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towards not repeating these through a process of self-correction. Here, a type of dichotomy is
established between Great Britain and all other nations, where Britain is the only nation
cognizant of morality. An extract where this is illustrated particularly overtly comes from The
children's book of moral lessons: Third series, in a section titled Lesson XXIII Looking
Backwards under the subsection, Bad deeds of the past:
Of course, many of the ideas and customs of the Past were bad, and it is good that we
should drop them. The old English took great pleasure in robbery; they sailed the sea
in their wooden ships, and landed on coasts where they thought they could obtain
booty in gold, corn, prisoners, etc. After Oliver Cromwell’s death, his body was not
allowed to rest in peace; his enemies dug it up, and suspended it by chains to a gibbet
such as criminals were hanged on; but no one would wish to do such a coarse deed
to-day. An Englishman, Sir John Hawkins, was the first to engage in the negro slave
trade, and his coat-of-arms bore the picture of a black man tied with a cord; but you
may be sure no man to-day would care to have such a coat-of-arms painted over his
doorway or on his window. Such thoughts and habits as these we are glad to cast
aside. (F.J. Gould, 1909, p. 115)
This textbook overlooks details of the past injustices it mentions, as well as others that could
be potentially included, in a way that provides neither an historical context nor an explanation
of factors that informed change. The textbook explains this in a way that although, “customs
of the Past were bad, and it is good that we should drop them” (F.J. Gould, 1909, p. 115),
negative activities conducted in Great Britain no longer exist. This is communicated overtly
through the wording: “but no one would wish to do such a coarse deed to-day...; but you may
be sure no man to-day would...; [and] Such thoughts and habits as these we are glad to cast
aside” (F.J. Gould, 1909, p. 115). Furthermore, the use of “we” implies that all school
students reading the book are from the same mono-British heritage, ignoring a variety of
cultures that the children come from (even from within British heritages), and also ignoring
class issues, including the fact that many of the students would have a personal family history
(such as forced transportation from England to Australia) of injustices endured as a
consequence of the British ruling classes imposing unjust laws and practices.
The following passage taken from Lesson XXIII Looking Backwards in The children's book of
moral lessons is indicative of the types of British-centric ideologies presented throughout this
textbook. A passage covering the visit of David Carnegies (British adventurer) to Western
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