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stance towards history curriculum during his time as Prime Minister, as seen, for example
through comments made by Canadian journalist Mark Steyn,
And that brings us to the Coalition's next great strand of strategic clarity. At his 2006
education summit, Howard called for "a root and branch renewal of Australian
history in our schools, with a restoration of narrative instead of what I labelled the
'fragmented stew of themes and issues"'.
As he explained at the Quadrant 50th anniversary celebration: "This is about
ensuring children are actually taught their national inheritance." The absence of a
"narrative" and an "inheritance" is a big part of the reason that British subjects born
and bred blow up the London Tube, why young Canadian Muslims with no memory
of living in any other society plot to behead their own prime minister.
You can't assimilate immigrants and minorities unless you give them
something to assimilate to. It's one thing to teach children their history "warts and
all", quite another to obsess on the warts at the expense of all else. The West's
demographic weakness is merely the physical embodiment of a broader loss of
civilisational confidence. (Steyn, 2007, para.14-16)
The claim made that the end of the history and cultural wars had arrived is a convenient place
to conclude the mapping of them for this dissertation. Whether a cessation of hostilities
continues remains to be seen, however even if these debates continue, they will take on a
different direction and focus, as someone, according to N. Person, who potentially holds
himself as “…transcending the polarities…” (2007, p. 23). It would appear, with the advent
of the new style Labor parliamentarian, it is doubtful the history and cultural wars will cease,
but rather continue albeit in a different direction, with less focus on polarisation of views, and
more on what could be practically actioned, especially in the field of education.
Perhaps the final curtain in the history/culture wars, or at least this iteration of it, came with
Kevin Rudd’s apology to the Stolen Generations. In terms of media coverage, it can be seen
as, if not the end of the history/culture wars, certainly the close of a chapter in the ongoing
debates. During the speech Rudd criticised the Howard government and others who had
participated in the ongoing debates, stating:
These stories cry out to be heard. They cry out for an apology...
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