Three books on Australian history
Heaton, JH, The Bedside Book of Colonial Doings. Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1984, first published as Australian dictionary of dates and men of the time : containing the history of Australasia from 1542 to May, 1879 , Sydney: George Robertson, 1879. 272pp, illustrations, ISBN 0207147892. Paper cover. Quarto
Smith, Robin (ed), Australia’s Historic Heritage, The Birth of a Nation. Melbourne: Currey O’Neil, 1981, first published as The Birth of Australia. Melbourne: Currey O’Neil, 1978. 223pp, 265 colour plates, ISBN 0859021602. Hardcover. Quarto
Morrison, Robin & Robert Irving, Readers Digest Book of Historic Australian Towns. Sydney: Readers Digest, 1982. Hardcover. Quarto
Discarded and unloved
Recently, I came across three discarded and unloved books on popular Australian history from the 1980s, with dog-eared corners and ripped and faded dust jackets. One was at a local street library; the others were at a church jumble sale.
At the time of publication, the two hardbacks would have made attractive coffee table books meant to be on display and inspire conversation among guests.
The commercial press published these books in the popular Australian history genre in the years before the Australian Bicentennial in 1988.
They provide an interesting snapshot of the making of Australian history in the 1980s and are worth a brief look.
Three books
Heaton’s Bedside Book of Colonial Doings (1984) is a reproduction of the 1879 book by JH Heaton, Australian dictionary of dates and men of the time : containing the history of Australasia from 1542 to May, 1879.
This 1984 edition is abridged from the original and is supplied with numerous illustrations, making it a ‘fascinating and useful reference’. (Brotherhood Books)
The book combines what historian Graeme Davison calls the antiquarian and monumental dimensions of history, with a third being critical. (Davison, 11)
The book is a collection of encyclopaedic entries that provide detailed information about the colonies in early Australia. It fits into the small area of reproductions in a popular abridged format.
The book was reprinted in hardback by Angus & Robertson in 1986 and 1987, with a 1986 hardback edition by HarperCollins.
The 1879 book was initially split into two sections: ‘Men of Our Time’ and a history of the colonies from 1542 to 1879. The 1981 edition combined both sections for ease of reading.
The National Library Australia Citation maintains that the 1879 edition
is an important document of Victorian colonial historiography and a valuable resource for the history of European settlement in Australia. (NLA)
Australia’s Historic Heritage (1981) by photographer Robin Smith is a colourful collection of photographs complemented by a series of short essays by prominent Australian historians, the most notable being Geoffrey Blainey.
The book title of Historic Heritage is a paradox of meaning.
The dust jacket notes state the book tells the story of ‘Australian daily life using actual historic sites, buildings, artefacts and authentic reconstructions…with a striking sense of realism’.
This book fits into Davison’s monumental dimension with a series of firsts and ends with creating the nation-state at Federation.
Blainey, an award-winning historian who published over 40 books, wrote in the chapter ‘Discoverers’ that ‘as late as the eighteenth century’, the continent was ‘shunned’ by Europeans because it was seen not to be of any value. (pp16-17)
The book is a white history of Australia, centred around European achievement of conquering and subduing the land. There is no acknowledgement of Indigenous Australians and their prior occupation.
Gold is a theme across the three books, with Morrison and Irving’s Historic Australian Towns (1982) providing a historical snapshot of several gold towns, including Ballarat and Beechworth.
Morrison and Irving’s Historic Australian Towns is an interesting collection of 50 entries on historic locations in Australia’s nation-building story using extensive photographs by New Zealand-born landscape photographer Robin Morrison.
The book is a compilation of Australia’s built heritage and sweeps across the breadth of Australia’s European-built heritage, starting in 1788 Sydney, then Parramatta (1788), followed by Windsor (1789), Hobart (1803), and others.
The book provides a short history of each town and over 1,000 colour photographs, over 60 black-and-white images, and a glossary of architectural terms.
Irving writes that Australia’s built heritage in its historic towns is drawn from several influences, including European and Asian. Buildings have been adapted to suit the local environment, and this is reflected in the extensive use of photographs.
Summing up
So, what do these historical cast-offs tell us about the making of Australian history?
Each book makes a statement about the commercial press and popular history, which are part of the historiography of Australian history.
The three books contribute to Davison’s antiquarian and monumental dimensions of history. At the time, examples of critical history were rare in the genre of popular Australian history.
Morrison and Irving’s book has best stood the test of time. None of the books attempt to be authoritative, with no indexes, reference lists, or notes.
Robert Irving writes in the Introduction to Historic Australia Towns that
Only by studying the evidence of the past is it possible to understand why Australia is as it is now. (p7)
All three books certainly do this and make a small contribution to the historiography of Australian history.
References
De Garis, B. K. ‘Heaton, Sir John Henniker (1848–1914)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/heaton-sir-john-henniker-3745/text5897, published first in hardcopy 1972, accessed online 1 November 2024.
National Library of Australia, Citation for Heaton, J. Henniker, (1879). Australian dictionary of dates and men of the time : containing the history of Australasia from 1542 to May, 1879 Sydney : George Robertson
Davison, Graeme, The Use and Abuse of Australia History. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2000
Brotherhood Books, Bedside Books of Colonial Doings, 2024, Online at https://www.brotherhoodbooks.org.au/bedside-book-of-colonial-doings-9780207154478
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