Honest History secretary David Stephens was invited to write an article for AEU Educator, the magazine of the ACT Branch of the Australian Education Union. The article is online and in the hard copy version (page 25 in both versions).…
Search results for: David Stephens
Honest History list: seven resources on teaching history
The Honest History website includes a number of items tagged ‘Teaching history’. Some of them are also tagged ‘Using and abusing history’. Here is a selection: Parkes and Sharp analyse how five secondary history textbooks treat Gallipoli and Simpson and…
Anzac centenary sensitivity
Sometimes news items pass you by then return with renewed vigour. Such was the case for Honest History with the Battle of Bita Paka in September 1914, recently commemorated. Bita Paka, in the then German New Guinea, was ‘little more…
Anzac Centenary Local Grants Program: Honest History Factsheet No. 3
Minister Ronaldson’s media release of 1 September included these key points: $975 000 in new funding approved; total of 331 applications from 72 electorates approved so far, worth $3.34 million; more than 1700 applications received. Speaking in the Senate the…
McQueen, Humphrey: Pioneering writing on Frontier Wars
McQueen, Humphrey ‘The real battle for Australia: pioneering writing on the Frontier Wars (Parts I-III)’, Honest History, 2 September 2014 Introduction by David Stephens With the co-operation of the author, we have collected here three pieces of writing by historian…
Honest History list: wartime spin
One hundred years ago today, 1 September 1914, this item appeared in The Brisbane Courier: THE BRITISH FORCES. OFFICIAL V. OTHER REPORTS. A REASSURING STATEMENT. LONDON, Sunday Night The Government Press Bureau states that its account of the fortunes of…
The War that Changed Us (Ep. 2): euphoria becomes hard slog
We were a bit late catching up with this week’s episode but this is what we thought. Episode 2 of The War that Changed Us grasps how quickly the mood changed in World War I, both among the men who…
Jauncey, the Bish and Fisher in Albert Park (2 September 2014)
Before large cars with drivers ferried them around, many politicians lived in inner suburbs to be near public transport. This was particularly so when the Commonwealth Parliament met in Melbourne, as it did until 1927. Albert Park was one such…
The War that Changed Us not rose-tinted
There is lots of Anzac nostalgia television in the offing, with Anzac Girls notably underway already, leaving a somewhat frothy impression, though it is apparently based on diaries at the time. The nurses seem awfully young and fetching, the soldiers…
The children suffer
David Stephens ‘The children suffer’, Honest History, 11 August 2014 Osbert Sitwell’s The Next War, published in 1918, depicts some plutocrats deciding what would be an appropriate war memorial. The senior plutocrat puts a suggestion which his colleagues eagerly take…
Arango, Tim: Gallipoli and national identities
Arango, Tim ‘At Gallipoli, a campaign that laid ground for national identities‘, New York Times, 26 June 2014 An American views the Gallipoli legacy from both Turkish and Australian perspectives. He interviews Rupert Murdoch on the role of his father,…
E-newsletter no 16, 7 July 2014
ISSN:2202-5561 © Honest History Inc. 2014 Not only a newsletter but also a website … with these new items The Simpson Prize: civics education or proper history for Years 9 and 10? NAIDOC Week and Indigenous warriors: copping out or playing it carefully? Anzac and…
Commemorating our warriors – all of them
NAIDOC Week sees two important articles about the need to comprehensively commemorate all who have shed blood for their country. Paul Daley writes in the Guardian Australia that it is ‘inconsistent to celebrate Indigenous Australians’ service in Imperial armies while…
War heroes and Boys’ Own adventures
David Stephens writes in Independent Australia about how the mateship of service life and the poignancy of service deaths obscures the pointlessness of ‘sacrifice’ when there is no connection to the national interest. Hero worship of the military also gets…
E-Newsletter no. 15, 12 June 2014
ISSN:2202-5561 © Honest History Inc. 2014 Not only a newsletter but also a website New on honesthistory.net.au Battlefield tourism: Paul Daley (author, columnist with Guardian Australia) brings a different perspective; haunting photographs by Mike Bowers (ABC Insiders) True face of war: Kerry Neale…
Blinkered commemoration at the Australian War Memorial
David Stephens writes in Fairfax media 10 June 2o14 about the parochial approach taken by the Australian War Memorial to commemoration, despite the possibilities offered by its legislation for a broader perspective. The hard copy in the Canberra Times 11…
Centenary Watch: March 2014
Update 19 March 2014: Minister on veterans’ mental health and centenary spend [Links checked 26 October 2017 and some were found to be broken, due to removal of material from websites or simply the passage of time. Honest History may…
Centenary Watch: February 2014
[Links checked 26 October 2017 and some were found to be broken, due to removal of material from websites or simply the passage of time. Honest History may be able to help users track down resources. Please contact admin@honesthistory.net.au. HH]…
Review note: more Anzac miscellany 2014
‘Review note: more Anzac miscellany 2014’, Honest History, 24 May 2014 Honest History’s David Stephens has an article on Australian Independent Media Network, ‘Five arguments for downsizing Anzac‘, which reworks his speeches at the Canberra Peace Convergence and at a…
Anzac, Bolt and Cater boost Honest History visits
Nick Cater in The Australian gave Anzac-questioning historians a serve and characterised Honest History (incorrectly) as their house organ. Cater’s commenters were reasonably evenly balanced. Andrew Bolt in the Herald-Sun and the Daily Telegraph quoted a slab of Mr Cater’s…
E-newsletter no.13, 30 April 2014
ISSN:2202-5561 © Honest History Inc. 2014 New on the site Alternative Anzac: Remembering and Healing in Lismore models a peaceful world Alison Broinowski on some exotic characters with Australian connections New members join the Honest History committee Paddy Gourley on a defence spending…
Teaching children about war
Update 9 June 2015: Simpson Prize and Audacity The Simpson Prize question for 2016 continues the welcome recent trend to ask proper history questions of Year 9 and 10 students but the nomination of the war-sanitising Audacity for a Children’s…
New members join the Honest History committee
Honest History is pleased to welcome three new members to its committee: Dr Alison Broinowski, activist, author and former diplomat, of Sydney; Professor Melanie Oppenheimer, academic and author, of Flinders University, Adelaide; Professor Kay Saunders AM, academic and author, of…
Hemming, Judy & Michael McKinley: Psychopathology of drones
Hemming, Judy & Michael McKinley ‘Expanding space, compressing time and the psychopathology of drones: paper presented to the 55th Annual Convention Panel TD 49 The International Studies Association, 27 March 2014, Toronto, Canada’ The paper 268 Hemming McKinley Toronto ISAPaper…
Jauncey on those who also serve (26 March 2014)
David Stephens writes as Jauncey. When Milton wrote the famous words, ‘They also serve who only stand and wait’, he was reflecting on his blindness. But the line has been used since in all sorts of ways, ranging from a…
Beaumont, Joan, et al: Asia today – 1914 redux?
