Christopher Bantick: Australian Schools Become the Dustbin of History

Christopher Bantick is a Melbourne writer and senior literature teacher. He was formerly head of history at Trinity Grammar in Kew, where he taught Australian History and Revolutions.

BRITISH historian Simon Schama once observed of contemporary students, "What of history do they know?" It's a good question. A more immediate one is why don't Australian undergraduates want to know about their own country?

The blunt fact is that Australian history, once the gold standard of university history courses, is dying. This year, La Trobe University does not have any undergraduate Australian history subjects. The University of Melbourne is winding up its Australian Studies Centre. Why? Both La Trobe and Melbourne are universities with enviable records in the study of Australian history. So how can the decline in undergraduate demand be explained?

A lack of interest in Australian history undergraduate courses does not begin at university. It starts far earlier. Look no further than schools....

Schools killed Australian history. Reduced to a brain-deadening subject where nothing seemed to happen, it proved Henry Ford's assessment of history being "bunk".

Primary schools peacocked the past and hammered Ned Kelly's armour to the density of tin plate. Gallipoli became the rite of passage story and the First Fleet was a good place to start genealogy. Gold presented a rush of enthusiasm but Lola Montez's spider dance was edited out....