Digital resources tagged with ‘historical representations’

A Land of Milk and Honey and English Lessons

Australia needs new migrants to populate the country and build a more prosperous nation. English lessons are available everywhere, including through correspondence and radio courses.

A Successor for Harold Holt

With Prime Minister Holt's definitive disappearance a new leader had to be appointed. John McEwan was sworn in as Prime Minister by the Governor General on December 19, 1967 on the understanding that he would have this role until the Liberal party appointed its new leader.

Aboriginal people and the colony of NSW

On January 26, 1788 the British arrived at what is now known as Sydney, New South Wales, with the intention of taking possession of the land in the name of the British Government and the King, and of staying.

Anzac Day

General John Monash strived to ensure soldiers that had fought in the Great War received due honour, recognition and assistance. He played a pivotal role in creating Anzac Day commemorations.

Armistice Day, 1918

By 1918 General John Monash and the AIF (Australian Imperial Forces) played a crucial role in defeating Germany on the western front.

Bligh, Macarthur and The Rum Rebellion

On January 26, 1808 troops from the New South Wales Corps march on Government House to place Governor William Bligh under arrest.

Bruce Dawe - Anti War Poet

This encounter with highly regarded Australian poet Bruce Dawe allows us an insight into the motivation and methods of a very fine writer. His ability to express the drama and beauty of everyday life has made his work readily accessible to the general public.

Captain Cook - Cook Claims New South Wales

After spending some time observing an Aboriginal tribe, Cook claims the entire east coast of New Holland for Britain.

Captain Cook - Cook's Chronometer

On James Cook’s second voyage of discovery he takes part in a grand scientific experiment to test a chronometer that the Admiralty hopes will allow navigators to measure lines of longitude.

Captain Cook - Great Southern Continent

In his first great voyage of discovery, James Cook is chosen to find and explore the 'Great Southern Land'.

Captain Cook - In Search of the North West Passage

Cook’s obsession with discovery continues as he searches for the mythic North West Passage, but is it a journey too far? Now retired and promoted to Post Captain, James Cook is bored. He jumps at the chance to take on a third great voyage: to find a fast route to China to secure Britain’s place in the lucrative tea trade.

Captain Cook - James Cook Joins the Navy

Influential patrons help the bright boy James Cook to an apprenticeship in the merchant navy that would make him a ships’ master. But with an eye for the main chance Cook switches to the Royal Navy.

Captain Cook - The Polynesian Tupaia Joins the Endeavour Voyage

Cook takes on board an additional passenger, Polynesian priest and fellow navigator Tupaia. Tupaia shares his remarkable navigational skills, convinced that the notion of a great land mass is a European fantasy.

Captain Cook in Hawaii

The story of Captain James Cook’s ill-fated final voyage to the Pacific is one of tragic cultural misunderstanding.

Captain Cook’s Tragic Death

Captain James Cook’s untimely return to Hawaii ended with his violent death, the details of which are portrayed in numerous conflicting illustrations.

Challenging Colonialism -- Oliver Howes interview

Producer and director Oliver Howes reflects on French Polynesia's colonial history.

Charles Darwin and living on Beagle

Dr Nigel Erskine comments on how the model of the Beagle and the reproduction of Darwin’s cabin, both part of the Australian National Maritime Museum’s exhibition Charles Darwin — voyages and ideas that shook the world help us empathise with Darwin's experience on his epic voyage.

Culture Reborn

Traditional Polynesian dancing was suppressed by missionaries. It is now an important part of tourism and a means of cultural power.

Democracy and the Colony of NSW

In 1819 British Commissioner John Thomas Bigge investigates accusations that the colony of NSW has become a land of opportunity for convicts under Governor Lachlan Macquarie.

Designing the Charles Darwin- voyages and ideas that shook the world exhibition

Museums have designers to create the physical atmosphere of exhibitions. Here a designer comments on how the model of the Beagle and the reproduction of Darwin’s cabin as part of the Australian National Maritime Museum’s special exhibition Charles Darwin — voyages and ideas that shook the world help us empathise with his experience.

Experiencing Tonga -- Nick Adler interview

Producer and director Nick Adler talks about living in Tonga during the making of Fit for a King.

Faith Bandler - Activist

Civil rights activist Faith Bandler has made an enormous contribution to the peace movement and indigenous politics.

Governor Bligh - Hero or Coward?

Governor William Bligh destroys important documents as he hides from the New South Wales Corps troops who storm Government House and place him under "arrest". It is January 26, 1808.

