Arts Faculty News

Anzac Beach, Gallipoli 1915 (from Australian War Memorial Collection)

Interested in studying abroad as part of your Monash degree?

Want to visit Anzac Cove and walk in the footsteps of legends?

In 2010, the National Centre for Australian Studies is offering three $3,500 scholarships to take you to Gallipoli and then on to our historic campus in Prato, Italy. You can earn 12 points towards your degree and also be eligible for further Monash subsidies.

To be eligible for the scholarships you need to complete (or have completed) any of the Australian Studies units offered on our Clayton Campus. If you complete AUS1060 Australian Idol or AUS2001/3001: Broken Earth: Journeys through the Australian Landscape in Semester 1, 2010, you are also eligible for the Monash Gallipoli Travelling Scholarship.

For further information on how to apply view NCAS Monash-Gallipoli Prize 2010.

Gough Whitlam: A Moment in History

The latest book from Professor Jenny Hocking, Gough Whitlam: A Moment in History, has been shortlisted in the non-fiction category of the 2009 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. Earlier in the year the book was also shortlisted for The Age Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2009.

Comments from the judges stated:

“No stranger to the political biography, Hocking gives us a portrait of a man who has cast a longer shadow on Australia’s history than most of his predecessors or successors as Prime Minister. There have been many books on Whitlam as Prime Minister—yet no detailed biographic account of his long and remarkable life, of his journey to the Lodge. Hocking combines fine writing with exemplary research including extended interviews with Whitlam and his family. A vivid and engaging book.”.

Gough Whitlam: A Moment in History is published by Miegunyah Press.

More information about the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards.

Visit Jenny Hocking’s profile page on the National Centre for Australian Studies site.

Tourism students on Nacula Island in the Yasawas

Master of Tourism students from the National Centre for Australian Studies travelled to the South Pacific to study how small scale tourism is being used as a tool for economic development in the Yasawa Islands of Fiji.

During the study tour, the students met with a range of industry operators on the mainland, including Mr Tony Everitt the CEO of the South Pacific Tourism Organisation, to hear of the challenges in developing the industry throughout the region.

Ms Fane Vave, from Tourism Fiji, also addressed the group on the impacts of the recent political coup and floods on the Fijian tourism industry and discussed the upcoming marketing campaign.

The group comprised students six different nationalities — Australia, India, China, Turkey, Guatamala and Singapore — and was led by Dr Jeff Jarvis and Mr Joseph Cheer (who recently joined Monash from a position with AusAid in Vanuatu).

The group then travelled to the Northern Yasawa Islands in Western Fiji.

On Nacula island the group stayed at a fully indigenous owned small scale resort and heard first hand how the profits had been used to bring electricity to the village and to update the local primary school facilities. The students took the opportunity to make a donation of stationary and sporting equipment to the local primary school during the visit.

Dr Jarvis, who has undertaken research on independent travellers and tourism development in the region since 2006, noted the importance of the visit: “Tourism in the Pacific has traditionally been dominated by cruise ships or foreign owned companies building 5 star resorts. So bringing the students out to the Yasawas, and to stay at a small, indigenous owned and managed resort, gives them the opportunity to see how tourism is actually having a positive impact on the lives of the villagers.”

Mr Joseph Cheer who will undertake further research on tourism development in the region in 2010, commented on the focus given to tourism as a tool for economic development: “Increasingly we are seeing bodies such as AusAid recognise the importance of tourism as providing a means of sustainable development for the peoples of the Asia-Pacific. Small scale, locally based tourism development, such as what we see in the Yasawas, provides a creat case study for the students to understand the ‘pro-poor’ tourism development phenomenon.”

More about the Monash Tourism Program.

Reclaim Patriotism

The Melbourne Writers Festival will host the Victorian launch of a new series entitled Australian Encounters. The first volume in the series, Reclaiming Patriotism: Nation-building for Progressives, by Tim Soutphommasane, will be launched by Monash lecturer Waleed Aly on Sunday 30 August.

