Prime Minister Morrison, launching AUKUS, mentioned John Curtin, Australia’s wartime prime minister, who turned to the United States for help when things looked dark. The prime minister could have mentioned Harold Holt, John Gorton, John Howard, Julia Gillard, Malcolm Turnbull,…
Two thoughtful pieces on the military-industrial tentacles that stretch through Australian life
The Afghanistan debacle and the AUKUS surprise should remind us of the extent to which our society and economy – and even psyche perhaps – is built around the idea that weapons and technology able to be used lethally against…
The Secret State, the rule of law and whistle blowers: Bernard Collaery Zoom event from Manning Clark House, Canberra, 26 September
Sunday 26 September 2021, 4pm to 5.30pm This is a Zoom event due to the COVID-19 lockdown Bernard Collaery is a former ACT Attorney-General and a prominent Canberra lawyer. He was lawyer for Witness K, the former ASIS officer turned…
Reynolds, Henry: The terrible effects and disastrous consequences of war. But we keep doing it.
Henry Reynolds ‘The terrible effects and disastrous consequences of war. But we keep doing it’, Pearls & Irritations, 3 September 2021 Many of the world’s 190 or so nation states have been involved in conflict. But few small- or medium-sized…
Wareham, Sue: “No Australian who has ever fallen in our uniform has ever died in vain, ever”: the PM and the AWM
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Stephens, Alan: Another bright shining lie: the ADF and Afghanistan
Alan Stephens ‘Another bright shining lie: the ADF and Afghanistan‘, Pearls & Irritations, 19 August 2021 This essay is concerned with the military-strategic dimension of our latest national bright shining lie; namely, the marketing by the Australian Defence Force’s hierarchy…
Stephens, David: Reflections on Afghanistan: hell no, never, ever go? And the gunrunners win anyway
David Stephens* ‘Reflections on Afghanistan: hell no, never, ever go? And the gunrunners win anyway’, Honest History, 19 August 2021 updated We do not in this post attempt a comprehensive analysis; there are enough of those already. We did note…
Daley, Paul: Morrison says troops died “for a great cause” in Afghanistan. To quote a grieving father, that’s bullshit
Paul Daley ‘Morrison says troops died “for a great cause” in Afghanistan. To quote a grieving father, that’s bullshit‘, Guardian Australia, 16 August 2021 Scott Morrison is shamelessly audacious to claim Australian service personnel died for “a great cause” in this country’s…
Piccini, Jon: The forgotten Australian veterans who opposed National Service and the Vietnam War
Jon Piccini ‘The forgotten Australian veterans who opposed National Service and the Vietnam War‘, The Conversation, 26 July 2021 Article comes out on the 50th anniversary of announcement by McMahon Government of withdrawal of Australian troops from Vietnam. Author has…
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Fitzpatrick, Sheila: White Russians, Red Peril: a Cold War History of Migration to Australia
Sheila Fitzpatrick White Russians, Red Peril: a Cold War History of Migration to Australia, La Trobe University Press, Melbourne, 2021; electronic version available Making use of newly discovered Russian-language archives and drawing on a lifetime’s study of Soviet history and…
Abbott, Derek: A rewarding and timely book on Russians who came to Australia
Derek Abbott* ‘A rewarding and timely book on Russians who came to Australia’, Honest History, 17 June 2021 Derek Abbott reviews Sheila Fitzpatrick’s White Russians, Red Peril: a Cold War History of Migration to Australia Immigration into Australia seems always…
Fahy, Michelle: Landforces’ brothers in arms: how a weapons peddler qualified for charitable status
Michelle Fahy ‘Landforces’ brothers in arms: how a weapons peddler qualified for charitable status‘, Michael West Media, 4 June 2021 [C]onsider the activities of a not-for-profit organisation that many Australians will be astounded to discover has gained privileged charitable status…
Newton, Douglas: Private Ryan and the Lost Peace: A Defiant Soldier and the Struggle against the Great War
Douglas Newton Private Ryan and the Lost Peace: A Defiant Soldier and the Struggle against the Great War, Longueville Media, Sydney, 2021 Imagine the Great War ending early, in 1915, or 1916, or even 1917. Imagine round-table negotiations and a…
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Stephens, David: Everyman as soldier: how men in suits in drawing rooms conned the people – and their families – into fighting on
David Stephens* ‘Everyman as soldier: how men in suits in drawing rooms conned the people – and their families – into fighting on’, Honest History, 28 May 2021 David Stephens reviews Douglas Newton’s Private Ryan and the Lost Peace: A…
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Broinowski, Alison: Now or never: Australia must develop its own foreign policy
Alison Broinowski ‘Now or never: Australia must develop its own foreign policy‘, Independent Australia, 3 March 2021 Surveys Australia’s foreign policy since the beginning and concludes thus: Regional solutions to regional differences will come from diplomacy, not armed force. But…
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Now that Trump has been seen off (or not?), let’s look again at fascism: From the Honest History vault
Whether the 45th president of the United States is or was a fascist was a subject of considerable popular and academic debate. Most recently, there was this thoughtful piece by Timothy Snyder in the New York Times. ‘Trump’s coup attempt…
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Daley, Paul: The strange case of the weapons maker and the Australian children’s charity
Paul Daley ‘The strange case of the weapons maker and the Australian children’s charity‘, Guardian Australia, 4 December 2020 Chronicles the slow retreat of Australian charity, The Smith Family, from its involvement with arms manufacturer, BAE Systems. Persistent pressure, ultimately…
Myrtle, John: Review note: Kieran Finnane’s Peace Crimes
John Myrtle* ‘Review note: Kieran Finnane’s Peace Crimes’, Honest History, 26 November 2020 Richard Broinowski concluded his recent review of Project Rainfall[1], a history of Pine Gap, by noting that ‘in the Australian parliament, Pine Gap has become a non-issue,…
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Fahy, Michelle: LobbyLand ‘culture of cosiness’: colossal conflicts of interest in Defence spending blitz
Michelle Fahy ‘LobbyLand “culture of cosiness”: colossal conflicts of interest in Defence spending blitz‘, Pearls and Irritations, 13 October 2020 updated On corporate influence on government policy and how weapons makers cultivate relationships with politicians and top officials in the…
Inglis, Ken, Bill Gammage, Seumas Spark & Jay Winter, with Carol Bunyan, Dunera Lives: Profiles
Ken Inglis, Bill Gammage, Seumas Spark & Jay Winter, with Carol Bunyan Dunera Lives: Profiles, Monash University Publishing, Melbourne, 2020 The story of the “Dunera Boys” is an intrinsic part of the history of Australia in the Second World War…
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Holt, Stephen: Another Philipp (sic) encounters Australia: one of many stories in a rich second Dunera volume
Stephen Holt* ‘Another Philipp (sic) encounters Australia: one of many stories in a rich second Dunera volume’, Honest History, 30 September 2020 Stephen Holt reviews Dunera Lives: Profiles, by Ken Inglis, Bill Gammage, Seumas Spark and Jay Winter with Carol…
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Wareham, Sue: This government needs to stop militarising our biggest challenges
Sue Wareham* ‘This government needs to stop militarising our biggest challenges‘, Canberra Times, 7 September 2020 (pdf from our subscription) Criticises the focus on using the Australian Defence Force to deal with domestic emergencies, including the current pandemic. The risk…
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Cashen, Phil: The White Australia Policy: always in the background
Phil Cashen ‘The White Australia Policy: always in the background‘, Shire at War, 28 July 2020 From down Alberton, Gippsland, Victoria way comes this detailed post from blogger-historian, Phil Cashen. It looks at the treatment of the White Australia Policy…
Collaery, Bernard: Oil under Troubled Water: Australia’s Timor Sea Intrigue
Bernard Collaery Oil under Troubled Water: Australia’s Timor Sea Intrigue, Melbourne University Press, 2020; electronic edition available In May 2018 Bernard Collaery, a former Attorney-General of the Australian Capital Territory and long-term legal counsel to the government of East Timor,…
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Broinowski, Alison: ‘A petroleum-intoxicated kleptocracy’: Bernard Collaery on Australia and Timor-Leste
Alison Broinowski* ‘“A petroleum-intoxicated kleptocracy”: Bernard Collaery on Australia and Timor-Leste’, Honest History, 4 August 2020 Alison Broinowski reviews Bernard Collaery’s, Oil under Troubled Water: Australia’s Timor Sea Intrigue ©Alison Broinowski 2020 In response to the ‘war on terror’, multiple…
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Stephens, David: From the Honest History vault: Does Defence spending lead to war, and does it make any sense against pandemics?
David Stephens* ‘From the Honest History vault: Does Defence spending lead to war, and does it make any sense against pandemics?’ Honest History, 2 July 2020 updated Update 3 July 2020: Former Defence Secretary, Paul Barratt, in Inside Story on…
Four posts from Pearls and Irritations, an excellent non-MSM blog
Just posted today on Pearls and Irritations is historian, Henry Reynolds, on some history currently hitting the headlines, noting among other things how graffiti on statues got more coverage in some corners of the media than the destruction of an…
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Rollo, Stuart: Collateral murder in a militarised society
Stuart Rollo ‘Collateral murder in a militarised society‘, Overland, 22 June 2020 Subtle analysis of how the links between the uniformed military, particularly the SAS, arms manufacturers and exporters, and the commemoration industry are gradually making Australia more militarised. These…
Three reads for a wet weekend – including a long read on the orange elephant in the room of 2020
Inside Story, The Conversation and the New York Review of Books. All part of the mainstream media, but regularly carrying well-written, substantial think pieces, riffing off current events, but always with current relevance. Inside Story has a piece by Norman…
Van Teeseling, Ingeborg: When white Australians fought against the Maori for control of their land
Ingeborg van Teeseling ‘When white Australians fought against the Maori for control of their land‘, The Big Smoke, 14 June 2020 Australian colonists signed on in the 186os to help the New Zealand Pakeha (whites) deal with the Maori inhabitants…
Edwards, Peter: Law, Politics and Intelligence: A Life of Robert Hope
Peter Edwards Law, Politics and Intelligence: A Life of Robert Hope, NewSouth, Sydney, 2020 Robert Marsden Hope (1919–99), a NSW Supreme Court judge, shaped the structures, operations and doctrines of Australia’s intelligence agencies more than any other individual. Commissioned by…
Broinowski, Alison: Hope of both sides
Alison Broinowski * ‘Hope of both sides’, Honest History, 12 June 2020 ©Alison Broinowski 2020 Alison Broinowski reviews Law, Politics and Intelligence: A Life of Robert Hope, by Peter Edwards Just when Ministers were taking advantage of the pandemic to…
Knaus, Christopher: ‘Deeply offensive’: Australian War Memorial urged not to renew BAE sponsorship
Christopher Knaus ‘“Deeply offensive”: Australian War Memorial urged not to renew BAE sponsorship‘, Guardian Australia, 5 June 2020 Update 25 June 2020: We understand from the Memorial that the BAE agreement does not in fact expire during June. We understand…
Stephens, David: Will the Australian War Memorial renew its ‘naming rights for donations’ deal with arms manufacturer BAE Systems?
David Stephens* Update 5 June 2020: Story by Christopher Knaus in Guardian Australia. *** ‘Will the Australian War Memorial renew its “naming rights for donations” deal with arms manufacturer BAE Systems?’, Honest History, 4 June 2020 updated Almost seven years…
From the Honest History vault: Whether a country is fascist is a matter of checking gauges, not ticking boxes
There have been suggestions that President Trump is or has become a fascist and that the United States itself is becoming a fascist state. As the 45th President himself says, ‘Maybe, maybe not’. But in assessing the state of play,…
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National Library of Australia cuts back on Asian focus; contrast to War Memorial funding for expansion
ANU Professor Tessa Morris-Suzuki wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald last week about the National Library’s decision to cease collecting material on Japan, Korea and all of mainland Southeast Asia, retaining only some reduced acquisition of information on China, Indonesia…
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Wareham, Sue: Prioritising health
Sue Wareham ‘Prioritising health‘, Pearls and Irritations, 11 May 2020 Global military spending continues to rise. Critical health goals could be achieved for a fraction of what we spend on wars. Focussing funding on health rather than military spending, globally…
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Jackson, Andra: The lasting legacy of the Vietnam Moratorium
Andra Jackson ‘The lasting legacy of the Vietnam Moratorium‘, Eureka Street, 8 May 2020 An appropriate marking of the 5oth anniversary of the Moratorium demonstration in Melbourne’s Bourke Street, by someone who was there (as was the author of this…
Fathi, Romain: Submission to the Senate’s inquiry into opportunities for strengthening Australia’s relations with the Republic of France
Romain Fathi Submission to the Senate’s inquiry into opportunities for strengthening Australia’s relations with the Republic of France, 2 April 2020 As a result of having a historical narrative that is curated by DVA and not WWI experts, the John…
Wareham, Sue: Healthcare not warfare
Sue Wareham ‘Healthcare not warfare‘, Pearls and Irritations, 6 April 2020 updated Update 11 May 2020: Sue Wareham on the need to prioritise health care over defence spending. Update 23 April 2020: Allan Behm in Guardian Australia argues for a…
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From the Honest History vault: Humphrey McQueen and others on the Spanish flu pandemic of 1919
Home page credit: (pic: City of Sydney Archive/Ballarat Courier) 2 July 2020 updated: A 1998 article by Anthea Hyslop (‘Insidious immigrant: Spanish influenza and border quarantine in Australia, 1919′, made available by kind permission of the Australian and New Zealand…
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Ruby, Felicity: Silent partners: US bases in Australia
Felicity Ruby ‘Silent partners: US bases in Australia‘, Australian Foreign Affairs, Issue 8, February 2020, pp. 29-54 [T]here is very little public understanding or discussion of these bases, or their uses, or the way in which they have constrained Australian…
Fahy, Michelle: Selling arms with impunity
Michelle Fahy ‘Selling arms with impunity‘, Pearls and Irritations, 30 January 2020 updated Detailed piece by a researcher into the arms trade. Covers: government funding for Australian arms exports; role of federal, state and local governments; developments in the United…
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Stephens, David: From the Honest History vault: Lest We Forget Dr Chau Chak Wing, the War Memorial’s Chinese-Australian connection
David Stephens* ‘From the Honest History vault: Lest We Forget Dr Chau Chak Wing, the War Memorial’s Chinese-Australian connection’, Honest History, 27 November 2019 Update 3 February 2021: Dr Chau Chak Wing wins defamation case against ABC and Nine Newspapers,…
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Broinowski, Alison: Reading Room: Russia and the West: the Last Two Action-Packed Years 2017-19
Alison Broinowski ‘Reading Room: Russia and the West: The Last Two Action-Packed Years 2017-19‘, Australian Outlook, 14 November 2019 Review of recent book by former diplomat, Tony Kevin, in which the author offers two papers he gave to the Independent…
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Tanter, Richard: Pine Gap history – dogged by censorship and dereliction of duty
Richard Tanter ‘Pine Gap history – dogged by censorship and dereliction of duty‘, Pearls and Irritations, 14 November 2019 Melbourne University academic and peace activist, Richard Tanter, looks at a release of heavily redacted official papers relating to Pine Gap.…
Stephens, David: Review note: An exhibition on averting war and keeping the peace: new at the War Memorial
David Stephens* ‘Review note: An exhibition on averting war and keeping the peace: new at the War Memorial’, Honest History, 23 October 2019 updated The Courage for Peace, a new exhibition at the Australian War Memorial, is a modest attempt…
Two angles on Australia-US relations: leader comparisons and official visits
Canberra author Stephen Holt, writing in the Canberra Times, has found some interesting comparisons between President Trump and former New South Wales premier (1925-27, 1930-32), Jack Lang. Among Holt’s forensic work there is this: At his height Lang’s style was…
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Gilling, Tom: Project Rainfall: The Secret History of Pine Gap
Tom Gilling Project Rainfall: The Secret History of Pine Gap, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2019; electronic version available Pine Gap is a top secret American spy base on Australian soil, but how much do we really know about it? At…
Broinowski, Richard: Pine Gap, part of the United States war machine, should not be a non-issue in Australia
Richard Broinowski* ‘Pine Gap, part of the United States war machine, should not be a non-issue in Australia’, Honest History, 9 September 2019 Richard Broinowski reviews Tom Gilling’s Project Rainfall: The Secret History of Pine Gap In his 1980 book…
Toohey, Brian: Secret: The Making of Australia’s Security State
Brian Toohey Secret: The Making of Australia’s Security State, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2019 Elected governments pose the greatest threat to Australians’ security. Political leaders increasingly promote secrecy, ignorance and fear to introduce new laws that undermine individual liberties and…
Broinowski, Alison: State of insecurity: how government secrecy preserves power and conceals stuff-ups
Alison Broinowski* ‘State of insecurity: how government secrecy preserves power and conceals stuff-ups’, Honest History, 3 September 2019 Alison Broinowski reviews Secret: The Making of Australia’s Security State, by Brian Toohey If you’re old enough to remember the National Times…
Willheim, Ernst: The saga of Bernard Collaery and Witness K continues
Ernst Willheim ‘The saga of Bernard Collaery and Witness K continues‘, Pearls and Irritations, 28 August 2019 updated Extensive notes for a speech given to the Australian Institute of International Affairs, Canberra, 27 August. [The speech] is about Australian commercial…
Broinowski, Richard: “How to Defend Australia” is an important wake-up call
Richard Broinowski ‘“How to Defend Australia” is an important wake-up call‘, Australian Outlook, 14 July 2019 updated Hugh White’s latest book How to Defend Australia is reviewed by former senior diplomat, Richard Broinowski AO. ‘Hugh White should be praised’, says…
Holman, Brett: “The aeroplane is the nearest thing to animate life that man has created”: Ross Smith’s 1919 account of an epic flight
Brett Holman* ‘“The aeroplane is the nearest thing to animate life that man has created”: Ross Smith’s 1919 account of an epic flight’, Honest History, 11 July 2019 Brett Holman reviews Flight to Fame: Victory in the 1919 Great Air…
Smith, Ross & Peter Monteath: Flight to Fame: Victory in the 1919 Great Air Race, England to Australia
Ross Smith & Peter Monteath Flight to Fame: Victory in the 1919 Great Air Race, England to Australia, Wakefield Press, Adelaide, 2019 In March 1919, Australia’s prime minister announced a prize of £10,000 for the first successful flight from Great…
Arthure, Susan, Fidelma Breen, Stephanie James & Dymphna Lonergan, ed. Irish South Australia: New Histories and Insights
Susan Arthure, Fidelma Breen, Stephanie James & Dymphna Lonergan, ed. Irish South Australia: New Histories and Insights, Wakefield Press, Adelaide, 2019 Irish South Australia charts Irish settlement from as far north as Pekina, to the state’s south-east and Mount Gambier. It…
Morrissey, Doug: Something new and original on the Irish in South Australia
Doug Morrissey* ‘Something new and original on the Irish in South Australia’, Honest History, 27 June 2019 Doug Morrissey reviews Irish South Australia: New Histories and Insights, edited by Susan Arthure, Fidelma Breen, Stephanie James, and Dymphna Lonergan This is…
Scappatura, Vince: The US Lobby and Australian Defence Policy