Beaumont, Joan, Evelyn Goh, Michael Wesley, Hugh White, ‘Asia today – 1914 redux?’ ANU School of International Political and Strategic Studies seminar, Canberra, 18 March 2014 Notes of the seminar were prepared by David Stephens. Read more… 258 Asia Today…
E-Newsletter no. 11, 12 March 2014
ISSN:2202-5561 © Honest History Inc. 2014 Donate to Honest History: Pay Pal now available Write for Honest History: contact us to ask how Follow us on Twitter @honesthistory1 New on honesthistory.net.au The Honest History committee addresses honesty and dishonesty Doug Hynd on…
Honest and dishonest: a clarification
Honest History is a coalition of historians and others supporting the balanced and honest presentation and use of Australian history. Our main focus now is on the centenary of World War I because Australian history about that period has been…
E-Newsletter No. 10, 24 February 2014
ISSN:2202-5561 © Honest History Inc. 2014 Donate to Honest History: a force for good; Pay Pal now available Write for Honest History: contact us to ask how New on the website Michael Piggott reviews the Anzac Voices exhibition at the Australian War…
Maley, Jacqueline: Debate about Australia Day
Maley, Jacqueline ‘Needless debate masks true meaning of Australia Day‘, Sydney Morning Herald, 18 January 2014 On Australia Day, we should, by all means, celebrate our good fortune, the hiccup of fate that means we get to live in Australia…
Jauncey chews on chota hazri in Kolkata (30 January)
Peter Stanley takes over the Jauncey pen from David Stephens. I’m in Kolkata to deliver the keynote address at a conference, ‘Re-newing the military history of colonial India’, held at Jadavpur University, one of the most prestigious educational institutions in…
Jauncey on the days (and years) of our lives (20 January 2014)
Happy New Year; 2014. Has anyone else noticed the significance of this year? Yes, of course, it is the centenary of the start of World War I and we won’t be allowed to forget that as the commemorative bandwagon rolls…
Pyne and the uncontested national narrative
David Stephens writes in the Canberra Times (23 December 2013) on ‘Learning lessons of History’, noting several views on the risks of a national history curriculum that would promote a simplistic or uncontested national narrative. 23 December 2013
Jauncey at the Brandenburg Gate (11 December 2013)
When a popular tourist information website took the Honest History name in vain, it deserved a closer look. There, on Trip Advisor, an American ex-pat in Germany was ‘amazed’ at how ‘blunt and honest’ about ‘triumphs and failures’ the Deutsches…
Keating on Remembrance Day – Online Opinion
David Stephens’ commentary on former PM Paul Keating’s apparent ambivalence about the significance of Remembrance Day (11 November) for Australians, posted at the Online Opinion website 29 November 2013. A more extensive consideration appears here under the rubric of Jauncey’s…
Jauncey in a war cemetery (3 December 2013)
Battlefields and war cemeteries are not places I have visited often nor places I much like. I remember seeing on a back road in northern California in 1985 a battered sign which commemorated the last stand nearby of the local…
Jauncey considers Keating on Remembrance Day (19 November 2013)
Paul Keating’s Remembrance Day speech 2013 marked the twentieth anniversary of his Unknown Australian Soldier speech at the Australian War Memorial in 1993. The tomb and the surrounding area at the Memorial has now been refurbished to include explicit recognition…
War fires should be left to smoulder: Eureka Street
Eureka Street (Vol 23, No 22, 10 November 2013) carries an article by Honest History’s David Stephens asking why Australians have been giving so much emphasis to Remembrance Day, and attributing values to war commemorations that are out of proportion…
Daley, Paul: Heart of Honest History
Paul Daley ‘The Heart of Honest History’ (Honest History Launch, 7 November 2013, Manning Clark House, Canberra), Honest History, 8 November 2013 Thanks Peter [Stanley]. Thanks Sebastian [Clark]. I, too acknowledge the traditional owners of this land [Canberra]. And thanks…
Tara tackles tomfoolery
Woroni, the student newspaper of the Australian National University, carries a trenchant critique by Tara Shenoy of the politicisation of war in general, and Anzac in particular, dated 31 October 2013. The article ‘The tomfoolery of Anzackery‘ quotes Honest History’s…
Jauncey unravels some strands (7 November 2013)
Sometimes the history of history is almost as vexing as history itself. One frustration of putting together a history bibliography rapidly is that you have no time to stop and read or re-read the books and articles that go into…
Great War poets
Rod Olsen ‘Writing about war: the (mostly British) Great War poets’, Honest History, 2 November 2013 Introduction Anthem for doomed youth (Wilfred Owen) What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Only the…
E-newsletter No. 6, October 2013
ISSN:2202-5561 © Honest History Inc. 2013 Website launch The new Honest History website (www.honesthistory.net.au) will be launched by Paul Daley, journalist and author (Beersheba, Armageddon: Two Men on an Anzac Trail, Collingwood: A Love Story, Canberra) 6.00 pm, Thursday, 7 November 2013…
Jauncey opens up (24 October 2013)
When the Honest History enterprise was just getting under way one supporter pointed out how great it would be to have in one place – a repository, indeed – a resource of material that put the Anzac myth under the…
Christopher Pyne’s history curriculum
On 28 September 2013, Fairfax media online and in hardcopy newspapers carried extensive coverage by reporter Daniel Hurst of the stated intention of new Education Minister, Christopher Pyne, to take a stronger role in correcting ‘leftist’ agenda bias in school…
E-newsletter No.5, September 2013
ISSN:2202-5561 © Honest History Inc. 2013 Website launch The new Honest History website (www.honesthistory.net.au) will be launched by Paul Daley, journalist and author (Beersheba, Armageddon: Two Men on an Anzac Trail, Collingwood: A Love Story,Canberra) 6.00 pm, Thursday, 7 November 2013 Manning…
Inglis, KS, assisted by Jan Brazier: Sacred Places
