Debates on Australian History - Essay Example

What critiques are raised in Units 1 and 2 in this course over the nature of historical evidence? Historians on Australian history more specifically those that are focus on issues surrounding Botany Bay and New South Wales utilized different forms of evidences some of which were based on stories and personal accounts that may be influenced by personal, social, and political orientation. Some make use of letters written by those people involved in the colonization but cannot justify their arguments with actual historical events. In historical research, primary evidence is being given weight than secondary evidence simply because they mostly come from those who directly witness or involved in the event. In contrast, secondary evidence is mostly extracted from the primary sources thus less valuable. However, according to Johnson & Christensen (2010, p.424) regardless of classification, information sources must be evaluated for its accuracy and authenticity and pass the test of both internal and external criticism. The authenticity and trustworthiness of the source is the main concern of external criticism while the accuracy and reliability of material itself is at the centre of internal criticism. Primary evidence is therefore more advantageous since an authentic and trustworthy material will almost always yield accurate and reliable information. The gap in our history is an indication that historians do not have perfect knowledge of the past and are limited to the body of evidence in their possession (Danto 1985, p.113). In other words, their representation of Australian history in particular is relative to the evidence they have which may be insufficient to conclude a particular issue such as the primary motive in the colonization of New South Wales. A nation-state is a public issue, a polity and people shared views of themselves (Hirst 2009, p.42) thus implicating nation in historical representations is expected. For instance, many historians tried to draw Australian history by using evidence related to Captain Cook’s expedition and narratives of former governors. For Tony Bennett, the history of Australia is materially embodied in museums and heritage sites which more like a history of the present than the past. Historians using such evidence may be misled by the fact that the status of such historic sites was only established because it was demarcated as such. In other words such historical representation is a product of culture rather than the actual event of the past (Bennett 1988, p.3). The argument raised by both Bennett (1988) and Davidson (1988) seems convincing in the sense that evidence based on celebratory reports and testimonies and recognition based on demarcation is weak. This is because one cannot ignore the fact the Cook and others have different political and social agenda which during that time is more important than historical accuracy. Similarly, museums and other heritage sites are creation of the present generation and although some may be partly true and accurate, it cannot represent the actual event in general. Although interpreted differently by many historians, it may be more preferable to base some part of history to official documents such as list of convict settlers who actually travelled and arrived at the settlement. This type of document can at least pass the test of external and internal criticism since they are direct and unadulterated by political and personal aspiration. Davidson may have recognized the implication of recreating history based on narratives of a triumphant journey and colonization of settlement. The form and credibility of evidence is very important in establishing the truth about Australian history thus critiques raised some questions and refute what they believe is inappropriate and questionable sources of historical information. Alan Atkinson (1975), one of the many critiques of questionable historical evidences points to the issue of historians’ habit of getting and believing historical information coming from leaders and officials of government. Atkinson argues that such information is not credible enough since there were several founders of the colony and unfortunately most of them have different ideas and belief about the settlement. Although some documents were evidently approved by Lord Sydney and other high ranking officials of the British government at the time, it is also possible that their exact words were not carefully evaluated such as the wordings and phrases in the Historical Records of New South Wales and the Historical Records of Australia. According to Atkinson, more weight has been given to official papers and reports which were mostly written from a tory point of view. For instance, governors of New South Wales from 1784 to 1830 according to Atkinson (1975) were tory appointees thus their testimonies were likely influenced by their political affiliation and agenda. A good example of such evidence is G.A. Wood (1993) use of Governor Macquarie and Brisbane’s statements to determine the true origins of the convict settlers. Although, there may be some truth about their testimonies, it is also possible that they are not aware of the whole story or may be just acting on their own political interest. In similar manner Eliza Frazer’s story or her experiences with the aborigines of Fraser Island cannot be relied on since she was also likely influenced by social and cultural norms during that time (Schaffer 1995, p.2). Patrick O’ Farrell (1979) also thinks that such oral testimony is not credible since it is more likely a recollection rather than an account of what really happened in the past. Historians’ use of weak evidence is not limited to oral testimonies but written statements which are not historically credible as Alan Frost’s use of Sir Sydney’s letter to the East India Company in 1786. According to Ged Martin (1993), the Heads of Plan is an unofficial document that was probably written by Joseph Banks who was at that time serving as source of information for New South Wales. The document contains statements suggesting that Botany Bay can supply the required naval stores for India while Sydney’s letter to the East India Company made no mention of such inducement. The discrepancies found in both document suggest that they cannot represent the true intention of the British government in