Vince Scappatura The US Lobby and Australian Defence Policy, Monash University Publishing, Melbourne, 2019 Australian society and its leaders generally take for granted the importance and value of this nation’s relationship with the United States. The US is commonly thought…
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Broinowski, Alison: Unreliable protection from unnecessary enemies: Scappatura on the US Lobby and us
Alison Broinowski* ‘Unreliable protection from unnecessary enemies: Scappatura on the US Lobby and us’, Honest History, 25 June 2019 Alison Broinowski reviews Vince Scappatura, The US Lobby and Australian Defence Policy A blast of fresh air blew through the Australian…
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Myrtle, John: “A man of intriguing contradictions”: Edward St John and the South Africa Defence and Aid Fund
John Myrtle* ‘”A man of intriguing contradictions”: Edward St John and the South Africa Defence and Aid Fund’, Honest History, 17 May 2019 Edward St John QC, a prominent Sydney barrister and human rights campaigner, was a founding member and…
Fathi, Romain: Our Corner of the Somme: Australia at Villers-Bretonneux
Romain Fathi Our Corner of the Somme: Australia at Villers-Bretonneux, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 2019 One of the Australian Army History Series, edited by Professor Peter Stanley of UNSW Canberra. By the time of the Armistice, Villers-Bretonneux – once a…
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Stephens, David: A bracing journey through the green fields of France: Romain Fathi’s Villers-Bretonneux and Australia’s place in it
David Stephens* ‘A bracing journey through the green fields of France: Romain Fathi’s Villers-Bretonneux and Australia’s place in it’, Honest History, 29 March 2019 David Stephens reviews Our Corner of the Somme: Australia at Villers-Bretonneux, by Romain Fathi First, the…
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Abbott, Derek: Giving practical effect to good intentions: Australian volunteers at work
Derek Abbott* ‘Giving practical effect to good intentions: Australian volunteers at work’, Honest History, 24 March 2019 Derek Abbott reviews Peter Britton’s Working for the World: The Evolution of Australian Volunteers International Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) delivering services on behalf of,…
Britton, Peter: Working for the World: The Evolution of Australian Volunteers International
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Kampmark, Binoy: NZ shooter: the myth of Australian values
Binoy Kampmark ‘NZ shooter: the myth of Australian values‘, Eureka Street, 19 March 2019 The painful truth is that Anning and Tarrant are representative of an aspect of Australian national identity. For decades, they were entirely representative. Their increasing loss of relevance,…
Brett, Judith: From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage: How Australia got Compulsory Voting
Judith Brett From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage: How Australia got Compulsory Voting, Text, Melbourne, 2019; electronic version available It’s compulsory to vote in Australia. We are one of a handful of countries in the world that enforce this rule…
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Jones, Benjamin T.: Australia’s national heroes of the electoral system again show there is more to us than Anzac
Benjamin T. Jones* ‘Australia’s national heroes of the electoral system again show there is more to us than Anzac’, Honest History, 13 March 2019 Benjamin T. Jones reviews Judith Brett’s From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage: How Australia got Compulsory…
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Fathi, Romain: ‘Look at me! Look at me!’ The Sir John Monash Centre at Villers-Bretonneux: a Frenchman’s reflection on his visit
Romain Fathi* ‘“Look at me! Look at me!” The Sir John Monash Centre at Villers-Bretonneux: a Frenchman’s reflection on his visit’, Honest History, 12 March 2019 updated Update 29 May 2019: Philip Goad in ArchitectureAu on the architecture of the…
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Fahey, John: Australia’s First Spies: The Remarkable Story of Australia’s Intelligence Operations, 1901-45
John Fahey Australia’s First Spies: The Remarkable Story of Australia’s Intelligence Operations, 1901-45, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2018; available electronically The first systematic account of Australian intelligence operations in the early 20th century offers fascinating new insights into Australian politics…
Blaxland, John: Intelligence as an arm of government in peace and war
John Blaxland* ‘Intelligence as an arm of government in peace and war’, Honest History, 4 March 2019 John Blaxland reviews John Fahey’s Australia’s First Spies: The Remarkable Story of Australia’s Intelligence Operations, 1901-45 John Fahey’s Australia’s First Spies is indeed,…
Edwards, John: John Curtin’s War (Volumes I and II)
John Edwards John Curtin’s War: Volume I, Penguin Random House, Sydney, 2017; Volume II, Penguin Random House, Sydney, 2018; also available electronically Using much new material John Edwards’ vivid, landmark biography places Curtin as a man of his times, puzzling…
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Soutphommasane, Tim: Why being an Australian citizen doesn’t mean others will believe you truly belong
Tim Soutphommasane ‘Why being an Australian citizen doesn’t mean others will believe you truly belong‘, Sydney Morning Herald, 10 February 2019 The ideal of White Australia was seminal and for all the success of Australian multiculturalism, we remain conditioned by…
Stephens, David: John Curtin’s War leaves questions unanswered, despite John Edwards’ best efforts
David Stephens* ‘John Curtin’s War leaves questions unanswered, despite John Edwards’ best efforts’, Honest History, 12 February 2019 David Stephens reviews John Curtin’s War (Volumes I and II) by John Edwards John Curtin has over the years become the Mount…
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Shield, John: The Cardboard Crown: Martin Boyd’s novel about an Australian family caught between two worlds
John Shield* ‘The Cardboard Crown: Martin Boyd’s novel about an Australian family caught between two worlds’, Honest History, 1 February 2019 This is the third of John Shield’s articles exploring the Text Classics list. The first looked at Don Charlwood’s All the Green Year…
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Kalagian Blunt, Ashley: My Name is Revenge
Ashley Kalagian Blunt My Name is Revenge, Spineless Wonders Publishing, Melbourne, 2018; electronic version available My Name is Revenge is in two parts. There is a novella, and an essay reflecting on the historic events that inspired that novella, and meditating…
Stanley, Peter: The Armenian Genocide is part of Australian – and Turkish – history
Peter Stanley[*] ‘The Armenian Genocide is part of Australian – and Turkish – history’, Honest History, 16 January 2019 updated Update 9 November 2019: a useful article from the United States following a vote there to recognise the Genocide. Peter…
Davis, Glen: By-law 418: an episode in the anti-Vietnam War movement in Victoria
Glen Davis* ‘By-law 418: an episode in the anti-Vietnam War movement in Victoria’, Honest History, 17 December 2018 We are approaching the 50th anniversary (9 April 2019) of the successful campaign to defeat by-law 418. This campaign of civil disobedience…
Cochrane, Peter: Reply to Marilyn Lake’s review of Best We Forget: The War for White Australia, 1914-18
Peter Cochrane* ‘Reply to Marilyn Lake’s review of Best We Forget: The War for White Australia, 1914-18’, Honest History, 16 November 2018 updated Marilyn Lake’s review of Best We Forget: The War for White Australia, 1914-18 appeared in Australian Book…
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Fernandes, Clinton: Island off the Coast of Asia: Instruments of Statecraft in Australian Foreign Policy
Clinton Fernandes Island off the Coast of Asia: Instruments of Statecraft in Australian Foreign Policy, Monash University Publishing, Melbourne, 2018 Island off the Coast of Asia: Instruments of Statecraft in Australian Foreign Policy is an unprecedented 230-year Australian study that reveals…
Broinowski, Alison: Is Australia’s foreign and defence policy machinery broken beyond repair?
Alison Broinowski* ‘Is Australia’s foreign and defence policy machinery broken beyond repair?’ Honest History, 17 October 2018 Alison Broinowski reviews Clinton Fernandes, Island off the Coast of Asia: Instruments of Statecraft in Australian Foreign Policy Australia’s fundamental interests have endured…
Bell, Diane: Clare Wright’s You Daughters of Freedom is a Big Book about Big Ideas
Diane Bell* ‘Clare Wright’s You Daughters of Freedom is a Big Book about Big Ideas’, Honest History, 7 October 2018 Diane Bell reviews You Daughters of Freedom: The Australians Who Won the Vote and Inspired the World: Democracy Trilogy, Book…
Wright, Clare: You Daughters of Freedom: The Australians Who Won the Vote and Inspired the World: Democracy Trilogy, Book Two
Clare Wright You Daughters of Freedom: The Australians Who Won the Vote and Inspired the World: Democracy Trilogy, Book Two, Text, Melbourne, 2018 For the ten years from 1902, when Australia’s suffrage campaigners won the vote for white women, the…
Cochrane, Peter: Best We Forget: The War for White Australia, 1914-18
Peter Cochrane Best We Forget: The War for White Australia, 1914-18, Text, Melbourne, 2018 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…
Stanley, Peter: The most important book on Australia and the Great War
Peter Stanley* ‘The most important book on Australia and the Great War’, Honest History, 7 October 2018 Peter Stanley reviews Peter Cochrane’s Best We Forget: The War for White Australia, 1914-18 The Great War centenary has seen a goodly trickle…
Broinowski, Richard: Is Asia closer to war than at any time in recent history – and do we care enough about this?
Richard Broinowski* ‘Is Asia closer to war than at any time in recent history – and do we care enough about this?’ Honest History, 28 September 2018 Richard Broinowski reviews The Four Flashpoints: How Asia Goes to War, by Brendan…
Taylor, Brendan: The Four Flashpoints: How Asia Goes to War
Brendan Taylor The Four Flashpoints: How Asia Goes to War, La Trobe University Press/Black Inc., Melbourne, 2018 In this revelatory analysis, geopolitical expert Brendan Taylor examines the four Asian flashpoints most likely to erupt in sudden and violent conflict: the…
Read, John L.: Dear Grandpa, Why? Reflections from Kokoda to Hiroshima
John L. Read Dear Grandpa, Why? Reflections from Kokoda to Hiroshima, Wakefield Press, Adelaide, 2018 Edward Tompson Mobsby, father of twin baby girls, volunteered for war service and was shot down by the Japanese in New Guinea in 1942. John…
Abbott, Derek: Coming to grips with Grandpa, Japan and wars
Derek Abbott[*] ‘Coming to grips with Grandpa, Japan and wars’, Honest History, 18 August 2018 Derek Abbott reviews Dear Grandpa, Why? Reflections from Kokoda to Hiroshima by John L. Read Edward Mobsby, ‘Mobs’ to his mates, enlisted in the RAAF…
Broinowski, Alison: Conspiracies are not all theoretical: some letters to Trump
Alison Broinowski* ‘Conspiracies are not all theoretical: some letters to Trump’, Honest History, 13 August 2018 ©Alison Broinowski 2018 Before the 2016 election, candidate Donald Trump told voters he would ‘find out who really knocked down the World Trade Center’.…
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Barritt-Eyles, Lisa: Remembering the Gulf War
Lisa Barritt-Eyles ‘Remembering the Gulf War‘, Australian Outlook, 2 August 2018 Concise outline from a PhD student of Australia’s involvement in the Gulf War, 1990-91. On 2nd August 28 years ago, Iraq invaded Kuwait amid the uncertainty of the changing…
Reynolds, Henry: A hundred years of mateship (2)
Henry Reynolds ‘A hundred years of mateship (2)‘, Pearls and Irritations, 30 July 2018 Follows an earlier piece under the same title and riffs off an ill-judged poster from the Australian Embassy in Washington. The poster was intended to illustrate…
Whish-Wilson, Senator Peter: Ten questions for Brendan Nelson, speaking on Friday at the Tamar Valley Peace Festival
Senator Peter Whish-Wilson* ‘Ten questions for Brendan Nelson, speaking on Friday at the Tamar Valley Peace Festival’, Honest History, 1 August 2018 updated This article is posted as a contribution to public debate. These issues are also canvassed elsewhere on…
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Gullibility on steroids? An Australian precedent for politicians believing – or pretending to believe – what Moscow tells them
We posted this in February 2017 in response to a previous protestation by President Trump about what the Russians had been doing and when they had been doing it. It’s well worth running again. Update 20 July 2018: the story…
Stephens, David: Dunera Lives is a tribute to resilience and a testament of worthy contributions to Australia
David Stephens[*] ‘Dunera Lives is a tribute to resilience and a testament of worthy contributions to Australia’, Honest History, 12 July 2018 updated David Stephens reviews Dunera Lives: A Visual History, by Ken Inglis, Seumas Spark and Jay Winter, with…
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Dunera Lives is well and truly launched: speeches by Frank Bongiorno in Canberra and Raimond Gaita in Melbourne
Dunera Lives: A Visual History was launched in Canberra on 4 July by Frank Bongiorno and in Melbourne on 8 and 9 July by Raimond Gaita. Frank Bongiorno’s speech and Raimond Gaita’s speech, both by courtesy of the authors. David…
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Inglis, Ken, Jay Winter & Seumas Spark, with Carol Bunyan: Dunera Lives: A Visual History
Ken Inglis, Jay Winter & Seumas Spark, with Carol Bunyan Dunera Lives: A Visual History, Monash University Publishing, Melbourne, 2018 In July 1940, around 2000 refugees, most of whom were Jewish and from Germany or Austria, were sent from Britain…
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Davison, Graeme: The year of living anxiously
Graeme Davison ‘The year of living anxiously‘, Inside Story, 26 June 2018 Long review of the recently published book by Phillipa McGuinness, NewSouth publisher. The book is called The Year Everything Changed: 2001. The book offers, says Davison an understanding…
Shaw, Ian W.: Murder at Dusk: How US Soldier and Smiling Psychopath Eddie Leonski Terrorised Wartime Melbourne
Ian W. Shaw Murder at Dusk: How US Soldier and Smiling Psychopath Eddie Leonski Terrorised Wartime Melbourne, Hachette, Sydney, 2018 May 1942: Melbourne was torn between fearing Japanese invasion and revelling in the carnival atmosphere brought by the influx of…
Abbott, Derek: Brownout brutality in wartime Melbourne 1942
Derek Abbott* ‘Brownout brutality in wartime Melbourne 1942’, Honest History, 26 June 2018 Derek Abbott reviews Murder at Dusk: How US Soldier and Smiling Psychopath Eddie Leonski Terrorised Wartime Melbourne by Ian W. Shaw Ian Shaw has produced a comprehensive…
Broinowski, Alison: Australia, 2018: Lies, cover-ups and suppression of free speech
Alison Broinowski ‘Australia, 2018: Lies, cover-ups and suppression of free speech‘, Independent Australia, 20 June 2018 Honest History’s vice president summarises the current state and recent history of freedom in the wide brown land whose young men died in the…
Reynolds, Henry: The fighting retreat of the Anglo-Australians
Henry Reynolds ‘The fighting retreat of the Anglo-Australians‘, Pearls and Irritations, 16 May 2018 Anglo-Australian atavism is at the root of the recent moves for an upgraded Captain Cook Memorial and related stuff, the defence of Australia Day, and the…
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Reynolds, Henry: Australia’s perpetual ‘war footing’
Henry Reynolds ‘Australia’s perpetual “war footing”‘, Pearls and Irritations, 7 May 2018 Riffs off a belligerent interview in 2013 by then Defence Minister, Senator David Johnston. [Johnston] clearly took it for granted that there was a need for Australian military…
Broinowski, Alison: Anzackery and the preening peloton
Alison Broinowski ‘Anzackery and the preening peloton‘, Pearls and Irritations, 24 April 2018 Honest History vice president weaves together Australian Defence Force duchessing of politicians, MSM Anzac cliches, critiques of Anzackery, culminating in praise for Richard Flanagan’s recent NPC speech.
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McKenna, Mark: Quarterly Essay 69: Moment of Truth: History and Australia’s Future
Mark McKenna Quarterly Essay 69: Moment of Truth: History and Australia’s Future, Black Inc., Melbourne, 2018; electronic version available Australia is on the brink of momentous change, but only if its citizens and politicians can come to new terms with…
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Piggott, Michael: Time for something from the heart, from and for all of us: Mark McKenna’s Quarterly Essay 69
Michael Piggott* ‘Time for something from the heart, from and for all of us: Mark McKenna’s Quarterly Essay 69’, Honest History, 10 April 2018 Michael Piggott reviews Mark McKenna’s Quarterly Essay 69: Moment of Truth: History and Australia’s Future Sixteen…
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Mills, Stephen: Dick Casey’s Forgotten People
Stephen Mills ‘Dick Casey’s Forgotten People‘, Inside Story, 25 February 2018 updated We missed this piece when it first came round but it is worth drawing attention to for its careful study of a notable piece of election year propaganda,…
Want to buy (or sell) some ‘Made in Australia’ military kit?
Following recent announcements about an increased Australian arms export drive, there has come to light online this interesting resource: the Australian Military Sales Catalogue 2018, Edition 2, published by the Australian Military Sales Office. This glossy document now includes ‘a…
Jones, Benjamin T.: This Time: Australia’s Republican Past and Future
Benjamin T. Jones This Time: Australia’s Republican Past and Future, Black Inc., Melbourne, 2018; e-book available In This Time, Benjamin T. Jones charts a path to an independent future. He reveals the fascinating early history of the Australian republican movement of…
Warhurst, John: Republican past – and invigorating present and future
John Warhurst ‘Republican past – and invigorating present and future’, Honest History, 23 March 2018 This Time: Australia’s Republican Past and Future by Benjamin T. Jones is reviewed by John Warhurst Ben Jones represents the next generation of Australian republicans…
Blowing the whistle on Australia as gunrunner: two pertinent non-MSM pieces
Prime Minister Turnbull recently announced a $3.8 billion defence export plan. ‘Gunrunners’ is Defence Force slang for makers and purveyors of arms and related equipment. Perhaps the government has earned that epithet as well. Overall, Australia plans to spend some…
Stephens, David: To put North Korea 2018 in context, read Australian Michael Pembroke on the Korean War: review note
David Stephens ‘To put North Korea 2018 in context, read Australian Michael Pembroke on the Korean War: review note’, Honest History, 6 March 2018 updated New South Wales Supreme Court judge, Michael Pembroke, born 1955, has written a brilliant book,…
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Australian War Memorial Fellow Dr Chau Chak Wing has cameo role in Clive Hamilton book on Chinese influence in Australia
Update 26 May 2018: David Wroe and Sally White in Fairfax with some reaction from the Memorial’s Dr Nelson, who says the Memorial will not be giving Dr Chau’s money back. Update 25 May 2018: Sally Whyte in Fairfax goes…
Schultz, Julianne & Jane Camens, ed.: Griffith Review 59: Commonwealth Now
Julianne Schultz & Jane Camens, ed. Griffith Review 59: Commonwealth Now, January 2018 At the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in April athletes from countries that were once a part of the British Empire will battle for gold –…
Abbott, Derek: Griffith Review 59: a timely survey of ‘Commonwealth Now’
Derek Abbott* ‘Griffith Review 59: a timely survey of “Commonwealth Now”’, Honest History, 28 February 2018 Derek Abbott reviews Griffith Review 59: Commonwealth Now, edited by Julianne Schultz and Jane Camens Given the current and continuing debates in this country…
Reynolds, Henry: A hundred years of mateship?
Henry Reynolds ‘A hundred years of mateship?‘ Pearls and Irritations, 27 February 2018 updated A passionate piece from veteran historian Henry Reynolds. I was astonished! An SBS news report about the Turnbull visit to Washington declared that the two countries…
Broinowski, Alison: The trust deficit in Canberra
Alison Broinowski ‘The trust deficit in Canberra‘, Pearls and Irritations, 13 February 2018 Looks at the implications of the appointment of Admiral Harry B. Harris as United States Ambassador to Australia. The Prime Minister has said we are joined at…
Menadue, John: We are in denial about the risks in our relationship with the United States. Part 1 of 2
John Menadue ‘We are in denial about the risks in our relationship with the United States. Part 1 of 2′, Pearls and Irritations, 8 February 2018 updated We are a nation in denial that we are “joined at the hip”…
Broinowski, Alison: Is militarism in Australia’s DNA?
