Belonging to a ‘civilisation’: The purpose of history
First published in 1952, Man Makes History by Russel Ward, one of Australia’s most important historians, became a best selling introductory high school history textbook for nearly 20 years. It tells the story of exploration, settlement and development in which old-world civilisation made its way to Australia.
Note the exclusionary ‘us’ and ‘them’ view in this Australian history textbook from the 1950s:
Boys and girls often ask, ‘What’s the use of History?’ ...
There are still living today in Arnhem Land people who know almost no History. They are Aboriginal tribesmen who live in practically the same way as their forefathers and ours did, tens of thousand years ago. Like them, they have not only no accurate knowledge of past events, but no aeroplanes, motor-cars or picture-shows; not even any books, houses or clothes. Apart from the fact that they use weapons of stone and wood to hunt for their food, their lives are almost as hard and dangerous as those of the animals, who also hunt to live ...
[O]ur forefathers lived the same hard kind of life as do the Arnhem Land tribes today. But ... our forefathers ... learnt how to tame cattle and sheep, how to grow crops and fruits, to build houses, to read and write, to build cities, and to do all the other things which make up what we call Civilization. [W]e are civilized today and they are not. History helps us understand why this is so.
Ward, Russel. 1952. Man Makes History. Sydney: Shakespeare Head Press. p. 9. || WorldCat
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