KS Inglis, assisted by Jan Brazier Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Vic., third updated edition, 2008; first published 1998; other editions Takes the Australian history of war memorials from the colonial period, through…
Clark, Anna: History’s Children: History Wars in the Classroom
History’s Children: History Wars in the Classroom, NewSouth, Sydney, 2008 ‘The classroom has become the battleground of the “history wars”, yet no-one ever asks the children what they think about Australian history and what they like – or don’t –…
Editorial and moderation policy
Editorial policy The Honest History website brings together material, existing and new, which presents key themes of Australia’s past (including perceptive treatments of the Anzac tradition), helps explain why Australia is as it is today, and assists readers to come…
E-newsletter No. 4, August 2013
H O N E S T H I S T O R Y E-newsletter No. 4, August 2013 ISSN:2202-5561 © Honest History Inc. 2013 Gallipoli – 98 years on: Professor Peter Stanley’s speech to Gallipoli Memorial Club symposium, 7 August 2013…
E-newsletter No. 3, August 2013
H O N E S T H I S T O R Y E-newsletter No. 3, August 2013 ISSN:2202-5561 © Honest History Inc. 2013 Neither rosy glow nor black armband – just honest Honest History: what’s it all about? ‘There is…
Contact
For all enquiries please contact: Dr David Stephens Editor Honest History website email: admin@honesthistory.net.au
About us
Navigating this site Honest History’s objectives Honest and dishonest: a clarification Honest History’s history Structure and committee The Honest History association cancelled its incorporation in February 2019. The Honest History website continued under Dr David Stephens as Editor. The final…
E-newsletter No. 2, June 2013
H O N E S T H I S T O R Y Newsletter No. 2, 21 June 2013 ISSN: 2202-5561 © Honest History Inc. 2013 We hadn’t planned another newsletter until late July but this deserves a special…
Our objectives
Honest History will bring together material, existing and new, which presents key themes of Australia’s past (including perceptive treatments of the Anzac tradition), helps explain why Australia is as it is today and where it has come from, and assists…
Honest History’s history
Honest History’s President, Peter Stanley, writes in History Australia about the early history of Honest History 297 Stanley HA HH. The idea for Honest History began in 2012 when a small group met in Canberra to consider a submission which would…
E-newsletter No. 1, May 2013
The original PDF version may be downloaded here H O N E S T H I S T O R Y E-newsletter No. 1, May 2013 ISSN: 2202-5561 © Honest History Inc. 2013 Contents An e-newsletter introducing a website…
STOP PRESS: Julianne Schultz’s The Idea of Australia is now an SBS doco with Rachel Griffiths
Commencing this week (tomorrow) on SBS and On Demand (episode 1, Wednesday, 15 October, 7.30pm) is The Idea of Australia, a four part documentary building on Julianne Schultz’s 2022 book of the same name. Rachel Griffiths narrates and the show features Governor-General…
From the Honest History vault: 80th anniversary of Hiroshima-Nagasaki
Today, 6 August, is the 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. On the 70th anniversary, we ran the article below by Australian journalist, Wilfred Burchett, who was there. Here it is again. There are links in the introduction to…
Piggott, Michael: War and trauma – who’d have thought? Part II
Michael Piggott* ‘War and trauma – who’d have thought? Part II’, Honest History, 21 March 2025 Part I of this article. Commentary (continued) 3 There is something deeply ironic about a War Memorial being urged by a consultant to accept…
War Memorial needs to talk peace says Medical Association for Prevention of War
Medical Association for Prevention of War Australia (MAPW) has published a new report which includes a set of principles to improve the Australian War Memorial’s programming for children. The report is Time to Talk Peace: the Australian War Memorial and Children. See…
Wareham, Sue: Australian War Memorial must better educate kids on seriousness of war
Sue Wareham ‘Australian War Memorial must better educate kids on seriousness of war‘, Canberra Times, 15 July 2023 updated; pdf from our subscription Update 24 July 2023: Richard Llewellyn, ex War Memorial staff, writes in Pearls and Irritations: So often…
Government announces more money for National Library’s Trove service – but more needed for NLA and other national cultural institutions
Finance Minister Gallagher has announced $33m of extra funding for the National Library’s highly valued and much used Trove service. Further pre-Budget announcements are expected affecting the cultural institutions. For earlier stories covering the range of needs of national cultural…
Tony Abbott reappointed to Australian War Memorial Council
A media release from Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Matt Keogh, announces that Tony Abbott has been reappointed to the Council of the Australian War Memorial. Mr Abbott was first appointed in September 2019. This appointment was to expire on Sunday,…
Beaumont, Joan: Australia’s Great Depression: How a Nation Shattered by the Great War Survived the Worst Economic Crisis it has Ever Faced
Joan Beaumont Australia’s Great Depression: How a Nation Shattered by the Great War Survived the Worst Economic Crisis it has Ever Faced, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2022; electronic version available How a nation still in grief from the Great War…
Knaus, Christopher: Australian War Memorial cannot be given ‘blank cheque’ to cover cost blowouts, Labor MP says
Christopher Knaus ‘Australian War Memorial cannot be given “blank cheque” to cover cost blowouts, Labor MP says‘, Guardian Australia, 31 August 2022 No blank cheque remark comes from ACT Labor MP, David Smith, from this week. Smith had been a…
From the Honest History vault: Australian journalist Wilfred Burchett on Hiroshima
Yesterday, 6 August, was the 77th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. We ran the post below for the 70th anniversary in 2015. Here it is again. There are links in the introduction to the…
Evans, Steve: $50 million jump in cost of Australian War Memorial revamp