Governor Bligh arrives in NSW

In 1806 William Bligh, accompanied by his daughter Mary Putland arrives as the new Governor of the colony of NSW.

Harold Holt becomes Prime Minister

One of the hardest working of Australia’s Cabinet ministers and after 32 years as a parliamentarian, Harold Holt reached the prime ministerial office in 1966.

Harold Holt's Australia

Harold Holt’s prime ministership represented a major social shift from the tradition and conservatism of the Menzies era, to that of the ‘swinging sixties’.

Holt Government in Crisis

The disappearance of our seventeenth Prime Minister, Harold Holt, at Cheviot Beach in 1966 during a beach holiday sparked countless conspiracy theories and ultimately overshadowed his political accomplishments.

Ideology and the Curriculum

Who decides what is taught in Australian History in schools?

John Macarthur - Rogue or Hero?

When John Macarthur arrives back in NSW from a failed court marshall in London with a land grant, he takes the best grazing land in the colony. No one can stop him now!

Joseph Lyons’ Love Letters

Politics rarely produces impassioned romantics, which makes the hundreds of letters Joseph Lyons wrote to his adored wife and confidante, Enid, as fascinating as they are unexpected

Kokoda - War on Film

Alister Grierson, director of the 2006 feature film "Kokoda" talks about historical accuracy and representing war experience on film.

Mini-Series

The Australian film revival of the late 1970s and early 80s triggered a rise in quality of Australian TV drama and a 'high point' in the production of mini-series from the early 1980s to the early 90s.

Monash and Billy Hughes

John Monash was a most unlikely Digger hero. Of Prussian-Jewish extraction, cultured, he was a middle-aged, overweight citizen-soldier with no active war experience when hostilities broke out in 1914.

Monash at Gallipoli

The terrible defeat suffered by the Australian and New Zealand forces under British command at Gallipoli changed General John Monash's attitude to how to fight the Great War.

NSW 1819 - convict gulag or place of opportunity?

In 1819 the life of the working class in newly-industrialised England is harsher than the life and opportunities open to the children of convicts in the colony of NSW.

Rescuing the Past

The French colonists discouraged and suppressed Tahiti's traditional culture but it is now re-emerging.

Riding on the Sheep's Back

By the 1950s Australia ‘rode on the sheep’s back’; those who grew the wool had come to symbolise and epitomise what it was to be Australian.

Robert Menzies’ Camera

Robert Menzies’ lifelong passion for home movies resulted in a surprisingly personal record of the war years, including footage of a young Princess Elizabeth.

Sense of Belonging

Joe and Monica Leo embark on a journey to Vanuatu to recover a small part of their past.

She Wanted To Fly

In the 1930s Nancy Bird Walton became known as the "Angel of the Desert", working with the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Some tried to discourage a woman flying on her own in the turbulent conditions of the outback.

South Sea Islander in London

Omai, a young Tahitian warrior who joined Captain James Cook’s second voyage, had his portrait painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds and inspired a spectacular pantomime at Covent Garden.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce's Cigarette Case

Stanley Melbourne Bruce treasured Turkish President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s gift of a gold cigarette case throughout his life.

The Art of Cattle Droving

An artist and two drovers capture the beauty of 1200 head of cattle making their way across the outback in the last great Australian cattle drive.

The Death of Harold Holt

With Australia at war in Vietnam in 1967, suddenly Prime Minister Harold Holt disappeared without a trace—an event unparalleled in the history of western democracy.

The Effect of Cartoons

Bruce Petty investigates the effects of political satire and cartooning.

The Environmental Bandwagon

David Pope takes us through the evolution of his political cartoon "The Environmental Bandwagon"

The logistics behind the Charles Darwin - voyages and ideas that shook the world exhibition

A museum administrator comments on the hidden features that were part of mounting the Australian National Maritime Museum’s exhibition Charles Darwin — voyages and ideas that shook the world.

Two convicts steal a place in history

Two soldiers in colonial NSW steal a piece of cloth, with the intention of getting caught.

William Hughes and the 1916 Conscription Badge

William Hughes, “The Little Digger”, campaigned twice for national conscription to boost an Australian army decimated by World War One.

William Wentworth - "currency lad"

William Wentworth, the colonial born son of a convict, is destined to become a loud, charismatic press baron, publicist, barrister and patriot.

Writing Historical Fiction, Nadia Wheatley

Author and Historian Nadia Wheatley writes about historical events in her fiction because history is a great story.