Australian History

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2012:

8.5 hours per week: total time commitment 102 hours

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For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

This broad survey course will build a narrative of Australian history and provide an introduction to the changing historiography of the major issues. It looks back at some of the key historical moments and themes that shaped Australia from the late eighteenth century to the present day. The subject considers successive transformations wrought by war, immigration, social movements, urbanisation, and economic change. It also examines how such changes have reshaped the everyday lives of Australians, their relationships to the past, and their self-conceptions. It will examine the relationships between public and private historical experiences, with particular reference to oral histories and life stories; and at how social memories and practices of celebration and mourning have influenced understandings of and contestations over the meanings of ‘Australianness’ and ‘Australia’. In this way, the subject nourishes a fuller understanding of the problems of the present, and also of the Australia that might come to be.

Students who complete this subject will

• be familiar with historical developments in Australia from the late eighteenth century to the early twentieth century

• recognize the relationships between histories, social memories and identities in Australia

• critically reflects on how a range of texts, historical methodologies and theoretical frameworks may enhance understandings of contemporary Australian experiences

• develop skills in historical and cultural analysis and research

An archive assignment, 1000 words (20%) due mid semester; a research essay, 2500 words (70%) due end of semester ; tutorial journal, 500 words (10%) due end of semester.

Hurdle requirement: students must attend a minimum of 75% of tutorials in order to pass this subject. Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 10% per day; after five working days, no late assessment will be marked. In-class tasks missed without approval will not be marked. All pieces of written work must be submitted to pass this subject.

A subject reader will be available.

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

• Bachelor of Biomedicine
• Bachelor of Commerce
• Bachelor of Environments
• Bachelor of Science
• Bachelor of Engineering

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

Students who complete this subject will

• develop research skills through competent use of the library and other information sources

• demonstrate critical thinking and analysis through recommended reading, essay writing and tutorial discussion, and by determining the strength of an argument

• be able to think in theoretical terms through engagement in the methodologies of the humanities and social sciences

• have an understanding of social, ethical and cultural context through the contextualisation of judgements

• develop a critical self-awareness, and be open to new ideas and possibilities and by constructing an argument

• communicate knowledge intelligibly and economically through essay writing and tutorial discussion

• have developed written communication skills through essay preparation and writing