Steve Evans ‘$50 million jump in cost of Australian War Memorial revamp‘, Canberra Times, 1 July 2022 (pdf from our subscription) updated This page 1 story is surprising only because it has taken so long to become public. Rumours of…
Brendan Nelson appointed to Council of Australian War Memorial; Kerry Stokes stands down
Media release from the Minister (text below) announces that Dr Brendan Nelson, former Director of the Australian War Memorial, former Minister for Defence, and big wheel at Boeing, world’s second largest manufacturer of weapons of war, has been appointed to…
Two AUKUS events coming up, Melbourne 24 February and Canberra 27 February, both Zoomed
Information Webinar: AUKUS will cost the earth Join MAPW’s VP Dr Margie Beavis, Professor Richard Tanter (Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability), and Dave Sweeney (Australian Conservation Foundation) for a discussion about the costs and consequences of the AUKUS pact. Hosted…
Wareham, Sue: Transparency lacking in Australian defence policy
Sue Wareham ‘Transparency lacking in Australian defence policy‘, Independent Australia, 19 October 2021 updated Update 28 October 2021: see also this from Marcus Reubenstein reprinted in Pearls & Irritations. Update 30 November 2021: Mike Scrafton in Pearls & Irritations analyses…
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
Sue Wareham ‘“No Australian who has ever fallen in our uniform has ever died in vain, ever”: the PM and the AWM‘, Pearls & Irritations, 31 August 2021 Weaves together the claims of the Prime Minister that Australian soldiers never…
Fathi, Romain: Why have Australians forgotten Belgium when we obsess about our Diggers’ deeds in France?
Romain Fathi* ‘Why have Australians forgotten Belgium when we obsess about our Diggers’ deeds in France?’ Honest History, 30 August 2021 Romain Fathi reviews Matthew Haultain-Gall’s The Battlefield of Imperishable Memory: Passchendaele and the Anzac Legend The central question this…
Barlow, Karen: National Capital Authority finds little support or understanding: poll
Karen Barlow ‘National Capital Authority finds little support or understanding: poll‘, Canberra Times, 9 August 2021 Reports poll from The Australian Institute (national poll of 1004 people) where respondents were asked whether they ‘agree or disagree that the National Capital…
Newton, Douglas: Whitlam, Keating, Anzac, and the drums of wars past
Douglas Newton ‘Whitlam, Keating, Anzac, and the drums of wars past‘, Pearls and Irritations, 13 May 2021 updated Looks at attitudes of modern Australian prime ministers to our old wars and goes on to summarise the history of the Great…
Wareham, Sue: Let’s not allow the Australian War Memorial to become something much uglier
Sue Wareham* ‘Let’s not allow the Australian War Memorial to become something much uglier‘, Canberra Times, 27 February 2021 (pdf from our subscription) Also on op ed page of hard copy of the Times. Letters to the paper followed. Slightly edited…
McKenna, Mark: Australia’s haunted house
Mark McKenna ‘Australia’s haunted house‘, The Monthly, February 2021, pp. 8-11 (possible paywall but here’s a pdf from a subscription/purchased copy) Update 8 February 2021: McKenna on 7 am Podcast with Ruby Johns for Schwartz Media. *** The Brereton Report…
ABC The Signal Podcast [with Brendon Kelson, former War Memorial Director]: Correcting the war record
ABC The Signal Podcast [with Brendon Kelson*, former War Memorial Director] ‘Correcting the war record‘, ABC, 3 December 2020 Brendon Kelson talks to Stephen Smiley and Angela Lavoispierre. Is there room at the Memorial to recognise both heroes and war…
Williams, Elliot: The $500 million Australian War Memorial expansion risks undermining Australia’s environment and heritage laws, architects say
Elliot Williams ‘The $500 million Australian War Memorial expansion risks undermining Australia’s environment and heritage laws, architects say‘, Canberra Times, 22 October 2020 updated (pdf from our subscription) Reports on long media release from Architects Institute of Australia, which called…
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…
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…
Frontier War stories on Boe Spearim podcast: adding to our knowledge of a bloody past
There is a lot of material on the Honest History site about the Frontier Wars and massacres of First Australians. Use our Search engine to find these posts or scroll through our special subject 2014-17, First Peoples. There’s also Jane…
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…
Aktar, Ayhan: The struggle between nationalist and jihadist narratives of Gallipoli, 1915-2015
Ayhan Aktar ‘The struggle between nationalist and jihadist narratives of Gallipoli, 1915-2015‘, Forum for Modern Language Studies, Vol. 56, No. 2, April 2020, pp. 213-28 (paywall) There have been a number of milestones in the (re-)writing of the history of…
Piggott, Michael: Wondering about the long and well-lived life of historian, Ken Inglis
Michael Piggott* ‘Wondering about the long and well-lived life of historian, Ken Inglis’, Honest History, 14 April 2020 Michael Piggott reviews ‘I Wonder’: The Life and Work of Ken Inglis, edited by Peter Browne and Seumas Spark In ‘Looking at…
Department of Environment says $500 million War Memorial development is ‘controlled action’ under Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act
Honest History (and others) have been following the approval processes for the War Memorial’s $500m. expansion program. We noted that the Memorial had made a Referral to the Department of the Environment and we argued that the War Memorial proposal…
Lyndall Ryan on massacres: Manning Clark House/National Library heads-up for 13 February
Manning Clark House, Canberra, and the National Library are presenting Emerita Professor Lyndall Ryan, talking about her work on mapping massacres of Indigenous Australians. It is on Thursday, 13 February, at 6pm at the National Library. Details are here with…
Fewtrell, Terry: War Memorial needs a new Act, not a new building
Terry Fewtrell ‘War Memorial needs a new Act, not a new building’, Canberra Times, 5 December 2019 For an institution with the title “Australian War Memorial”, it is incomprehensible, and ultimately indefensible, for it not to recognise and commemorate the…
