Convict Maids looks at female convicts transported from Britain and Ireland to New South Wales between 1826 and 1840. Deborah Oxley refutes the notion that these women were prostitutes and criminals, arguing that in fact they helped put the colony on its feet. Analyzing their backgrounds, Oxley finds that they were skilled, literate, young and healthy--qualities exploited by the new colony. Convict Maids draws on historical, economic and feminist theory, and is impressive for its extensive and original research.

Knowing Women is a comprehensive study of female education in nineteenth-century Australia, placed in international perspective. It covers a wide range of topics, including the evolution of the teaching profession; the private ladies' academies and their proprietors; the entry of women to the universities and the professions; the establishment of academic secondary schools, both Church and state; girls' experience of compulsory state elementary schooling; and the schooling of outcast girls. The study is rich in narrative and biographical interest, based, where possible, on the experiences of individual girls and women. Knowing Women explores the ambiguities of its material, showing how education could both open and restrict opportunities for women. The author's perspective allows her to contribute to current historical debates on women, culture, education, sexuality and the state.

First published in 1996, Australia's China explores the multifaceted and dynamic Australian encounter with China from the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937 through the Cold War to the Australian recognition of the PRC in 1972. Going beyond conventional policy studies, it traces the patterns in Australian reactions to China from the grass-roots to official circles, highlighting the centrality of images concerning the exotic, disease, sexuality, the frontier, and China as a paradise/anti-paradise. In responding to China, Australians revealed something of themselves, and this book maps the formation of Australian conceptions of identity in the context of a cross-cultural encounter which was variously cooperative, enriching, baffling, and antagonistic. But there was no single Australian conception of China. Rather, competing perceptions jostled in a shifting dialogue.

The Australian Workers Union (AWU) has been one of the most influential unions in Australia's political and industrial history. From its beginnings as a sheep shearers union, it became known as a champion of compulsory arbitration, fighting for improvements in wages and conditions through the industrial courts. In the first part of the 20th century it expanded by amalgamating with other unions, its aim being the creation of one big union. Indeed the AWU became Australia's largest union, operating in all Australian states and across a wide range of industries. The book shows that the union has been a player in key events and crises in Australian history, including the great strikes of the 1890s, the 1916-17 conscription crisis, Labor's splits in the 1950s and the 1956 shearers' strike. The book features vivid portraits of the unique individuals who matched these great issues.

In April 1941, as Churchill strove to counter the German threat to the Balkans, New Zealand troops were hastily committed to combat in the wake of the German invasion of Greece where they would face off against the German Kradschutzen - motorcycle troops. Examining three major encounters in detail with the help of maps and contemporary photographs, this lively study shows how the New Zealanders used all their courage and ingenuity to counter the mobile and well-trained motorcycle forces opposing them in the mountains and plains of Greece and Crete. Featuring specially commissioned artwork and drawing upon first-hand accounts, this exciting account pits New Zealand's infantrymen against Germany's motorcycle troops at the height of World War II in the Mediterranean theatre, assessing the origins, doctrine and combat performance of both sides.

In Australia until the early 1970s, women were assumed to have husbands who were breadwinners and expected to be housewives and to raise children themselves. If a woman had children but no male provider, she was likely to be economically deprived. If she had never been married she would be stigmatised by society as well. This book, the first comprehensive history of the treatment of single mothers and their children in Australia, is the story of these women and their children and the lives they constructed. Starting in the 1850s when abandonment and infanticide were not uncommon, the book's main focus ends in 1975 when the legal status of illegitimacy was abolished. While the book traces profound changes from a time when single mothers were locked in gaol for discarding their babies to the point when their situation was recognised in the form of state benefits, the authors find a good deal of continuity over the period. The book covers issues of baby farming, infanticide, abortion, sex education, birth control, adoption and marriage, in effect becoming a history of sexual practice in Australia. It uses a broad range of published and oral sources, drawn from interviews, diaries, court records and the problem pages of women's magazines. Shurlee Swain and Renate Howe tell a powerful if painful and often moving story of women who were forced to dispose of their babies and punished for sexual transgression. They also show the ways in which these women, and their illegitimate children, survived. This long-awaited book makes an important contribution to social, welfare and women's history in Australia. It will also resonate with many who have experienced single motherhood directly orindirectly.

