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debates as played out in Australia. A. Clark’s chapter then connects this to aspects of History
curriculum in schools. The History Wars was launched in 2003 by former-Prime Minister,
Paul Keating and with his trademark tenacity, launched into a lengthy criticism of supporters
of Howard’s and Blainey’s perspective stating,
I have never understood why the Howards and the Blaineys et al are so defensive. So
resistant to novelty and to progress. They are more than conservatives. They're
reactionaries.
Conservatives gradually, if somewhat reluctantly, accept change. Reactionaries
not only resist change, they seek to reverse it. Understanding and acknowledging the
past and moving on to bigger and better things is anathema to them. (Keating, 2003,
p. 2)
Keating was able to place the originally solely academic history/culture wars debates within
the larger public sphere they had entered, highlighting the importance such debates held,
stating the book “...sheds light on the political battle which is carried on in the pubs and on
the footpaths about who we are and what has become of us. For the protagonists and
antagonists in academe are now surrogates in a broader political battle about Australia's
future” (Keating, 2003, p. 2). MacIntyre had already established himself within the debate,
and for A. Clark, at the time a research higher degree student of MacIntyre; this presented a
high profile entrance into the debate, a topic that she has continued researching, particularly
investigating current History and SOSE curriculums (see, for example, A. Clark, 2006).
A1.5.8 Failure of critical literacy: Sawyer’s editorial in English in Australia.
Entering the history/culture wars debate in late 2004, Wayne Sawyer (then-English Teachers’
Association of NSW President) claimed in an editorial published in the Association’s journal
English in Australia; that as a result of the Howard election victory, an even greater need for
critical literacy to be included in the school curriculum had been demonstrated. This editorial
was picked up by The Australian in February 2005, and a major public debate regarding the
teaching of school children ensued. So significant was this, that the topic of the debate which
originated from Sawyer’s comments was subsumed within a larger one dealing with left-wing
ideology in school curriculum and perceived brainwashing students by teachers and as a
continuation of a debate regarding public education versus private education (Maiden &
Harris, 2005). The debates were then linked to the larger history/culture wars, by drawing
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