AustLit

'With the increasing success of New Journalism before World War 1, hopes for labour daily papers crystallised. This article speculates on four attempts to counter conservative media as seen through the youthful eyes of Vance Palmer. In London, he participated in the foundation of the successful labour paper the Daily Herald, and he wrote for the British Labour Party daily. Returning to Australia in 1912, he sought to work for a proposed Sydney-based daily paper, and for the successful Queensland’s Labor Daily Standard, as a correspondent. When taking Palmer’s observations into account—drawing on original material from his letters, and set in a context of comparing the four papers—a largely untold story of ambitious design emerges. The scheme of Commonwealth Labor daily newspapers across the nation still lacks its history. Cultural leadership through the commitment of leading men and women, even strike leaders, able to appeal to the passions of writers, editors and readers, and experienced staff utilising an inclusive forum inviting diverse and militant standpoints, may have proved more critical to riding the explosion of radical left idealism in the successful establishment of newspapers, and surviving the suppression of war, than managerial leadership or raising enough economic capital.'(Publication abstract) 

'The 1970s is often characterised as the decade of Australia’s “new nationalism”, expressed most potently in a wave of cultural activity nurtured by government funding. The figure of the ocker was central to this new nationalism, particularly in film. The ocker, a contemporary masculine archetype devoted to beer, sex and swearing, was a star of Australian films such as The Adventures of Barry McKenzie, Alvin Purple, Petersen and Don’s Party. Yet few scholars have considered the ocker in a gendered context, remarkable when we consider that while the ocker films were being produced, the women’s liberation movement was mounting a radical challenge to Australian cultural, social and political norms. What new understandings of 1970s society and culture might result if we read the new nationalist ocker and women’s liberation in the same frame? This article examines the relationship between ocker culture and women’s liberation in the 1970s. It argues that we can read new nationalist popular culture as a site of gendered cultural contest, with a particular focus on feminist responses to ocker culture, including Alvin Purple, and a reading of the film Petersen.' (Publication abstract)

'In 1999, John Howard attempted to insert the word “mateship” into the Constitution, arguing that it had been reimagined as an inclusive national ideal. This article looks at the history and meaning of mateship, followed by a discussion of contemporary Australian attitudes towards it. The data we use in this article is from a voluntary survey (the Australian Mateship Survey) conducted by the authors, which asked respondents (N = 576) how they define mateship and how they feel about the term. The results indicate that a majority think mateship is a key feature of Australian identity but have concerns when the idea is politicised. A sizable minority believe the term is gendered and racialised and, therefore, is not inclusive of all Australians. Further, the survey suggests that a wide range of opinions exists even among those who do believe mateship has national significance. Twenty years after Howard’s attempt to enshrine mateship in the Constitution, this article suggests that the concept remains too divisive to serve as a core Australian value.' (Publication abstract)

'Catherine Fisher’s first book explores the ways in which Australian radio, from its origins in the 1920s until the introduction of television in 1956, provided a space for women to engage with social and political issues as active citizens. It focuses on both the Australian Broadcasting Commission and the commercial sector, and country as well as city.' (Introduction)