The unknown and mysterious Great Southland, or Terra Australis, captured the European imagination for centuries before it became a documented fact. This book traces the history of pictorial imagery associated with the 'Fifth Continent'. It discusses and presents imagery from all parts of the southern continent: Java, Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, the South Pacific Islands and Tierra del Fuego as it evolved up to the Enlightenment. Many European explorers had a passionate interest in depicting the plants, animals and native inhabitants of the southern world. The images associated with the search for the southern continent - paintings, handcolored maps, drawings, tapestries and artefacts - are discussed in the context of the link between art and exploration. Beautifully illustrated with Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch and English images, this book is an exciting visual account of the construction of Terra Australis in the European imagination and as scientific fact.

War has been a key part of the Australian experience and central to many national mythologies. Yet more than most activities, war polarises femininity and masculinity. This exciting collection of essays explores the inter-relationship of gender and war in Australia for the first time. Traditional images of Australians during wartime show the 'digger' making history in battle, while women play a supportive role as nurses, or wives and mothers on the home front. Yet as this book shows, war offers opportunities that erode gender boundaries. Women may be empowered economically, politically and sexually, while the trauma of war can leave men emasculated. First published in 1995, Gender and War focuses on women's and men's experiences in WWI, WWII and the Vietnam War. This interdisciplinary collection addresses a wide range of subjects, and promises to change the way we think about women, men and war in the twentieth century.

In 1913 the Australian press displayed a cosmopolitan openness to the culture of the modern world. By 1919, however, Australia had become an inward-looking society bent on keeping the outside world out - a quarantined culture. This book looks at the impact of the First World War on Australian culture, focussing on reactions to modernist art. John Williams argues that the creation of the Anzac legend, the back-to-the-land movement, notions of racial superiority and the mythology of the masculine nation were reactionary and anti-modern. Reflecting this, Australian pioneers of post-impressionism were ignored in favour of more traditional artists. This engaging book outlines the forces - social, economic, cultural, political - which led to the stagnation of Australian culture between the wars. John Williams' original and provocative work will make an important contribution to Australian cultural history.

The 1950s' undeniable prosperity has become synonymous with conservatism, and inertia seen as its hallmark. This book offers a fresh and challenging interpretation of the 1950s in Australia. Nicholas Brown presents the decade as a time of great change, brought about by affluence. Society became increasingly complex, mass consumption reached new heights and Australia's role in the world and the region was re-cast. The book looks at the ways in which those overseeing society responded to these post-war changes; in short, how they governed prosperity. A history of ideas as well as cultural, intellectual and institutional history, Governing Prosperity is a major reassessment of the 1950s. It will be particularly important for its analysis of the significance of the decade in the development of Australian society.

This book reclaims Cultural Liberalism as an important part of Australian intellectual heritage. Arguing that the tradition is central to the Australian experience of modernity, Gregory Melleuish traces the impact of cultural liberalism from its emergence around the time of Federation to its demise during the 1960s. Part collective biography, part intellectual and cultural history, the book describes the development of cultural liberalism, founded on rationalism and humanism, by university-educated intellectuals. Dr Melleuish argues that a religious and spiritual dimension was also central to the tradition. He draws attention to the intellectual similarities of thinkers not usually grouped together, and also considers those who inherited the tradition but repudiated it. This provocative book will make an important contribution to debates about culture, identity and citizenship in post-modern Australia.

This broad-ranging 1995 book provides a comprehensive account of the development of Australia's colonial economy before the gold rushes. Noel Butlin's analysis of the developing economy includes background discussion of eighteenth-century British social, economic, and military history and a detailed demographic analysis of the Australian population over a period of sixty years. He goes on to explore the role of private investment in the economy and the way in which dependence on the British public purse was replaced by dependence on private British capital inflow. A key focus of the book is the extent to which the Australian economy was independent or externally driven, that is, the level of synergism between Australia and Britain. Within this framework, Noel Butlin discusses the central issues of human capital and funding and their impact on the formation of the Australian economy. Forming a Colonial Economy does for the period to the 1840s what Noel Butlin's previous landmark economic histories have done for Australia from the 1860s to the 1890s. It is an ambitious and imaginative book that marks the culmination of a life's work.

It is a common belief that Australians take little interest in their appearance. Yet from the first white settlement, clothing was of crucial importance to Australians. It was central to the ways class and status were negotiated and equally significant for marking out sexual differences. Dress was implicated in definitions of morality, in the relationship between Europeans and Aboriginal people, and between convict and free. This 1994 book, a history of the cultural practices of dress rather than an account of fashion, reveals the broader historical and cultural implications of clothes in Australia for the first time. It shows that the colonies did not always slavishly follow British fashion, and also looks at the impact of the gold field experience on Australian dress, the nature of local manufacturing and retail outlets, and the way in which rural men and their bush dress, rather than women's dress, became closely related to Australian identity.

