Remarkable: Poet and academic Geoffrey Dutton. Asked to identify Australia's 100 greatest books, 17 were linked to Northern NSW.
The 1988 Bicentenary,
the celebration of 200 years since the arrival of the first fleet, was
contested territory. To many Aboriginal people, this was the invasion. To
others, it was a celebration of just what we had achieved.
Regardless of the
debate, the Bicentenary was marked by an explosion in history publishing. Some books
covered Aboriginal history, some dealt with national themes, while others
focused on family, local and regional history.
New England,
especially the New England, benefited greatly from books published before,
during and just after the Bicentenary. I haven’t done a statistical count, but
my feeling is that more books were published in this period than the totality
over the last fifteen years.
As part of this process,
Australian writer Geoffrey Dutton was commissioned by Angus & Robertson to
select 100 books that might be classified as Australia’s greatest books. The
result appeared three years before the Bicentenary entitled The Australian Collection: Australia’s
Greatest Books.
I purchased it from
Boobooks in the first week after I returned to Armidale, taking it outside with
my coffee to browse it in the sun.
You will know that I
am obsessed with New England’s history. I make no apology for this. It’s my passion.
Sitting there in the
sun in the Mall, I did what I always do. I started going through to identify
all the books and authors with New England connection.
I couldn’t finish the
task. Once my coffee was done, I went home and took the book along with a pad
and pen outside to sit in the sun and record.
This was a
distraction. I was meant to be unpacking all those horrid boxes, but I sat and
read and took notes. I am glad that I did.
I discovered that no
less than 17 books or writers had a connection to Northern NSW, my broader New
England.
Think about this for a
moment.
Of Professor Dutton’s selection of one hundred
greatest Australian books, 17 per cent have some connection with Northern NSW.
That’s quite remarkable.
I have been conscious
for some time of the contribution made by the broader New England to
Australia’s cultural and intellectual history. I didn’t know this when I
started researching.
I wonder why it’s not recognized?
Is it just because all
the cultural gatekeepers who determine topics and grants live in metropolitan
areas? Or is it because we New England historians are too localized and cannot
look beyond?
Note to readers: This post appeared as a column in the Armidale Express Extra on 30 October 2019. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because they are not all on line outside subscription. You can see all the Belshaw World and History Revisited/History Matters columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012, here for 2013, here for 2014, here for 2015, here for 2016, here 2017, here 2018, here 2019
2 comments:
When I did Matriculation 100 years ago, English Expression (not Literature) included one Australian novel a semester eg Miles Franklin, Marcus Clarke, Judah Waten etc but I don't remember anything about New England's contribution to Australia’s cultural and intellectual history. So I repeat your question - why was it not recognised?
Hi Hels. I'm sorry for the delay. I think that the answer lies in the way scope and questions are framed. Professor Dutton was asked to select 100 best Australian books, that set scope. I am interested in the history and culture of the broader New England so I look for New England connections within the list.
in similar vein, someone who writes on architecture at a national level is interested in classes of buildings or styles or architects. They may include New England examples but these are expressed in terms of architects and localities. There is very little regional analysis outside metro area. There are exceptions. For example, there was an earlier book on homestead architecture in the Riverina.
Then we have the influence of fashion and fads on topic selection. This can be a very good thing, it opens new fields, but it also blocks other studies.
Perhaps the most important thing is that is that people won't write if they don't know that there are interesting questions or have access to material. This starts at school level and works through a chain.
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