colonizing New South Wales (Martin 1993, p.242). However, such documents are more convincing than oral testimonies which may considered secondary if not entirely useless. The same is true with various documents containing the names and details of convicts who arrived in the settlement since its content means more than just a confirmation of the British government’s plan for a penal colony for some historians. This is because some historians argue that not all convicts are criminals using the testimonies of Governor Macquarie and Brisbane. In contrast, Portia Robinson insists that contemporaries in New South Wales were from the British society’s criminal class; consist of hopeless morally deprived scum (Robinson 1993, p.111). It is thus important to analyze documents to satisfy the requirements of a good and reliable historical research. For instance, it is important to understand the authorship since their style and orientation can greatly influence their work. Similarly, the time and the reason the evidence was written is very important since historical evidence in terms of recollection and memory is more accurate when they were written during or just after the actual event. Similarly, the reason why the historical evidence was written is also critical to determine its level of accuracy. For instance, letters and reports written by those involved in the actual expedition is more accurate than outsiders since they wrote these documents in line with their duty with the purpose of correctly informing their superiors of the actual situation. In contrast, third party documents written by outsiders are mostly secondary evidence with different purpose such as those found in the Daily Universal Register in 1786 (Martin 1993 p.240). Drawing Australian history as if nobody is living in Australia before the 1700s can lead to several complications. For instance, most historians tend to create a picture of New South Wales as entirely a matter of convict disposal and trading issue thus the presence of aborigines and other equally important historical facts were ignored and marginalized. In fact, most of the stories regarding the expedition and colonization of New South Wales were about convict settlers and triumph of the expedition and penal colony’s administrators. In the article “The use and abuse of history” by Davison (1988, p. 55-76), Australia was labelled as a land without monuments simply because its history is more attuned to with Europe than the continent’s long years of Aboriginal history. The Sovereign hills for instance enables visitors to enter a world of historical make believe and imagine the past as some sort of a fantasy land where everything is possible. Such theme park is a grim reminder that many of those involved in the re-creation of the past cannot accept the fact that white Australia has a black history or the past belongs to enemy as battle-cry of the Humprey McQueen in the 1970s. For Russell Ward, the author of “The Australian Legend”, national tradition is inspiring for the men and women of Australia but they should look on the collectivist creed of the nameless Bushmen rather than the individual heroes being presented by monumental historians. They are the minority but without them justification of Australian history will be harder. Reference/Bibliography Atkinson A., 1975, Whigs and Tories and Botany Bay, Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, Vol. 61, Part 5, pp. 186-208 Attwood B., 1996, Making Histories at Monash, Australian Historical Association Bulletin, No.82, May, pp.43-49 Bennett T., 1988, Out of Which Past? Critical Reflections on Australian Museum and Heritage Policy, Brisbane: Institute for Cultural Policy Studies, Griffith University Danto A, 1985, Narration and Knowledge: Including the Integral Text of Analytical Philosophy of History, Columbia University Press, US Davison G., 1988, ‘The Use and Abuse of Australia History’ in Susan Janson and Stuart Macintyre (eds) Making the Bicentenary, Parkville: University of Melbourne, pp. 55-76 Dening G., 1996, Symposium: Why History?, Australian Book Review, January, p. 16 Frost A., The Colonization of New South Wales in John Hardy and Alan Frost (eds) European Voyaging towards Australia, Canberra: Australian Academy of the Humanities, pp.85-94 Hirst J., 2009, Sense and Nonsense in Australian History, Black Inc., Australia Johnson B. & Christensen L., 2010, Education Research: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed, SAGE, US Martin G., 1978, Economic Motives behind the founding of Botany Bay, The Founding of Australia: The Argument about Australia’s origins, Sydney, Hale and Iremonger, pp. 237-251 Nicholas S. & Shergold P., 1993, Unshackling the Past in Gillian Whitlock and Gail Reekie (eds) Uncertain Beginnings, Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, pp. 75-88 Oaxley D., 1996, Representing Convict Women in Ian Duffield and James Bradley (eds) Representing Convicts: New Perspectives on Convict Forced Labour Migration, London: Leicester University Press, pp.88-105 O’Farrell P., 1979, Oral History: Facts and Fiction, Quadrant, November, pp.4-8 Read P., 1993, Who’s Holding the Microphone, Australian Historical Association Bulletin No. 74, September, pp.24-32 Robinson P., 1993, ‘The Women of Botany Bay’ in Gillian Whitlock and Gail Reekie (eds) Uncertain Beginnings, Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, pp.60-74 Robson L., 1993, Convict Settlers in Gillian Whitlock and Gail Reekie (eds) Uncertain Beginnings, Brisbane: University of Queensland Press Schaffer K., 1995, In the wake for first contact: The Eliza Fraser stories, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press Singh M., 1994, ‘The Struggle Against Curriculum Imperialism: Questioning Invisibility and Stereotypes in Australian History’ in Ray Land (ed) Invasion and After: A Case Study in Curriculum Politics, Brisbane: Queensland Studies Centre, Griffith University, pp.27-40, Summers, A., 1975, Damned Whores in Damned Whores and God’s Police: The Colonization of Women in Australia, Ringwood: Penguin Woods G.A., 1993, Convict Origins in Gillian Whitlock and Gail Reekie (eds) Uncertain Beginnings, Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, pp.53-59 York Barry, 1993, Nightmare on Archive Street: Sentencing – Why, How, and by Whom?, Australian Historical Association Bulleting No.74, September, pp. 15-20 Read More