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Abstract

Geography has always featured in Australian historical writing. This was particularlyso in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Exploration wasat the centre of popular history and featured in school text books. The voyages ofEuropean seamen were traced on maps of the continent. They were followed by theexpeditions of the inland explorers. Atlases used in schools until the 1950's containeda series of maps depicting the progress of the settler's advance into AboriginalAustralia. On these maps black was succeeded by triumphant yellow until the lastunknown regions were traversed by the intrepid frontiersmen. The explorers weresucceeded in popular histories by the pioneers who were confronted by the landitself. They endured flood, drought and fire and in doing so developed characteristicswhich came to be seen as distinctly Australian. In popular literature, it was theOutback-not the coastal cities-which shaped the national ethos. Both sides ofpolitics found their rural heroes. The (conservative) right celebrated the squatter.The (progressive or liberal) left venerated the semi-nomadic tribe of bush workers,shearers and their precocious unionism.

Item Type:	Book Section
Authors/Creators:	Reynolds, H
Keywords:	history, Australia
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
DOI / ID Number:	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73408-8_12
Copyright Information:	Copyright 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
Item Statistics:	View statistics for this item

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