Ann Curthoy: Australian National History

History is one of the central elements of a nations culture, it creates a sense of identity and shared experience for citizens or any individual connected to a nation. For this reason, it became very important for historians to document a national history. Australian national histories are a fairly recent phenomenon, and began in the days of the first fleet to keep documented what was discovered. National histories also contribute to modern day popular culture bringing people a sense of identity, for example the 2000 Olympics or the world wars. Even so Australian national history is not highly regarded amongst international historians and lacks international interest and audience. Ann Curthoys is a prominent historian and historiographer who writhes extensively about Australian national histories.
Australian history has been tied to British history since its discovery by James cook in 1778, and its colonial occupation, this creates issues of identity for Australians reading their history. To an 18th
He focused mainly on the fact that Australia was an offcut of Britain with “shallow roots”, but the settlers formed a deep connection to this land and a sense of nationhood. Australian history was not seen as separate until the 1950/60s after WWII. Eve Pownall’s Mary of Maranoa was published in 1959, it dealt with aboriginal history from a somewhat alternative perspective to what was common at the time. Pownall dealt with issues such as the exploitation of Indigenous women which was not recorded in British histories. This lead to much more investigation into indigenous history as part of Australian national history, and allowed indigenous people to tell their own narrative. Written histories of Australia were largely a nation building exercise, it gave Australians everywhere a sense of identity separate to Britain, and the incorporation of indigenous history helped create talking points around indigenous