Overview

This unit explores Australia’s shared history, untangling the origins of colonial and postcolonial attitudes and their continued influence on contemporary Australian society. It reconsiders Australia’s post-contact history to unlearn the past and address significant historical gaps and omissions through the perspectives of Indigenous voices, experiences, standpoints and agency. The unit presents a balanced picture of Australian history and a multilayered account of Indigenous Australian experiences within the national story, paying particular attention to the experiences of Victorian Aboriginal peoples over the last two and a half centuries.

Requisites

Teaching periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Semester 2
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
29-July-2024
27-October-2024
Last self-enrolment date
11-August-2024
Census date
31-August-2024
Last withdraw without fail date
13-September-2024
Results released date
03-December-2024
Semester 2
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
04-August-2025
02-November-2025
Last self-enrolment date
17-August-2025
Census date
31-August-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
19-September-2025
Results released date
09-December-2025

Learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  • Identify key gaps and omissions in Australian history as it was recorded
  • Recognise the impact of dominant historical discourses on contemporary Australian society
  • Explain how knowledge is created and shaped by dominant discourses
  • Outline the role of imperialism, colonialism, and postcolonialism in Australia, both historically and contemporaneously
  • Examine historical events through a decolonising lens, and identify and explain when colonial logics are at play

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
Live Online
Lecture
2.00  11 weeks  22
On Campus
Workshop
1.00  12 weeks  12
Specified Activities
Various
2.00  1 week  2
Unspecified Activities 
Assessment Preparation
1.5  4 weeks  6
Unspecified Activities 
Independent Learning
9 12 weeks 108
TOTAL     150

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULO's
Analysis  Individual 30%  1,2,3,4,5 
Analysis Individual  35%  1,2,3,4,5 
Analysis Individual  35%  1,2,3,4,5 

Content

  • The ‘History Gaps’ - examination of knowledge gaps in recorded Australian history
  • Disentangling Australia’s shared history through making visible Indigenous Australian experiences
  • The concept of ‘Black Armband History’ in Australia
  • The role of colonisation throughout Australian history
  • Colonialism, political and economic power and social capital
  • Investigating Indigenous modes of historical practice
  • Assessing Indigenous resistance and alternative histories
  • Graduate Attribute – Communication Skills: Verbal communication
  • Graduate Attribute – Communication Skills: Communicating using different media
  • Graduate Attribute – Teamwork Skills: Collaboration and negotiation
  • Graduate Attribute – Teamwork Skills: Teamwork roles and processes
  • Graduate Attribute – Digital Literacies: Information literacy
  • Graduate Attribute – Digital Literacies: Technical literacy

Study resources

Reading materials

A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.