The series is the result of a new publishing partnership between the National Centre for Australian Studies (NCAS), Monash University and Cambridge University Press.

The series engages with important Australian issues, spanning current society, politics, culture, economics and historical debates. The essence of the series is to bring new thinking and fresh perspectives to issues that are vital to Australian society and to provide a platform for academics to influence public debate.

The Commissioning Editor of the series is Dr Tony Moore, a lecturer and researcher with NCAS.

“My vision for the series is to provide a space for emerging and established scholars, as well as thinkers in other fields of public life, to re-work new research and ideas in a journalistic style that is accessible to the general educated reader of non-fiction”, explained Dr Moore.

Australian Encounters differs from other political and issues-based publications by an editorial preference for work that cuts across left–right binaries and the weather-beaten orthodoxies of political parties and special interest groups.

Forthcoming titles will question the alleged decline of journalism, consider the toxic culture in the state branches of the ALP by rifting on the self-destruction of the NSW Iemma Government, analyse anxieties about threats to childhood innocence from a philosophical perspective, and revise the nationalist mythology surrounding John Curtin that suggests he was an enthusiast for the British Empire.

Debbie Lee, Academic Publishing Manager at Cambridge University Press, said “In this the year when the Press ‘turns’ 425, the relatively youthful Australian branch is celebrating the birth of Australian Encounters — a series of stimulating, accessible, cutting-edge books that herald a new way of thinking about historical, contemporary and future-oriented issues.”

Dr Moore is keen to hear from Monash academics who have undertaken research that reveals something new about Australia, that might be developed into a book for the series.

The National Centre for Australian Studies has also recently launched the National Conversations public lecture series, which is aligned with the Australian Encounters series. National Conversations has already engaged the work of some of Australia’s foremost scholars and social critics, including historian Professor Ken Inglis.

Visit the Arts Events blog for more information about the Australian Encounters launch.

Visit the Cambridge University Press site for more information on Reclaiming Patriotism: Nation-building for Progressives.

Gough Whitlam: A Moment in History

Gough Whitlam: A Moment in History, the latest book from Professor Jenny Hocking, National Centre for Australian Studies, has been shortlisted for The Age Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2009.

Comments from the judges stated:

“Biographies of the living are never easy, but Jenny Hocking’s first volume of the life of Gough Whitlam blends critical distance and sympathy with a complex figure who dominated Labor politics for a generation. This book is also a sharp, intelligent history of a dismal period of Australian public life. Whitlam’s triumph over Labor’s state machines was perhaps even more remarkable than his short-lived triumph over the electorate. The gradual transformation of his personality under the duress of leading Labor into office is one of the subtle achievements of this fine book”.

Gough Whitlam: A Moment in History is published by Miegunyah Press.

The winners of the awards will be announced at the opening night of the Melbourne Writers Festival on Friday 21 August.

Visit Jenny Hocking’s profile page.

Jeff Jarvis, Vicki Peel with Peter Doody, Manager of Working Hostels Mildura

Are backpackers long term tourists or short term migrants?

This is a question that Dr Jeff Jarvis and Dr Vicki Peel from the Graduate Tourism Program at the National Centre for Australian Studies tried to answer when looking at what impact Working Holiday Makers had on the tourism economy of Mildura in north west Victoria.

The pilot study, which is a joint initiative with Tourism Victoria, found that Working Holiday Makers (WHMs) are one of the fastest growing international visitor sectors in Australia. Between 2004/05 and 2008/09 the market has increased by over 79%, with just under 188,000 young internationals arriving in Australia last year. This makes Working Holiday Makers the ‘boom segment’ for Australia’s tourism industry. The market has been estimated to be worth over $1.8 billion per year to Australia in 2007/08.

The Working Holiday Maker visa permits young international travellers aged between 18 and 30, from nineteen countries the right to work and travel in Australia for up to 12 months. It is a popular visa for young backpackers to take up.

