Re-enactments of James Cook’s arrival in Australia have served only to gloss over the violence of his interactions with Indigenous people and elevate Australia’s imperial and British connections.
Every European ship that voyaged the Pacific was, in the first instance, a floating fortress, an independent command that could send out small shore parties or to concentrate firepower as needed.
Unpicking the threads of the stories told about Captain Cook’s arrival is vital to find agreement on the provenance of materials that changed hands during colonisation.
Anzac biscuits are the perfect treat to bake in COVID-19 isolation. Recipes emerged from another world-changing crisis, the first world war, yet we can still bake together online.
A new book gives a full account of Tasmanian Indigenous woman Truganini’s life. In this extract, she is taken to Melbourne and caught up in the murders behind Victoria’s first public execution.
An archaeologist tells the story of how she and her colleagues discovered a traditional Irish village, a clachan, in a South Australian field – the first confirmed clachan found outside Ireland.
Signatures developed to replace rituals as a form of legal validation. Indigenous people have seen their marks used against them and rallied communities to use signatures in innovative protests.
Courts have had to consider whether an eggshell, a tractor fender, a petticoat hem, graffiti on a wall, and a poem might be valid wills. They’ve shown surprising flexibility in judgment.
In the early 1900s, fortune-telling provided entertainment, social connection and a job for some Australians. Its legal status made criminals of women, yet allowed others entry to the police force.
The ‘New Bradfield’ scheme seeks to revive a nation-building ethos supposedly stifled by bureaucratic inertia. But there are good reasons the scheme never became a reality.
Born in 1831, at a time when animals were widely regarded as property, Frances Levvy used the power of the press and the passion of children to advocate for their welfare.
Away from the state capitals, small museums are out of step with big city curators - presenting tourists with stories that give a blinkered view of local history.
The mythical Australian bloke is white, straight, and able-bodied – he’s Crocodile Dundee. But where does this legend come from, and what is his future?
In the days before scuba technology, the celebrated photographer sought to capture the beauty of the reef by placing corals in an aquarium and shooting them. But under stress, they released algae.