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History Week speaker re-opens Anzac "myth-making" file

September 14, 2005

KentDavid.thumb.JPGIn preparing for the celebration of History Week (17-25 September) at The University of New England, Professor David Kent has re-opened a 20-year-old file of “hate mail”.

Professor Kent (pictured here) will highlight the hazards faced by the dispassionate historian when he talks about a research paper of his that provoked letters labelling him (among other things) “the vilest man alive”, and urging those in authority to “sack the bastard”.

The paper, presented at an Australian War Memorial conference in 1984, argued that Charles Bean, the editor of "The Anzac Book", (an "official" record of the Gallipoli campaign), had helped to create the heroic "Anzac legend" by his selection of material for the book. The paper attracted intense attention in the popular press, and it was this that prompted the letters. "It was a case of people preferring the myth to the historical reality," Professor Kent said.

His talk, titled "Sack the Bastard! David Kent, the vilest man alive", will be one of nine short talks comprising a History Week event at UNE called "Frontiers of Australian History". The public event, on Wednesday 21 September, will be in Lecture Theatre A2 (Arts Building) from 1.30 to 4.30 pm. Other History Week events at UNE will include the UNE Union’s 2005 Russel Ward Lecture on the evening of Monday 19 September (presented this year by Professor Peter Read and titled "Murder, ignorance and reconciliation in the Northern Territory of Australia, 1934-2004"), and the inaugural John Ferry Heritage Lecture at 5.30 pm on Thursday 22 September (presented by Professor Sharon Sullivan, former Director of the Australian Heritage Commission, and titled "Recent views on heritage in Australia and overseas").

Seven other UNE historians will contribute to "Frontiers of Australian History". One of them, Associate Professor Janis Wilton, in a talk titled "Blogging the past", will discuss the impact of the Internet on the practice of history. Dr Erin Ihde will talk about the influence of the Cold War on popular culture, as manifested in works such as the film "Dr Strangelove". Dr Frank Bongiorno will present some examples of "counterfactual" or "what if" history: pursuing the logical consequences of a turning that events did not actually take. His talk is titled "If your grandmother had wheels she’d be a wagon". The other UNE speakers will be Professor Alan Atkinson and Dr David Roberts, and the economic historians Professor Chris Lloyd and Dr Maxine Darnell. The local historian and heritage adviser Graham Wilson will focus on an aspect of New England’s heritage in discussing the balance of architectural significance and historical interest needed in assessing a building’s heritage value.

Dr Bongiorno, the organiser of the event, said that history was a "traditional strength" of UNE, and that one measure of the University’s significance in the field was the number of influential books written by UNE historians. For example, the second volume of Professor Atkinson’s trilogy "The Europeans in Australia" won the important Ernest Scott Prize earlier this year, and Professor Kent’s book "Convicts of the Eleanor" won a NSW Premier’s History Award (the J.M. Ward – State Records Prize) in 2003.

History Week is coordinated throughout the State by the History Council of NSW. For more information contact Dr Frank Bongiorno on (02) 6773 2088.


Media contact: Dr Frank Bongiorno, School of Classics, History and Religion, UNE (02) 6773 2088 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at September 14, 2005 10:29 AM