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Contested Histories : a Forum Discussion of Keith Windschuttle's Recent Work
| The publication of Keith Windschuttle's Fabrication of Aboriginal History has provoked a furore of controversy. Its central claim, that historians have engaged in a 'conspiracy' to exaggerate the extent of frontier violence, has grave political implications. Mindful of the damage this book can do to the reconciliation process, the Editorial Board of Labour History initiated a forum discussion of Windschuttle's work and invited comment from leading scholars in the field. It should be noted from the outset that the publishers of Windschuttle's work (Macleay Press) failed to provide a single review copy of the book. |
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The forum begins with responses from two indigenous scholars. Vicki Grieves critiques the methodology of the book and carefully assesses its political implications whilst Liz Wilson's piece responds to a public debate between Windschuttle and Henry Reynolds held at the University of New South Wales. Both invite us to read Windschuttle's work from an Aboriginal perspective, and both alert us to the book's moral, as well as factual, failings. |
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The first in a series of works reconsidering the Australian frontier, Fabrication focuses on Tasmania. Much of it is given over to an attack on Lyndall Ryan whose Aboriginal Tasmanians first surveyed the scale and intensity of frontier violence. Her essay goes well beyond a simple right of reply; it situates Windschuttle's project within a long existing historiography of denial. |
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Labour History is committed to promoting the work of early career scholars. The fourth contributor to the forum is Naomi Parry, a PhD candidate at the University of New South Wales. Ms Parry challenges Windschuttle on his own terms, cataloguing the very empirical errors he purports to 'expose' and undermining his deeply flawed and ideologically driven interpretation. The forum concludes with a detailed summary of Stuart Macintyre's recent essay in History Wars (in print when this forum discussion was finalised). This serves to position Fabrication in the wider debates over the use (and abuse) of Australian history. We thank Professor Macintyre for permission to revisit this article. |
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Review Editors
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Grace Karskens
Julie Kimber
Bruce Scates
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