Alison Broinowski ‘Is militarism in Australia’s DNA?’ Pearls and Irritations, 6 February 2018 updated Australians who don’t live in other countries don’t realise how our self-image differs from the perception, particularly in Asia, that we were militarists from the start.…
Daley, Paul: Beating the khaki drum: how Australian identity was militarised
Paul Daley ‘Beating the khaki drum: how Australian identity was militarised‘, Guardian Australia, 1 February 2018 Pulls together the themes of Anzackery, arms manufacturers inflicting advertising on Canberra airport users, and the same manufacturers donating to the Australian War Memorial…
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Broinowski, Alison: Murky wars and missions unaccomplished
Alison Broinowski ‘Murky wars and missions unaccomplished‘, Pearls and Irritations, 25 January 2018 This [Syria] longest war in Australia’s history is the latest in the list of foreign conflicts in which we have joined Americans, supposedly fighting communists or terrorists,…
Miller, Geoff: White Paper versus White’s paper: some questions about Australian policies
Geoff Miller ‘White Paper versus White’s paper: some questions about Australian policies‘, Pearls and Irritations, 23 January 2018 Former senior Australian diplomat compares the official government publication with the recent Quarterly Essay by Professor Hugh White. The former is essentially…
Broinowski, Alison: Incorrigible Optimist review: Gareth Evans’ account of his public life
Alison Broinowski ‘Incorrigible Optimist review: Gareth Evans’ account of his public life‘, Sydney Morning Herald, 12 January 2018 This book was launched by Bob Hawke and has been widely reviewed. (See especially Norman Abjorensen in the Canberra Times and Jock…
Three angles on security – including a bit of quis custodiet ipsos custodes
‘Three angles on security – including a bit of “quis custodiet ipsos custodes?”‘, Honest History, 10 January 2018 The Latin tag, for those who don’t know it, means roughly ‘who will guard the guards themselves?’ and it was coined by…
The World Inequality Report 2018: latest word on an Honest History ‘special subject’
For the last three years, Honest History has tracked media (mainstream and not) articles and research-based reports on inequality, its multiple causes and manifestations. The Honest History Book also focused sharply on inequality, given what seemed to us to be…
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Going deep into international taxation: these issues have been around for a long time
Many readers (and viewers) will have been following the recent publicity about the large companies who avoid paying much tax – or, in some cases, any tax. Most recently, Labor frontbencher, Andrew Leigh, weighed in, and before him there were,…
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Koch, Christoph, ed.: Das Potsdamer Abkommen (The Potsdam Agreement) 1945-2015
Christoph Koch, ed. Das Potsdamer Abkommen (The Potsdam Agreement) 1945–2015, Peter Lang, Bern, 2017 The book’s subtitle, ‘Rechtliche Bedeutung Und Historische Auswirkungen’, translates from the German as ‘Legal Meaning and Historical Impact’ and this is an accurate summary of the…
Tampke, Jurgen: Potsdam Conference 70th anniversary conference papers help us to understand European history since World War II
Jurgen Tampke* ‘Potsdam Conference 70th anniversary conference papers help us to understand European history since World War II’, Honest History, [date] Jurgen Tampke reviews Christoph Koch, ed., Das Potsdamer Abkommen (The Potsdam Agreement) 1945–2015 This book comprises eleven papers delivered…
Patience, Allan: Confecting a new China hysteria
Allan Patience ‘Confecting a new China hysteria‘, Pearls and Irritations, 12 December 2017 Australia’s diplomacy with its Asian neighbours and contenders has always been awkward. In a similar manner to Britain’s awkward partnering with Europe, so Australia is Asia’s awkward…
Molony, John: Captain James Cook: Claiming the Great South Land
John Molony Captain James Cook: Claiming the Great South Land, Connor Court, Brisbane, 2016 In a unique and compelling matching of Cook’s journal entries with the journals of others on the voyage, including Joseph Banks, Sydney Parkinson and James Matra,…
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Myrtle, John: Another look at Cook
John Myrtle ‘Another look at Cook’, Honest History, 12 December 2017 John Myrtle* reviews Captain James Cook: Claiming the Great South Land by John Molony In mid-2018 the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich near London will be launching Pacific Encounters,…
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A Nobel achievement, partly Australian, unsung by the Australian government: the Nobel Peace Prize goes to ICAN
ICAN (the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons) has received its Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Oslo. Margaret Beavis writes from the Medical Association for Prevention of War; Dr Beavis is an ICAN Board member. Also this from…
Kevin, Tony: President Putin opens the Wall of Sorrow Memorial in Moscow
Tony Kevin* ‘President Putin opens the Wall of Sorrow Memorial in Moscow’, Honest History, 8 December 2017 As part of Honest History’s continuing interest in the uses and abuses of history, we have previously noted President Vladimir Putin’s interest in…
Long Tan Cross repatriation a good time to put Vietnam War in perspective
The Long Tan Cross has been repatriated to Australia, as reported on Defence Connect, by the Prime Minister and Minister Tehan, and in the media. There are plans for the cross to go on permanent display at the Australian War…
Troughton, Geoffrey, ed.: Saints and Stirrers: Christianity, Conflict and Peacemaking in New Zealand, 1814-1945
Geoffrey Troughton, ed. Saints and Stirrers: Christianity, Conflict and Peacemaking in New Zealand, 1814-1945, Victoria University Press, Wellington, 2017 New Zealanders, while generally peaceable and tolerant people, have seldom shied away from war. Even in the current era, Anzac Day…
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Hynd, Douglas: New Zealand Great War peacemaking history has Trans-Tasman relevance
Douglas Hynd* ‘New Zealand Great War peacemaking history has Trans-Tasman relevance’, Honest History, 5 December 2017 Douglas Hynd reviews Saints and Stirrers: Christianity, Conflict and Peacemaking in New Zealand, 1814-1945, edited by Geoffrey Troughton Contemporary critiques of Christianity, whether as…
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Stephens, David: The second First Lady, the pretend colonel, and the dogs of Ottawa: some alternative decision-making scenarios for heads of state
David Stephens* ‘The second First Lady, the pretend colonel, and the dogs of Ottawa: some alternative decision-making scenarios for heads of state’, Honest History, 30 November 2017 One thing often leads to another in the blogging business. A little while…
Bolton, Geoffrey: The Gluckman Affair 1960: a bystander’s view
Geoffrey Bolton ‘The Gluckman Affair 1960: a bystander’s view‘, Labour History Canberra, 16 November 2017 Max Gluckman (makinganthropologypublic) John Myrtle, Honest History volunteer, author of our Online Gems, retired librarian and facilitator of this article’s republication explains its provenance: In…
Nobel Peace Prize win to be marked in Canberra
The Nobel Peace Prize win by the Australian-born International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) barely rated on Canberra’s Capital Hill. It clashed with the debut of a young Australian in (we think) American ice hockey. There is a function…
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Stephens, David: The Australian War Memorial is still doing well out of arms manufacturers – how well, we don’t quite know
David Stephens* ‘The Australian War Memorial is still doing well out of arms manufacturers – how well, we don’t quite know’, Honest History, 30 November 2017 updated Update 13 September 2018: Senate Estimates information provides a partial update, showing $1.3…
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Farhart, Claudia: Give Peace a Chance
Claudia Farhart Give Peace a Chance, YouTube, 6 November 2017 A 50 minute documentary featuring interviews with Australian protesters against conscription and against the Vietnam War, interspersed with comments from academics and archival film. The interviews were collected by Larry…
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Steady as she goes or wait and see? Some (mostly) non-Main Stream Media views of the Foreign Policy White Paper
The Foreign Policy White Paper would not have escaped most reasonably alert people’s notice, even as there began the cricketing equivalent of the Battle of Brisbane though, in that case, the Australians’ antagonists were Americans. (That battle was 75 years…
Hugh White writing and talking about Australia in Asia, Xi in China, and Trump in the White House
Hugh White of ANU is bringing out a Quarterly Essay soon, entitled ‘Without America: Australia in the New Asia’. The link above has details of chats with Hugh White in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra from 28 November to 5 December.…
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Winging it with Dr Chau: Clive Hamilton’s suppressed book has more about the War Memorial’s Fellow
Update 26 February 2018: the book has been published by Hardie Grant. Update 1 March 2018: Our take on the Dr Chau angle. Update 1 December 2017: Dr Chau hosts a policy conference in China, where speakers include President Xi.…
Divided sunburnt country: Australia 1916-18 (29): All at once – another conscription vote and news of Bolshevik revolution
‘Divided sunburnt country: Australia 1916-18 (29): All at once – another conscription vote and news of Bolshevik revolution’, Honest History, 9 November 2017 updated The ‘Divided sunburnt country’ series Another run at conscription The possibility of a second conscription referendum…
Faber, David: Beersheba, occupation and the mind of God: a reflection on the centenary of the Beersheba charge
David Faber* ‘Beersheba, occupation and the mind of God: a reflection on the centenary of the Beersheba charge‘, Honest History, 8 November 2017 The paper concerns the recent centenary of the Battle of Beersheba and what the author sees as…
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Beersheba, occupation and the mind of God: a reflection on the centenary of the Beersheba charge
David Faber* ‘Beersheba, occupation and the mind of God: a reflection on the centenary of the Beersheba charge’, Honest History, 8 November 2017 Can historians know the mind of God? It is a long time since most historians have scrutinised…
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Butler, Richard: Iraq 2003: the fabricated war of choice
Richard Butler ‘Iraq 2003: the fabricated war of choice‘, Pearls and Irritations, 7 November 2017 Former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has revealed a report showing that US intelligence agencies knew Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction and…
Beavis, Margaret: US militarism: what are the costs to Australia?
Margaret Beavis ‘US militarism: what are the costs to Australia?‘, Pearls and Irritations, 31 October 2017 It is time to reflect on the close enmeshment of Australian and US foreign policy, and the real costs of such close military ties.…
Newton, Douglas: Beersheba and the scramble for the Ottoman Empire – and more on the Beersheba centenary boast
Update 8 November 2017: David Faber writes about the Beersheba centenary and the work of Kelvin Crombie (Gallipoli – The Road to Jerusalem), who has tried to put the Gallipoli campaign into a Christian context. Essentially, Crombie argues that the…
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Broinowski, Alison: A foreign affairs Alt-White Paper
Alison Broinowski ‘A foreign affairs Alt-White Paper‘, Independent Australia, 27 October 2017 Dr Broinowski suggests what should be in the foreign policy White Paper due for release soon. The themes are independence and innovation. For other material on this subject…
Hocking, Jenny: ‘A royal green light’: The Palace, the Governor-General and the dismissal of the Whitlam Government
Jenny Hocking ‘“A royal green light”: the Palace, the Governor-General and the dismissal of the Whitlam Government‘, Pearls and Irritations, 23 October 2017 Contrary to the accepted story that the Queen was not involved in the dismissal of the Whitlam…
Kahn, Matthew: How far must Trump ‘unravel’ before the 25th Amendment kicks in?
Matthew Kahn ‘How far must Trump “unravel” before the 25th Amendment kicks in?‘ Foreign Policy, 23 October 2017 A detailed and sober assessment of the possibilities of using the 25th Amendment (presidential disability) to the United States Constitution to remove…
Australia Explained: a website by an ex-European for migrants who find themselves in the Wide Brown Land
We’ve caught up with Australia Explained, a website wrangled by Dr Ingeborg van Teeseling, who came here in 2006 from the Netherlands. The site has sections on history, Aussie mavericks, books, films, people, resources and opinions, as well as Ingeborg’s…
The Dunera Boys 77 years on: Dunera News No. 101
Thanks to our contacts in the Dunera community (still going strong after 77 years) for passing us their latest newsletter, dated October 2017. This edition includes a re-enactment, reunions and some interesting personal stories. For readers who don’t know, the…
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Beavis, Margaret: A Nobel Peace Prize born in Australia
Margaret Beavis ‘A Nobel Peace Prize born in Australia‘, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 October 2017 updated Discusses the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to an Australian-founded organisation. The winner of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize, the International Campaign to…
Gapps, Stephen: Blackbirding: Australia’s slave trade?
Stephen Gapps ‘Blackbirding: Australia’s slave trade?‘ Australian National Maritime Museum blog, 25 August 2017 updated Update 30 October 2017: (Waskam) Emelda Davis, president of Australian South Sea Islanders, writes in The Conversation: “Blackbirding” comes from the African slave trade and…
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Stephens, David: Who’s Schlesinger now? Something that may have happened in the Nixon era could be relevant today
David Stephens ‘Who’s Schlesinger now? Something that may have happened in the Nixon era could be relevant today‘, Pearls and Irritations, 5 October 2017 updated Update 19 November 2017: More on this issue in a post from the BBC (with…
Bowen, Chris; The case for engagement with Asia
Chris Bowen ‘The case for engagement with Asia‘ (speech to the Asia Society), Chris Bowen, 29 September 2017 updated Labor Shadow Treasurer says: Australia needs a step change in our economic relationship with Asia. Our economic relationship with Asia has…
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Higgins, Claire: Asylum by Boat: Origins of Australia’s Refugee Policy
Claire Higgins Asylum by Boat: Origins of Australia’s Refugee Policy, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2017 Claire Higgins’ [book] is driven by the question of how we moved from a humanitarian approach to policies of mandatory detention − including on remote islands…
Stephens, David: What wars do to soldiers: Greg Lockhart’s The Minefield
David Stephens ‘What wars do to soldiers: Greg Lockhart’s The Minefield‘, Honest History, 2 October 2017 updated All wars are different yet all wars are the same. No matter which politicians garner credit or blame, regardless of which officers get…
Butler, Richard: The Alliance: the facts and the furphies
Richard Butler ‘The Alliance: the facts and the furphies‘, Pearls and Irritations, 19 September 2017 ‘A review of how we conduct our alliance relationship with the US is urgently required’, says the author, ‘not simply because it has elected a…
Stephens, David: Carmen Lawrence’s 2006 book Fear and Politics is still very relevant more than a decade on
David Stephens ‘Carmen Lawrence’s 2006 book Fear and Politics is still very relevant more than a decade on’, Honest History, 19 September 2017 Carmen Lawrence is a professorial fellow in the School of Psychological Science at the University of Western…
Lloyd, Christopher: The roots and limitations of Australian progressivism
Christopher Lloyd* ‘The roots and limitations of Australian progressivism’, Honest History, 20 September 2017 updated This article is a response to Frank Bongiorno’s piece in The Conversation, ‘On marriage equality, Australia’s progressive instincts have been crushed by political failure’, in…
Torsh, Daniela & Max Humphreys: On Sydney Harbour with the prime minister of South Vietnam, 1967
Daniela Torsh & Max Humphreys ‘On Sydney Harbour with the prime minister of South Vietnam, 1967‘, Honest History, 19 September 2017 This extended interview transcript is provided as a primary source for readers interested in the history of protest in…
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On Sydney Harbour with the prime minister of South Vietnam, 1967: Daniela Torsh interviews Max Humphreys
‘On Sydney Harbour with the prime minister of South Vietnam, 1967: Daniela Torsh interviews Max Humphreys’[1], Honest History, 19 September 2017 Kirribilli House from the Harbour (Wikipedia/Stephen Bain) Daniela Torsh: So Max, I’ve got a question to start with: tell…
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Ariotti, Kate & James E. Bennett, ed.: Australians and the First World War: Local-Global Connections and Contexts
Kate Ariotti & James E. Bennett, ed. Australians and the First World War: Local-Global Connections and Contexts, Palgrave-Springer, New York & Heidelberg, 2017; e-book available by chapters This book contributes to the global turn in First World War studies by…
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A war fought and felt around the world (review of Ariotti & Bennett, ed.)
‘A war fought and felt around the world’ (review of Ariotti & Bennett, ed.), Honest History, 4 September 2017 Martin Crotty* reviews Australians and the First World War: Local-Global Connections and Contexts edited by Kate Ariotti and James E. Bennett…
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Broinowski, Alison: Till war do us part
Alison Broinowski ‘Till war do us part‘, Pearls and Irritations, 30 August 2017 A Fairfax readers poll of some 1300 people showed resounding opposition to Australia sending even the token additional force to Afghanistan. The article also mentions the unwisdom…
Carr, Andrew: I’m here for an argument: why bipartisanship on security makes Australia less safe
Andrew Carr ‘I’m here for an argument: why bipartisanship on security makes Australia less safe‘, The Australia Institute, 22 August 2017 updated While bipartisanship seems to be an innocuous idea it is actually making us less safe by restricting policy…
South China Sea, Korea and Pine Gap: three items on foreign and defence policy, historically and now
Former diplomat Mack Williams writes in Pearls and Irritations about the importance of involving South Korea in any ‘solution’ to the festering crisis on the peninsula. Williams is a former Australian ambassador to Seoul. Another former diplomat, Andrew Farran, speculates…
Korea, the war that never ended, might be starting up again: some useful source material
Update 19 August 2017: Michael Leunig on being ‘joined at the hip’ in ANZUS (‘Australia and New Zealand’s Unquestioning Subservience’) As one who was almost jailed under the ANZUS treaty for resisting a notice of military conscription in the Vietnam…
Black Mist Burnt Country: touring exhibition tells the story of the Maralinga tests and their impact
The recent death of Yami Lester brings to prominence again the long struggle of activists regarding the impacts of the British atomic tests at Maralinga in the 1950s. Black Mist Burnt Country is a national touring exhibition, which commemorates the 60th…
Inequality is a much more complex issue than kneejerk political responses suggest: a dozen links
Honest History has had a special interest in inequality for more than three years. Under our homepage Inequality thumbnail we have collected a mass of links to resources – reports, comments, even some policy proposals from government – which track…
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The Vimy Trap rings Anzackery bells (review of McKay & Swift)
‘The Vimy Trap rings Anzackery bells’, Honest History, 25 July 2017 David Stephens* reviews The Vimy Trap Or, How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Great War, by Ian McKay and Jamie Swift The Battle of Vimy…
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Aktar, Ayhan: Rewriting the history of Gallipoli: a Turkish perspective
Ayhan Aktar * ‘Rewriting the history of Gallipoli: a Turkish perspective‘, Honest History, 25 July 2017 updated The history of the Gallipoli campaign has been contested in Turkey for many decades. The commemorations of the Ottoman naval victory of 18…
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Rewriting the history of Gallipoli: a Turkish perspective
Ayhan Aktar * ‘Rewriting the history of Gallipoli: a Turkish perspective’, Honest History, 25 July 2017 updated [This piece draws upon my article originally published in the Turkish daily newspaper Taraf (Istanbul), 18 March 2014. An earlier English translation by…
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McKay, Ian & Jamie Swift: The Vimy Trap Or, How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Great War
Ian McKay & Jamie Swift The Vimy Trap Or, How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Great War, Between the Lines Books, Toronto, 2016; e-book available The story of the bloody 1917 Battle of Vimy Ridge is, according…
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Broinowski, Alison: Beware: armed response
Alison Broinowski ‘Beware: armed response‘, Pearls and Irritations, 19 July 2017 updated Honest History vice president comments on the government’s anti-terrorism measures. If Turnbull’s plan [National Security Statement, last month] becomes law – and the prospects of the Opposition stopping…
Arms spending and war: which comes first, at home and abroad?