Heritage Guardians submission to National Capital Authority on War Memorial carpark deplores gaming of approval systems by ‘salami slicing’ projects
Heritage Guardians has made a submission to the National Capital Authority’s public consultation on the Australian War Memorial’s Works Approval application for carparking associated with the Memorial’s $498m expansion. The consultation closed on 5 November. Update 23 November 2019: The…
National Capital Authority describes War Memorial project to Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories
On 17 October, officers of the National Capital Authority made their twice-annual appearance before Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories and the following exchange took place (pages 4-5 of the Proof Hansard): Mr SNOWDON [ALP]:…
Daley, Paul: Who should lead the Australian War Memorial?
Paul Daley ‘Who should lead the Australian War Memorial?‘ ArtsHub, 2 September 2019 Criticises the suggestion that Tony Abbott might become Director of the Memorial, or even (perhaps) join its Council. Like Anzac, the memorial has been immune to political…
ABC News: Australian War Memorial director Brendan Nelson to step down from top job at end of year
ABC News ‘Australian War Memorial director Brendan Nelson to step down from top job at end of year‘, ABC News, 15 August 2019 Covers announcement by Director to staff, announcement by Minister, statement by Leader of the Opposition. An end…
Abbott, Derek: Geoffrey Blainey’s engaging narrative of his emergence as man and historian
Derek Abbott* ‘Geoffrey Blainey’s engaging narrative of his emergence as man and historian’, 9 August 2019 Derek Abbott reviews Geoffrey Blainey’s Before I Forget: An Early Memoir Geoffrey Blainey is one of Australia’s most highly regarded and most prolific historians.…
Abbott, Derek: A personal memoir from a safe pair of hands: Steve Gower on the Australian War Memorial
Derek Abbott* ‘A personal memoir from a safe pair of hands: Steve Gower on the Australian War Memorial’, Honest History, 2 July 2019 Derek Abbott reviews The Australian War Memorial: A Century on from the Vision, by Steve Gower Steve…
Megarrity, Lyndon: Geoffrey Bolton and the writing of Australian history
Lyndon Megarrity ‘Geoffrey Bolton and the writing of Australian history‘, Australian Policy and History, 10 December 2018 Question and answer style in the website’s ‘Prominent Profiles’ series. Covers broad overview of Bolton’s career, how Megarrity came to know Bolton and…
Newton, Douglas: Merchants of death should not be funding Australian War Memorial
Douglas Newton ‘Merchants of death should not be funding Australian War Memorial‘, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 November 2018 To fund worthy causes such as a national commemoration, mounted in all our names, is why we have governments and taxation. Meeting…
ANU not to hook up with Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation
Update 21 August 2018: Alexander Wells in Overland, including on the irrelevance of ‘Western civilisation’ to today’s issues. Update 5 July 2018: Frank Bongiorno talks to Phillip Adams on Late Night Live. Update 26 June 2018: Geoffrey Blainey and Simon…
Whyte, Sally: War Memorial should ditch weapons manufacturers: Anti war organisation
Sally Whyte ‘War Memorial should ditch weapons manufacturers: Anti war organisation‘, Canberra Times, 21 May 2018 updated Interview with Sue Wareham of Medical Association for Prevention of War (and one of Honest History’s distinguished supporters). Wareham discusses MAPW’s submission to…
Robison, Richard: Why the Coalition, conservatives and big business are terrified by Emma Alberici
Richard Robison ‘Why the Coalition, conservatives and big business are terrified by Emma Alberici‘, Independent Australia, 2 March 2018 update A further contribution to the debate on ABC economics correspondent Emma Alberici’s analysis of Australia’s corporate tax system. (Our post…
Grishin, Sasha: Arthur Streeton: The art of war at the National Gallery of Australia combines beauty and barbarity
Sasha Grishin ‘Arthur Streeton: The art of war at the National Gallery of Australia combines beauty and barbarity’, Canberra Times, 10 January 2018 Review of an exhibition at the National Gallery, Canberra, until 29 April, just after Anzac Day. Reminds…
Professor Tom Griffiths, Honest History distinguished supporter (and launcher of The Honest History Book), wins ACT Book of the Year 2017 for his book The Art of Time Travel
Congratulations to Professor Tom Griffiths AO of the Australian National University who has received the ACT Book of the Year Award for his book, The Art of Time Travel: Historians and Their Craft. The book had already received the Ernest…
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…
Coleborne, Catharine: The concept of ‘western civilisation’ is past its use-by date in university humanities departments
Catharine Coleborne ‘The concept of “western civilisation” is past its use-by date in university humanities departments‘, The Conversation, 21 November 2017 Critiques moves driven by the new Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation to revamp BA courses around the idea of ‘Western…
Macintyre, Stuart, Lenore Layman & Jenny Gregory, ed.: A Historian for All Seasons: Essays for Geoffrey Bolton
Stuart Macintyre, Lenore Layman & Jenny Gregory, ed. A Historian for All Seasons: Essays for Geoffrey Bolton, Monash University Publishing, Melbourne, 2017 Geoffrey Bolton [1931-2015] was the most versatile and widely travelled of his generation of Australian historians. As a…
First Peoples January-April 2017
Is removing race references from the Constitution just pretending? (10 April 2017) In Guardian Australia by David Ross and Barbara Shaw who say we Territorians understand that a minimalist model – removing references to “race”, tinkering with the race power…
Turkish Gallipoli memorials refurbishment takes out Ataturk’s apocryphal ‘Those heroes’ words – for now at least
Update 18 June 2017: our considered view on all of this, including three options for what to do next – addressed to President Erdogan. Update 18 June 2017: Yahoo 7; Courier Mail; Stuff Co NZ; Daily Mail; News Limited; West…
