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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'In the early 1970s, Geoffrey Serle presented a series of groundbreaking lectures on Australian cultural history. These lectures became the book From Deserts the Prophets Come, first published in 1973. Serle relates in his preface to the original edition, "I was aiming to cut a new path for teaching and research in Australian history, to bring cultural history into the general discourse of Australian historians, and to bridge the gap between general history and the major works in literary, art, musical, and architectural history which have appeared in recent years." Serle's articulation of the particular relations between the arts, politics, economics, and society within Australia, and what he called his "rudimentary attempt at a theory of cultural growth," remain important.' (Source 2013 edition)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Timid Minds
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Meanjin , Summer vol. 69 no. 4 2010; (p. 56-62) Meanjin Anthology 2012; (p. 350-361) -
Institutions of Australian Literature
David Carter
,
Gillian Whitlock
,
1989
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Studies : A Survey 1989; (p. 109-135) -
Untitled
1987
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 22 August 1987; (p. B4)
— Review of From Deserts the Prophets Come : The Creative Spirit in Australia 1788-1972 1973 single work criticism -
Our Native Culture?
1987
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 10 October 1987; (p. 46)
— Review of From Deserts the Prophets Come : The Creative Spirit in Australia 1788-1972 1973 single work criticism -
Lively Map of Australian Culture
1987
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 29 August 1987; (p. 14)
— Review of From Deserts the Prophets Come : The Creative Spirit in Australia 1788-1972 1973 single work criticism
-
Untitled
1974
single work
review
— Appears in: Hemisphere , October vol. 18 no. 10 1974; (p. 37-41)
— Review of Readings in Commonwealth Literature 1973 anthology criticism ; From Deserts the Prophets Come : The Creative Spirit in Australia 1788-1972 1973 single work criticism -
A Relaxed, Upright Stance: Serle's Cultural History
1973
single work
review
— Appears in: Meanjin Quarterly , Winter vol. 32 no. 2 1973; (p. 215-218)
— Review of From Deserts the Prophets Come : The Creative Spirit in Australia 1788-1972 1973 single work criticism -
Creativity and Ugliness
1973
single work
review
— Appears in: Hemisphere , October vol. 17 no. 10 1973; (p. 37-38)
— Review of From Deserts the Prophets Come : The Creative Spirit in Australia 1788-1972 1973 single work criticism -
Peculiarly Australian
1973
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland , Spring no. 56 1973; (p. 48-50)
— Review of From Deserts the Prophets Come : The Creative Spirit in Australia 1788-1972 1973 single work criticism -
Untitled
1973
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 28 April 1973; (p. 10)
— Review of From Deserts the Prophets Come : The Creative Spirit in Australia 1788-1972 1973 single work criticism -
Timid Minds
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Meanjin , Summer vol. 69 no. 4 2010; (p. 56-62) Meanjin Anthology 2012; (p. 350-361) -
Institutions of Australian Literature
David Carter
,
Gillian Whitlock
,
1989
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Studies : A Survey 1989; (p. 109-135) -
y
Momentous Decade : Society and Thought : Australia, 1838-1848
Canberra
:
1976
19373512
1976
single work
thesis
'In searching for the origins of the Australian ethos it is tempting to regard convicts and "old hands" as the seedbed of Australian political democracy as well as part of the humus that nourished mateship and egalitarianism. While, as Russel Ward documents in The Australian Legend, many Australian social attitudes data back to convict days, the origin of Australian political democracy followed urban English rather than American or Australian frontier patterns.' (Thesis description)