Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Despite significant public discourse and the volume of scholarship produced by the Aboriginal history field over more than half a century, ‘coming to terms with the past’ in settler colonial contexts remains an enduring challenge. Reflecting on the emergence of the field of Aboriginal history in Australia, this article provides a brief contextual overview of what is referred to as ‘Aboriginal history’ and the contestation of this body of work that ensued. Identifying a range of barriers to and enablers of deeper historical engagement with First Nations histories in Australia, we reflect on the success or otherwise of efforts to promote historical understanding of First Nations histories in Australia. We argue that the dedicated labour of those within and outside the academy has had limited impact in changing the historical understanding of the broader Australian public, and that what we term ‘the Great Australian Unknowing’ persists.
Source: History Australia
Authors: Heidi Norman, Anne Maree Payne
Institution: UNSW Sydney
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4409438658