Culture of Forgetting. "Seven Versions of an Australian Badland" by Ross Gibson, "Looking for Blackfella's Point: An Australian History of Place" by Mark McKenna and "Unearthed: The Aboriginal Tasmanians of Kangaroo Island" by Rebe Taylor. [review]

Abstract

The idea of place as a metaphor of Australia's colonial past and post-colonial present is a recent development in Australian history. The three books reviewed here come from a new generation of cultural historians who want to move the story of Australia from the national to the local. These cultural historians' books reveal an intimacy with place and a new confidence in connecting the past to the present. All three books are based on the authors' intimate knowledge of the human landscape in their particular region, yet they have not been afraid to employ the insights of outsiders, so their stories can resonate in the national context. From this vantage point, they reflect a deeper understanding of the complexities of the past, and how the culture of forgetting has shaped the present. Each offers new ways of confronting and reconciling this past and moving on to the future.