‘A passionate argument for a wider Australian history’: The Honest History Book reviewed in Newtown Review of Books
Posted today in the Newtown Review of Books is a review of The Honest History Book by Adelaide author, Bernard Whimpress. This [the book] is a passionate argument for a wider Australian history. Never have so many ringing phrases from…
Turnbull, Noel: Anzac Day at Port Melbourne
Noel Turnbull ‘Anzac Day at Port Melbourne‘, Noel Turnbull Blog, 25 April 2017 Noel Turnbull, a Vietnam veteran and former media and communications executive, spoke at the Anzac Day service at Port Melbourne. Most of those young men didn’t enlist…
Piggott, Michael: Indigenous war service: two exhibitions at the National Archives of Australia
Michael Piggott ‘Indigenous war service: two exhibitions at the National Archives of Australia’, Honest History, 2 May 2017 A review of two exhibitions, Indigenous Australians at War from the Boer War to the Present (touring from the Shrine of Remembrance,…
Indigenous war service: two exhibitions at the National Archives of Australia
Michael Piggott* ‘Indigenous war service: two exhibitions at the National Archives of Australia’, Honest History, 2 May 2017 Showing at the moment in the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra is an exhibition of work by the renowned World War…
Hundred years on from the February Revolution of 1917: five lectures, many perspectives
This week is the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the February Revolution of 1917 in Russia. (We know it is March now but that is due to a calendar glitch which need not detain us further.) Honest History will…
Myrtle, John: Ninety years of midwives, mothers and babies in Sydney (review of Godden)
John Myrtle* ‘Ninety years of midwives, mothers and babies in Sydney’ (review of Godden), Honest History, 8 March 2017 John Myrtle reviews Judith Godden’s Crown Street Women’s Hospital: A History, 1893-1983 Crown Street Women’s Hospital was deeply immersed in the…
Australian War Memorial frames its own view of Indigenous Australians’ fighting past
Why did the Australian War Memorial spend $366 000 on a painting depicting a massacre of Indigenous Australians by white settlers (when it refuses to commemorate the Frontier Wars)? The Australian War Memorial has acquired and unveiled the 1985 painting…
Honest History E-newsletter No. 41, 7 February 2017
ISSN: 2202-5561 © The Honest History Book is being published in April: read about it; pre-order Professor Frank Bongiorno is the new president of the Honest History association New at honesthistory.net.au Alternative facts? The Australian War Memorial still has trouble counting…
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…
Stanley, Peter: Review of The Holocaust: Witnesses and Survivors at the Australian War Memorial
Peter Stanley* ‘Review of The Holocaust: Witnesses and Survivors at the Australian War Memorial’, Honest History, 13 December 2016 updated Update 26 February 2020: expanded exhibition opened by the Treasurer. Update 29 April 2019: speech by War Memorial Director Nelson…
Centenary Watch December 2016-January 2017
Update 13 December 2016: Peak Anzac passes as ministers come and go; elsewhere in this edition Peak Anzac passes as ministers come and go We have forgotten who coined the term ‘Peak Anzac’, but we know what it means: the…
Recent posts on the Honest History site (11 November 2016)
We continue to move posts quickly through the site, mainly because we have become information-brokers (linking to useful resources within our areas of interest) as well as creators of original material. Readers can catch up with recent additions under our…
Honest History scales Capital Hill and reaches the Netherlands
Australian MPs and Senators get Information Kits done for them by the Parliamentary Library. One such is headed ‘Anzac Day 2016’ and we have just discovered it. Right down the bottom of Section 2 ‘The relevance of Anzac’ is this…
First Peoples January-April 2016
Closing the Gap is hard but we can do better by working developmentally (21 April 2016) Mark Moran in The Conversation looks at some options. Taking a development approach, you begin with context: understanding the history, the strengths, the many…
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…
Divided sunburnt country: Australia 1916-18: a new series from Honest History
‘Divided sunburnt country: Australia 1916-18: a new series from Honest History’, Honest History, 7 June 2016 updated Dorothea Mackellar in theatrical costume, 1918 (Wikimedia Commons/SLNSW) In 1904, Dorothea Mackellar, then aged 19, wrote her poem ‘My country’, which included…
Honest History’s Alternative Guide to the Australian War Memorial (and other recent posts)
On Anzac Day, Honest History posted our Alternative Guide to the Australian War Memorial. Six weeks later the Guide has been downloaded 1268 times and we suspect a good number of those downloads have been copied multiple times. We are…
Labor call for banking Royal Commission has historical echoes aplenty
Update December 2017: a Royal Commission of a different feather is announced. Update June-September 2016: more from Humphrey McQueen and others. Update 9 April 2016: updated article on Pearls and Irritation website. ______________ Opposition Leader Shorten has called for a…
First Peoples October-December 2015
First graduates of Wiradjuri language course at Charles Sturt University (23 December 2015) Seventeen students this week became the first graduates of a Wiradjuri language course at CSU Wagga. Revitalisation of Wiradjuri language and culture is expected to follow. (Links…
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…
Kaching! Australia’s Anzac centenary spend hits $A562 million
Australia’s projected spend on the Anzac centenary-century of service now stands at an estimated $561.8 million, following an announcement today of a $10 million donation by Rio Tinto to the Anzac Centenary Public Fund. Anzac centenary minister, Stuart Robert, said:…
Top recent posts
Here you will find a selection from recent posts on our website; the most recent ones are listed first. All posts here will have first appeared as ‘Latest posts’ on our home page and will move to here as later…
