Book review : In the shadow of Gallipoli: the hidden history of Australia in World War I

Review of: In the Shadow of Gallipoli: the hidden history of Australia in World War I, by Robert Bollard. (Sydney: New South Wales, 2013)

Remembering the first world war today

‘Remembering the First World War’ is an ambitious topic, and one that has already produced an extraordinary and diverse array of scholarly inquiry. The centenary of the First World War has naturally been a matter of considerable debate for a long time before its realization in 2014 and beyond. That debate has been premised on the obligations, opportunities and not infrequently the anxieties that are entailed in the determination to mark the centenary of the first of the twentieth century’s two catastrophic global conflicts.

AHS classics: Australia and the First World War: the First World War in Australian history

This article introduces the first volume of AHS Classics: Australia and the First World War. It surveys the critical scholarship on the Australian experience of war, taking its cue from Ken Inglis' seminal article, ‘The Anzac Tradition’ (1965), and tracing the development of his challenge to Australian historians over the following five decades. It argues that the adaptability of the Anzac legend, and its assimilation of varied experiences of the First World War, requires both investigation and caution in the production of new histories of events almost a century distant.

Australia and Japan after the second world war: constructing new futures in Asia

The subject of my lecture is Australian-Japanese relations since the end of the Second World War, but I’m keen to explore these relations in the context of ideas, efforts and practical results in relation to collaborative and other efforts towards regionalism in the Asia Pacific. My general argument is that, on the one hand, Australian-Japanese relations have developed with a strength that would have been hard to imagine in 1945, and with an important focus on regional growth and security. The incremental steps taken may have been small and at a steady pace but, given the legacy of deep scars resulting from the Second World War and given the limitations on the defence aspects of Japan’s postwar involvement in regional affairs (ie the self defence requirement of the Constitution and the practice of spending not more than one per cent of Gross National Product on defence), these have been very successfully negotiated steps. On the other hand, there are some opportunities for greater joint leadership in the region which may or may not be realized. The incremental steps took place in difficult and changing circumstances; and what I would like to do now is remind us of how many unknowns attached to what might happen in Australian- Japan relationships after the Second World War, partly because there were so many unknowns about how the post-war international order would settle, and partly because Australian-Japanese relations started from such a desperately low point. I will try to walk through some of the key features of different periods, as I see the periodisation logically falling out after the war, and draw some thoughts together in relation to more recent initiatives on regional and bilateral co-operation. My training is as a historian, and that shapes the way this lecture works, and for most of my career I have been an Australian historian of international relations, looking particularly at Australia’s changing role in world affairs, and that is also likely to show in what follows－possibly at the expense of greater detail from Japanese perspectives. But I hope you will understand that, and also the limitations involved in trying to paint with a broad brush on a huge historical canvas.

Being a girl in wartime: Canadian children's religious magazines during the First World War

During the First World War, Canadian children were inducted into certain patterns of behavior based on their symbolic value as the future of Canada and as contributors to the British empire. After the advent of the war, Protestant religious denominations in Canada began using their existing children's publications, such as The King's Own (1900-1925) and Pleasant Hours (1881-1929), to encourage child readers to see the war in ways that reinforced the necessity of duty and sacrifice far both boys and girls. Fiction and correspondence in these publications reflect the magazines' engagement with the war and their efforts to show girls how they could contribute to the war effort. As such, they represent an important intervention into how Canadian girlhood was constructed and refined during wartime. Although girls' fiction in these magazines often emphasises domestic responsibilities, it also offers opportunities to mobilise these domestic skills to support the war effort. Other content within the magazines also presented practical ideas that could be implemented at home and at school, suggesting that girls' participation in the war effort could be easily understood and implemented. Moreover, girls' participation in these wartime activities contributed simultaneously to both national and imperial enterprises. Thus these two magazines represented Canadian feminine ideals within an imperial framework. Importantly, however, the dominant frame far these girlhood ideals is explicitly national. They are primarily understood to be helping Canadians through their wartime work.

The organizational legitimacy of the Bauhaus

Gaining and maintaining organizational legitimacy can be a major issue
for social and political structures such as cultural organizations. Legitimacy, sometimes called credibility, brings with it access to resources needed for survival and development. Organizations without legitimacy tend not to be successful in attracting grants, subsidies, and sponsorships. Research suggests that legitimate organizations may be seen as valuable social structures (Hybels 1995; Suchman 1995) and come to be “taken for granted” as part of the social fabric. In this article, I explore organizational legitimacy using the framework of institutional theory. I first define legitimacy and then discuss the key concepts of organizational legitimacy. Next, I present a case study based on an art/craft/design school. The school, known as the Bauhaus, existed between 1919 and 1933 in three German cities—Weimar, Dessau, and Berlin. Deterministic views of the pre–World War II environment suggest that the Nazi party was responsible for the closure of the Bauhaus. I argue that other factors were apparent. The Nazi regime was becoming a significant force in the late 1920s, but the story of the Bauhaus becomes more complex when viewed under the rubric of arts management and organizational legitimacy. In this article, I discuss how the Bauhaus sought and managed legitimacy and the role that the state and other actors played in granting that legitimacy. In conclusion, I offer a summary of the relevance of legitimacy to contemporary arts organizations.

