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Before I Forget
Now in his late-eighties, and listed by the National Trust as a ‘Living Treasure’, in Before I Forget Geoffrey Blainey reflects on his humble beginnings as the son of a Methodist Minister and school teacher, one of five children, and a carefree childhood spent in rural Victoria, from Terang to Leongatha, Geelong to Ballarat. From a young age these places ignited for Blainey a great affection for the Australian landscape, and a deep curiosity in Australia’s history. He longed to travel, and would climb atop the roof of their home to stare out at the Great Dividing Range and imagine the world beyond.
His mother created gardens wherever they went and had literary ambitions of her own; his father spent more on books than he could ever afford, and the library travelled with the family. Blainey’s devotion to the Geelong Football Club began in Newtown from where he’d watch his team play at Corio, and as a newsboy he developed an early interest in current affairs, following the dramas and triumphs of the Second World War and the political careers of local identities John Curtin and Robert Menzies. With a burning desire to see Sydney but barely a penny to his name, he hitched there with a schoolfriend to see the harbour that greeted the First Fleet, and visited the national theatre of Parliament House on the way home to see Billy Hughes, JT Lang, Arty Fadden, Arthur Calwell, Enid Lyons and hero Ben Chifley in action.
The course of Blainey’s life changed when he was awarded a scholarship to board at Wesley College in Melbourne – an opportunity that instilled in him a great love of learning, under the tutelage of a group of inspiring teachers. This flourished further at the University of Melbourne, first as a wide-eyed student at Queen’s Collage, where he was lectured by Manning Clarke, and later as a professor of history. Later he and Manning Clarke became great friends, both sitting on the Whitlam Government’s new Literature Board. Hours spent at Melbourne’s State Library as a student poring over the country’s old newspapers cemented his calling to become a professional historian. Like Clarke Blainey has always been compelled to visit the places of our historical interest, including places of archaeological and Indigenous significance. Now the author of over forty books, Geoffrey Blainey claims he has discovered Australia’s history his own way – and is still learning.
Warm, insightful and lyrically written, Before I Forget recounts the experiences and influences that have shaped the astonishing mind of Australia’s most loved historian. But in this book Blainey has given us something more – a fascinating and affectionate social history in and of itself.
His mother created gardens wherever they went and had literary ambitions of her own; his father spent more on books than he could ever afford, and the library travelled with the family. Blainey’s devotion to the Geelong Football Club began in Newtown from where he’d watch his team play at Corio, and as a newsboy he developed an early interest in current affairs, following the dramas and triumphs of the Second World War and the political careers of local identities John Curtin and Robert Menzies. With a burning desire to see Sydney but barely a penny to his name, he hitched there with a schoolfriend to see the harbour that greeted the First Fleet, and visited the national theatre of Parliament House on the way home to see Billy Hughes, JT Lang, Arty Fadden, Arthur Calwell, Enid Lyons and hero Ben Chifley in action.
The course of Blainey’s life changed when he was awarded a scholarship to board at Wesley College in Melbourne – an opportunity that instilled in him a great love of learning, under the tutelage of a group of inspiring teachers. This flourished further at the University of Melbourne, first as a wide-eyed student at Queen’s Collage, where he was lectured by Manning Clarke, and later as a professor of history. Later he and Manning Clarke became great friends, both sitting on the Whitlam Government’s new Literature Board. Hours spent at Melbourne’s State Library as a student poring over the country’s old newspapers cemented his calling to become a professional historian. Like Clarke Blainey has always been compelled to visit the places of our historical interest, including places of archaeological and Indigenous significance. Now the author of over forty books, Geoffrey Blainey claims he has discovered Australia’s history his own way – and is still learning.
Warm, insightful and lyrically written, Before I Forget recounts the experiences and influences that have shaped the astonishing mind of Australia’s most loved historian. But in this book Blainey has given us something more – a fascinating and affectionate social history in and of itself.
400 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 18, 2019
12 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Geoffrey Blainey
78 books81 followersGeoffrey Blainey, one of Australia's most eminent historians, was appointed the foundation Chancellor of the University of Ballarat (UB) in 1993 after an illustrious career at the University of Melbourne. He was installed as UB Chancellor in December 1994 and continued until 1998. The Blainey Auditorium at the Mt Helen Campus of UB is named in his honour. Blainey, always a keen exponent of libraries and the acquisition of books, has donated part of his extensive book collection to the UB library. In 2002 the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters was conferred on Blainey in recognition of his contribution to the University of Ballarat and to the community in general.
Educated at Ballarat High School, Blainey won a scholarship to Wesley College, before attending Melbourne University where he studied history. He worked as a freelance historical author writing mainly business histories such as The Peaks of Lyall; Gold and Paper; a History of the National Bank of Australasia; and Mines in the Spinifex. Blainey accepted a position at the University of Melbourne in 1962 in the Faculty of Economics and Commerce. He held the positions of Professor of Economic History (1968-77); Senior Lecturer 1962; and from 1977-1988 he occupied the Ernest Scott Chair of History at Melbourne University. Professor Blainey also held the chair of Australian studies at Harvard University.
