Making Australian History

By: Anna Clark

Narrated by: Anna Clark

'Clarke brings a historian's erudition to the ideas. Absolutely engrossing and it's beautifully written. ' KATE GRENVILLE

A few years ago Anna Clark saw a series of paintings on a sandstone cliff face in the Northern Territory. There were characteristic crosshatched images of fat barramundi and turtles, as well as sprayed handprints and several human figures with spears. Next to them was a long gun, painted with white ochre, an unmistakable image of the colonisers. Was this an Indigenous rendering of contact? A work of history?

Each piece of history has a message and context that depends on who wrote it and when. Australian history has swirled and contorted over the years: the history wars have embroiled historians, politicians and public commentators alike, while debates over historical fiction have been as divisive. History isn’t just about understanding what happened and why. It also reflects the persuasions, politics and prejudices of its authors. Each iteration of Australia’s national story reveals not only the past in question, but also the guiding concerns and perceptions of each generation of history makers.

Making Australian History is bold and inclusive: it catalogues and contextualises changing readings of the past, it examines the increasingly problematic role of historians as national storytellers, and it incorporates the stories of people.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Anna Clark (P)2022 Penguin Random House Australia

Critic reviews

"Clarke brings a historian's erudition to the ideas. Absolutely engrossing and it's beautifully written." (KATE GRENVILLE)

Thought provoking & highly relevant

As a recent immigrant to Australia, this book has been very helpful in making me think & consider the different perspectives on how Australian history was made and told. It’s authours research and views are very insightful, thought-provoking and balanced. It has also made me start thinking and questioning how history was made, told, & being revised & re-told in my own birth country. An important book & highly recommended for anyone interested in learning more about Australia.

Good But Prepare to Be Bored

If you are a history teacher, or are studying history at university, this book will help you a lot. But prepare to be bored. It reads like some somebody poured water into the whipper snipper, or some very long lecture notes from an Australian Historiography unit for snooty postgraduate students.

The author does do a good job in systematising the writings and history of Australian historians by placing them within progressive chapters (emotion, time, women, race, and convicts), but at nine hours it is a long drone, and a drone best left for the academic asses, not audiobook readers.