Introduction: perspectives on work-life balance

Work-life balance has emerged as a major concern for researchers trying to map the dimensions and causes of the issue, for policy makers searching for uncontroversial solutions to the problem and for individuals trying to construct satisfying and productive lives. There is some agreement over the main contributors to the work-life balance 'problem': the increase in female participation in the workforce since the 1960s; changes to work from the mid-1970s, in particular greater work intensification, an increase in alternative work schedules away from the standard working week and the growth of casual jobs (particularly in Australia); and a de-differentiation of roles, which has contributed to greater spill-over between work and other roles.

These factors are embedded in economic, social and cultural changes that characterise the post-World War II development of late capitalism in the more developed economies. Each is itself the result of a set of complex processes of change. We do not attempt here to detail these changes in all their complexity but draw out those elements that are most important in attempting to understand the work-life issue in terms of causal forces, mediating support systems and the effects of work-life balance or 'imbalance' on individuals, households, communities and societies.

This issue of Labour and Industry brings together three papers that focus on different work-life balance issues as a result of differing causal forces, different configurations of work/life activities, varying outcomes and variations in terms of support available. In particular, the problem of work-life balance is examined through an analysis of change in attitudes to mothers working in Australia, a study of agency or labour hire, and a study of young professionals. These papers were first presented at the WorkTimes/LifeTimes Colloquium held in Geelong, Victoria in December 2004. The aim of this colloquium was to explore issues around working time and the impact that this has on other aspects of people's lives. Specialists in the area of working time, time use, employee relations, and work-family came together to share the results of their respective research areas and to debate the theoretical and policy implications of their findings.

Crystal-M Bennett

Biography of Crystal M. Bennett, a pioneering female archaeologist. Includes bibliography of Crystal M. Bennett's publications.

Who's afraid of designer babies?

Australian scientists in Sydney made medical history by creating a life-saving brother for a child with an incurable genetic disease. Features the case of a Tasmanian couple who, with their help, have this life-saving baby, at their third try. The pioneering IVF treatment, which is legal only in N.S.W., hit the news headlines, sparking an ethical storm. Examines the moral and ethical issues that genetic manipulation raises, including the potential uses and misuses of genetic technology. Raises also the spectre of an extreme form of eugenics, as seen in the World War II Nazi push to create a master race through human genetics. Some view eugenics as another form of PGD. Presents the diverse views of eminent ethicists and the Catholic Church, world wide.

Testimony and memory : re-writeable video memoirs

In Chris Marker’s Sunless (1985), the narrator states: “We do not remember, we re-write memory much as history is rewritten.” This presentation considers the ways in which my parents’ stories have been (and can be) re-written. In 1996, my father and mother engaged in a process of remembering, narrating and re-considering their histories when their video testimonies were recorded for the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. They experienced much of World War II in different locations – only re-united after many months. For these video testimonies, they were recorded separately – once again, with a distance of many months between. Whenever there is an attempt to protect a story from interruption and contradiction, narrative multiplicity arises. By comparing and analysing their separate stories in terms of what was said, what was not said, what was unspeakable, and what was unknowable, I am interested in the uncertainties, the gaps, and the different ways in which they attempted to re-make their own histories whilst in the midst of storytelling. I am also interested in re-editing these memoirs into a multi-perspectival family video album, in which the stories and storytellers re-inhabit a shared and re-writeable space of storytelling.

Strategic significance of the island state of Sri Lanka

The study is focused on an analysis of the major diplomatic documents from the mid eighteenth century to the present as regards Sri Lanka, or Ceylon as it was known till 1972. The objectives of the study are to identify the issues underlying these diplomatic documents. These include the political and strategic factors and other subsidiary issues like trade and commerce relevant at the time these treaties, agreements, and proposed treaties were formulated. It is also a geopolitical study as it relates to Sri Lanka's geographical position in the Indian Ocean, and her possession of the Trincomalee Harbour on its east coast, which is one of the great natural harbours of the world. Over the centuries this harbour has had significant strategic value for naval deployments. The case study of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries studies the diplomatic documents against the political and strategic background for the French Revolution and actions of Napoleon, and the Anglo/French rivalry, spreading from Europe to North America and Asia. In the twentieth century the environment for studying the place of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean was created by the Russian Revolution, the failure to keep the peace of Versailles after World War I, the conflict and horrors of World War II which led to the disintegration of European colonial empires in Asia and Africa, and the tensions generated by the Cold War. A study of the documents would reveal that in international relations what matters is the ability of a party to promote its interests, and this depends on its power. This realist approach contrasts to the idealist approach where policies are based on moral and ethical principles. For the realist the states should follow to protect their interests and to survive. To achieve this is to strive for a ‘balance of power’. To do so is to form a favourable alliance system. As the documents examined cover a period from the mid-eighteenth century to the later part of the twentieth century, they reflect the changing technologies that have had an influence on naval and military matters. For example, this period witnessed great changes in technology of energy utilized to propel warships, from wind, to steam, to fuel and finally to nuclear power. These changes had an influence in determining strategic policies involving weapon systems and communications within a global and regional setting. The period covered was the beginning of the process described a ‘globalisation’. Its idea is not unique to this century; there were many attempts, in various times of history, to integrate societies within a global context. Viewed in this light, the Anglo-French rivalry of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was the indication of a global naval strategy, in which Sri Lanka was a major factor in the Indian Ocean region. This process was associated with the phenomena called the ‘expansion of Europe’. It covered all the oceans of the world and in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries led to the founding of the largest maritime empire the world has ever seen: The British Empire. After World War I, the British naval strength (the basis of the British Empire) and her consequent position as a great power, was challenged by other powers like the United States of America and Japan. After World War II, the US Navy was supreme: and there was a close alliance between Britain and the USA. The strength of the US/British alliance was based on the navy and its bases, which were spread throughout the globe; to project power, and act as deterrence and balancing force. Sri Lanka, due to her strategic position, was a part of this evolving process, and was tied to a global strategy (with its regional connotations) from the eighteenth century to the present.

