Sale of the Century? Memory and historical consciousness in Australia

Abstract

Like other postcolonial countries Australia has witnessed profound changes to understanding of the national past over the last twenty years, particularly in relation to events which have occurred within the 'living memory' of the twentieth century. This chapter explores some of the issues relating to history and memory that have emerged in a range of public forums. I argue that historical understanding is now shaped by an overall shift to a memorial framework as the principal mode of interpreting the past. This memorial culture is characterised by a shifting range of historical sensibilities, so that the past, its meaning and relationship to the present, has been a central factor in the politics of memory played out in parliaments and the press, particularly in relation to the experience of indigenous people over the past century. I also explore the limits to this memorial framework and the tangled relationship between memory and history currently evident in public discourse.