ARTWORK: Eliza Williams
Not Your Usual Revolutions: A Review of Behind the Lines 2019 By Nick Mezo “Australian history is boring and dull and largely irrelevant to the trajectory of the future of the world.” So wrote Chris Rice on The Age’s website in 2012. His comment was in response to the revelation that Australian history would not be a stand-alone Year 11 or 12 subject in the national curriculum. “The big questions, the genocides, the conquests, the revolutions, the things shaping the world aren’t happening in Australia,” Rice continued. Rice’s view is shared by many. A thread on Reddit debating whether Australia’s history only consists of “bogans with beards” offers much excitement. One historian concedes: “our students often leave school feeling that Australia’s history is boring and dry as dust”.
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