Australian History
Speaking Out of Turn: Lectures and speeches, 1940–1991 by Manning Clark
To Constitute a Nation: A cultural history of Australia’s constitution by Helen Irving
Never Trust a Government Man by Tony Austin & The Way We Civilise by Rosalind Kidd
The Virtual Republic: Australia’s culture wars of the 1990s by McKenzie Wark
The Silence Calling: Australians in Antarctica 1947–97 by Tim Bowden
Depraved and Disorderly: Female sexuality and gender in colonial Australia by Joy Damousi
Adam Shoemaker reviews 'In the Age of Mabo: History, Aborigines and Australia' edited by Bain Attwood
Some of Australia’s most cogent historical analyses grow out of particular social moments: the close of World War II, the accession (and dismissal) of the Whitlam government, the bicentennial celebrations and protests of 1988. The High Court’s Mabo decision of June 1992 is just such a moment and it is no surprise to find another book which focuses on the aftermath of that landmark decision. Interestingly, In the Age of Mabo is also just as strongly the product of a certain time and political space: the 1991–96 prime ministership of Paul Keating. It is this framework which gives this varied collection of essays its sense of historical occasion; it is also this political underpinning which renders at least one of the contributions nearly obsolete.
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