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Chapter 5: Before and Immediately After WWI. For the analysis of relevant school curriculum
documents for the first era, the focus is on British heritages as this was a period of rapid
social and political change, noteworthy particularly by Australia becoming increasingly
independent from Great Britain, the ANZAC legends created by CEW Bean, and the
symbolism of Gallipoli.
Chapter 6: Black Movement in Australia 1964-1975. The focus of this chapter is on
representations of Indigenous Australians. Significant topics are the 1967 referendum,
William McMahon’s Australia Day Address in 1972, and the subsequent establishment of the
Tent Embassy. How school curriculum responded to and constructed these events during this
period of rapid change, in view of changes to the dominant discourse, is the focus of this
section.
Chapter 7: 1988 Bicentennial Era. The decade leading to Australia’s 1988 Bicentennial
provides an opportunity to view the representations of exemplar topics, British Heritages and
Indigenous Australians alongside each other. A type of celebratory history characterises the
dominant socio political discourses of this era as evidenced through popular national history
publications and government campaigns. How, or if, this celebratory history is transposed
into school curriculum forms the focus of this era.
Chapter 8: Conclusion provides a CDA final stage analysis to conclude the dissertation
noting the connection between school curriculum documents and their historical context,
linking the findings with the history/culture wars and current education contexts.
In order to contextualise the research undertaken for this dissertation and to provide a
comprehensive background to the Australian cultural and history wars, especially for those
unfamiliar with these debates, Appendix A: Contexts is included. Here, the current and
continuing history/cultural wars are investigated with specific focus on their connection to
school curriculum, particularly the subject area of History and SOSE. The contemporary
debates are mapped from historian Geoffrey Blainey’s 1993 Latham Memorial Lecture
calling for a ‘balanced’ view of history to replace both the so-called ‘Black armband’ and
‘Three Cheers’ representations of the nation’s past (although Blainey is widely recognized as
belonging to the latter); and concludes with the election defeat of Prime Minister John
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