Christopher Pyne, Minister for Defence Industry, has been talking up the possibilities of Australia growing its arms exports industry. Fairfax’s David Wroe says Pyne ‘wants Australia to become a major arms exporter on par with Britain, France and Germany and…
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Australian diversity and what we think about each other – and do to each other
We’ve heard a lot recently about ‘Australian values’ and what the government expects of new arrivals in relation to them. (The term ‘Australian values’ seems to be relatively recent in our history though it has popped up previously.) There is…
United Nations adopts treaty banning nuclear weapons despite opposition from nuclear nations – and Australia
While the posturing around Korea (here and use our Search engine) proceeded, the United Nations on Friday adopted the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons. States will begin signing the treaty on 20 September. The treaty comes into force…
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Two blogs about North Korea on Pearls and Irritations: taking a level-headed view of brinkmanship
Update 11 July 2017: another former Ambassador to Korea, Mack Williams, weighs in, suggesting that Australian alliance links with the United States are the most likely cause of our being a target for North Korean missiles (Pearls and Irritations). Dennis…
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The Conversation on cancer, comrades and cyber warfare: helping Dear Reader to keep up
Honest History has often sung the praises of The Conversation because it provides readable, evidence-based material from people who know their stuff. We suspect that many of our readers also read The Conversation. But we still think it is worth…
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Allen, Liz: Australia doesn’t have a population policy – why?
Liz Allen ‘Australia doesn’t have a population policy – why?’, The Conversation, 3 July 2017 updated Despite recommendations from inquiries over a number of years, Australia lacks a population policy. Includes key graphs covering decades and concludes as follows: A…
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Armenian Genocide 1915-23: 43 distinguished Australians call on SBS to change its approach to this historic humanitarian disaster
Honest History has provided many resources on the Armenian Genocide (use our Search engine with term ‘Armenian’). The Honest History Book includes a chapter by Vicken Babkenian and Judith Crispin on Australian involvement with Armenians after the Genocide, which is…
Census results: 45.5 per cent of us had one or both parents born overseas – but does the Anglo-Celtic narrative still dominate?
The Conversation has a comprehensive coverage of the results of the 2016 Census (six articles from this week, plus earlier material), released yesterday. The Census website goes into further detail. There is also a video on the Guardian Australia site…
Eligon, John: Australia through American eyes (New York Times and ABC Foreign Correspondent)
John Eligon ‘Australia through American eyes‘, New York Times, 26 June 2017 Journalist Eligon, who writes about race for the Times, visits the Kimberley, Murray Island, Inala (Brisbane) and other parts of Australia, talking to Indigenous Australians. The article complements…
Stephens, David: “Australian values” and security: have we been here before?
David Stephens ‘”Australian values” and security: have we been here before?’ Honest History, 26 June 2017 updated Note: related material on section 44 of the Constitution. Update 19 October 2017: the Government’s proposed citizenship changes fail to pass the Senate.…
Piccini, Jon: Amnesty International and conscientious objection in Australia’s Vietnam War
Jon Piccini ‘Amnesty International and conscientious objection in Australia’s Vietnam War‘, JHI Blog, 13 June 2017 This small case study provides insights into how the idea of human rights has been contested over time. Australia’s two Amnesty Sections – not…
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Stephens, David: Graham Freudenberg, elegant and erudite scribe of an important era in Australian politics – and earlier
David Stephens ‘Graham Freudenberg, elegant and erudite scribe of an important era in Australian politics – and earlier’, Honest History, 22 June 2017 Norman Graham Freudenberg AM is 83 years old this year. He has written speeches for Labor leaders,…
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Lowy Institute Poll 2017 shows some shifts in Australians’ opinions about the world out there
The Lowy Institute annually polls Australian opinions on international relations. This year’s poll (1200 respondents by telephone in the first half of March) yielded these results (key points only, Executive summary, more at the link above): Most Australians (79%) are…
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Stephens, David: Anzac is not just the One Day of the Year: the myth that just keeps on giving
David Stephens ‘Anzac is not just the One Day of the Year: the myth that just keeps on giving’, Honest History, 16 June 2017 While we have been promoting The Honest History Book – which is doing very well, thank…
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Butler, Richard: Turnbull, Trump and the Alliance
Richard Butler ‘Turnbull, Trump and the Alliance‘, Pearls and Irritations, 14 June 2017 updated Update 3 August 2017: Richard Broinowski in Pearls and Irritations on the broader implications of the Talisman Sabre/Talisman Saber joint military exercise. Update 31 July 2017:…
Henley, Ben & Nerilie Abram: The three-minute story of 800,000 years of climate change with a sting in the tail
Ben Henley & Nerilie Abram ‘The three-minute story of 800,000 years of climate change with a sting in the tail‘, The Conversation, 13 June 2017 Includes a short video which puts recent climate change and carbon dioxide emissions into the context…
Britain, Australia, New Zealand, SEATO, the secret war in Laos, and counter insurgency expert Colonel “Ted” Serong
Willy Bach ‘Britain, Australia, New Zealand, SEATO, the secret war in Laos, and counter insurgency expert Colonel “Ted” Serong’, Honest History, 13 June 2017 updated Australia’s war in Vietnam has been relatively well documented. Less is known, however, about what…
Bach, Willy: Britain, Australia, New Zealand, SEATO, the secret war in Laos, and counter insurgency expert Colonel “Ted” Serong
Willy Bach ‘Britain, Australia, New Zealand, SEATO, the secret war in Laos, and counter insurgency expert Colonel “Ted” Serong’, Honest History, 13 June 2017 updated Update 28 June 2017: Willy Bach died yesterday. Honest History sends condolences to his friends…
Three thought-provoking foreign and defence policy posts (no, actually four) on the Pearls and Irritations blog
Even when the times are out of joint, the Australian media is not good at looking intelligently at issues of foreign and defence policy. Stories that can be linked to striking pictures – of oddball leaders gloating over missile test…
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Broinowski, Alison: The Merkel moment: wherever that works
Alison Broinowski ‘The Merkel moment: wherever that works‘, Pearls and Irritations, 30 May 2017 Chancellor Merkel’s remark that the United States is no longer reliable, and that Europe should look after itself, should also be a wake-up call for Australia.…
Robertson, Joshua: Australian convict pirates in Japan: evidence of 1830 voyage unearthed
Joshua Robertson ‘Australian convict pirates in Japan: evidence of 1830 voyage unearthed‘, Guardian Australia, 28 May 2017 An amateur historian [Nick Russell] has unearthed compelling evidence that the first Australian maritime foray into Japanese waters was by convict pirates on…
Patience, Allan: Australia’s involvement in an “Anglosphere” is the delusion of a golden age that never existed
Allan Patience ‘Australia’s involvement in an “Anglosphere” is the delusion of a golden age that never existed‘, The Conversation, 24 May 2017 Post-Brexit, some in Britain are turning to a resurrected Commonwealth as the basis of an alternative to Europe.…
Stephens, David: Afghanistan infinitum or walking away? The possible cost of shared values
David Stephens ‘Afghanistan infinitum or walking away? The possible cost of shared values’, Honest History, 18 May 2017 updated Update 30 May 2017: Defence Minister Payne announces 30 more troops to be sent to Afghanistan, in a training capacity. Comments.…
SBS, The Australian and the Armenian Genocide: a recent exchange of views
Update 26 June 2017: more on this story from Mitchell Bingemann again in The Australian of 26 June and from Michael Ebeid of SBS in Senate Estimates (from page 87 of the proof Hansard). George Donikian, Armenian-Australian, former SBS and…
Broinowski, Alison: Reading Room: Fighting with America (review of James Curran)
Alison Broinowski ‘Reading Room: Fighting with America‘, Australian Outlook, 8 May 2017 This is a review note of James Curran’s book, Fighting with America: Why Saying No to the US Wouldn’t Rupture the Alliance. Honest History previously linked to an…
Bongiorno, Frank: Is Australian history still possible? Australia and the global Eighties: Inaugural Professorial Lecture, Australian National University, 10 May 2017
Frank Bongiorno ‘Is Australian history still possible? Australia and the global Eighties: Inaugural Professorial Lecture, Australian National University, 10 May 2017‘, Honest History, 15 May 2017 This lecture canvasses some of the themes and subject matter in the author’s prize-winning…
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Is Australian history still possible? Australia and the global Eighties: Inaugural Professorial Lecture, Australian National University, 10 May 2017
Frank Bongiorno* ‘Is Australian history still possible? Australia and the global Eighties: Inaugural Professorial Lecture, Australian National University, 10 May 2017’, Honest History, 15 May 2017 It is a mark of the limiting character of a purely national perspective that…
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Phillips, Richard: Australia: Anzac Day and the official silence about anti-war opposition in WWI
Richard Phillips ‘Australia: Anzac Day and the official silence about anti-war opposition in WWI‘, World Socialist Web Site, 4 May 2017 The article notes the dominance this Anzac season of the received view of Anzac in Australia and, by contrast,…
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Broinowski, Alison: What Australian foreign policy?
Alison Broinowski ‘What Australian foreign policy?‘ Pearls and Irritations, 26 April 2017 updated Discusses Allan Gyngell’s new book, Fear of Abandonment: Australia in the World since 1942. Gyngell, she concludes, ‘doesn’t endorse [former Prime Minister Malcolm] Fraser’s radical call for…
Wallace, Donald M.: The Web of Empire (1902): highlights reel of a royal visit to Brisbane
Donald Mackenzie Wallace ‘The Web of Empire (1902): highlights reel of a royal visit to Brisbane’, Honest History, 2 May 2017 Members of the Royal Family have visited Australia regularly since Prince Alfred was here in 1867. (He was shot…
Stephens, David: ‘”Johnnies and Mehmets”: Kemal Ataturk’s “quote” is an Anzac confidence trick
David Stephens ‘“Johnnies and Mehmets”: Kemal Ataturk’s “quote” is an Anzac confidence trick‘, Sydney Morning Herald, 24 April 2017 updated Edited version of David Stephens and Burcin Cakir’s chapter 7 of The Honest History Book. The words attributed to Ataturk,…
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West, Brad & Ayhan Aktar: How a more divided Turkey could change the way we think about Gallipoli
Brad West & Ayhan Aktar ‘How a more divided Turkey could change the way we think about Gallipoli‘, The Conversation, 21 April 2017 Discusses how the classical Turkish (essentially Kemalist) narrative of Gallipoli is being replaced under Erdogan by a more…
Four cautionary views about North Korea, including from the Australian perspective
Update 24 April 2017: Ramesh Thakur, James O’Neill, and Mack Williams in Pearls and Irritations. The recent voyage of the USS Carl Vinson will for some time tie Australia and North Korea together, as the ship’s original destination and the…
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McKenna, Mark: Friday essay: King, Queen and country – will Anzac thwart republicanism?
Mark McKenna ‘Friday essay: King, Queen and country – will Anzac thwart republicanism?‘ The Conversation, 21 April 2017 updated Update 31 July 2017: Benjamin T. Jones in Guardian Australia wonders what is holding Prime Minister Turnbull back from a referendum…
Welcome to what? A note on immigration, multiculturalism and ‘Australian values’
Update 19 March 2018: proposal by Minister Dutton to bring white South African farmers to Australia is linked by Jon Piccini in The Conversation to a historic Australian whiteness trope. Update 19 October 2017: the Government’s proposed citizenship changes fail…
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Grant, Bruce: Subtle Moments: Scenes on a Life’s Journey
Bruce Grant Subtle Moments: Scenes on a Life’s Journey, Monash University Publishing, Melbourne, 2017 Veteran journalist and foreign affairs commentator writes about his long life and his views of the world. Bruce Grant was Australian High Commissioner to India (1973–76),…
Stephens, David: Divided sunburnt country: Australia 1916-18 (22): The Finland Station and Flinders Street
David Stephens ‘Divided sunburnt country: Australia 1916-18 (22): The Finland Station and Flinders Street’, Honest History, 16 April 2017 The ‘Divided sunburnt country’ series Today (16 April) is exactly one hundred years since Lenin arrived at the Finland Station in…
John Pilger’s The Coming War on China is on SBS on Sunday: here’s a resource package
Late last year, John Pilger, journalist and film-maker, released his documentary, The Coming War on China. It didn’t get much of a run in theatres though it got a review in the Sydney Morning Herald and another in The Age,…
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The Constitution, White Australia and population shifts: recently on The Conversation
The online journal The Conversation continues to traverse a wide range of subject matter. Recently, we noted: Ryan Goss on how our Constitution came to be written and what we should do with it next; Benjamin T. Jones on the…
One hundred years since the United States entered the Great War, some comments on foreign and defence options
Updated 18 April 2017: Gareth Evans at the National Press Club (podcast and summary). Updated 17 April 2017: More from James O’Neill in Pearls and Irritations. Updated 14 April 2017: Mike Head on the World Socialist Web Site. Updated 13…
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Babkenian, Vicken & Judith Crispin: Australia’s Armenian Story
Vicken Babkenian & Judith Crispin ‘Australia’s Armenian Story‘, Inside Story, 6 April 2017 This is a long extract from chapter 3 of The Honest History Book, published by NewSouth. It deals with the Armenian Genocide, which commenced 24 April 1915…
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Butler, Richard: The myths of Australian foreign policy
Richard Butler ‘The myths of Australian foreign policy‘, Pearls and Irritations, 31 March 2017 The former senior Australian diplomat surveys the scene as Australia develops a foreign policy white paper. It will be of crucial importance in the review of…
Six snippets of The Conversation (six years old this week) have echoes in The Honest History Book (now available)
Honest History was pleased to send happy sixth birthday wishes to The Conversation; it has been a valuable resource for our website. There are other connections also: some articles in The Conversation this week explore themes which are also evident…
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Essential Report evidence suggests Australians think relations with the United States are deteriorating
Nothing more than a straw in the wind, but an Essential poll put out today reports 41 per cent who think that Australia’s relationship with the United States is becoming worse, 6 per cent who think it is becoming better…
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Menadue, John: Our White Man’s Media again on display in London terrorist attack
John Menadue ‘Our White Man’s Media again on display in London terrorist attack‘, Pearls and Irritations, 27 March 2017 I have often commented that a person from Mars reading or listening to our media would conclude that Australia is an…
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Five easy pieces for weekend reading as the leaves start to fall
We at Honest History have been flat out promoting The Honest History Book but we found time to notice these: two articles (part 2) by HH distinguished supporter Richard Butler on the risks of Trump for Australia (Pearls and Irritations);…
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Multiculturalism statement stresses diversity, ‘fair go’ and equality but reality is different
Update 21 March 2017: Andrew Jakubowicz in The Conversation comments on the statement. Neroli Colvin and John Tons in New Matilda. The Prime Minister and two of his ministers have released the government’s multiculturalism statement Multicultural Australia: United, Strong, Successful.…
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Flora, Steve & David Stephens: Divided sunburnt country: Australia 1916-18 (21): Australia reacts to the February 1917 Revolution in Russia: a look at newspapers of the day
Steve Flora & David Stephens The ‘Divided sunburnt country’ series ‘Divided sunburnt country: Australia 1916-18 (21): Australia reacts to the February 1917 Revolution in Russia: a look at newspapers of the day’, Honest History, 21 March 2017 Australia during the…
FitzGerald, Stephen : Managing Australian foreign policy in a Chinese world
Stephen FitzGerald ‘Managing Australian foreign policy in a Chinese world‘, The Conversation, 17 March 2017 An edited extract of the 2017 Whitlam Oration, delivered by Stephen FitzGerald, Australia’s first ambassador to the People’s Republic of China (1973-76), at the Whitlam…
Cain, Frank: The Petrov Affair and fake documents: another look
Frank Cain* ‘The Petrov Affair and fake documents: another look’, Honest History, 15 March 2017 In a previous edition of Honest History, David Stephens referred to fake news and the seeking by Dr HV Evatt, then Leader of the Opposition,…
De Luce, Dan & John Hudson: U.S. allies are learning that Trump’s America is not the ‘indispensable nation’
Dan De Luce & John Hudson ‘U.S. allies are learning that Trump’s America is not the “indispensable nation”‘, Foreign Policy, 27 February 2017 U.S. allies are resigning themselves to the likelihood that Trump’s administration will remain unpredictable and often incoherent,…
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Manne, Robert: It’s time to rethink asylum-seeker policy
Robert Manne ‘It’s time to rethink asylum-seeker policy‘, The Monthly, 28 February 2017 Described as ‘an open letter to the supporters and opponents of the Nauru and Manus Island asylum seekers’, this long article canvasses the history of asylum-seeker policy…
How defence spending gets its claws in: From the Honest History archives
Update 7 March 2017: Andrew Farran on Pearls and Irritations tries to match the F-35 to strategic imperatives. Update 3 March 2017: Steven L. Jones on The Conversation gives some background. News.com report on claimed job spin-offs. ‘A pilot’s dream‘.…
Hassan, Riaz: Australians aren’t as Islamophobic as we’re led to believe
Riaz Hassan ‘Australians aren’t as Islamophobic as we’re led to believe‘, The Conversation, 27 February 2017 There were two hundred or so comments on this piece which analyses a recent survey on the extent of Islamophobia in Australia. There were…
Wroe, David: The secret Iraq dossier: inside Australia’s flawed war
David Wroe ‘The secret Iraq dossier: inside Australia’s flawed war’, The Age, 25 February 2017 updated Long article, with illustrations and video, on Australia’s Iraq involvement, the key point being that the motivation – why we fought – was to…
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Hamilton, Rebecca: Australia’s refugee policy is a crime against humanity
Rebecca Hamilton ‘Australia’s refugee policy is a crime against humanity‘, Foreign Policy, 23 February 2017 The author, an Australian lawyer working in Washington, writes that a brief has been lodged with the International Criminal Court, which gives ‘every indication that…
Stephens, David: Review note: Leaders using and abusing power through the ages
David Stephens ‘Review note: Leaders using and abusing power through the ages’, Honest History, 23 February 2017 At a time when on-the-run psychological assessments of world leaders – and one leader in particular – are becoming routine news items, considered…
Menadue, John: The terrorism threat here is because our troops are over there
John Menadue ‘The terrorism threat here is because our troops are over there‘, Pearls and Irritations, 14 February 2017 Compared to other risks, we have little to fear from terrorism. In the last two decades only three people in Australia…
Patience, Allan: How conservative or populist is the contemporary Right in Australian politics?
Allan Patience ‘How conservative or populist is the contemporary Right in Australian politics?’ Pearls and Irritations, 14 February 2017 Examines the relationship between current apparently conservative outbreaks in Australian politics and superficially similar incidences overseas as well as historical parallels.…
Beeson, Mark: Trump triggers overdue policy debate
Mark Beeson ‘Trump triggers overdue policy debate‘, The Conversation, 8 February 2017 Whatever else Donald Trump’s election may have done, it’s had at least one welcome effect: it has finally sparked a long-overdue debate about the possible costs and benefits…
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Smith, Evan: Some highlights from the CIA’s recent document dump online
Evan Smith ‘Some highlights from the CIA’s recent document dump online‘, Hatful of History, 21 January 2017 Adelaide-based academic and blogger, Evan Smith, has trawled through this trove and made an initial listing of what is there, including 1949 reports…
Keeping up with The Conversation: wide selection as Parliament returns
Whether your problem is the return to school last week or the return of Federal Parliament this week, President Trump being erratic or AFLW making a splash, if one needs distractions there seems to be more to read at the…
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Stephens, David: Opposition Leader HV Evatt receives certain assurances from Comrade Molotov: another case of “They would say that, wouldn’t they”?
David Stephens ‘Opposition Leader HV Evatt receives certain assurances from Comrade Molotov: another case of “They would say that, wouldn’t they”?’, Honest History, 7 February 2017 ‘Totally made up facts by sleazebag political operatives, both Democrats and Republicans – FAKE…
Davies, Robin & Andrew Rosser: FactCheck: What are the facts on Australia’s foreign aid spending?
