Australian Public Intellectual [API] Network

Network Scholars

Criminals and pimps: Keith Windschuttle and Tasmanian Aborigines

Shayne Breen
Recent comment on Keith Windschuttle's The Fabrication of Aboriginal History concentrates on the book's claims that both Henry Reynolds and Lyndall Ryan deliberately fabricated stories of frontier conflict, thereby greatly exaggerating the Aboriginal death toll. The purpose of this fabrication, according to Windschuttle, was to support a subversive political agenda of Aboriginal separatism and the generation of white self-hate. Although bordering on the irrational, these are very serious charges. They are at the core of Windschuttle's book, and it is important they are rigorously scrutinised ...
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Network Review of Books

What's Wrong With Addiction (2002)

Reviewed by James Rowe in the March 2003 issue.
There she sat ... needle in hand as her year old son peered out of his pram to see what was going down ... It left her 'on the nod' as they say on the streets, too far gone to care fully for the boy she loves; too tired to worry about photographs being taken. 'It's sad, I know it is', she said of her habit.(Herald Sun, 19 February 1999, p.3) I ask them if they'd like some tea, or a cake. 'Oh no,' Sia says, looking world weary. 'We don't do tea. And we certainly don't do cakes. In fact, I'm afraid we don't do much any more.' But they used to 'do' a lot as, by their diagnosis, they were ... read more.

In Transit: Travel, Text, Empire (2002)

Reviewed by Max Quanchi in the March 2003 issue.
The editors and twelve authors of In Transit attempt to extend analysis of the nexus between travel writing and empire by tackling an assortment of nineteenth and twentieth century fiction, photography, official reports and travel literature. Travel writing from the colonial era is a burgeoning academic field witnessed by several recent anthologies, monographs like Barbara Hodgson's No Place for a Lady and others and the forthcoming Literature of Travel and Exploration; an Encyclopaedia (Routledge) but because In Transit spreads itself across too many continents, eras and discourses it makes ... read more.

Her Sister's Eye (2002)

Reviewed by Christine Choo in the June 2004 issue.
The daughters of Mertyl Salte, Murilla and Sofie, live in Mundra, a parched country town on a river somewhere or anywhere in Australia in the present. Then, one hot summer day, Archie Corella arrives. A dark heaviness about the town signals that it hides more than it reveals, even in the stark light. Mystery surrounds Caroline Drysdale and the Drysdale men -- why has Caroline not left her big house on the hill? What is behind Murilla's loyalty to Caroline and Caroline's to her? What does Sofie know? Why has Archie come to town? Does he himself know? What do the Red Rose women do? What do ... read more.

The Oromo in Exile (2002)

Reviewed by Bethaney Turner in the November 2002 issue.
Greg Gow achieves two remarkable things in this text. First, his detailed and lengthy research into the exiled Oromo community in Melbourne is groundbreaking in both its subject matter and scope. Second, he challenges the methodological boundaries of his chosen field of ethnography by employing postmodern and postcolonial theories to analyse the Oromo's performance of traditional practices in their state of exile. While both of these achievements are admirable, it is difficult to fully realise such an ambitious project in a 149 page text. One imagines that Gow battled to condense and rework ... read more.

The Citizens' Bargain: A Documentary History of Australian Views Since 1890 (2002)

Reviewed by Tony Smith in the January 2003 issue.
The usefulness of a documentary history depends upon astute choice of materials and sound editorial comments. While readers might differ over the value of the documents included in this collection, they should be reassured by the quality of the editors' contributions. Walter and Macleod provide an excellent introduction justifying their focus, and concise commentaries on each chapter. Collectively these essays chronicle the many strands and epochs of debates about Australian citizenship. The Citizens' Bargain captures 'the historical conversation about citizenship'. The bargain is the ... read more.

Goodbye Bussamarai: The Mandandanji Land War, Southern Queensland 1842-1852 (2002)

Reviewed by Jack Bowers in the August 2002 issue.
The Mandandanji land war occurred across the land of the Barunggan, Mandandanji, Bigambul and Yiman peoples, about 300 kilometres west of Brisbane. From the first white explorations into the area, until a few months after the Yamboucal massacre, Patrick Collins sketches the historical, cultural and political complexities of a decade of what we still feel uncomfortable about calling war. The title, though interesting, is a little misleading. Bussamarai (pronounced bussa-murray) was an influential Mandandanji warrior who led a coalition of different tribes against the white people. Collins ... read more.

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