1948 and 1968 Czech refugee settlers in Australia : a comparison of the settlement and integration processes among two waves of settlers

Nearly eighteen years ago when I first became interested in the history and sociology of Australian immigration, I was particularly attracted by the fact and opportunity to incorporate immigration settlement, experience and accomplishments in my history teaching in secondary school. In particular it was the area of the settlement of Australia that needed a fuller understanding in the teaching of Australian history. By that I mean it was needed to show that there were many other ethnic groups besides the Anglo-Saxon group which had participated in the development of Australia since 1788. Since the end of World War II, the Australian population has doubled, the population structure and characteristics have changed and knowledge about the diverse groups forming the Australian nation is now sought. Sane ethnic groups, mainly the numerically large, have been studied and numerous reports are available. But many of the smaller groups have attracted little interest among Australian scholars. This was one of the reasons that I decided to research the behaviour of one of the smaller groups - the Czechs - to find out about their immigration history to Australia; their immigration processes such as re-settlement and re-establishment; and their community life since World War II. Because of the scarcity of written materials on Czechs in Australia, I had to rely on interviews, personal reminiscenses, letters and documents translated from the Czech language. I should like to express my gratitude to all people and officials of Czech ethnic organisations and clubs in Australia, who agreed to be interviewed and who provided me with documentary material so important for my work. Respecting the wishes of my interviewees their anonymity had to be preserved. In the course of my research, I have received substantial help and the encouragement from the Editor of the now extinct Czech language paper Newspaper Hlas domova, Mr. F.V., whose co-operation is gratefully recognised. I am also grateful to Associate Professor William D. Rubinstein for his help and encouragement in all stages of my work. The introductory part of the study is covered in Chapter One. She reasons for the need to increase Australia's population after World War II and an analysis of the development of settlement in Australia between 1947 and 1984 are discussed. The emigration of Czechs into Australia and their place in the post-war immigration scheme is introduced. To obtain an overview of how Czechs have emigrated around the world, the literature describing their settlement is compared. Also discussed in the literature on Czech settlement in Australia from an historical point of view. The studies on the concept of ethnicity and settlement in Australia are used to document the theoretical issues for an understanding of Australian society. This chapter also contains aspects of sources and research, shewing the processes of documentary research, interviews and related matters. In Chapter Two the history of Czech emigration is discussed, covering the period from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. The first contacts with Australia are highlighted, continuing into the inter-war period and finally the re-settlement of Czechs after World War II. To understand why Czechs left their ancestral country after World War II, the political situation in Czechoslovakia is analysed. The third chapter concentrates mainly in the 1948 wave of settlers, who left Czechoslovakia after the communist take-over in 1948. Their means of departure from their homeland, selection of Australia as a new homeland and their re-settlement and re-establishment are discussed. Their attitudes after their arrival and their later stages of their settlement are analysed. The formation of numerous Czech ethnic organisations which mushroomed between 1950 and 1954 led to an active community life which began to change about five years after their arrival. These charges led to disorganisation of Czech community's life. The causes of these changes which were influential for the failure of the 1948 group to establish a viable community in Australia are analysed. In Chapter Four the wave of 1968 is viewed, their arrival and settling is covered. The study of their group attitudes and formation of group institutions is the main part of this section. A comparison of my data of the two waves, 1948 and 1968, reveals the information that these two groups did not develop the harmonious relationship expected of them as members of the one ethnic group. Chapter Five discusses immigration typologies and concentrates on the differences between legal and illegal emigrants from the Czechoslovak point of view. The integration processes of Czechs and their incorporation into Australian society are discussed. The sixth chapter sums up the findings of this disertation and states the influences which were responsible for the divisions in Czech ethnic life in Australia in the 1980s.