Robin Davies & Andrew Rosser ‘FactCheck: What are the facts on Australia’s foreign aid spending?‘ The Conversation, 31 January 2017 Questions the assertion by World Vision’s Tim Costello that Australia’s best foreign aid performance was under the Menzies government before…
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Five recent pieces of direct relevance to Australia – and the rest of the world
We at Honest History have been working hard to get the corrected proofs of The Honest History Book off to the publisher. We have also been trying, however, to keep up with world events because, even more than is normally…
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Butler, Richard: Trump: a sideshow?
Richard Butler ‘Trump: a sideshow?‘ Pearls and Irritations, 27 January 2017 updated Update 5 March 2017: More from Butler on Trump and the implications for Australia. Update 9 February 2017: related piece by Ramesh Thakur in Pearls and Irritations on…
An offering for the Inauguration of the 45th President of the United States: Professor Harry Frankfurt on the nature of bullshit
Update 27 January 2017: Norman Abjorensen in Inside Story looks at the long history of post-truth politics. This is good also, from Rod Tiffen in Inside Story. And US academic Lauren Griffin (The Conversation US) applies Frankfurt to today’s reality.…
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Honest History’s Alison Broinowski quoted on 1975 Australian election and possible US involvement
Honest History vice president, Alison Broinowski, is quoted today in a story in The New Daily about whether the United States interfered in the Australian election of 1975. The article references authors Andrew Fowler and John Pilger and former CIA…
Tillerson takes the helm in Foggy Bottom: three commentaries not from the mainstream media
Updated 20 January 2017 From the same Pearls and Irritations blog as the items below and on related subjects are former diplomats Richard Butler on Trump and nuclear weapons and Mack Williams on the South China Sea. (Butler is one…
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Broinowski, Alison: Don’t ask about the war
Alison Broinowski ‘Don’t ask about the war‘, Pearls and Irritations, 10 January 2017 Conservative leaders’ reputations grow over time, John Howard being an example. Howard has refused to apologise for his Iraq decision of 2003. ‘His actions and opinions have…
Stephens, David & John Myrtle: Review notes: Geoffrey Bolton on Paul Hasluck
‘Review notes: Geoffrey Bolton on Paul Hasluck’, Honest History, 11 January 2017 This book (Paul Hasluck: A Life) was published in 2014 and its author, Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Bolton, has since died. The book deserves recognition after this lapse of…
Economist Ian McAuley on Brexit, Trump and the Lucky Country: new series on Pearls and Irritations blog
The Pearls and Irritations blog is always worth following for thoughtful explications of current issues, ones which the mainstream media mostly no longer has the resources or patience to run. Today, P&I publishes nine articles (introduction plus eight) by economist…
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Swain, Dave: Food for thought: the rise of Australia’s mighty Brahman
Dave Swain ‘Food for thought: the rise of Australia’s mighty Brahman‘, The Conversation, 8 January 2017 Historical view of the cattle industry of Northern Australia. Despite the successes of the Brahman breed, the challenge facing the north Australian industry remains…
Barker, Renae: Australians have an increasingly complex, yet relatively peaceful, relationship with religion
Renae Barker ‘Australians have an increasingly complex, yet relatively peaceful, relationship with religion‘, The Conversation, 21 December 2016 A good subject for a time of year in Australia when those who were nominally Christian in their youth (or perhaps a…
More from Pearls and Irritations on saying ‘No’ to the United States
This is our second post recently on this topic. (The first was here.) We have made a point of linking to the Pearls and Irritations blog because, unlike much of the mainstream media, it is trying to probe the implications…
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Curran, James: Trump and the future of the US-Australia alliance
James Curran ‘Trump and the future of the US-Australia alliance‘, Daily Review, 17 December 2016 Extract from a Lowy Institute paper to be published 19 December and titled, Fighting with America. The tag line of this publication is ‘Why saying…
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Culture Victoria: Out of the Closets, Into the Streets
Culture Victoria Out of the Closets, Into the Streets This project documents the very beginning of the Gay Liberation Movement in Melbourne. Through the manifestos, photographs, flyers and recollections of those who were part of the movement, this digital story…
Spark, Seumas: Ken Inglis and the Dunera: a seventy-year history
Seumas Spark ‘Ken Inglis and the Dunera: a seventy-year history‘, Inside Story, 12 December 2016 Discusses the work of Inglis and the American historian, Jay Winter, on the Dunera boys, mostly Jewish internees from Britain, who made such a contribution…
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Saying ‘No’ to the United States: new material on non-MSM Pearls and Irritations blog
Honest History is always ready to publicise material from the feisty Pearls and Irritations blog wrangled by former senior public servant and diplomat, John Menadue. Pearls and Irritations has guest blogs from many former senior players in government and academia…
Tanter, Richard: Fifty years on, Pine Gap should reform to better serve Australia
Richard Tanter ‘Fifty years on, Pine Gap should reform to better serve Australia‘, The Conversation, 9 December 2016 In the last 50 years, Pine Gap’s growth has burst its original security compound. There are now 33 separate antenna systems at…
Mein Smith, Philippa: The ‘NZ’ in Anzac: different remembrance and meaning
Philippa Mein Smith ‘The “NZ” in Anzac: different remembrance and meaning‘, Journal of First World War Studies, vol. 7, 2016, pp. 1-19 This article examines differences of emphasis in Australia and New Zealand in the rituals of Anzac Day, the…
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Pung, Alice: Living with racism in Australia
Alice Pung ‘Living with racism in Australia‘, New York Times, 7 December 2016 Summarises her life since birth in Melbourne in 1981. Australia’s fling with multiculturalism was temporary. In less than 15 years [after 1981], politicians began advocating assimilation for…
Australia in the 21st Century (A21C): We need a transformational foreign policy
Australia in the 21st Century (A21C) ‘We need a transformational foreign policy: Submission to the Minister for Foreign Affairs for the White Paper on Foreign Affairs and Trade‘, Pearls and Irritations, 9 December 2016 The submission is headed ‘FILLING THE…
Five from the Pearls and Irritations blog: China, Trump, our out of touch MSM
Honest History’s distinguished supporter, John Menadue, continues to add solid content to his Pearls and Irritations blog, both his own articles, guest bloggers and material reproduced from other sources. Apart from the important submission on foreign policy, this week’s new…
While we are on the subject: four articles on aspects of democracy – and its possible future currency
Last Sunday we put up a post riffing off four articles which said something about the nature of politics. Without exactly saying so, we were talking about democratic politics and about how it can be a long, hard slog. We…
Hocking, Jenny: The palace letters case: ‘a matter of our national history’
Jenny Hocking ‘The palace letters case: “a matter of our national history”‘, Pearls and Irritations, 29 November 2016 Update 16 October 2017 referring to further discoveries in UK archives. Revised edition of Professor Hocking’s book. Whitlam biographer and constitutional activist…
Abjorensen, Norman: Politicians behaving badly
Norman Abjorensen ‘Politicians behaving badly‘, Inside Story, 28 November 2016 If the Trump victory in the United States represented a backlash against a perceived self-interested “political class,” just as the Brexit vote did in Britain, Australia is by no means…
Blaxland, John & Rhys Crawley: The Secret Cold War: The Official History of ASIO, 1975-1989
John Blaxland & Rhys Crawley The Secret Cold War: The Official History of ASIO, 1975-1989, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2016 The blurb reveals that the book deals with espionage by foreign agents, terrorist attacks, the underground Cold War of tensions…
Metz, Walter: At the movies: ‘Canaries’, a review of Denial
Walter Metz ‘At the movies: “Canaries”, a review of Denial‘, Origins (Ohio State University), 23 November 2016 Metz teaches cinema history at Southern Illinois University. This post riffs off the election of Trump and the vogue for ‘post-truth’. Metz notes…
Pearls and Irritations experts ask where are we going with ANZUS now that Trump towers: more than you get on MSM
Pearls and Irritations is a blog wrangled by former senior public servant John Menadue, with the help of some knowledgeable guest writers. It has a new series entitled ‘Quo vadis and ANZUS’. ‘Quo vadis?’, for those who have no Latin…
Stephens, David: These four articles on politics reinforce each other in unexpected ways
David Stephens ‘These four articles on politics reinforce each other in unexpected ways’, Honest History, 27 November 2016 Fifty years on In 1966, 50 years ago, Lyndon Baines Johnson was in the White House, Australia’s new prime minister, Harold Holt,…
Markus, Andrew: Australians more alarmed about state of politics than impact of migration and minorities, survey finds
Markus, Andrew ‘Australians more alarmed about state of politics than impact of migration and minorities, survey finds‘, The Conversation, 22 November 2016 Links to detailed report of the latest survey. In 2016 just 34% of respondents considered that the immigration…
Frances, Raelene & Bruce Scates, ed.: Beyond Gallipoli: New Perspectives on Anzac
Frances, Raelene & Bruce Scates, ed. Beyond Gallipoli: New Perspectives on Anzac, Monash University Publishing, Melbourne, 2016 Much of the scholarship on the Great War, and especially the Dardanelles/Çanakkale campaign, has been viewed through a narrow national prism and focused…
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New views from a little way beyond Gallipoli (review of Scates & Frances ed., Beyond Gallipoli)
‘New views from a little way beyond Gallipoli’, Honest History, 21 November 2016 David Stephens reviews Beyond Gallipoli: New Perspectives on Anzac, edited by Raelene Frances and Bruce Scates This book is a collection of 15 papers (plus introduction) from…
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Sewell, Stephen: Friday essay: the arts and our still-born national identity
Sewell, Stephen ‘Friday essay: the arts and our still-born national identity‘, The Conversation, 18 November 2016 Wide-ranging essay from NIDA academic and commentator. Compares cuts to arts funding with spend on Anzac commemoration. But at the same time government spends heavily…
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Pearls and Irritations blog provides non-MSM views of Trump
John Menadue’s blog, Pearls and Irritations, has the following: Allan Patience on the failure of neo-liberalism; Wayne Swan MP on the need to spread prosperity more widely; Andrew Farran on foreign policy implications; John Menadue and Mungo McCallum on general…
Donalds are Trumps: going deeper after the breast-beating
There is so much being said on the US election result that we are not going to add to it (yet). Except to say three things: roughly half of eligible Americans did not vote; roughly a quarter of eligible Americans…
Thakur, Ramesh: The nuclear refuseniks: how the recent nuclear vote put Australia on the wrong side of history
Thakur, Ramesh ‘The nuclear refuseniks: how the recent nuclear vote put Australia, Japan, and South Korea on the wrong side of history, geography, and humanity‘, Policy Forum, 4 November 2016 updated Update 16 November 2016: more on this subject in…
Piggott, Michael: Peace, love and world war: the Denmans, Empire and Australia, 1910–1917: a review of a Canberra exhibition
Michael Piggott* ‘”Peace, love and world war: the Denmans, Empire and Australia, 1910–1917″: a review of a Canberra exhibition’, Honest History, 1 November 2016 Note: The exhibition concludes on 13 November 2016 First, an admission. Actually, two. As a rule,…
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Manne, Robert: How we came to be so cruel to asylum seekers
Manne, Robert ‘How we came to be so cruel to asylum seekers‘, The Conversation, 26 October 2016 updated ‘If you had been told 30 years ago that Australia would create the least asylum seeker friendly institutional arrangements in the world,…
Worried about Russia? Four recent articles provide food for thought – for Australians, too
Thoughtful Australians have been keeping an eye on the South China Sea for some time. Honest History has tried to keep up. Today, it’s worth cocking an eye towards Russia also, more than a century after Australians watched the then…
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Stephens, David: Turks did the heavy lifting: a longer look at the building of the Atatürk Memorial in Anzac Parade, Canberra, 1984-85: Part II
David Stephens ‘Turks did the heavy lifting: a longer look at the building of the Atatürk Memorial in Anzac Parade, Canberra, 1984-85: Part II’, Honest History, 25 October 2016 updated This is a revised and extended version of an article…
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Frankopan, Peter: The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
Frankopan, Peter The Silk Roads: A New History of the World, Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2015 For centuries, fame and fortune was to be found in the west – in the New World of the Americas. Today, it is the east…
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The Silk Roads to everywhere (review of Frankopan)
‘The Silk Roads to everywhere’, Honest History, 21 October 2016 Derek Abbott reviews Peter Frankopan’s The Silk Roads: A New History of the World ‘Europe is but a molehill, all the great reputations have come from Asia’ (Napoleon Bonaparte, 1797).…
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Aileen Palmer and Maralinga: Honest History highlights reel
‘Aileen Palmer and Maralinga: Honest History highlights reel’, Honest History, 18 October 2016 updated This material has been made available by Sylvia Martin, author of Ink in Her Veins: The Troubled Life of Aileen Palmer, published earlier this year by…
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Rose, James: From Tampa to now: how reporting on asylum seekers has been a triumph of spin over substance
Rose, James ‘From Tampa to now: how reporting on asylum seekers has been a triumph of spin over substance‘, The Conversation, 14 October 2016 Considers three media management tactics deployed in 2001 and refined since: closing down news channels; depriving…
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Sherrell, Henry & Peter Mares: How many migrants come to Australia each year?
Sherrell, Henry & Peter Mares ‘How many migrants come to Australia each year?‘ Inside Story, 14 October 2016 Analyses questions of definition around our migrant intake, particularly over the difference between permanent and temporary migrants. There are other complications as…
Gillard, Julia: Julia Gillard speaks in London in memory of Jo Cox MP
Gillard, Julia ‘Julia Gillard speaks in London in memory of Jo Cox MP‘, Julia Gillard, 11 October 2016 (updated) As well as being a tribute to the assassinated British Labour MP this is a wide-ranging speech on women in politics.…
Broinowski, Alison: Review note: Homeground in Sydney
Alison Broinowski ‘Review note: Homeground in Sydney’, Honest History, 11 October 2016 Marking the 60th anniversary of the Maralinga nuclear tests, Sydney displayed several First Nations events over the weekend of 8-9 October. In the forecourt of the Opera House…
Thomas, Nelly: Understanding Pauline
Thomas, Nelly ‘Understanding Pauline‘, New Matilda, 9 October 2016 ‘I come from Hanson country’, says the author, ‘working class, socially conservative, racist, homophobic, xenophobic Australia’. The article looks at Hansonism in class terms. The first thing to know about Hanson…
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Stephens, David: Turks did the heavy lifting: a longer look at the story of the Ataturk Memorial, Canberra, 1984-85: Part I
David Stephens ‘Turks did the heavy lifting: a longer look at the story of the Atatürk Memorial, Canberra, 1984-85: Part I’, Honest History, 11 October 2016 updated This material revises and extends an article published in April 2016 and based…
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Atomic Thunder: 60 years on from Maralinga (review of Tynan)
‘Atomic Thunder: 60 years on from Maralinga’, Honest History, 11 October 2016 Richard Broinowski* reviews Elizabeth Tynan’s Atomic Thunder: The Maralinga Story. David Pope’s cartoon of the 60th anniversary of Maralinga (Fairfax, 3 October 2016) shows Prime Minister Robert Menzies…
Irvine, Jessica: This is what would happen if Australia halted immigration
Jessica Irvine ‘This is what would happen if Australia halted immigration‘, Age, 2 October 2016 Considers effects in terms of faltering economic growth, aging work-force, Budget blow-out, still crowded roads, still expensive housing, education and tourism impacts and difficulties in…
Broinowski, Alison: Your laptop is watching you: Snowden the movie – review note
Broinowski, Alison* ‘Your laptop is watching you: Snowden the movie – review note’, Honest History, 26 September 2016 Before Snowden comes on, there’s a short film of Oliver Stone, the director, warning cinema audiences that they can be surveilled, so…
Aspects of foreign and defence policy: eight blogged Pearls that are likely to Irritate
Pearls and Irritations, the blog run by John Menadue, one of Honest History’s distinguished supporters and former senior public servant and businessman, regularly serves up pithy and thought-provoking pieces from experts with strong backgrounds in their fields. The blog’s masthead…
Essential poll on banning Muslim immigration and listening to Pauline Hanson
The Essential Report poll on attitudes to Muslim migration is here, along with responses to questions about Pauline Hanson. One thousand people were polled. The poll was run in August and re-run in case it was a ‘rogue’. Key responses…
Gorman, Alyx & Rick Kuhn: If Australia had its current refugee policy in 1939, we wouldn’t be alive today
Alyx Gorman & Rick Kuhn ‘If Australia had its current refugee policy in 1939, we wouldn’t be alive today‘, Guardian Australia, 19 September 2016 Compares Australia’s treatment of 1930s refugees from Nazism with today’s treatment of detainees on Manus and…
Broinowski, Alison: Review note: What was all that about? Abe Forsythe’s Down Under
Broinowski, Alison ‘Review note: What was all that about? Abe Forsythe’s Down Under’, Honest History, 12 September 2016 A longer version of this article, taking up more general issues to do with Afghanistan, is here on Pearls and Irritations. A…
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Concerning the proposed foreign policy White Paper: Alison Broinowski, Richard Woolcott, John Menadue, James Cogan
Australia has not had many foreign policy White Papers, though we have had a lot of Defence White Papers. There may be some significance in this. The recent announcement from the Foreign Minister provoked some responses to add to the…
Turnbull, Noel: Leadership in the face of Anzackery
Turnbull, Noel ‘Leadership in the face of Anzackery’, Noel Turnbull (blog) 29 August 2016 Another to add to our series ‘Australia’s Vietnam War – and keeping it in context‘. The author has been a journalist, academic, public relations consultant, and…
Diamadis, Panoyiotis: Friendships are based on truths: looking again at the crime of crimes (Hellenic genocides 1914-22)
Diamadis, Panayiotis ‘Friendships are based on truths: looking again at the crime of crimes’, Honest History, 30 August 2016 Analysis of recent press articles on the genocides of the indigenous Hellenes, Armenians and Assyrians of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. Two…
Diamadis, Panayiotis: Friendships are based on truths: looking again at the crime of crimes (Hellenic genocides 1914-22)
Panayiotis Diamadis ‘Friendships are based on truths: looking again at the crime of crimes’, Honest History, 30 August 2016 In recent weeks, there have been three major pieces published in The Australian and the Daily Telegraph (Sydney) on the genocides…
Bach, Willy: A “kick in the guts”? A final look at Long Tan
Australia’s Vietnam War – and keeping it in context: others in the series Willy Bach ‘A “kick in the guts”? A final look at Long Tan’, Honest History, 30 August 2016 I am happy to say there were others who…
Butler, Richard: Nuclear disarmament – Australia’s profound and cynical failure
Butler, Richard ‘Nuclear disarmament – Australia’s profound and cynical failure‘, Pearls and Irritations, 23 August 2016 updated The author looks at Australia’s distinguished history in nuclear disarmament negotiations, before commenting on the recent decision by Australia to insist that there…
Markus, Andrew: Scanlon Foundation Social Cohesion Survey 2016
Andrew Markus ‘Migrants from Africa bear brunt of discrimination but remain positive, survey finds‘, The Conversation, 24 August 2016 updated Update 29 November 2017: the findings of the 2017 survey. Comment in Guardian Australia by David Marr. Summarises the findings…
ABC Conversations with Richard Fidler: Liz Tynan on the secret history of Maralinga
ABC Local Radio ‘Liz Tynan on the secret history of Maralinga‘, Conversations with Richard Fidler, 9 August 2016 The ABC (actually Sarah Kanowski) talked to science journalist Elizabeth Tynan (49 minutes) about her book on the British nuclear tests at…
Viet Thanh Nguyen : Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War
Australia’s Vietnam War – and keeping it in context: others in the series ________________________________ Viet Thanh Nguyen Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War, Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, 2016 This is the final post in our series…
Stephens, David: We need to talk about how we commemorate our wars in other people’s countries – and our own
Australia’s Vietnam War – and keeping it in context: others in the series _______________________________ David Stephens ‘We need to talk about how we commemorate our wars in other people’s countries – and our own’, Honest History, 18 August 2016 updated…
Broinowski, Richard: The Battle of Long Tan turns fifty – but not without a hitch
Australia’s Vietnam War – and keeping it in context: others in the series Richard Broinowski ‘The Battle of Long Tan turns fifty – but not without a hitch’, Honest History, 18 August 2016 updated An article by Mark Schliebs in…
Smith, Evan: ‘Between the bomb and the ballot box’: the history of the far-right in Australia
Smith, Evan ‘“Between the bomb and the ballot box”: the history of the far-right in Australia‘, Guardian Australia, 16 August 2016 updated The return of One Nation (on steroids) provokes this useful run-down of Australian fringe groups over the last…
From the Honest History archives: What happened to Australians after the Vietnam War (June 2015)?
