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PDF (Whole Thesis) - USQ ePrints - University of Southern ...

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Source 5.7. Extract from Preface to New syllabus history for sixth grade quoting<br />

directly from the syllabus. (Dunlop & Palfrey 1932b, n.p.)<br />

Although binaries <strong>of</strong> British heritages and Indigenous representations may not be explicitly<br />

stated as a comparison against one another in individual textbooks, when textbooks are<br />

tracked across a number <strong>of</strong> years in the era, it becomes increasingly apparent that this is the<br />

general message being communicated. In addition, with progress seen as common sense to a<br />

community’s legitimacy, a further binary is created when textbooks emphasize the<br />

primitiveness <strong>of</strong> one group (in this case, Indigenous Australians) and the progressive<br />

advancement <strong>of</strong> another (in this case, emerging from British heritages). Using History<br />

curriculum as a vehicle to demonstrate the development <strong>of</strong> a nation or nations, particularly<br />

when that development is positive for a wide range <strong>of</strong> people, is not necessarily faulty;<br />

however the questionability <strong>of</strong> this becomes apparent when only one nation is regarded as<br />

progressive at the expense <strong>of</strong> all other nations and groups, including those indigenous to the<br />

nation where the textbook is used.<br />

5.10 Conclusion<br />

Bringing together the various categories and discourses analysed from the school curriculum<br />

texts forms this conclusion. Here, the following topics are addressed: narrative style <strong>of</strong> school<br />

curriculum; critical use <strong>of</strong> sources; curriculum as gatekeeper <strong>of</strong> conservative content and<br />

values or agent for change; on being British; and disjuncture and parallels between History<br />

curriculum and socio-political discourses.<br />

5.10.1 Narrative style <strong>of</strong> school curriculum.<br />

As explained earlier in this chapter, narrative content in texts from lower primary grades<br />

demonstrate that there are no explicit discourses <strong>of</strong> British heritages or Indigenous<br />

representations. For example, The century readers: Reader 1 (c. 1904) and The royal crown<br />

readers: Book 2 (1912). Instead, these younger grades focus on every day issues with implied<br />

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