What is a fair wage? Is there a right to work? Is there a right to shelter or to good health? What are the entitlements of those who cannot work? Can opportunities be equal? For women? For Aborigines? For more than a century, Australians have addressed expectations of social justice to their governments and have had to live with the consequences. This book looks at how changing circumstances have generated changing popular aspirations, and how these in turn have been translated into public policy. It argues that social justice has no single meaning and is in fact the site of conflicting and divergent endeavours. Precisely for this reason it has a special relevance for the age of consensus. The first part of this book uses these shifting interpretations of social justice as a lodestar to chart a new course through the history of this country. The second part shows how it operates today as a focus of debate in areas ranging from education to Aboriginal land rights. The book therefore offers a new perspective on the past and a trenchant analysis of the present. It draws together a wide range of material and presents it by means of case studies that assume no specialist knowledge. It will appeal to students of Australian history, public policy and social welfare; and it is addressed to all readers with an interest in the future of their country.

Stuart Macintyre, one of Australia's most highly regarded historians, revisits A Concise History of Australia to provoke readers to reconsider Australia's past and its relationship to the present. Integrating new scholarship with the historical record, the fifth edition of A Concise History of Australia brings together the long narrative of Australia's First Nations' peoples; the arrival of Europeans and the era of colonies, convicts, gold and free settlers; the foundation of a nation state; and the social, cultural, political and economic developments that created a modern Australia. As we enter the third decade of the twenty-first century, Macintyre's Australia remains one of achievements and failures. So too the future possibilities are deeply rooted in the country's past endeavours. A Concise History of Australia is an invitation to examine this past.

What is a fair wage? Is there a right to work? Is there a right to shelter or to good health? What are the entitlements of those who cannot work? Can opportunities be equal? For women? For Aborigines? For more than a century, Australians have addressed expectations of social justice to their governments and have had to live with the consequences. This book looks at how changing circumstances have generated changing popular aspirations, and how these in turn have been translated into public policy. It argues that social justice has no single meaning and is in fact the site of conflicting and divergent endeavours. Precisely for this reason it has a special relevance for the age of consensus. The first part of this book uses these shifting interpretations of social justice as a lodestar to chart a new course through the history of this country. The second part shows how it operates today as a focus of debate in areas ranging from education to Aboriginal land rights. The book therefore offers a new perspective on the past and a trenchant analysis of the present. It draws together a wide range of material and presents it by means of case studies that assume no specialist knowledge.It will appeal to students of Australian history, public policy and social welfare; and it is addressed to all readers with an interest in the future of their country.

The Commonwealth of Australia was federated in 1901. Only three short years later the Federal Government established a court system to arbitrate over industrial disputes in a young country that already had a history of half a century of organised labour. This 2004 book is a thematic history of an important Australian institution, the federal conciliation and arbitration system, on the occasion of its centenary. The various chapters written by leading scholars deal with the system's political history, the work of the tribunal, the legal framework, economic and social effects, the effects on indigenous and women workers, the role of employers associations and unions, and the management of industrial conflict. It is a story rich in drama involving strikes, lockouts, imprisonment of union officials, noisy protests in courtrooms and in the streets, momentous High Court judgements, and the rise and fall of governments.

The Commonwealth of Australia was federated in 1901. Only three short years later the Federal Government established a court system to arbitrate over industrial disputes in a young country that already had a history of half a century of organised labour. This 2004 book is a thematic history of an important Australian institution, the federal conciliation and arbitration system, on the occasion of its centenary. The various chapters written by leading scholars deal with the system's political history, the work of the tribunal, the legal framework, economic and social effects, the effects on indigenous and women workers, the role of employers associations and unions, and the management of industrial conflict. It is a story rich in drama involving strikes, lockouts, imprisonment of union officials, noisy protests in courtrooms and in the streets, momentous High Court judgements, and the rise and fall of governments.

Volume 1 of The Cambridge History of Australia explores Australia's history from ancient times through to Federation in 1901. It begins with an archaeological examination of the continent's Indigenous history, which dates back 50,000 years. This volume examines the first European encounters with Australia and its Indigenous people, and the subsequent colonisation of the land by the British in the late eighteenth century, providing insight into the realities of a convict society and how this shaped the nation's development. Part I traces the dynamic growth in Australia's economy, demography and industry throughout the nineteenth century, as it moved towards a system of liberal democracy and one of the most defining events in its history: the Federation of the colonies in 1901. Part II offers a deeper investigation of key topics, such as relations between Indigenous people and settlers, and Australia's colonial identity. It also covers the economy, science and technology, law and literature.

