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a type of ‘neutral’ fact-sheet overview of past events, policies and changes. These histories
are included as part of Education Queensland’s repository of history articles located on their
library services website. Sample topics include information about cultural topics such as
when and how Empire Day was celebrated, early commemorations of ANZAC Day; as well
as general interest issues such as various legislation and attitudes towards corporal
punishment, milk drinking schemes, one teacher schools and employment of women teachers.
Whilst they provide an interesting overview of what has occurred in the past regarding
schooling in Queensland, on the whole, only a surface understanding of specific topics can be
gained from reading them. They act, therefore, as an important source of background
information to gain an understanding of wider Queensland school education histories. To
illustrate, a specific exemplar of this type of celebratory, ‘neutral’ history is evidenced in an
early 1980s collection of monographs produced by the Department of Education, Queensland
which included titles such as, State education in Queensland: A brief history (Logan &
Clarke, 1984); A centenary history of home economics education in Queensland 1881-1981
(Logan, 1981); and Assessment in Queensland secondary schools: Two decades of change
1964-1983 (Clarke, 1987), coordinated through the Educational History Unit.
Although the majority of literature on Queensland schooling exists as this type of celebratory
history, there is a small amount of literature that focuses on curriculum and schooling through
a critical scholarly research approach. The interest in researching schooling specifically in a
Queensland context can be traced to a small number of studies that address the topic of
curriculum representations and their ideological underpinnings. For example, three
unpublished theses that address history curriculum in Queensland schools authored by Libby
Connors (1984), Louis Gugenberger (1975) and G.J. Shipstone (1973) demonstrate the
scholarly significance of these materials in the local context. Broadly, this research builds on
these theses by analysing curriculum across a number of time periods; and differs in a
significant way, by offering a longitudinal study of History curriculum across three eras that
focus on two exemplar topics, Indigenous representations and British heritages. In this way,
this dissertation provides a more focused analysis of the exemplar topics, across historical
eras within the set structure of History (and, when not available, the Social Studies
curriculum).
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