Australia’s Vietnam War – and keeping it in context: others in the series _____________________________ Parades, recognition and misremembering Part of the narrative of Australia’s Vietnam War in the more than 40 years since our commitment ended has been that Australian…
From the Honest History archives: Agent Orange – Vietnam scourge of soldiers and civilians alike (March 2015, March 2016)
Australia’s Vietnam War – and keeping it in context: others in the series Honest History has published a number of posts on the effects of Agent Orange, the chemical defoliant used by United States forces during the Vietnam War.…
From the Honest History archives: 1965-75 another Vietnam: unseen images of the war from the winning side (February 2016)
Australia’s Vietnam War – and keeping it in context: others in the series This post shows the Vietnam War from the other side, with pictures (curated by Alex Q. Arbuckle for Mashable) by Vietnamese photographers of civilians, militia and…
Farrell, Paul, Nick Evershed & Helen Davidson: The Nauru files: 2,000 leaked reports reveal scale of abuse of children in Australian offshore detention
Farrell, Paul, Nick Evershed & Helen Davidson ‘The Nauru files: 2,000 leaked reports reveal scale of abuse of children in Australian offshore detention‘, Guardian Australia, 10 August 2016 updated Leaked files reveal assaults, sexual assault and self-harm. The devastating trauma…
McKinley, Michael: The ANZUS Alliance-as-disastrous diffusion
McKinley, Michael The ANZUS Alliance-as-disastrous diffusion: The political virology of a wartime liaison: Presented to the Panel WA 71 Diffusion-as-Empire: Theory and Comparative Studies in Disastrous Circulations of Power, 54th Annual Convention, The International Studies Association, San Francisco, California, USA,…
Broinowski, Anna (dir).: Pauline Hanson: Please explain!
Broinowski, Anna (dir.) ‘Pauline Hanson: Please explain!‘ SBS, 1 August 2016 Full video and supporting material of the documentary shown on SBS on 31 July. Another link. The documentary moves back and forth between 1996 and more recently, interviewing many…
Lydon, Jane: Worth a thousand words – how photos shape attitudes to refugees
Lydon, Jane ‘Friday essay: worth a thousand words – how photos shape attitudes to refugees‘, The Conversation, 29 July 2016 Looks at the politicisation of migration over the last two decades and how ‘[p]hotography has mapped a distinctively Australian version…
Davison, Graeme: Distance and destiny (about Blainey’s Tyranny of Distance)
Davison, Graeme ‘Distance and destiny‘, Inside Story, 28 July 2016 Reflection on the 50th anniversary of the publication of Geoffrey Blainey’s The Tyranny of Distance. The Tyranny of Distance changed our map of the Australian past. It was a bestseller…
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Earls, Nick: Australia once banned Catholics from mass and vilified the Irish
Earls, Nick ‘Australia once banned Catholics from mass and vilified the Irish. Haven’t we learned anything?‘ Guardian Australia, 22 July 2016 Reminiscences about the historical treatment of Irish in Australia – and other immigrants – and draws some parallels with…
Kelly, Sean: Trump and circumstance
Kelly, Sean ‘Trump and circumstance‘, The Monthly Today, 22 July 2016 updated The teaser to this piece runs, ‘How Donald Trump is exploiting the rules of politics and media, and what it means for Australia’. The article is about much…
HILDA tells an Australian story about wealth and poverty – and there is an international angle as well
HILDA stands for the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey and it has been run by the Melbourne Institute since 2001. It is one of many surveys and studies reporting on inequality in Australia. Honest History has been…
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Stephens, David: Is Julia Gillard’s speech to the US Congress the most sycophantic speech by an Australian PM?
Stephens, David ‘Is this the most sycophantic speech by an Australian prime minister? Julia Gillard’s address to the United States Congress, March 2011’, Honest History, 19 July 2016 This article analyses a recent claim by former Australian diplomat, Richard Butler,…
Landers, Rachel: Who bombed the Hilton?
Landers, Rachel Who Bombed the Hilton? NewSouth, Sydney, 2016 On 13 February 1978 a bomb exploded outside the Hilton Hotel in George Street, Sydney. Two garbage collectors and a police officer were killed. Often called the first act of terrorist…
Is Julia Gillard’s speech to the US Congress the most sycophantic speech by an Australian PM?
David Stephens ‘Is this the most sycophantic speech by an Australian prime minister? Julia Gillard’s address to the United States Congress, March 2011’, Honest History, 19 July 2016 Former Prime Minister Rudd gets Anzac biscuit, 2012 (Courier-Mail/Brad Cooper) Anzackery precedents:…
Stephens, David: How some Turks would rather that Johnnies and Mehmets were not equal
David Stephens ‘How some Turks would rather that Johnnies and Mehmets were not equal: research report’, Honest History, 19 July 2016 updated The equality of death ‘There is no difference’, we are told every Anzac Day, ‘between the Johnnies and…
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Ozakinci, Cengiz: 25 April 1985: Arıburnu, “Anzac Cove”, the Mehmets and the Johnnies
Özakıncı, Cengiz ‘25 April 1985: Arıburnu, “Anzac Cove”, the Mehmets and the Johnnies’, Butun Dunya (Ankara), April 2016 (English translation) This article looks from the Turkish perspective at how Arıburnu became Anzac Cove, as part of a Turkish-Australian deal in…
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Australia’s no-go zones: Rachel Landers’ Who Bombed the Hilton?
‘Australia’s no-go zones: Rachel Landers’ Who Bombed the Hilton?’ Honest History, 19 July 2016 Alison Broinowski reviews Rachel Landers’ book Who Bombed the Hilton? We are not suddenly making the world uninhabitable all at once. Instead, the world is creating…
From the Honest History archives: Alison Broinowski from October 2013 on Iraq 2003 and war powers reform
In the wake of the Chilcot report and recognising its relevance for Australia, we are re-running a perspicacious October 2013 piece from Alison Broinowski (vice president of both Honest History and Australians for War Powers Reform). Called ‘The streaker’s defence:…
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American historians use Facebook to blow the whistle on Donald Trump
A number of distinguished American historians, led by David McCullough (Truman, John Adams) and Ken Burns (The Civil War), have started a Facebook page to oppose the candidacy of Donald Trump. While the group is conscious of the need to…
Chilcot lessons for Australia as well as for powerful friends: Honest History miscellany
After seven years, Sir John Chilcot has reported on how the United Kingdom found itself in Iraq in 2003 and what it all meant. Chilcot’s report considers the actions and words of British Prime Minister Blair, United States President George…
Broinowski, Alison: What are we willing to fight for? (review of James Brown)
Broinowski, Alison ‘What are we willing to fight for?‘, Independent Australia, 3 July 2016 Honest History Vice President, Alison Broinowski, reviews Firing Line: Australia’s Path to War Quarterly Essay 62 by James Brown (Anzac’s Long Shadow) and expands upon the…
Tavan, Gwenda: Beginning of the end of White Australia
Tavan, Gwenda ‘The beginning of the end of the White Australia policy‘, Inside Story, 1 July 2016 Detailed administrative history of the steps taken by the Coalition Government. They did not take matters all the way, however. It was clear…
Johnson, Ian: China’s memory manipulators (on the use and abuse of history – a world-wide phenomenon)
Johnson, Ian ‘China’s memory manipulators‘, Guardian, 8 June 2016 Honest History has followed recent events in the South China Sea because of their relevance to Australia. We are also interested in material that shows how governments manipulate history, for example,…
Review note: Irish Easter Rising commemoration has lessons for Australia
‘Review note: Irish Easter Rising commemoration has lessons for Australia’, Honest History, 23 June 2016 I am just one-eighth Irish and by no means an expert in being Irish or in Irish history. But Honest History’s recent collecting of material…
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Ward, Stuart: Brexit wounds
Ward, Stuart ‘Brexit wounds‘, The Monthly, June 2016 updated On the eve of the vote in Britain, the author looks at the history of Australian attitudes towards British attitudes and actions towards Europe. ‘Whatever the fallout’, the author concludes, ‘it…
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Midwinter (almost) Miscellany from Honest History (info-brokers to the gentry)
Illness has cut a swathe through the Honest History engine-room this week so the remaining HH elves have been forced to bundle some useful links together below. The bundling exercise also warmed us up in an unusually cold Canberra early…
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Tan, Monica: Nicholas Allbrook on Australia’s national anthem: ‘It’s ignorant and isolationist’
Tan, Monica ‘Pond’s Nicholas Allbrook on Australia’s national anthem: “It’s ignorant and isolationist”‘, Guardian Australia, 26 May 2016 Views of a 28-year-old rock singer with a range of comments beneath. Nicholas Allbrook, in his latest release ‘replaces the nation-fortifying intentions…
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Cohen, Roger: Australia’s offshore cruelty (New York Times Op ed)
Cohen, Roger ‘Australia’s offshore cruelty‘, New York Times, 23 May 2016 Cohen is visiting Australia. He writes on international affairs and diplomacy. This article had more than 100 comments by early on 24 May 2016 AEST. The Australian treatment of…
York, Barry: Impossible becomes inevitable: my memory of the struggle against apartheid
York, Barry ‘When the impossible becomes inevitable: my memory of the struggle against apartheid‘, Museum of Australian Democracy Blog, 18 May 2016 Reminiscence of anti-apartheid activist now associated with the apartheid exhibition at MOADOPH, Canberra. Touches on his contacts with…
Armstrong, Mick: The radicalisation of the (Australian) campuses 1967-74
Mick Armstrong ‘The radicalisation of the campuses 1967-74‘, Australian National University course material for ‘Marxist interventions’ course Based on a chapter from Armstrong’s (now hard to get) book, One, Two Three, What are We Fighting For? (Socialist Alternative, Melbourne 2001).…
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Babkenian, Vicken & Peter Stanley: Armenia, Australia and the Great War
Vicken Babkenian & Peter Stanley Armenia, Australia and the Great War, NewSouth, Sydney, 2016; available electronically Australian civilians worked for decades supporting the survivors and orphans of the Armenian Genocide. 24 April 1915 marks the beginning of two great epics of…
Babkenian, Vicken & Peter Stanley: ‘Armenian propaganda uses the ANZAC’ [sic]: A response
Babkenian, Vicken & Peter Stanley ‘”Armenian propaganda uses the ANZAC [sic]”: A response’, Honest History, 19 May 2016 The Australian Turkish Advocacy Alliance (ATA-A) website has published a review of Armenia, Australia and the Great War, by Vicken Babkenian and…
Who speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians? (review of Babkenian and Stanley)
‘Who speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?’ (review of Babkenian and Stanley), Honest History, 19 May 2016 Gareth Knapman reviews Armenia, Australia and the Great War by Vicken Babkenian and Peter Stanley ‘Who, after all, speaks today of…
ABC RN The Drawing Room: How Greeks Americanised Australia
ABC RN ‘How Greeks Americanised Australia‘, The Drawing Room, 22 March 2016 A tribute (audio, no transcript) to Paragon Cafes throughout the wide brown land. Effy Alexakis and Leonard Janiszewski talk to Patricia Karvelas about their extensive work on Greek…
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The dogs of war at home and abroad: miscellany
(Australian Electoral Commission) As the election is announced, complete with warlike metaphors, it is timely to look at some other slices of our history, past and present, where war is rather more real or more possible. (Honest History will probably…
Henry, Adam Hughes: The Gatekeepers of Australian Foreign Policy 1950-1966
Henry, Adam Hughes The Gatekeepers of Australian Foreign Policy 1950-1966, Australian Scholarly Publishing, North Melbourne, 2015 Analyses the role of, and networks between, important individuals, elected and in the bureaucracy, as they influenced the direction of Australian foreign policy during…
Orthodoxy at the top (review of Henry’s The Gatekeepers)
‘Orthodoxy at the top’ (review of Henry’s The Gatekeepers), Honest History, 26 April 2016 Derek Abbott* reviews The Gatekeepers of Australian Foreign Policy 1950-1966 by Adam Hughes Henry Examinations of the ‘culture’ of institutions, industries and sectors of society are…
Ankara calling: the rush to build the Ataturk Memorial in Anzac Parade, Canberra, 1984-85
‘Ankara calling: the rush to build the Atatürk Memorial in Anzac Parade, Canberra, 1984-85’, Honest History, 26 April 2016 (Note: a summary version of this article appeared in Pearls and Irritations.; an extended two-part version, using more sources, commences here.)…
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Across the sea to Ireland: Australians and the Easter Rising 1916 – highlights reel
‘Across the sea to Ireland: Australians and the Easter Rising 1916 – highlights reel’, Honest History, 26 April 2016 updated Update 22 February 2017: Stephanie James paper for UNSW Canberra: ‘Australian Political Perceptions of the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin’.…
Review note: Vietnam – the war that made us what?
‘Review note: Vietnam – the war that made us what?’ Honest History, 26 April 2016 SBS showed a three-part series on the Vietnam War, Vietnam: The War that Made Australia (now on video), which had an unusually narrow focus and…
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Tavan, Gwenda: Bipartisanship on immigration but racism, suspicion, division
Tavan, Gwenda ‘Ideas for Australia: bipartisanship on immigration does little to counter racism, suspicion and division‘, The Conversation, 20 April 2016 Immigration seems unlikely to be a big issue at the impending election, a matter which the author deprecates. [T]he…
Bain, Kevin: Review of Klaus Neumann’s Across the Seas: Australia’s response to refugees
Bain, Kevin ‘Review: Klaus Neumann’s Across the Seas: Australia’s response to refugees: a history‘, Independent Australia, 19 March 2016 Long, descriptive review of this book, published last year by Penguin, also reviewed in Fairfax, The Australian, Resident Judge blog, Sydney…
101st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide: Honest History miscellany
‘101st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide: another April date that today’s Australians overlook’, Honest History, 6 April 2016 updated Update 23 April 2019: a new book by Israeli historians, Benny Morris and Dror Ze’evi, The Thirty-Year Genocide, is reviewed by…
Wading deeper into the South China Sea: three thoughtful pieces
Update 22 July 2016: The international arbitration between China and the Philippines has been completed. Marion Diamond looks at the deep background, viz. Grotius and freedom of the seas. _________________________ Honest History has followed developments in the South China Sea…
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Brennan, Frank: Deja vu for Timor as Turnbull neglects boundary talks
Brennan, Frank ‘Deja vu for Timor as Turnbull neglects boundary talks‘, Eureka Street, 21 March 2016 Looks at the history of and recent developments in the boundary dispute between Timor Leste and Australia. Oil and gas lies beneath the sea…
Terrorism reprise in the wake of Belgian attacks and Lindt inquest: resources from the Honest History vault
We thought it would be useful today to bring out of the vault a collection we put together about a year ago on background to the then new anti-terrorism laws. It hangs off a review by Jeff Sparrow of a…
Defending the national tuckshop (again): Defence White Paper miscellany
Update 1 April 2016: four pieces on the South China Sea from former diplomats Broinowski, Miller and Woodward, published in Pearls and Irritations. ____________________ The title of this piece is pinched shamelessly from that of Michael Cathcart’s excellent book…
Stephens, David: Malcolm Turnbull’s post-Anzac pitch to the Australian Defence Force
Stephens, David ‘Malcolm Turnbull’s post-Anzac pitch to the Australian Defence Force‘, Pearls and Irritations, 2 March 2016 Looks at a recent speech from the prime minister and a later doorstop (just prior to the release of the Defence White Paper)…
In the wake of the White Paper: does arms spending lead to war?
With the release of the Defence White Paper today, we are reposting a paper that we first posted in November 2014. The paper asks the question, ‘Does arms spending lead to war?’ The summary of our paper is here and…
Venturini, VG (George): Towards an Australian republic
Venturini, VG (George) ‘Towards an Australian republic: parts 1-10’, Australian Independent Media Network, 2-11 February 2016 A series of essays from a veteran Australian commentator. The titles of all ten essays and links to them are set out below: Towards…
Daley, Paul: Peter FitzSimons gives republicanism a megaphone
Daley, Paul ‘Love him or hate him, Peter FitzSimons gives republicanism a megaphone‘, Guardian Australia, 24 February 2016 Looks at the rejuvenation of republicanism under Peter FitzSimons, including the support that has been extracted from most State premiers and chief…
Illogical two per centers still thrive in defence spend debate
Ahead of tomorrow’s release of the Defence White Paper we have this from the prime minister: Defence spending will reach 2% of Australia’s gross domestic product (GDP), the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull has confirmed, sticking with a commitment made by his predecessor,…
Arbuckle, Alex Q.: 1965-1975 another Vietnam: unseen images of the war from the winning side
Arbuckle, Alex Q. ‘1965-1975 another Vietnam: unseen images of the war from the winning side‘, Mashable, 5 February 2016 Next month, 8 March, is the 50th anniversary of the Australian government’s announcement that its commitment to the Vietnam War would…
McConnel, James & Peter Stanley: Australia fights Britain over Fromelles
McConnel, James & Peter Stanley ‘Fromelles: Australia picks a fresh fight with Britain over a 100-year-old battle‘, The Conversation, 10 February 2016 Riffs off Australian officials’ decision to exclude the families of British soldiers from attending the Fromelles commemoration in…
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Tidwell, Alan: Transitions in Australia-US relationship
Tidwell, Alan ‘Leaders weigh up a challenging year of transitions in the Australia-US relationship‘, The Conversation, 20 January 2016 updated US-based Australian analyst looks at prospects as Prime Minister Turnbull and President Obama meet. Includes a link to the prime…
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Ozakinci, Cengiz: Tale of the Anzacs who took Mustafa Kemal prisoner in 1918
Ozakinci, Cengiz ‘The tale of “the Anzacs who took Mustafa Kemal prisoner” in the Australian press’, Butun Dunya (Ankara), December 2015 (English translation: part I; part II) Chauvel, 1919 (AWM ART03340/JP Quinn) This is a translation provided by the author…
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Macken, Julie: Long journey to Nauru
Macken, Julie ‘The long journey to Nauru‘, New Matilda, 12 January 2016 Long article by former MSM (Financial Review) journalist on the history of Australian policy towards asylum seekers over the last 30 years or so. 30 years ago, it…
World War I internment case rings ‘national security’ bells today
What happens in Marrickville today would have been of interest to the enforcers of the War Precautions Act 1914 had it happened a century ago. Sunday, 22 November 2015, saw the Gallipoli Centenary Peace Campaign (GCPC) and St Brigid’s Parish…
Appleby, Gabrielle: what say do our elected representatives have in going to war?