Volume 2 of The Cambridge History of Australia covers the period 1901 to the present day. It begins with the first day of the twentieth century, which saw the birth of the Commonwealth of Australia. In Part I the fortunes of the nation-state are traced over time: a narrative of national policies, from the initial endeavours to protect Australian living standards to the dismantling of protection, and from maintenance of the integrity of a white settler society to fashioning a diverse, multicultural one. These chapters relate how Australia responded to external challenges and adapted to changing expectations. In Part II some distinctive features of modern Australia are clarified: its enduring democracy and political stability, engagement with a unique environment, the means whereby Australians maintained prosperity, the treatment and aspirations of its Indigenous inhabitants. The changing patterns of social relations are examined, along with the forms of knowledge, religion, communication and creativity.

There is a common belief that Australia acquired history only when it grew up and threw off its colonial origins after the Second World War. Yet earlier generations of Australians created their own histories to express their sense of who they were and what they might be. This book reveals that the quest for an Australian past found its way into our universities and schools from the early years of the Commonwealth. Ernest Scott was the most prolific teacher and writer of history in inter-war Australia. A self-taught, degreeless professor, he laid the foundations of a historical profession in this country and wrote the textbook that taught generations of schoolchildren the meaning of Australian history. An Englishman and an imperialist active in public affairs, he trained Australians to understand their colonial past as a guide to nationhood. At the time when Australians debate their nationhood, Asianisation and the republic, A History for a Nation recalls a lost culture of urgent contemporary significance.

Volume 4 of The Oxford History of Historical Writing offers essays by leading scholars on the writing of history globally from 1800 to 1945. Divided into four parts, it first covers the rise, consolidation, and crisis of European historical thought, and the professionalization and institutionalization of history. The chapters in Part II analyze how historical scholarship connected to various European national traditions. Part III considers the historical writing of Europe's 'Offspring': the United States, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Brazil, and Spanish South America. The concluding part is devoted to histories of non-European cultural traditions: China, Japan, India, South East Asia, Turkey, the Arab world, and Sub-Saharan Africa. This is the fourth of five volumes in a series that explores representations of the past from the beginning of writing to the present day, and from all over the world. This volume aims at once to provide an authoritative survey of the field, and especially to provoke cross-cultural comparisons.

Volume 4 of The Oxford History of Historical Writing offers essays by leading scholars on the writing of history globally from 1800 to 1945. Divided into four parts, it first covers the rise, consolidation, and crisis of European historical thought, and the professionalization and institutionalization of history. The chapters in Part Two analyze how historical scholarship connected to various European national traditions. Part Three considers the historical writing of Europe's 'Offspring': the United States, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Brazil, and Spanish South America. The concluding part is devoted to histories of non-European cultural traditions: China, Japan, India, South East Asia, Turkey, the Arab world, and Sub-Saharan Africa. This is the fourth of five volumes in a series that explores representations of the past from the beginning of writing to the present day, and from all over the world. This volume aims at once to provide an authoritative survey of the field, and especially to provoke cross-cultural comparisons.

In ""The Historian's Conscience"", Macintyre and thirteen other Australian historians put history and the history profession under the microscope. Eminent contributors include Alan Atkinson, Graeme Davison, Greg Dening, John Hirst, Beverley Kingston, Marilyn Lake, and Iain McCalman. They not only ask but answer the hard questions about writing and researching history. How do historians choose their histories? What sort of emotional investment do they make in their subjects, and how do they control their sympathies? How do they deal with unpalatable discoveries? To whom are historians responsible? And for whom are they entitled to speak? Intellectually provocative, often personally revealing, always engaged, ""The Historian's Conscience"" is a 'must read'.

The Cambridge History of Australia offers a comprehensive view of Australian history from its pre-European origins to the present day. Over two volumes, this major work of reference tells the nation's social, political and cultural story. Volume 1 examines Australia's indigenous and colonial history through to the Federation of the colonies in 1901. Volume 2 opens with the birth of the twentieth century, tracing developments in the nation through to the present day. Each volume is divided into two parts. The first part offers a chronological treatment of the period, while the second examines the period in light of key themes, such as law, religion, the economy and the environment. Both volumes feature detailed maps, chronologies and lists of further reading. This is a lively and systematic account of Australia's history, incorporating the work of more than sixty leading historians. It is the ideal work of reference for students, scholars and general readers.