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The political potency of national history has been understood for generations. Yet there has been an unquestionable surge in history's political influence over the last twenty or thirty years, as the various history wars that have broken out around the world attest. Australia has been no exception: disputes over its national story continue to generate considerable controversy in the media, in politics and in public debate. But how has this politicisation of the past affected Australian political history in the present? This paper examines how history is practised in contemporary Australian politics — and notices an increasingly strategic use of the past by politicians in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discuses various reports within the issue on topics including the aspects of ageing action, the political image of former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on social media site Facebook, and Australian national identity in the 21st century.

The idea of "fashion" as being a characteristic of Australian culture is frequently regarded as a non sequitur. Fashion is seen as belonging to far-flung cosmopolitan sites elsewhere while Australia is a far-flung site cut off from the trappings of civilization. Equally, Australia has long been regarded as being cut off from the "finer things" of civility, fashion, and good taste. At best, an Australian sense of style is regarded as anything that is practical, informal, and casual T-shirts, practical footwear, moleskin trousers, and wide-brim hats: as an outfit thrown together without much thought. And yet, there has been an abiding interest in fashion since European settlement in Australia, even in the early days of the convict colony. One recurring element of this fascination with fashion is what it means to speak of distinctively "Australian" fashion as opposed to derivative styles copied from elsewhere. Does it make sense to imagine such a thing? Moreover, if there is such a phenomenon as Australian fashion, when does fashion and dress practice in Australia become un-Australian? This question lies at the heart of this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can we point to anything distinctive about Australian fashion photographs during the mid-twentieth century? This article traces discourses of both similarity and difference from European styles that permeated discussion of fashionable dress and comportment in Australia at the time. It shows there is little to gain from unraveling what characterizes "overseas" and what characterizes "local," especially in image making. Indeed, we can scarcely find stylistic distinctiveness in photographs. What emerges is a seemingly contradictory network of opinions, texts, images, and related practices, complicating our understanding of local fashion photography and its relationship to the magazine industry. In the period under consideration, a coherent or identifiable style does not constitute fashionable attire and its representation in Australia other than at times a sense of the understated. It is in the ebb and flow of ideas, motifs, and references, even subtle urban variations, that we can situate the essence of Australian photography and perhaps that of Australian style as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an introduction to the December 2009 issue, highlighting featured articles on the connections between fashion and Australian national identity, including studies by Jennifer Craik, Margaret Maynard, and Alison Goodrum.

The author examines the impact of psychoanalysis in Australia based on its publishing sector and fiction. The author argues that Freudianism never thrived in Australia. Prejudices, misconceptions and distrust of psychoanalysis in Australia are discussed. The author believes that the Australian character and society is not suited for the Freudian system of psychoanalysis.

An article is presented on the Australian Labor Party's policies regarding Australian national identity and social policy. It is presented in the form of a provocation and response, each by a different author. The provocation discusses change and controversy in Australian culture during the 20th century, emphasizing sociopolitical issues such as immigration, same sex couples, and apologies to Australian Aborigines. It is argued that the Labor party did not articulate a coherent approach to such issues. The response presents an overview of the evolution of Australia's national identity, and discusses the plans of the Labor government under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

This article explores nation-making at the intersection of the imagination and practice of national capital cities, portraiture, and the politics of recognition. Specifically examining Canberra's National Portrait Gallery as a national cultural institution, it seeks to account for the development of the Gallery as a place of portraiture and the Australian national politics of historical recognition. After situating the Gallery generally in the context of the development of national cultural institutions as a practice of national capital city and nation-state production and reproduction, it then briefly examines the role of particular contingencies and the specific imagination of national portrait galleries in the 'Anglosphere' in producing the Gallery. I subsequently then explore the development of the Gallery as a visual-material national centre through its built accommodation and its discursive framing, along with its practice in the field of portraiture intersecting with the building of a Australian national history through the recognition of individuals. The article concludes by emphasising that while the Gallery is a place of national pasts, presents and futures, it should be stressed that it, and Canberra's other national cultural institutions, are also very much spatial products (and producers) of particular spatial imaginations and practices of nationality and the urban. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article identifies the specific concept of “nation” that informed John Howard's politics from his time as Liberal Party leader in the second half of the 1980s to the final years of his 1996–2007 prime ministership. It compares and contrasts the constitutive, procedural and multicultural models of nation to show Howard's continuing commitment to a constitutive understanding of the Australian nation. He endeavoured to give this understanding expression at the policy level by explicitly moving against the multicultural concept of nation that had informed Australian policy from the late 1970s. The Citizenship Test, introduced in his final year of office, is presented as the final move in this departure from multiculturalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea of the 'Australian settlement' has been normalized since its popularization by Paul Kelly into the Keating years. This essay responds further to existing discussion of the idea, including attempts to develop it by expanding its descriptive and analytic criteria. It argues for the pluralization of the idea of settlement, rather than for attempts to develop the 'Australian settlement' by adding further exhaustive detail. The real challenge, beyond the controversy, is the adequate specification of the conditions of Australian modernity. Here the idea and institution of arbitration remains central. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interplay of contemporary music and cultural heritage is of particular salience to Indigenous peoples in Australia. It is not only a major site for artistic expression but also helps embody social memory. This article explores a CD, Beautiful Land and Sea, by the Black Image Band from Aboriginal communities on Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, and argues that it is a tangible artifact of cultural heritage. The analysis draws upon Martin's framework of an identity narrative to show how the songs weave notions of the past, space, and culture into their musical expressions of “caring for country,” a key aspect of Indigenous Australian cultural heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the history of Australia's participation at the 1967 International Exhibition in Montreal. It shows that the task of organising Australia's contribution had significant implications for the broader problem of projecting the Australian national image in a post-imperial era. With less than two years in which to prepare, Australian officials and organisers had to craft a new image of the nation for international consumption. The experience highlighted the tension between a desire for Australia to be seen as 'modern" and up-to-date, and a compulsion to showcase the nation's more distinctive characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historians have paid scant attention to Australia's enthusiastic response to the Spanish-American war of 1898. Yet these events help us to better understand the centrality of race to Australia's national identity. Even though the Australian colonies were bound by Britain's neutrality, from Sydney to Perth Australians cheered America's decision to declare war. Many gathered outside the US consulate to offer their services as soldiers and nurses. This enthusiasm for the US cause was underpinned by an identification with fellow Anglo-Saxons and the assumption that Filipinos and Cubans were races not yet fit for self-government. Australians were intent on establishing their status as equal members of the governing race. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's analysis on the geopolitical contours of Australian nationalism. The author explores the boundaries of both spaces, Australia and the so-called unAustralia. She also relates her experiences as a traveler between these lands to examine the mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion by which the Australian nation is constituted in relation to the pre- and transnational histories and trajectories of British colonization. Furthermore, she attempts to establish a space that challenges the binary nature of nationalized identity formations.