A history man’s view of war (review of Tognolini)
‘A history man’s view of war’, Honest History, 18 November 2015 Derek Abbott* reviews A History Man’s Past & Other People’s Stories: A Shared Memoir. Part One: Other People’s Wars and Brothers, Part One: Gallipoli 1915, both by John Tognolini.…
Daley, Paul: lavish spending on memorials cloaks reality
Daley, Paul ‘Australia’s lavish spending on Anzac memorials cloaks a more distasteful reality‘, Guardian Australia, 11 November 2015 [A] century after the first world war began, I think it is well and truly time to reflect on how it is,…
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…
Finding Australian history resources
‘What’s the best way into Australian history resources?’ Honest History, 13 October 2015 First, there’s the Honest History website. There’s a guide to the site and we recommend browsing. You will see that, while we target issues of current relevance,…
Flitton, Daniel: ANZAC centenary’s costly history lessons
Flitton, Daniel ‘ANZAC centenary: the costly price of history lessons‘, The Age, 10 October 2015 Discusses the politics of the Monash interpretive centre at Villers-Bretonneux, quoting historians Joan Beaumont, Bruce Scates and Peter Stanley with criticisms. The Department of Veterans’…
National duty of care neglected on repatriation records
Professor Bruce Scates of Monash University points out that only five per cent of the cost of digitising the World War I repatriation files has been found as part of Australia’s Anzac commemoration budget. ‘One thing is without dispute about…
Nevius, James: ignoring half the history of a country
Nevius, James ‘To teach only “American exceptionalism” is to ignore half the country’s story‘, Guardian Australia, 3 August 2015 Ostensibly an American story but relevant to every country, including Australia, where it is a theme Honest History has returned to…
Australian War Memorial: Reality in Flames
Australian War Memorial Reality in Flames: Modern Australian Art & the Second World War Opened on 3 July 2015, this is ‘the first exhibition dedicated exclusively to exploring how Australian modernist artists responded creatively to the Second World War’. Modern…
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…
Ministerial error to be corrected
Unofficial advice from the Veteran’s Affairs portfolio is that the error in the ministerial statement on the centenary of Anzac will be corrected in the final version of the Senate Hansard, available in a couple of weeks. The original wording…
Sentiment, thought and jingoism in war commemoration
We ran this post as a ‘highlights reel‘ back in September and we have quoted it a number of times since. It says such profound things about commemoration we thought it was worth running again at a time which Minister…
Bucket tipped on Raise a Glass
[Note: related material is in this post. Some of the material below could just have easily gone in the other post or in both but we decided just to keep one updated after about 18 April. HH] Someone, possibly in…
History curriculum uncertainty: Honest History factsheet
Education ministers (Commonwealth, state and territory) met over the telephone early last month as the Education Council. The outcome was somewhat opaque. It appeared in a media release from Commonwealth Minister Pyne, where the only reference to history as a…
Centenary Watch: February 2015
[Links checked 2 November 2017 and some were found to be broken, due to removal of material from websites or simply the passage of time. Honest History may be able to help users track down resources where a link is…
Great War navy
‘Great War navy’, Honest History, 27 March 2015 Alan Stephens* reviews In All Respects Ready: Australia’s Navy in World War One, by David Stevens Late last year Australia embarked on an extraordinarily extensive and costly five-year commemoration of ‘100 Years…
War songs and being awkward
Carolyn Holbrook, author of Anzac: The Unauthorised Biography and Honest History distinguished supporter, gave a speech the other day in Fremantle for MAPW. In the course of her remarks, Holbrook said this: [W]hy does it matter how Australians remember war? …
Review note: historiography miscellany
‘Review note: historiography miscellany’, Honest History, 21 January 2015 Herodotus Reaching back more than 2400 years to one of the founders of the discipline seems a good place to start. Herodotus, a Greek born in modern day Turkey, penned his…
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…
National History Challenge essays cover many strands of our history
The National History Challenge winners for 2014 have been announced. The national young historian was Angus Christie, a Year 5 student from The Friends School in Hobart, for his film on changing perspectives on Australia’s participation in the Vietnam War.…
First Peoples, Frontier Wars and the Queen’s uniform
This post brings together under a new heading and then updates a collection of material that we began at NAIDOC Week in July 2014. (There were some technical issues with updating the original post, anyway.) The post enables us to…
Miscellany: militarisation still marching?
Honest History continually collects resources to add to our growing database on the theme of ‘not only Anzac but also (lots of other strands of Australian history)’. Of course, our interest – and the times – being what they are…
Wounded and damaged soldiers then and now: Honest History Factsheet
This small collection highlights the trauma that is associated with all wars in all eras in all countries. It was provoked by an article in The Independent highlighting the photographs made by Bryan Adams of wounded British soldiers from Afghanistan.…
Highlights reel: curriculum review Supplementary Material
‘Highlights reel: curriculum review Supplementary Material’, Honest History, 4 November 2014 This highlights reel provides more detail from the Supplementary Material published with the Review of the Australian Curriculum Final Report (Donnelly-Wiltshire). Our initial take on the history parts of…
Donnelly-Wiltshire fire a salvo – but will Minister Pyne follow up?
