The Writing of Australian History

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

170 hours

Admission to fourth-year honours in history or the Graduate Diploma in Arts (Advanced) or enrolment in a relevant coursework Masters program

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This seminar will explore the ways in which Australian history has been written. It will consider the principal forms of the literature and the chief schools of interpretation, from the establishment of Australian history as an academic discipline to the present. It will engage with some of the principal publications of leading historians, from Brian Fitzpatrick and Manning Clark through to present-day historians. Their work will be read in its cultural, intellectual and political context to explore the materials they employed and the methods they used. Particular attention will be given to the critical assessment of historical argument, so that the seminar will consider examples of historical debate and students will undertake their own appraisal of historical literature. Students will extend their knowledge of the patterns of Australian historical scholarship and develop a capacity for historiographical analysis. They will apply these skills to case studies of leading Australian historians, and to their own historical scholarship.

Students who successfully complete this subject should:

• be familiar with the development of Australian historical scholarship and the principal schools of interpretation; and
• be able to undertake a critical reading of different forms of historical literature and demonstrate textual and contextual skills of historical evaluation and be able to synthesise a body of historical literature.

• A 1000 word book review due during the semester (20%)
• A 1000 word short paper due during the semester (20%)
• A 3000 word histiographical essay due at the end of semester (60%)

Hurdle requirement: Students are required to attend a minimum of 80% of classes in order to pass this subject.

A subject reader will be available.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.