This book examines the relationship of the Australian colonies with Britain and Empire in the late nineteenth century, and looks at the first murmurings of Australian nationalism. It is the first detailed study of the formative period 1880-1900. The book argues that many of the features of the British Empire at this time can be seen in the British-Australian connection. Luke Trainor shows that the interests of British imperialism were greatly advanced in Australia in the 1880s because of the increased involvement of British capital in Australia. And while British imperialism tolerated some Australian nationalism, this nationalism was highly masculine in character, was based on dispossession of the Aborigines and encouraged sub-imperialism in the Pacific. As we approach the centenary of the Australian Constitution and debate about an Australian republic becomes more heated, this book is a timely re-examination of the colonial character of Australia's federation and Australia's incorporation into an imperial framework.

This 1994 book is a study of an important aspect of Pacific history and political economy, the mining of gold and the development of an indigenous labour force in Fiji from 1930 to 1970. The book focuses on the town of Vatukoula, which is in the north-west of Fiji's largest island Viti Levu and is the country's only company mining town. Labour and Gold in Fiji examines the mechanics of the labour market but also focuses on the ordinary working lives, experiences and struggles of the mining community. By examining the impact of gold mining in Fiji, the author extracts a number of important themes significant to Fijian social and economic history and the Third World in general. She traces the making and undoing of working class indigenous mine labour in Fiji, discussing various aspects of economic coercion as well as the social consequences of Fijian incorporation into the colonial labour market.

This broad-ranging 1995 book provides a comprehensive account of the development of Australia's colonial economy before the gold rushes. Noel Butlin's analysis of the developing economy includes background discussion of eighteenth-century British social, economic, and military history and a detailed demographic analysis of the Australian population over a period of sixty years. He goes on to explore the role of private investment in the economy and the way in which dependence on the British public purse was replaced by dependence on private British capital inflow. A key focus of the book is the extent to which the Australian economy was independent or externally driven, that is, the level of synergism between Australia and Britain. Within this framework, Noel Butlin discusses the central issues of human capital and funding and their impact on the formation of the Australian economy. Forming a Colonial Economy does for the period to the 1840s what Noel Butlin's previous landmark economic histories have done for Australia from the 1860s to the 1890s. It is an ambitious and imaginative book that marks the culmination of a life's work.

It is a common belief that Australians take little interest in their appearance. Yet from the first white settlement, clothing was of crucial importance to Australians. It was central to the ways class and status were negotiated and equally significant for marking out sexual differences. Dress was implicated in definitions of morality, in the relationship between Europeans and Aboriginal people, and between convict and free. This 1994 book, a history of the cultural practices of dress rather than an account of fashion, reveals the broader historical and cultural implications of clothes in Australia for the first time. It shows that the colonies did not always slavishly follow British fashion, and also looks at the impact of the gold field experience on Australian dress, the nature of local manufacturing and retail outlets, and the way in which rural men and their bush dress, rather than women's dress, became closely related to Australian identity.

Cattle has been big business in Australia for well over a century and earns substantial export dollars. Yet the contribution that Aboriginal people have made to this key sector of the Australian economy has not been widely recognised. This book uncovers the central role of Aboriginal labour in the Queensland cattle industry. It looks at a broad period, from Aboriginal land use at the time of first contact, resistance to white settlers and rapid absorption of Aboriginal people into the pastoral economy. The book also considers the impact of the introduction of equal pay rates in the 1970s and land management in the 1990s. Dawn May shows that the use of Aboriginal labour was a complex process involving a high degree of state intervention. Her book is an important economic and social history of the cattle industry in Queensland, but the pressing issue of native title makes the book highly relevant throughout post-Mabo Australia.

The material world of European settlement in Australia has been uncovered not only by historians but by the work of archaeologists as well. These archaeological enquiries have revealed new and direct pictures of the public and private lives of Australians at home and at work. This book, now in paperback, presents the insights gained from such investigations and makes them available to a wide audience. Historical archaeology is broad ranging and this book discusses the first European towns including those settlements that failed, the archaeology of convicts and archaeological evidence of the agricultural, maritime, industrial and manufacturing activities of early Australia. Graham Connah also examines the evidence of earliest external contact, contact between Europeans and Aboriginal people and looks at the diverse cultural forms of modern Australia. The book also suggests ways people can become involved in studying and protecting Australia's historical heritage.