Appleby, Gabrielle ‘What say do our elected representatives have in going to war?‘ The Conversation, 10 December 2015 updated The authorisation of military force is one of the most serious and consequential powers that governments possess. This power should be…
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McKenna, Mark & Stuart Ward: Anzac myth and creative memorialisation
McKenna, Mark & Stuart Ward ‘An Anzac myth: the creative memorialisation of Gallipoli‘, The Monthly, December 2015 (temporary pay-wall) Australian-Turkish friendship has become in 2015 a pillar of the Anzac legend. The work of Paul Daley and Cengiz Ozakinci (and,…
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Henry, Adam : Nation-state, killing and death
Henry, Adam ‘The nation-state, killing and death‘, Library of Social Science Guest Newsletter, 7 October 2015 The author examines some paradoxes and hypocrisies in how nations, even ‘modern’ nations, rationalise their involvement with war. Despite the fact that graphic images…
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White, Hugh: importance of self-reliance in defence
White, Hugh ‘Principle of self-reliance more important now than it has ever been‘, Sydney Morning Herald, 24 November 2015 The article looks at the implications of the government announcement that the Defence White Paper will not now be released until…
Smith, Evan: Australia and the fascist idea of Greater Britain
Smith, Evan ‘Australia and the fascist idea of Greater Britain‘, Imperial & Global Forum, 9 November 2015 Guest blog by an Australian scholar. Shows how important to Oswald Mosley’s 1930s British Union of Fascists (BUF) was to the maintenance of…
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Markus, Andrew: Scanlon Foundation Social Cohesion Survey 2015
Markus, Andrew ‘Social cohesion survey puts Abbott’s final months as PM in a new light‘, The Conversation, 29 October 2015 The author runs this annual survey and here summarises its main findings this time around. Links to the full report…
Tony Abbott 2015 and Enoch Powell 1968: compare and contrast
Update 20 September 2019: Ferdinand Mount on Powell Readers of a certain age and erudition will be aware of the ‘rivers of blood’ speech by senior British Conservative, Enoch Powell, in 1968. Powell warned of the dangers of ‘coloured’ and…
Kevin, Tony: Legislating for War Powers Reform
Kevin, Tony ‘Legislating for War Powers Reform: a report‘, Australians for War Powers Reform, 23 October 2015 and updated This is a report of a seminar held at the Australian National University on 23 October. It is reprinted here in…
Perlez, Jane: China pushes back against US influence
Perlez, Jane ‘China pushes back against U.S. influence in the seas of East Asia‘, New York Times, 28 October 2015 (updated) Update 1 November 2015: Honest History linked to this important article two days before the Australian Financial Review reproduced…
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Menadue, John: The Dismissal 40 years on
Menadue, John ‘The Dismissal – forty years on: a smoking gun‘, Pearls and Irritations, 29 October 2015 Menadue was the secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet at the time of The Dismissal. Here he comments on the…
Monteath, Peter & Valerie Munt: Red Professor
Monteath, Peter & Valerie Munt Red Professor: the Cold War Life of Fred Rose, Wakefield Press, Adelaide, 2015 Fred Rose’s life takes us through rip-roaring tales from Australia’s northern frontier to enthralling intellectual tussles over kinship systems and political dramas…
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Moses, John: Red professor in a cold war
John Moses* ‘Red professor in a cold war’ (review of Monteath and Munt), Honest History, 28 October 2015 John Moses reviews Red Professor: the Cold War Life of Fred Rose, by Peter Monteath and Valerie Munt In an extensively researched…
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Evershed, Nick & Michael Safi: timeline of national security changes since 2001
Evershed, Nick & Michael Safi ‘All of Australia’s national security changes since 9/11 in a timeline‘, Guardian Australia, 19 October 2015 (updated) In case you haven’t been keeping up surveillance on recent history, here is a useful guide to 2002-15,…
Raymond, Greg: dangerous rhetoric on South China Sea
Greg Raymond ‘Rhetoric on South China Sea sets dangerous tone‘, New Mandala, 16 October 2015 (updated) The author warns about over-hyping Chinese activities in the South China Sea and about downplaying what can be done by regional bodies, such as…
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Menadue, John: Radicalism and terrorism
Menadue, John ‘Radicalism and terrorism‘, Pearls and Irritations, 15 October 2015 The author makes an important distinction, noting that radicalism and terrorism are not the same thing. Radical politics and radical religion are surely acceptable and widespread. But what is…
Wesley, Michael: Restless Continent
Wesley, Michael Restless Continent: Wealth, Rivalry, and Asia’s New Geopolitics, BlackInc, Melbourne, 2015; available electronically The world has never seen economic development as rapid or significant as Asia’s during recent decades. Home to three-fifths of humanity, this restless continent will…
Watching the neighbours (review of Wesley)
‘Watching the neighbours’ (review of Wesley), Honest History, 13 October 2015 Derek Abbott* reviews Michael Wesley’s Restless Continent: Wealth, Rivalry and Asia’s New Geopolitics Robert Burns enjoined us to see ourselves as others see us; Michael Wesley would also have…
Kevin, Tony: sclerotic Australian foreign policy needs shake-up
Kevin, Tony ‘Australian foreign policy needs a shake-up after two decades of sclerotic decline‘, The Conversation, 1 October 2015 The author, a commentator and former diplomat, argues that the last two decades were years of sclerosis and decline in Australia’s once creative…
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Fifty years since Indonesia coup: Honest History miscellany
‘Fifty years since Indonesia coup: Honest History miscellany’, Honest History, 1 October 2015(updated) On the night of 30 September-1 October 1965 anti-communist forces in Indonesia quelled an alleged nascent coup attributed to the Indonesian communist party, the PKI. The coup…
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‘After all these years’: Wilfred Burchett highlights reel
‘After all these years: Wilfred Burchett highlights reel’, Honest History, 30 September 2015 Wilfred Burchett shouldered his way back into Honest History’s consideration recently, first, when we revived his justly famous article about Hiroshima and, secondly, when we were pointed…
Wilfred Burchett recalled by Rupert Lockwood: highlights reel (II)
‘Wilfred Burchett recalled by Rupert Lockwood: highlights reel (II)’, Honest History, 30 September 2015 This post follows on from our earlier extracts from a long, undated (but circa 1994) essay by Rupert Lockwood (1908-97), another Australian internationalist, in which he…
Burnside, Julian: what sort of country are we?
Burnside, Julian ‘What sort of country are we?‘ The Conversation, 29 September 2015 Article based on the Hamer Oration, delivered 28 September. Examines incidents in Australia’s treatment of refugees over the last decade and a half, considering Tampa, the Pacific…
Grudnoff, Matt & Dan Gilchrist: decline of Australian foreign aid
Grudnoff, Matt & Dan Gilchrist Charity Ends at Home: the Decline of Foreign Aid in Australia – Policy Brief, September 2015, Australia Institute & Jubilee Australia Research Centre, Canberra, 2015 A brief historical view of Australia’s foreign aid performance over…
Infrastructure development in South China Sea
Honest History has followed intermittently developments in the South China Sea, partly because of their potential to escalate but also because of the echoes they evoke of long-standing Australian attitudes to Asia and long-standing Australian concerns to ensure we benefit…
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Ferns, Nicholas: Papua New Guinea 40 years after independence
Ferns, Nicholas ‘PNG marks 40 years of independence, still feeling the effects of Australian colonialism‘, The Conversation, 16 September 2015 September 16 marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the sovereign nation of Papua New Guinea. Celebrations are being held throughout…
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Beams, Nick: PM Turnbull and China
Beams, Nick ‘Foreign policy dilemmas confront new Australian PM over China‘, World Socialist Web Site, 18 September 2015 Long article dissecting the new prime minister’s attitudes to China taking note of some key speeches. A useful addition to whatever analysis…
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Brangwin, Nicole, et al: history of Australia’s defence white papers
Brangwin, Nicole, Nathan Church, Steve Dyer & David Watt Defending Australia: a History of Australia’s Defence White Papers: Parliamentary Library Research Paper 2015-16, 20 August 2015 This is a timely publication, given the recent extended commitment to Iraq-Syria, defence spending…
Ozakinci, Cengiz: how Ataturk did not meet Birdwood in 1918
Ozakinci, Cengiz ‘One hundred years of error: Ataturk, Birdwood, Harington and Canakkale 1915‘, Butun Dunya (Ankara), September 2015 (translated into English) In this article, Ozakinci busts the myth that Ataturk and British General Birdwood met in Istanbul in October 1918 and…
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Syrian action needs reconsideration, says war powers reform group
Update 11 September 2015: Senator Ludlam speaks Greens Senator Scott Ludlam (WA) makes the case for Parliament having a role in decisions to go to war. Update 6 September 2015: Alison Broinowski writes Alison Broinowski, Honest History vice president and…
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Wilfred Burchett recalled by Rupert Lockwood: highlights reel (I)
‘Wilfred Burchett recalled by Rupert Lockwood: highlights reel (I)’, Honest History, 1 September 2015 Recently we ran Wilfred Burchett’s famous report of the immediate aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima. That post included some links to material on this enigmatic…
Australia. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Armenian genocide FOI documents
Australia. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade FOI disclosure log reference nos 15/25024 and others, Freedom of Information This material was disclosed under FOI to Vache Kahramanian on behalf of the Armenian National Committee of Australia. Reference number 15/25024 is…
Talking about Turkey in the 1960s: highlights reel
‘Talking about Turkey in the 1960s: highlights reel’, Honest History, 22 August 2015 The Returned and Services League (RSL) papers in the National Library of Australia constitute about the largest of that cultural institution’s massive collection of manuscripts. And about…
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Banivanua Mar, Tracey: Pacific people and war in Pacific
Banivanua Mar, Tracey ‘Remember the Pacific’s people when we remember the war in the Pacific‘, The Conversation, 19 August 2015 Summarises the story of war in the Pacific from the point-of-view of the people who lived there and had to…
Broinowski, Alison: mission creep into Syria
Broinowski, Alison ‘Borderless war or, when you get in a hole, stop digging‘, Pearls and Irritations, 15 August 2015 The United States has formally asked for Australian involvement in Syria. Honest History vice president had already posted this article on…
Comment on Salahi Sonyel’s 1989 Ataturk biography
David Stephens ‘Comments on Salahi Sonyel’s 1989 Ataturk biography’, Honest History, 14 August 2015 Thank you to Turkish correspondents on Twitter for passing on details of the book by Salahi R. Sonyel, Ataturk: the Father of Modern Turkey, Turkish Historical…
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Ozakinci, Cengiz: two more articles on ‘Ataturk words’ of 1934
Ozakinci, Cengiz Updates 14 August 2015: (1) we provide a comment on Turkish-supplied information about a 1989 book; (2) note that, for footnote 5 to the second (August) Ozakinci article, you need to go to the notes in the original…
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Stanley, Peter: Çanakkale conference reflections 2015
Stanley, Peter ‘Headphones, genocide and Fanta: reflections on the Çanakkale Gallipoli conference’, Honest History, 4 August 2015 This is an extended report of a major international conference held at Çanakkale, Turkey, in May 2015, with participants from many countries. The…
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Çanakkale Gallipoli conference reflections 2015
Peter Stanley ‘Headphones, genocide and Fanta: reflections on the Çanakkale Gallipoli conference’, Honest History, 4 August 2015 ‘International’ conferences are often hard work, hard to organise, hard to fund, hard to run and hard to attend, especially as an ‘international’…
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Menadue, John: militarisation the new norm
Menadue, John ‘Militarisation, the new norm‘, Pearls and Irritations, 27 July 2015 Menadue, distinguished former senior public servant, writes on his blog about the increasing militarisation of Australia, through the creation of the Australian Border Force, military vice-regal appointments, warlike…
Sparrow, Jeff: fascism not always an Australian freakshow
Sparrow, Jeff ‘If you oppose Reclaim Australia, remember fascism wasn’t always a freak show‘, Guardian Australia, 22 July 2015 Riffs off a minor ‘scandal’ over film of Queen Elizabeth as a seven-year-old essaying a Nazi salute (links to other articles…
ANZUS-China miscellany
‘ANZUS-China miscellany’, Honest History, 17 July 2015 Update 18 July 2015: Chinese Ambassador Ma attempts to reassure Australia about China’s benign intentions. _____________________________ Recently Honest History collected some material on China-Japan-Australia-US relations and ran it under the heading ‘Spratlyswatch’. While…
Tavan, Gwenda: Immigration Department nation-building
Tavan, Gwenda ‘Remembering the “old” Department of Immigration’s nation-building traditions‘, The Conversation, 14 July 2015 As the old Immigration department merges with the Customs service to form a fully-fledged border protection operation, this article (and two associated ones linked to…
Tooze, Adam: Deluge, Great War and remaking global order
Tooze, Adam The Deluge: the Great War and the Remaking of Global Order 1916-1931, Allen Lane, London, 2014; electronic version available; US edition has different title Adam Tooze’s panoramic new book tells a radical, new story of the struggle for…
Deluge: Great War and remaking global order
‘Deluge: Great War and remaking global order’, Honest History, 7 July 2015 Adam Tooze’s book is reviewed by Derek Abbott* ________________ The causes of World War I are the source of seemingly endless debate. From Prussian military hubris or German…
McQueen, Humphrey: 1977 piece on the early days of Quadrant
McQueen, Humphrey ‘Quadrant and the CIA’, Gallipoli to Petrov: Arguing with Australian History, George Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1984, pp. 180-95 (pdf of out-of-copyright material made available by the author) This piece was originally written in 1977. (You will need…
“Whose side are you on?” (II): Honest History Factsheet
‘”Whose side are you on?” (II): Honest History Factsheet’, Honest History, 27 June 2015 Some recent askers of the question ‘Whose side are they on?’ may not have been aware of the distinguished pedigree of these words or words very…
Newton, Douglas: “Whose side are you on?”
Newton, Douglas ‘“Whose side are you on?”‘ Honest History, 27 June 2015 To cast doubt on the patriotism of those who do not participate in a hate-the-enemy auction has a long and ignoble history. Those who defend civil liberties, those…
“Whose side are you on?”
Douglas Newton ‘”Whose side are you on?”‘ Honest History, 27 June 2015 Saluting the flag, New York 1942 (Wikimedia Commons/Marie Winn) ‘Again, I say, the issue for the ABC, our national broadcaster, is “whose side are you on?” Because all too…
Oliver, Alex: Lowy Institute Poll 2015
Oliver, Alex ‘Lowy Institute Poll 2015‘, Lowy Institute, 16 June 2015 KEY FINDINGS:This year’s Poll has recorded the lowest feeling of safety among Australians, and the sharpest decline in optimism about the nation’s economic performance in the world, in our…
O’Brien, Patricia: Anzacs in the Pacific
O’Brien, Patricia ‘The ANZACs in the Pacific – myths in Empire‘, Australian Outlook, 12 June 2015 Notes the 1914 actions by New Zealand in Samoa and Australia in New Guinea and how they developed into post-war colonialism. The end of…
Curran, James: Whitlam and Nixon at war
Curran, James Unholy Fury: Whitlam and Nixon at War, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Vic., 2015 (e-book available) In the early 1970s, two titans of Australian and American politics, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and President Richard Nixon, clashed over the end…
No-go zones: review of James Curran’s Unholy Fury
‘No-go zones: review of James Curran’s Unholy Fury’, Honest History, 15 June 2015 Alison Broinowski reviews James Curran, Unholy Fury: Whitlam and Nixon at War Has anyone else noticed that the world has a growing number of places that are…
Magna Carta miscellany
‘Magna Carta miscellany’, Honest History, 9 June 2015 Update 8 July 2015: Malcolm Turnbull on Magna Carta and related issues. Update 15 June 2015: leader from the Guardian with the interesting title of ‘the magic of myth’. _________________________ Next Monday,…
Dapin, Mark: The Nashos’ War
Dapin, Mark The Nashos’ War: Australia’s National Servicemen and Vietnam, Penguin Viking, Melbourne, 2014 [O]ur ideas of national service contain strange contradictions and inaccuracies: that the draft was unpopular but militarily necessary; that the nashos in Vietnam all volunteered to…
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Ackland, Richard: Mass surveillance and servants of the state
Ackland, Richard ‘Mass surveillance makes us servants of the state: that’s chilling‘, Guardian Australia, 26 May 2015 Text of the PEN Free Voices lecture at the Sydney Writers Festival, 24 May 2015. There were more than 50 comments. Censorship, control…
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Broinowski, Alison: Australians for War Powers Reform initiative
Broinowski, Alison, et al ‘Australians for War Powers Reform initiative‘, PerthIndyMedia, 11 May 2015 Alison Broinowski is with AWPR, is Honest History’s vice president and the co-editor of a book shortly to be published, How Does Australia Go to War?,…
40 years on, reflections on the fall of Saigon: Honest History list
’40 years on, reflections on the fall of Saigon: Honest History list’, Honest History, 18 May 2015 STOP PRESS: 8.00pm, 19 May: Sam Bateman of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute asks whether the US knows what it is doing sending…
China, the US and Australia: Honest History Factsheet
’18 months of China, the United States and Australia: Honest History Factsheet’, Honest History, 16 May 2015 (updated) UPDATE 22 June 2015: James Laurenceson and Hannah Bretherton discuss the ACRI poll (see below 3 June) and other aspects. ‘What does…
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Sparrow, Jeff: not entirely innocent (anti-terror laws resources)
Sparrow, Jeff ‘Not entirely innocent‘, Sydney Review of Books, 17 April 2015 updated This is a lengthy review article of Inside Australia’s Anti-Terrorism Laws and Trials by Andrew Lynch, Nicola McGarrity and George Williams, recently published by NewSouth. The blurb for…
Keating, Michael & John Menadue, ed.: Fairness, opportunity and security
Keating, Michael & John Menadue, ed. ‘Fairness, opportunity and security: a policy series‘, Pearls and Irritations, 11 May 2015 (updated) Update 27 May 2015: There have been 20 or so papers already on democratic renewal, the role of government, foreign…
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Yanikdag, Yucel: politics of Gallipoli – Turkish view
Yanikdag, Yucel ‘The battle of Gallipoli: the politics of remembering and forgetting in Turkey‘, Comillas Journal of International Relations [Madrid], 2, 2015, pp. 99-115 Differences in the competing versions of public memory for the Battle of Gallipoli have become more…
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Daley, Paul: Ataturk’s words about Anzacs shrouded in doubt
Daley, Paul ‘Ataturk’s “Johnnies and Mehmets” words about the Anzacs are shrouded in doubt‘, Guardian Australia, 20 April 2015 and updated Examines the famous Ataturk words of 1934, drawing upon research by the Turkish scholar, Cengiz Ozakinci. Links to a…
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Tracking Ataturk: Honest History research note
Tracking Ataturk: Honest History research note NB: for later research on this subject go here Introduction Myths often take the place of history, particularly when stories are complex, facts are lacking, and audiences need comfort. This outcome seems to have…
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Bearlin, Margaret et al: Women’s power to stop war
Bearlin, Margaret with the assistance of Cynthia James and Mary Ziesak ‘Women’s power to stop war: Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom 1915 to 2015‘, Honest History, 14 April 2015 The article marks the centenary of the International Congress…
Women’s power to stop war
Margaret Bearlin in association with Cynthia James and Mary Ziesak ‘Women’s power to stop war: Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom 1915 to 2015’, Honest History, 14 April 2015 2015 marks not only the centenary of Anzac; it is…
Horner, David: The Spy Catchers: ASIO
Horner, David The Spy Catchers: the Official History of ASIO, 1949-1963, Allen & Unwin, St Leonards, NSW, 2014; available electronically David Horner’s book is the first of three volumes on ASIO. (The next two volumes are by John Blaxland.) ‘For…
Is David Horner’s official history of ASIO ‘honest history’?