Stephens, David ‘Donnelly-Wiltshire gunners fire a civilised salvo – but will Minister Pyne follow up?’ Honest History, 15 October 2014 and updated If history was as predictable as the history curriculum recommendations of the Donnelly-Wiltshire report we would have no…
Centenary Watch: July-August 2014
[Links checked 27 October 2017 and some were found to be broken, due to removal of material from websites or simply the passage of time. Honest History may be able to help users track down resources. Please contact admin@honesthistory.net.au. HH]…
Highlights reel: Elizabeth Samet on soldiers dying in vain
‘Highlights reel: Elizabeth Samet on soldiers dying in vain’, Honest History, 23 September 2014 and updated Elizabeth Samet teaches English to first-year cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point. In a recent article in Foreign Policy she…
Gallipoli Children’s Book Project
Remembering and Healing, an innovative community-based peace group in Lismore, NSW, is about to invite authors and budding authors to take part in a literary competition for books on the theme of Anzac but with a message of peace and…
Centenary Watch: May-June 2014
[Links checked 26 October 2017 and some were found to be broken, due to removal of material from websites or simply the passage of time. Honest History may be able to help users track down resources. Please contact admin@honesthistory.net.au. HH]…
Review note: Great War miscellany
‘Review note: Great War miscellany’, Honest History, 18 July 2014 This is our third roundup of the embarrassment of riches coming to our attention in the World War I centenary period. It is a bit broader in sweep than our…
Anzac Centenary Local Grants Program: Honest History Factsheet No. 2
Minister Ronaldson’s media release of 19 June included these key points: $2 369 023 million in funding approved; 212 projects from 52 electorates approved so far; more than 1650 applications received, some from each of the 150 electorates. The Minister’s…
Review note: centenary war and peace stories for children
‘Review note: centenary war and peace stories for children’, Honest History, 24 June 2014 updated He had killed a man not six hours before. He had killed six men during the past month – or was it a year? –…
Routley, Nicholas: Mahabharata
Routley, Nicholas ‘The Mahabharata: the music and drama of war’, Honest History, 12 June 2014 The Anzac centenary will have a musical element. The Anzac Centenary Advisory Board’s March 2013 report to the federal government noted the long-running work on…
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.…
E-Newsletter no. 12, 31 March 2014
ISSN:2202-5561 © Honest History Inc. 2014 New at honesthistory.net.au Judy Hemming (UC) and Michael McKinley (ANU) on the recent history of drones: military breakthrough? civilian boon? implications for Australia? Glenda Sluga (USyd) on the European reception for Christopher Clark’s The Sleepwalkers: an historian’s interpretation of…
Abbott, Tony: Darwin welcome home
Abbott, Tony Remarks at the 1st Brigade Welcome Home Reception, Parliament House, Darwin, 1 March 2014 The Prime Minister noted that the Afghanistan commitment had been inconclusive militarily but praised the social contribution made by Australian forces. Thanks to you,…
O’Lincoln, Tom: Kokoda and Anzac
O’Lincoln, Tom ‘Can Kokoda challenge Anzac?’ Paper delivered to conference The Pacific War 1941-45, Heritage, Legacies and Culture, Monash University at Caulfield, 6 December 2011 233 Can Kokoda challenge Anzac (pdf provided by author) The author argues that veneration of…
Piggott, Michael: Listening to ANZAC Voices
Michael Piggott (linking to an Appendix on commemorating the survivors which includes confronting images) In The Pyramid: The Kurt Wallander Stories (Vintage Books, 2000) Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell has his famous protagonist struggling to give a report. ‘It’s a…
E-newsletter No. 9, 5 February 2014
ISSN:2202-5561 © Honest History Inc. 2014 NEW on the HONEST HISTORY website Hugh White from ANU writes and talks about Australians’ attitude to war and how it has got us into awkward situations in the past and may do so again in…
Cahill, Rowan: Conscription story
Cahill, Rowan ‘A conscription story, 1965-69‘, The Hummer, 2, 4, 1995 (Australasian Society for the Study of Labour History) Memoir of a conscription resister. Such accounts are relatively rare, though see here. Includes the reasons the author gave for his…
About Teaching history
Click here for all items related to: Teaching history Honest History hopes to be useful to teachers of history, particularly at secondary and tertiary levels. We believe history teachers play an important role in helping students to develop the tools…
About Getting on with the world
Click here for all items related to: Getting on with the world Here there are references which address Australia’s relations with the rest of the world. In some cases, this relationship is associated with other strands of our history, such…
About The sweat of our brows
Click here for all items related to: The sweat of our brows In this section there is material on how Australians have earned a living in different ways for themselves and their families, how they have succeeded and failed, how…
About Ruling ourselves
Click here for all items related to: Ruling ourselves Australia has followed its own unique path toward nationhood and an unknown future, drawing on different traditions adapted to our own time and place. The themes here include political, constitutional, law…
About Strands of Australian History
Click here for all items related to: Strands of Australian history Many strands and themes run through and enliven the chronological narrative of Australian history and this is the burden of Daley, a Jauncey column, another Jauncey column and Stephens.…
About Reality of war
Click here for all items related to: Reality of war Here you will find an emphasis on what war was really like for those who fought it. There is necessarily some overlap with the material under Home front and Aftermath,…
About Anzac analysed
Click here for all items related to: Anzac analysed Why has Anzac become so important to Australians and what are the implications of this for our country in the 21st century? Contributions and references come from contemporary historians, journalists and…