that while focused on the domestic realm, the inter-personal relationships and character construction in the two examples formulate an historicised politics of disappointment that not only explores the position of migrant women in interracial marriages in the 1960s and 1970s, when the films were set, but also suggest a critique of the politics of ethnicity that were prevalent at the time of the production of the films.' Source: The author.

'One option for television drama producers confronted by rising production standards and increasing costs is to become more international in orientation, leading to speculation that national and cultural boundaries may become less important at the higher end of drama series production. Television drama would then become the ‘decontextualised space for universal modes of storytelling’, with lifestyle and reality television formats the more likely vehicles for expressing ‘cultural specificity’. But national and cultural boundaries do matter. The particularities of national television cultures – local policy configurations, historical and cultural influences, technology uptake, the size and wealth of national economies – all impact on the ability of television producers to engage with the global trade in television fiction. This article examines the way in which this global trade internalises and works with national particularities through the sense of a national brand that locates Australian content within a certain value hierarchy. The following discusses three successful examples of internationalised television programming – McLeod's Daughters (2001–2009), Sea Patrol (2007–), and the children's series H2O: Just Add Water (2006–) – that have worked within international perceptions that differentiate Australian content according to perceived cultural sensibilities and national image.'

Source: Abstract.

'Drawing on the work of communication historians, this article makes a case for revisiting and "reinventing" Sir Charles Todd's dynamic life and notable career over half a century. The author argues for a wider view of 'Telegraph Todd' than simply that of outback icon, one which is not merely celebratory in the Victorian tradition of his existing tributes, but which situates Todd firmly within networks of patronage and power, starting with pre-Victorian Britain and extending from South Australia across the Australian colonies. Contradictory historical representations of Todd, as popular outback icon and imperial time lord, go to the heart of his complex legacy. In seeking to provide a more balanced perspective, this article focuses on the lesser known perception of Todd as imperial "time lord", to understand his long career and the wider forces in which it was bound up. Contemporary insights provided by the burgeoning literature on the 'British World' are utilised in order to better understand Todd's far-reaching connections and influence.' Source: The author