In 2005 and 2006, the Howard Government changed the requirements for Working Holiday Maker Visas. The changes allow these backpackers to apply for an additional WHM visa, if they spend three months working in agriculture. It was aimed at generating wealth for regional economies, while providing farmers with a reliable and mobile workforce.

Dr Jarvis and Dr Peel found that Working Holiday Makers had a substantial impact on the tourism economy of Mildura. On average, they stayed in town for two months while they worked, and spent $3200 during their stay. Dr Jarvis and Dr Peel also found that farmers were benefiting, with Working Holiday Makers interested in staying in jobs for the full 3 months.

The researchers found there is scope for the Federal Government to extend the upper age limit of the working holiday visa from 30 to 35. This would cater to the booming international tourism market for career breakers or ‘flash packers’ as they are now known.

Dr Jarvis and Dr Peel are in the process of applying for funding via an ARC-Linkage grant to roll their study out across more regions around Australia.

The summary of the Long Term Tourists or Short Term Migrants? study is available from Tourism Victoria site.

Listen to the ‘Backpacker benefits’ radio interview on ABC Local radio

From Superwomen to Domestic Goddesses

On 16 July, the National Centre for Australian Studies, Monash University, in conjunction with the Victorian Women’s Trust, hosted the launch of Dr Natasha Campo’s From Superwomen to Domestic Goddesses: The Rise and Fall of Feminism.

The book was launched by Professor Marilyn Lake (La Trobe University) and by Professor Rae Frances, Dean of Arts (Monash University). It examines the rise and fall of feminism in the public imagination in the last twenty years and explains why ‘feminism failed me’ has become the catch-cry of a generation.

Published by Peter Lang International Academic Publishers, the book is available now in the Monash University bookshop.

In this photo from left to right: Mary Crooks, Director of the Victorian Women’s Trust; Professor Rae Frances, Dean of Arts, Monash University; Professor Marilyn Lake, History Program, La Trobe University; Dr Natasha Campo, author, National Centre for Australian Studies, Monash University.

Photo courtesy of The Victorian Women’s Trust – Steb Fisher Photography.

Bruce Scates and Liz Beattie at Anzac Cove

Professor Bruce Scates, Director of the National Centre for Australian Studies, joined Ms Liz Beattie MP and several of her colleagues on a study tour of Korea and the Gallipoli Peninsula over April/May. The Premier’s ‘Spirit of Anzac Tour’ is funded by the State Government and involves the selection of 10 students each year from secondary schools across the State for a two week study tour of Australian battlefields overseas.

Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Premier in Multicultural Affairs, Ms Beattie led the delegation and officiated at several commemorative services in both Turkey and Korea, including ANZAC Day functions hosted by Australian Embassies and Consulates.

Professor Scates acted as historical advisor to the tour at the invitation of the Premier. He led the 18 member delegation across the ANZAC battlefields, interpreting the site and fostering student exchanges with Turkey. The National Centre for Australian Studies has played a leading role in establishing an Australian Studies Centre at the University on 18 March near Gallipoli.

Turkish flag

The National Centre for Australian Studies has hosted a number of events exploring the ongoing significance of Gallipoli in the lead up to Anzac Day.

The Director of the Centre, Professor Bruce Scates, spoke at a community event attended by several hundred members of the Turkish Australian community and chaired by the Turkish Consul General, Mr Aydin Nurhan.

On 25 March, Tony Robinson MP launched the “Return to Gallipoli” Exhibition at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance, an event attended by diplomatic representatives from Turkey, New Zealand, the United States and Great Britain. A powerful exploration of pilgrimages past and present it will remain at the Shrine until June this year and the Turkish flag shown in this article is one of its many fascinating exhibits.

The Shrine also hosted a recent lecture by NCAS Professor Ken Inglis, recounting his own return to Gallipoli in 1965, the 50th Anniversary of the Landing.

All these events noted the need for reconciliation in the wake of war and explored the contested meanings of the ANZAC in popular memory. Anzac Day is considered Australia’s national day by many and the involvement of the National Centre for Australian Studies hopes to promote a more balanced and reflective understanding of this tragic and costly campaign.