| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 109.2

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 109.2 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Oceania and the Pacific Islands

Hsu-Ming Teo and Richard White, editors. Cultural History in Australia. Seattle: University of Washington Press. Sydney: University of New South Wales. 2003. Pp. ix, 274. $27.50.
The most significant event in 2003 in the Australian historical world was a major outbreak in the continuing saga of the History Wars. These "Wars" center around the use of the past and history to argue for contemporary political positions, be it in support of an Australian republic, in favor of changes in policy toward Aborigines, or against economic reform. In approaching a collection such as this one, therefore, it is necessary to ask: how does it relate to the History Wars, and is it pushing any particular version of the Australian past? Cultural history appears to be as vague and nebulous as the concept of culture, and one might expect to encounter a range of views and approaches. Alas, this does not appear to be the case here. Ann Curthoys sets the tone in the first essay. After providing a short survey of historical writing on Australia and arguing for a more transnational approach, she discusses an area where such an approach would be appropriate: genocide studies.	1
It would not be inappropriate to say that two themes pervade much of this collection: the "evil empire" and the wrongs that it did, especially to Australian Aborigines, and the centrality of Aboriginal culture as Australian culture. Hence Paula Hamilton ends her discussion of memory with an analysis of the "Stolen Generations" report, Marilyn Lake delves into white racism, Jan Kociumbas meanders through a vague postcolonial approach to Australian/Aboriginal culture, and Richard Waterhouse makes the astonishing statement that, in the early twenty-first century, "Australian culture is ultimately Aboriginal seems both obvious and appropriate" (p. 126).	. . .

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