‘Is David Horner’s official history of ASIO “honest history”? Was Colonel Spry a traitor?’, Honest History, 14 April 2015 Ernst Willheim discusses The Spy Catchers: the Official History of ASIO, 1949-1963, by David Horner . The article was originally an…
Hemming, Judy & Michael McKinley: Anzac’s wars
Hemming, Judy & Michael McKinley ‘Anzac’s wars: remembering and its resistances‘, Honest History, 10 April 2015 The authors look at recent decisions in Australian and New Zealand defence policy in the light of their shared and occasionally diverging history. The…
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Anzac’s wars: remembering and its resistances
Judy Hemming & Michael McKinley ‘Anzac’s wars: remembering and its resistances’, Honest History, 10 April 2015 A prefatory comment This paper speaks of the regional responses by Australia and New Zealand to certain major wars. This does not imply that…
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Fear, politics and what wins elections
‘There are three things that will guarantee votes in an election: favors, hope, and personal attachment. You must work to give these incentives to the right people.’ Cicero, How to Win an Election: an Ancient Guide for Modern Politicians (64 BC) translated Philip…
Ramsey, Alan: saying no to America
Ramsey, Alan ‘Australia’s deferential treatment of the United States has gone on too long‘, Sydney Morning Herald, 27 March 2015 Takes a historical look at the Australian-American alliance, concluding ‘you can have no doubt Australia is losing its future as…
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Broinowski, Alison: ANZUS minus NZ, again?
Broinowski, Alison ‘ANZUS minus NZ, again?‘ Honest History, 25 March 2015 Considers Trans-Tasman efforts to get into the war in Iraq, particularly current New Zealand actions. Dr Broinowski is a committee member of Honest History and of Australians for War…
ANZUS minus NZ, again?
‘ANZUS minus NZ, again?’ Honest History, 26 March 2015 Alison Broinowski keeps up with Trans-Tasman manoeuvres Tony Abbott’s visit to New Zealand on 26 February was carefully coordinated with John Key’s announcement of a Kiwi military deployment to Iraq (see…
Burgmann, Meredith, ed.: Dirty Secrets: our ASIO files
Burgmann, Meredith, ed. Dirty Secrets: our ASIO Files, NewSouth, Sydney, 2014; e-book available Well-known Australians – mavericks, activists, movers and shakers – reflect on their own ASIO files. In this moving, funny and sometimes chilling book, leading Australians open their…
Gaita, Raimond: balancing security and liberty
Gaita, Raimond ‘Can Australia ever strike the “proper balance” between security and liberty?‘ Guardian Australia, 28 February 2015 Honest History had collected links to many articles written over the last few months about national security issues, triggered by fears of…
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Military-industrial complex has suburban reach: Honest History Factsheet
Update 20 June 2016: Canadian example of how an arms manufacturer manipulates the local employment angle. __________________ Since the days of muskets and Gatling guns Australian forces have used weapons built somewhere else. In the modern era, being locked into…
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Broinowski, Alison: Citizenfour reviewed
Broinowski, Alison ‘Surveillance is control: Citizenfour reviewed’, Honest History, 15 February 2015 Australia has form in surveillance. The Keepsakes exhibition at the National Library of Australia has the caption ‘A wartime police state’ on exhibits depicting the Hughes Government’s actions…
Tiffen, Rodney: Strategic omissions: Howard on Menzies
Tiffen, Rodney ‘Strategic omissions‘, Inside Story, 29 January 2015 A review of John Howard’s The Menzies Era: the Years that Shaped Modern Australia. The greatest appeal of the book is that it is written from the perspective of an experienced…
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Howard, John: Menzies era
Howard, John The Menzies Era: the Years that Shaped Modern Australia, Harper Collins, Sydney, 2014, e-book available Our longest-serving prime minister considered by our second longest-serving. There is a sample at the link above and here and reviews may be…
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Afterwards
The end of World War I brought to Australians not tranquillity but unrest and anxiety, political, economic, cultural (a sense of being swamped by alien influences) and moral. Bolshevism threatened all, and explained to the establishment nearly every act of working-class…
Highlights reel: James Fallows on US military has Australian relevance
‘Highlights reel: James Fallows on “The tragedy of the American military”‘, Honest History, 14 January 2015 This long article in The Atlantic, January-February 2015, examines American attitudes to the military but makes points applicable to Australia, given the long-running change…
Jakubowicz, Andrew: Nine race riots that made Australia
Jakubowicz, Andrew ‘The nine race riots that made Australia – for better and worse‘, The Conversation, 9 January 2015 Spin-off from Peter FitzSimons’s television program, The Great Australian Race Riot, on SBS-TV. The author, a consultant to the program, suggests…
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Moorhouse, Frank: Australia under surveillance
Moorhouse, Frank Australia under Surveillance, Random House, North Sydney, 2014; available as e-book This year ASIO has extended its surveillance powers, made the issuing of warrants easier and limited the freedom of journalists. At a time when the government has…
The new normal: Frank Moorhouse reviewed
‘The new normal’, Honest History, 2 December 2014 Alison Broinowski reviews Frank Moorhouse’s Australia under Surveillance I wish I still had that very old Disney comic that showed ducks in raincoats on a beach, hiding one behind the other under…
Knaap, Aden: internationalism in early 20th century Australia
Knaap, Aden ‘Family matters: internationalism in early 20th century Australia‘, Honest History, 2 December 2014 Examines the development and role of League of Nations Unions in Australia during the 1920s and 1930s and notes some parallel developments in Britain. Argues…
Internationalism in early 20th century Australia
Aden Knaap ‘Family matters: internationalism in early 20th century Australia’, Honest History, 2 December 2014 In mid-November this year Tony Abbott convened a Joint Sitting of Federal Parliament to welcome British Prime Minister David Cameron to Australia. The Australian Prime…
Schultz, Julianne, et al: What is Australia For?
Schultz, Julianne, et al ‘What is Australia For?‘ Griffith Review 36, Autumn 2012 An extensive collection tries to answer the question posed in the title. Julianne Schultz’s introduction, ‘A question with many answers‘, suggests that ‘[t]he emerging Asian century’ provides…
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Unhappy High Commissioner
If I stayed in Scotland … I should have been able to heckle my member on questions of Imperial policy and vote for or against him on that ground. I went to Australia. I have been Prime Minister. But all the time I have had…
Whitlam back from China 1971
The foreign policy of this country [Australia] is in ruins; the foundations on which it rested for more than twenty years have crumbled. Yet we pass on with scarcely a tremor of alarm or a gesture of remorse. There is…
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Sheedy, Chris: For queen & country
Sheedy, Chris ‘For queen & country‘, Canberra Times, 31 October 2014 Useful corrective to the ‘other people’s wars’ argument about Australia’s entry into World War I. Quotes at length from historian, Craig Stockings, about how most Australians of 1914 saw…
Stephens, David: does arms spending lead to war?
Stephens, David ‘Does arms spending lead to war?‘ Honest History, 4 November 2014 and updated The article compares defence spending as a proportion of gross domestic product – the proportion has been around two per cent for more than 50…
Does arms spending lead to war?
David Stephens ‘Does arms spending lead to war?’ Honest History, 4 November 2014 The concepts of Australian defence spending as a proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and as a proportion of total expenditure are both well-known. The former particularly…
Schultz, Julianne et al.: Travelling a small world
Schultz, Julianne, et al. ‘Small world‘, Griffith Review 37, Spring 2012 A selection of articles exploring Australians as travellers. In ‘Footloose, fancy-free’, Schultz notes that ‘Australians are travelling more than ever, but whether this has fostered a sense of well…
Henry, Ken: Public policy and economic reform
Henry, Ken ‘Public policy resilience and the reform narrative‘, ANU News, 18 September 2014 A lecture delivered at the Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU, 16 September 2014. The lecture focuses on two questions: how should one assess the wealth…
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Australian Quarterly: 85 years in 85 days
Australian Quarterly 85 Years in 85 Days – AQ Celebrates Australian Quarterly, which claims to be Australia’s oldest current affairs magazine, temporarily lowered its paywall early in 2014 to give free access to articles published from 1929 to 1989 (which…
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Diamadis, Panayiotis: Broken Hill and Syria
Diamadis, Panayiotis ‘History repeating: from the Battle of Broken Hill to the sands of Syria‘, The Conversation, 3 October 2014 Compares the events surrounding the attack by two Afghans on picnickers at Broken Hill on New Year’s Day 1915 with…
ABC RN Saturday Extra: ASEAN and Australia
ABC Radio National ‘ASEAN and Australia 40 years on‘, Saturday Extra, 13 September 2014 Geraldine Doogue talks to Anthony Milner (audio, no transcript), author of an Asialink report on 40 years of Australia’s relations with ASEAN. The report is online…
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Rudd, Kevin: WWI centenary lessons
Rudd, Kevin ‘Centenary lessons: twentieth century Europe & twenty-first century Asia‘, Horizons (Centre for International Relations and Sustainable Development), September 2014 Based on a lecture delivered in Berlin in May 2014. In this important year of international reflection on the…
SBS News: Where immigrants were born: map
SBS News Where Australia’s Immigrants were Born Interactive maps, based on the 2011 census, for all capital cities and for the nation via local government areas, showing top three countries of birth for immigrants to Australia. Browsing and clicking is…
PM and President: the usual channels
Following are some statements by Prime Minister Abbott and then President George W. Bush, announcing action against terror groups and ‘jihadists’. ‘Regrettably, around the world and in this country itself, there are people who would do us harm. There are…
Wesley, Michael: Meaning of China
Wesley, Michael ‘The meaning of China‘, Griffith Review, 41, July 2013 The question of how Chinese power will affect the world and what it will mean is hugely significant for Australia. Although China has been a great power in the…
Schultz, Julianne et al.: Looking to New Zealand
Schultz, Julianne ‘Looking east’, Griffith Review, 43, January 2014 The author, born in New Zealand but now based in Australia, introduces an edition of Griffith Review devoted to New Zealand and titled ‘Pacific highways‘. The dream of a united Australasia…
Pybus, Cassandra: China and Tasmania
Pybus, Cassandra ‘China in the Tasmanian imaginary‘, Griffith Review, 39, January 2013 Towards the end of the 19th century, a vibrant Chinese community existed in northeastern Tasmania based on tin mining. The now tiny hamlet of Weldborough was the centre…
Bridge, Carl et al, ed.: Australian High Commissioners, London
Bridge, Carl, Frank Bongiorno & David Lee, ed. The High Commissioners: Australia’s Representatives in the United Kingdom, 1910-2010, Australia. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Canberra, 2010 Full text (340 pages) of collection of articles on the London connection, brought…
With respect to John Burton
Edwards, Clive T. ‘With respect to John Burton’, Honest History, 10 September 2014 Rob Foot’s article (‘The curious case of Dr John Burton’, Quadrant, November 2013) denigrates the character and contribution of John Burton by reference to incidents that were…
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Edwards, Clive T.: With respect to John Burton
Edwards, Clive T. ‘With respect to John Burton‘, Honest History, 10 September 2014 At a time (2014) when governments are increasingly relying on advice from security services to help them formulate policy, the history of events which have attracted the…
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Lockyer, Adam: Team Australia and the Free World
Lockyer, Adam ‘Team Australia: leader of the Free World‘, ABC The Drum, 4 September 2014 One of many articles commenting on Australian foreign policy initiatives in relation to Iraq and Ukraine, this one attempting to link to historic Australian approaches…
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Cotton, James & David Lee, ed.: Australia and the UN
Cotton, James & David Lee Australia and the United Nations, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Canberra, 2012 Comprehensive and well-illustrated publication (available in hard copy as well as online) with chapters by the editors, academics Neville Meaney, Peter Carroll,…
Burton, Pamela: John Burton, undermined by dishonest history
Burton, Pamela ‘John Burton: undermined by dishonest history’, Honest History, 1 September 2014 The illustrated text of an Honest History lecture at Manning Clark House, Canberra, 18 August 2014. The author is a Canberra lawyer and writer and the daughter…
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Hermes and Eirene: exploring history and peace
Two new websites have just launched, addressing matters of great interest. The first, Historical Encounters, a venture of the Hermes group at the University of Newcastle, is an online journal of historical consciousness, historical cultures and history education. Historical Encounters…
Retired Air Marshal speaks frankly about Iraq
Update: 2 September 2014: decision having been made to provide arms to Kurds, James Brown from the Lowy Institute, ex Australian Army, author of Anzac’s Long Shadow, lists some fallacies relating to this new involvement. It puts a different perspective…
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World Socialist multiple authors: Australia’s Anzac Day
World Socialist multiple authors ‘Australia’s Anzac Day – the gap between official rhetoric and popular sentiments‘, World Socialist Web Site, 26 April 2014 Describes Anzac Day as traditionally ‘an official occasion for the promotion of militarism’. This year there has…
December in Kabul, 1841
In December 1841, the British Envoy in Kabul, Sir William McNaghten, wrote to his superior, Lord Auckland, in these terms, as the British occupying force prepared to leave Afghanistan. ‘We shall part with the Afghans as friends, and I feel…
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Coining our history
Australian anthropologist Ian McIntosh at Indiana University is trying to work out whether five coins found in the Northern Territory during World War II are evidence that sailors from Africa reached Australia up to 900 years ago. The coins originated…
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Britain’s biggest error?
‘Britain entering first world war was “biggest error in modern history”” (English historian Niall Ferguson; attracting 800 comments) ‘If war breaks out, it will be the greatest catastrophe the world has ever seen’. (British Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, 1914,…
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Glanville, Edith: An Australian visits the Yazidis of Iraq 1929
Glanville, Edith ‘Devil worshippers: a Kurdistan cult‘, Sydney Morning Herald, 22 June 1929 A detailed description of a visit to the Yazidis, believed to be the first such visit by an Australian woman. Gives an insight into both customs and…
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Defence Issues Paper says US Alliance still central
The Minister for Defence, Senator Johnston, has released a Defence Issues Paper setting out issues that will be addressed in the Defence White Paper to come out in 2015. Of particular interest is the statement about the long-standing American Alliance,…
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Highlights reel: HB Higgins on militarism
‘Highlights reel: HB Higgins on militarism’, Honest History, 11 July 2014 There may be a generational aspect to intellectual endeavour among public men and women. Whether it is because statesmen (very few stateswomen then) at the turn of the twentieth…
Highlights reel: HB Higgins on the yellow peril
‘Highlights reel: HB Higgins on the yellow peril’, Honest History, 2 July 2014 White staff, Ocean Island (Kanakas on the left), 1907 (source: National Archives of Australia, R32, 6425388) Our first highlights reel presented HB Higgins as a socialist; and…
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Greig, Andrew: Taming war
Greig, Andrew Taming War: Culture and Technology for Peace, Peace Power Press, Avalon Beach, NSW, 2007 War is a very poor way to settle differences. Most of us know it’s stupid, but war goes on. It seems a shame that…
Hoskins, Ian: NSW coast
Hoskins, Ian Coast: a History of the New South Wales Edge, NewSouth, Sydney, 2013 From Eden to Byron Bay the New South Wales coast is more than 2000 kilometres long, with 130 estuaries, 100 coastal lakes and a rich history. …
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Waterford, Jack: Australia’s McCarthy era
Waterford, Jack ‘Unravelling Australia’s own McCarthy era‘, Inside Story, 30 May 2014 While the article rejects the allegation that the Petrov espionage affair was deliberately engineered to electorally damage the Australian Labor Party and its Leader, Dr HV Evatt, it…
Cahill, Rowan: Enemy within
Cahill, Rowan ‘The enemy within‘, Overland, 24 April 2014 Short article on how Australia’s defence forces have been deployed domestically throughout our history, in the Frontier Wars, the Rum Corps era in early New South Wales, during strikes from the…
Clarke, Patricia: Australian propaganda in the 1950s
Clarke, Patricia ‘Bias for good or ill? Australian Government overseas propaganda in the 1950s‘, ISAA Articles The author was a journalist in the Australian News and Information Bureau (ANIB) in the 1950s, particularly writing news and features for publication in Asia.…
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Broinowski, Alison: Fascism and Fraser
Broinowski, Alison ‘Silent conspirators: Fascism and Fraser’, Honest History, 22 May 2014 and updated All fascist regimes and organisations have used the power of nationalism and national security as a motivator, as Australia has increasingly done. But no other country…
O’Lincoln, Tom: Neighbour from Hell: Two Centuries of Australian Imperialism
O’Lincoln, Tom The Neighbour from Hell: Two Centuries of Australian Imperialism, Interventions, Melbourne, 2014 Tom O’Lincoln is a long-standing contributor to Australian political and historical discussion from the Marxist and Trotskyist perspective. Here he considers Australia’s history of participation in…
Australia as Imperialist ‘Neighbour from Hell’
Richard Thwaites reviews Tom O’Lincoln’s book The Neighbour from Hell: Two Centuries of Australian Imperialism (Interventions, Melbourne, 2014) Tom O’Lincoln is a long-standing contributor to Australian political and historical discussion from the Marxist and Trotskyist perspective. This book is published…
Scanlon Foundation: social cohesion in Australia
Scanlon Foundation Mapping Social Cohesion Surveys [2007-date] Since 2007 the surveys have mapped ‘how Australia in the future can maintain the “immigration with social cohesion” success story of the last 5 decades’. In them, there is discussion of public opinion…
Maloney, Shane & Chris Grosz: Franz Ferdinand and platypus
Maloney, Shane & Chris Grosz ‘Archduke Franz Ferdinand & the platypus‘, The Monthly, May 2011 Whimsically explores the visit to Australia in 1893 of the unfortunate Archduke, noting his penchant for barbecued meat and for shooting large amounts of wildlife,…
Manne, Robert: Unlikely radical Malcolm Fraser
Manne, Robert ‘An unlikely radical‘, Sydney Morning Herald, 26 April 2014 Lengthy article based on interview with former prime minister, Malcolm Fraser, about his forthcoming book, Dangerous Allies. Fraser believes Australia should cut all military ties to the United States.…
Gourley, Paddy: Two-percenters and defence spending
Gourley, Paddy ‘Two-per centers and defence spending’, Honest History, 30 April 2014 293 Two per cent spending Shibboleths, sacred cows and knee-jerk reactions abound in government and politics. Paddy Gourley nails one that afflicts the nation’s defence as well as…
Broinowski, Alison: Long way from Adelaide
Broinowski, Alison ‘A long way from Adelaide’, Honest History, 30 April 2014 295 Broinowski Long way from Adelaide Alison Broinowski explores connections between some Australian expatriates in China, some exotic figures from elsewhere and private schools in Adelaide and Sydney.…
Poole, RJ: Anzac speech Lismore 2014
Poole, RJ ‘Anzac Speech, 25 April 2014, Remembering and Healing service, Lismore’, Honest History, 30 April 2014 I think it’s appropriate that we honour those Australians who have died in a theatre of conflict – and I think it’s right…
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