AustLit logo

AustLit

y separately published work icon Journal of Australian Studies periodical issue   peer reviewed assertion
Alternative title: (Re)thinking 1968 and Its Legacy in Australia
Issue Details: First known date: 2019... vol. 43 no. 2 2019 of Journal of Australian Studies est. 1977 Journal of Australian Studies
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Contents

* Contents derived from the , 2019 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
A Forgotten Picture : Race, Photographs and Cathy Freeman at the Northcote Koori Mural, Gary Osmond , Matthew Klugman , single work criticism
'A dramatic photograph, published in 1994, depicted Australian athlete Cathy Freeman running at Northcote's Koori Mural in inner-north Melbourne, beneath scenes of Aboriginal elders in chains in the late nineteenth century. Two months later, she famously posed for photographs carrying the Aboriginal flag in a victory lap following her win in the 400 metres at the Commonwealth Games. While the flag photographs remain an iconic image of sport and race in Australia, the Northcote photograph is forgotten. This article explores the history of the Northcote photograph—its background, the image itself, and the aftermath of publication. We analyse the discursive contexts of exposure and elision: unlike the flag pictures, which spoke to the present and to a recognised and saleable discourse (national pride), the Northcote mural image pointed to a more difficult and less palatable discursive relationship with the past (racism, abuse and disenfranchisement).' 

 (Publication abstract)

 (p. 203-217)
Seeing for Himself : Harold Holt, Bushfire and Newspaper Depictions of Prime Ministerial Empathy, Rosemary Williamson , single work criticism

'The experience of bushfire continues to challenge Australians and those responsible for leading them. Since Federation, the news media have conveyed prime ministers’ expressions of sympathy and reassurance of recovery to those Australians affected by bushfire. A study of newspaper reports of prime ministers’ responses to exceptional fires—in 1926, 1939, 1967, 1983, 2003 and 2009—reveals an increasing emphasis on prime ministers being physically and emotionally engaged with Australians in the wake of bushfire. This study identifies a turning point during the prime ministership of Harold Holt, who visited Tasmania to view the aftermath of the Black Tuesday fires in 1967. Vividly descriptive newspaper coverage of Holt's witnessing of the damage wrought by the fires is symptomatic of a shift towards journalistic norms seen today; however, it also is symptomatic of the social context in which Holt operated and his personal and political style. By presenting this argument, this article draws attention to an aspect of Holt's prime ministership neglected in popular and scholarly records while advancing an understanding of normative depictions of Australian political leadership by the news media over time.' (Publication abstract)

 (p. 249-261)
X