Australia has a strong tradition of labour historiography, which until recently has been focused on the institutions of the labour movement: trade unions and labour parties. This book shifts the focus back to the workplace and looks at how and why the nature of work changed during the period from the late nineteenth century to World War II. The book focuses on three industries in the state of Victoria: clothing, bootmaking, and printing. Concerned with the complex relationship between economic and technological change, the nature of sexual division in the workforce, and the role of union, employer and state activists, it carefully traces the impact of all of these factors on wage levels for men and women. The treatment of these themes touches on wide historical issues, as we follow the fortunes of Victorian manufacturing, and consider the political strategies of the trade unions of the time and the state's response to them. The study is also an important piece of social history, evoking the nature of work for many Australians of the period.

This is the first comprehensive history of the Christian Churches in Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It illustrates the ways in which European forms of Christianity have been adapted to new contexts, and pays particular attention to the distinctive features of Melanesian and Polynesian Churches.

In less than one day, the might of the Imperial Japanese Navy was destroyed and four of her great aircraft carriers sank burning into the dark depths of the Pacific. Utilizing the latest research and detailed combat maps, this book tells the dramatic story of the Japanese assault on Midway Island and the American ambush that changed the face of the Pacific war. With sections on commanders, opposing forces, and a blow-by-blow account of the action, this volume gives a complete understanding of the strategy, the tactics, and the human drama that made up the Midway campaign, and its place as the turning point in the Pacific war.

The myth of Anzac has been one of Australia's most enduring. The belief in the superior fighting qualities of Australia's soldiers in the First World War is part of the national consciousness, and the much touted 'special' relationship between Britain and Australia during the war accepted as fact. This provocative and wide-ranging book is a reassessment of Australia's role in World War I and its relations - military, economic, political and psychological - with Britain. Eric Andrews shows that it suited all parties to propagate the myth of Anzac for their own purposes. It was widely assumed that Britain and Australia were countries with similar interests united by Empire. The book considers this assumption in the light of Australia's actual military experience in the War and finds that it was false. It also discusses the impact of the War on the Australian attitude to Empire. The book is a fresh - and at times controversial - consideration of issues of abiding interest and significance.

Unrestricted Warfare reveals the dramatic story of the harsh baptism by fire faced by U.S. submarine commanders in World War II. The first skippers went to battle hamstrung by conservative peacetime training and plagued by defective torpedoes. Drawing extensively from now declassified files, Japanese archives, and the testimony of surviving veterans, James DeRose has written a fascinating account of the men and vessels responsible for the only successful submarine campaign of the war. They clearly charted a new course to victory in the Pacific.

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR UNRESTRICTED WARFARE

"James DeRose has done an excellent job–– surprisingly so, in view of his lack of true WWII submarine experience. He obviously contacted everyone he could find who served on one of the three boats he concentrated on, and he read, as well, everything he could find that was written about them. . . . DeRose shines by his interpretation of events as the Japanese must have seen them. . . . His reconstruction of how Wahoo came to her end may well be pretty close to correct. . . . He does the same with Tang."–CAPTAIN EDWARD L. BEACH, USN author of Submarine! and Run Silent, Run Deep

"An outstanding addition to the literature of the Silent Service. . . . The depth of research is wonderful. . . . This is fine history . . . that rivals Blair’s Silent Victory."–PAUL CROZIER, sitemaster, "Legends of the Deep" (www.warfish.com) Web site on the USS Wahoo

"I knew all of the book’s main characters quite well. . . . I am also completely familiar with submarine operations in the Pacific. With that background I couldn’t fail to thoroughly enjoy DeRose’s book. It is well written and has the right feel."–CHESTER W. NIMITZ JR., rear admiral, USN (Ret.)

"Sail with American submariners into tightly guarded Japanese home waters; undergo the horror of a depth charge attack; experience the thrill of victory with some of the U.S. Navy’s ace submarine skippers. All this––and much more––is contained in James F. DeRose’s compelling Unrestricted Warfare. No one interested in the naval side of World War II should be without it."–NATHAN MILLER author of War at Sea: A Naval History of World War II

Ironically, the first civil case to be heard in Australia occurred at the behest of two convicts under sentence. Of course, convicts had first-hand experience of criminal law, but all the settlers were part of a culture which emphasised the rule of law as the guarantee of its fundamental political value, British liberty. This book, written by a lawyer and unique for its perspective based in both legal and social history, illuminates the important role played by the concept of the rule of law in the transformation of New South Wales from a penal colony to a free society. Dr Neal lucidly outlines the interaction between law and politics in early New South Wales and shows that because there were no official political structures, the courts served as a de facto parliament and a means of political expression.