To investigate young people's conceptions of Australian national identity, 242 school students were invited to write a small essay about what they think it means to be Australian. Multiple constructions of national identity were evident, including both traditional understandings relating to lifestyle and personality characteristics as well as more expanded views. Expanded views were characterised by plurality, and 'voices of care and justice'. Despite recent terrorist world events (including September 11, but excluding the Bali bombing), a dominant view concerned national well-being and the notion that to be Australian meant that one lived in a safe and prosperous environment. In accordance with social identity theory, students' understandings of conditions and sentiments existing in other countries were often used as points of reference, leading at times to somewhat rose-coloured views. There was no reference to an identity that encompassed intellectual, economic, scientific or cultural pursuits or achievements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the national identity of Australians depicted in the context of native plants in literature. The books "Indigenous: The Making of My Native Garden," by Don Burke and "Going Native: Living in the Australian Environment," by Michael Archer and Bob Beale deal with issues of whiteness and indigeneity. It states that environmental literature and horticultural writing about native gardens address complex concepts of national belonging and racial identity.

The article presents several short comments on politics and poetry in 20th-century Australian poetry, including a broad exploration into its intersections with themes of nationalism, provincialism, and modernism. Additional subjects addressed include the works of the Australian poets and literary critics Ern Malley, Christopher Brennan, and J. I. M. Stewart, brief comments on earlier characteristics of Australian arts in the 20th-century, and accusations of aesthetic fraud by various scholars in analyzing the field.

Examines the growth of the international role of Australia in world affairs. Comparison of the national characteristics of Australia with their American counterparts; Solutions espoused by political experts on Australian foreign policies in handling international affairs especially on the nature of international and domestic security; Attitude towards Asian political, economic, and social developments; Association with the U.S. and its good neighbor policies.

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Focuses on the role of the Centenary of Federation art exhibition in the construction of national identity in Australia. Link between visual culture and national identity; Relevance to issues of national identity; Significance of the British heritage.

Focuses on the characteristic of unAustralian political and cultural activities. Orthodoxies in political and cultural life; Celebration of cultural and political heritage; Public side of national identity.

This paper examines the metaphoric uses of the 'family home' image in the Australian print media's discussion of immigration during the key periods of 1972-1975, and 1984. It will argue that media depictions of migrants shifted between these two intervals, according to changing conceptions of Australia's role in an international context. Popular anxieties regarding 'national identity', Australia's international reputation, and its future social and economic prospects find expression in the 'family home' construction and its operation in the media. This examination reveals the manner in which the Australian populace is constantly re-evaluating and re-interpreting the directions and significance of national immigration policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article features Australian journalist George Johnston and how journalism in his book "My Brother Jack." It argues that the training and experience of Johnson in journalism changed his fiction, because of that, he was able to shape the national identity of Australia. It mentions that aside from journalism, war is also one of the topics that influences his writing. It adds that journalism contributes in making Johnson as a better writer, motivating his journalist-to-novelist transition.

Focuses on 'Australian Women's Weekly' magazine's representation of migrants during the 1950s and 1960s. Self-designated role of preserving national identity in ways that were compatible with its central business of modernizing femininity; Description of 'Australian way of life'; Migration trends after World War II; Trend towards integration and multiculturalism.

Probes the search for a national identity in television programs in Australia. Investigation into the construction of Australianness; Debates in the construction of Australianness; Influence of culture in the representation of Australianness in films, television and publication.

The article presents the text of the Kemsley Oration 2021 on healing Australia delivered by Karen Milward in July. She explains the importance of country to the identity of a person. Milward highlights the call of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for measures to recognize, protect and maintain their culture and heritage for all residents of Australia. She emphasizes the necessity for a formal recognition of and taking action to address the dispossession of Indigenous people.

Discusses the dilemma of national identity for the Australian aborigines based on the `Bony' series by Arthur Upfield. Emergence of changed attitudes towards indigenous people; Policies of segregation to assimilation; Acceptance of part-Aboriginal character by Upfield.

The article focuses on republican journalism in Australia in the 1880s and 1890s. It features the publication of the weekly paper "Bulletin" in 1880, in which it says that the periodical engage in a consistent anti-English, republican attitude in 1884. It states that republicanism was more concern on the concept of national identity than constitutional reform in the late 19th century.

The article offers information on the ethical considerations in challenging meat-eating norms. Topics discussed include interconnection of meat-eating and Australian national identity continues in recent Australian Day campaigning by the Meat and Livestock Australia; transformative potential of biofabricated animal material as a new food; and contemporary urban Indians' justifications of their shifts from predominantly plant-based eating.