Turning Points: Chapters in South Australian History

by Robert Foster (Editor), Paul Sendziuk (Editor)

South Australia has often been represented as 'different': free of convicts, more enlightened in its attitudes toward Aboriginal people, established on rational economic principles, and progressive in its social and political development. Some of this is true, some of it is not, but mostly the story is more complex. In this book, eminent historians explore these themes by examining some key 'turning points' in South Australia's history. Henry Reynolds considers the question of Aboriginal rights to land. Bill Gammage illustrates the nature of Aboriginal land management. Paul Sendziuk unravels the myth of the colony's convict-free origins, while Robert Foster and Amanda Nettelbeck reveal a surprisingly strong sense of 'nationalism' in colonial South Australia. Susan Magarey traces the histories of two crucial events in the advancement of women. Neal Blewett examines the political innovations of Don Dunstan. Jill Roe looks at life in the country in twentieth-century South Australia, and Mark Peel life in the city, in particular the migrant experience after World War Two. Finally, John Hirst asks: 'How distinctive was South Australia after all?'

Contents:
1. Turning points in South Australian history / Robert Foster and Paul Sendzuik --
2. The Adelaide district in 1836 / Bill Gammage --
3. South Australia : between Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand / Henry Reynolds --
4. No convicts here : reconsidering South Australia's foundation myth / Paul Sendzuik --
5. Proclamation day and the rise and fall of South Australian nationalism / Robert Foster and Amanda Nettelbeck --
6. Sex and citizenship : from ballot boxes to bedrooms / Susan Magarey --
7. Making the most of it : life on the rural frontier in twentieth century South Australia / Jill Roe --
8. A place to grow : making a future in postwar South Australia / Mark Peel --
9. Don Dunstan and the social democratic moment in Australian history / Neal Blewett --
10. South Australia and Australia : reflections on their histories / John Hirst.

Genres: History

159 pages, Paperback

First published September 27, 2012

About the author

Robert Foster is an Associate Professor in the School of History and Politics at the University of Adelaide. Foster works especially in the area of Australian and comparative Indigenous History and his most recent book, co-authored with Amanda Nettelbeck, was Out of the Silence: The history and memory of South Australia’s frontier wars.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of essays on South Australian history has a specific audience and in general I believe it meets the targeted readers' expectations with a combination of solid academic work and clear prose. It might be said that Australian history in general lacks the turmoil and excitement of other countries, and as South Australia may be seen as the most placid (due to its population size and founding construct as a 'free settler' colony) then trying to develop compelling historical arguments about the state is going to be a hard task. Yet throughout the book there are some intelligent and provocative arguments that confound such a preconception.

The articles by Bill Gammage and Henry Reynolds on indigenous peoples and the colonisation of South Australia are striking in that both posit a relationship between the colonists and the Aboriginals that is more differentiated within the Australian history context than one might expect. Both historians have provided much food for thought on how South Australian indigenous peoples have an important role understanding both the narrow local construct of colonisation, and the broader imperial experience of Australian settlement in the 19th century.

Sendziuk makes some very interesting points regarding South Australia's mythic relationship with 'the convict stain', and he takes apart much of the veneer that the 'free state' foundations of SA has covered up over the years. That SA was a state that exiled its own prisoners to convict servitude in other colonies, and that convicts from other colonies lived and worked in South Australian seems a bit of a revelation.

I thought the essay on South Australian 'nationalism' to be one of the best in this collection, thanks to the intriguing recounting of the history of Proclamation Day by the authors Foster and Nettlebeck. Regional nationalism within Australia, both before and after Federation has often looked to new state movements such as those in the Riverina or New England areas, or Western Australia's long dealing with separatist urges, However in their article Foster and Nettlebeck illustrate how powerful South Australian separateness was both as a cultural and as a political construct. It is both an affirmation and perhaps a coda to how 'Croweaters' feel more South Australian than Australian.

As for essays on more modern South Australian history, Peel's discussion of the British migrant experience in Elizabeth and Neil Blewett's essay on the life, work and legacy of Don Dunstan are to be commended. These two historians have taken quintessential South Australian stories and made them accessible and relevant to wider Australian considerations.

In summary, 'Turning Points: Chapters in South Australian History' is a very solid work that will be of value and interest to anyone wishing to learn more about the state's history.

[Michael G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not amazing; not bad. There's a reasonable amount of variability within the chapters. The most memorable for me was the chapter on the Aboriginal use of fire, such that much of the Adelaide Plains appeared as a park of sorts when the British arrived. Perhaps the worst was the chapter on Don Dunstan, where the admiration lavished upon him is really a bit too much. His fawning acolytes come on too strong. I'm willing to bet that history, in the long run (and history is a long run thing), will view him quite poorly. A South Australian Justin Trudeau of the 1970s.