As an economic historian, Blainey challenged the conventional view, questioning accepted contemporary understandings of European settlement of Australia as a convict nation, Aboriginal land rights, and Asian immigration. He is described as a 'courageous public intellectual, a writer with rare grace and a master storyteller'. In a reassessment of the life of Blainey, 'The Fuss that Never Ended' considers his ideas, his role in Australian history, politics and public life, and the controversies that surrounded him.
He was always popular with students. According to the Melbourne University home page 'When Geoffrey Blainey spoke to final-year students in the Friends of the Baillieu Library HSC Lectures in the 1970s, the Public Lecture Theatre was packed to capacity and his audience carried copies of his books to be signed, a tribute to what Geoffrey Bolton characterised as his "skills in interpreting technological change in admirably lucid narratives that appealed to both specialist and non-specialist audiences".
Among his most popular works are the 'The Rush that Never Ended: A History of Australian Mining'; 'The Tyranny of Distance'; 'A Shorter History of Australia'; 'A Short History of the World'; and 'The Origins of Australian Football'.
In 2000 Professor Blainey was awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia for service to academia, research and scholarship, and as a leader of public debate at the forefront of fundamental social and economic issues confronting the wider community. At that time the University's Vice-Chancellor Professor Kerry Cox said 'Geoffrey Blainey guided the new and inexperienced university through its first four years with a benevolent but firm hand. This time was challenging as the university strove to make a place for itself in higher education, grappled with funding cuts and the eventual merger with neighbouring TAFE institutes. For those at the university fortunate enough to work with Geoffrey Blainey during his time as Chancellor, they witnessed first hand his humility, and we are proud of his role in our history.'
In 2002 the degree of Doctor of Letters was conferred on Professor Blainey in recognition of his contribution to the University of Ballarat and the community in general. The same year Blainey donated a collection of material to the University of Ballarat. Included in this collection are historical books, papers and other material relating to the early history of mining and the central Victorian goldfields. A second generous donation of material was received in 2005. 'The Geoffrey Blainey Mining Collection' is l
Educated at Ballarat High School, Blainey won a scholarship to Wesley College, before attending Melbourne University where he studied history. He worked as a freelance historical author writing mainly business histories such as The Peaks of Lyall; Gold and Paper; a History of the National Bank of Australasia; and Mines in the Spinifex. Blainey accepted a position at the University of Melbourne in 1962 in the Faculty of Economics and Commerce. He held the positions of Professor of Economic History (1968-77); Senior Lecturer 1962; and from 1977-1988 he occupied the Ernest Scott Chair of History at Melbourne University. Professor Blainey also held the chair of Australian studies at Harvard University.
As an economic historian, Blainey challenged the conventional view, questioning accepted contemporary understandings of European settlement of Australia as a convict nation, Aboriginal land rights, and Asian immigration. He is described as a 'courageous public intellectual, a writer with rare grace and a master storyteller'. In a reassessment of the life of Blainey, 'The Fuss that Never Ended' considers his ideas, his role in Australian history, politics and public life, and the controversies that surrounded him.
He was always popular with students. According to the Melbourne University home page 'When Geoffrey Blainey spoke to final-year students in the Friends of the Baillieu Library HSC Lectures in the 1970s, the Public Lecture Theatre was packed to capacity and his audience carried copies of his books to be signed, a tribute to what Geoffrey Bolton characterised as his "skills in interpreting technological change in admirably lucid narratives that appealed to both specialist and non-specialist audiences".
Among his most popular works are the 'The Rush that Never Ended: A History of Australian Mining'; 'The Tyranny of Distance'; 'A Shorter History of Australia'; 'A Short History of the World'; and 'The Origins of Australian Football'.
In 2000 Professor Blainey was awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia for service to academia, research and scholarship, and as a leader of public debate at the forefront of fundamental social and economic issues confronting the wider community. At that time the University's Vice-Chancellor Professor Kerry Cox said 'Geoffrey Blainey guided the new and inexperienced university through its first four years with a benevolent but firm hand. This time was challenging as the university strove to make a place for itself in higher education, grappled with funding cuts and the eventual merger with neighbouring TAFE institutes. For those at the university fortunate enough to work with Geoffrey Blainey during his time as Chancellor, they witnessed first hand his humility, and we are proud of his role in our history.'
In 2002 the degree of Doctor of Letters was conferred on Professor Blainey in recognition of his contribution to the University of Ballarat and the community in general. The same year Blainey donated a collection of material to the University of Ballarat. Included in this collection are historical books, papers and other material relating to the early history of mining and the central Victorian goldfields. A second generous donation of material was received in 2005. 'The Geoffrey Blainey Mining Collection' is l
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 13, 2019
I feel like I have a lot in common with Geoffrey Blainey, so much so that if we every meet at his favourite Italian Easy Melbourne lunch place, I am sure we could spend a very interesting and convivial three hour lunch. I loved this book that ticked so many Melbourne nostalgia boxes for me. Geoffrey Blainey is the author of forty books and this one goes right back to the start. He writes so sensibly and so colorfully and this book being, hopefully the first edition of his memoirs, takes us back to where it all began at Wesley, Melbourne University and the start of his writing and his University career. I can't wait for the second edition of his memoirs and hope I haven't got too long to wait.
March 31, 2021
What a delightful book: sometimes a book "drops into your lap" without you ever intending to hunt it out or read it, but when it does, and when you do, it leaves you happy. Before I Forget is a beautifully written book describing the early years of one of Australia's finest historians from his own viewpoint.
The son of a Methodist preacher, Geoffrey Blainey spent his early years in a variety of Victorian towns, including Leongatha, Ballarat, and Geelong. These formative years seeded Blainey's love of history, and for the reader, we find out other things as well: he loved football, both playing the game, and supporting the Geelong Football Club, and he was adventurous, travelling and exploring as much as he could. His description of early hitch-hiking trips up and down the east coast of the country are wonderful evocations of the countryside during the late Forties. He was also clever - he won a scholarship to the prestigious Wesley College and his experiences there under the influence of good teachers and fellow students helped turn him into a writer and historian.
As for becoming the world-renowned historian, well, he sort of fell into it. Studying history at Melbourne University, he did well, and was active in student life as editor of the student newspaper Farrago, but had no plans at that stage to enter academia (astonishingly, Blainey did not even formally take his degree until after he was employed as a lecturer at the University!), feeling rather that he should take up writing or journalism full-time. But how to do that in early 1950s Australia, when even a "best-seller" didn't bring in enough money to keep hearth and home together?
Blainey found a way of managing to do just that - by being paid a salary to write a book! He fell into doing it by being recommended by one of his university teachers to write the history of the Mt Lyell mining concern, where he was paid a stipend while living on-site. His description of how he went about writing the book, and how he met the locals gives the reader not only an idea of Blainey's working methods, but also an idea of what a personable man he is. He devotes further pages to his other early books, up to and including the book that did the most to launch him as a historian, The Tyranny of Distance. It is a credit to not only his historical work, but to his writing style that many of his books are still in print.
As well as describing his writings, and the people he met through them (which included most of the big names of mining in Australia and indeed the world in the 1950s, and the last of the "old-time" prospectors), he gives us a wonderful little vignette of his journey in 1966 through China and across the USSR, a lone and carefree traveller through the Cultural Revolution and Communism - I have been meaning to read the book he wrote about that journey for a long time; I must hunt it out.
This memoir stops when Blainey has reached his forties, and focuses mostly on his childhood, education and professional life: the reason for this - as he writes in the preface - is that this was enough to make a good-sized book. Here's hoping there is another volume to come.
Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/
The son of a Methodist preacher, Geoffrey Blainey spent his early years in a variety of Victorian towns, including Leongatha, Ballarat, and Geelong. These formative years seeded Blainey's love of history, and for the reader, we find out other things as well: he loved football, both playing the game, and supporting the Geelong Football Club, and he was adventurous, travelling and exploring as much as he could. His description of early hitch-hiking trips up and down the east coast of the country are wonderful evocations of the countryside during the late Forties. He was also clever - he won a scholarship to the prestigious Wesley College and his experiences there under the influence of good teachers and fellow students helped turn him into a writer and historian.
As for becoming the world-renowned historian, well, he sort of fell into it. Studying history at Melbourne University, he did well, and was active in student life as editor of the student newspaper Farrago, but had no plans at that stage to enter academia (astonishingly, Blainey did not even formally take his degree until after he was employed as a lecturer at the University!), feeling rather that he should take up writing or journalism full-time. But how to do that in early 1950s Australia, when even a "best-seller" didn't bring in enough money to keep hearth and home together?
Blainey found a way of managing to do just that - by being paid a salary to write a book! He fell into doing it by being recommended by one of his university teachers to write the history of the Mt Lyell mining concern, where he was paid a stipend while living on-site. His description of how he went about writing the book, and how he met the locals gives the reader not only an idea of Blainey's working methods, but also an idea of what a personable man he is. He devotes further pages to his other early books, up to and including the book that did the most to launch him as a historian, The Tyranny of Distance. It is a credit to not only his historical work, but to his writing style that many of his books are still in print.
As well as describing his writings, and the people he met through them (which included most of the big names of mining in Australia and indeed the world in the 1950s, and the last of the "old-time" prospectors), he gives us a wonderful little vignette of his journey in 1966 through China and across the USSR, a lone and carefree traveller through the Cultural Revolution and Communism - I have been meaning to read the book he wrote about that journey for a long time; I must hunt it out.
This memoir stops when Blainey has reached his forties, and focuses mostly on his childhood, education and professional life: the reason for this - as he writes in the preface - is that this was enough to make a good-sized book. Here's hoping there is another volume to come.
Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/
June 12, 2022
Surprisingly read that was a page turner
August 25, 2019
This memoir is easy to read but full of interesting descriptions of his early life.
September 25, 2019
An interesting read. What an interesting life Blaine’s has led.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews