Religious and Secular Discourses in Twentieth Century Australian Parliamentary Debates
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University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016 University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2016 Religious and secular discourses in Twentieth Century Australian parliamentary debates Josip Matesic University of Wollongong Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses University of Wollongong Copyright Warning You may print or download ONE copy of this document for the purpose of your own research or study. The University does not authorise you to copy, communicate or otherwise make available electronically to any other person any copyright material contained on this site. You are reminded of the following: This work is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this work may be reproduced by any process, nor may any other exclusive right be exercised, without the permission of the author. 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For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Department of Law, Humanities, and the Arts Religious and Secular Discourses in Twentieth Century Australian Parliamentary Debates Josip Matesic "This thesis is presented as part of the requirements for the award of the Degree of of the University of Wollongong" 25 August 2016 DECLARATION I, Josip Matesic, declare that this thesis, submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts, University of Wollongong, is wholly my work unless otherwise referenced or acknowledged. The document has not been submitted for qualification at any other academic institution. Josip Matesic 25 August 2016 i ABSTRACT This thesis examines Australian debates over the legalisation of cremation in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; the liberalisation of Sabbatarianism or Sunday entertainment in the 1960s; and the legalisation of ‘no fault’ divorce in 1975. In doing so it argues that from the late nineteenth century, through to the 1970s, there were a series of legal changes regarding social practices in Australian society. While each of these social practices had Christian roots the thesis argues that in each of the parliamentary debates, religious arguments could not ultimately convince the parliamentarians to preserve the laws. Instead religious appeals and arguments lost to practical utilitarian secular concerns and arguments in the twentieth century. The three case studies are explored through discourse analysis, an examination of rhetoric, and the use of some statistics. These methodologies allow the analysis of Hansard (the record of Australian parliamentary debates), and for the various arguments and discourses to be categorised and examined. The thesis is informed by the theoretical works of Callum Brown and Danièle Hervieu-Léger, but also S. J. D. Green and Grace Davie. Brown’s theory highlights the complex nature of secularisation, while Hervieu-Léger’s work highlights the use of history and memory for continued social practice by claiming a connection to an imagined historical community. No methodology or theory is however perfect. Limitations in the thesis are the heavy reliance on Hansard as a primary source, and the fact that most of the theory concerns societies other than Australia. Such reliance can cause contextual issues. The Annales historical school provides justification for these methodologies and theories utilised by showing that similar work is possible and has been done. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many people that I am indebted to regarding this thesis. Without their support and help, this thesis would not exist. Obviously, I need to thank my mother and father for their support, but also my supervisors, Associate Professor Gregory Melleuish and Associate Professor John McQuilton. Without their guidance, there simply would be no thesis. Also, this research has been conducted with the support of the Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. Along the way there are many people that I have met who have helped me with this thesis. First, there are the library staff in various libraries across the country who have helped me find the sources that I need. The staff in the archives and newspaper reading rooms at the National Library of Australia in Canberra were particularly helpful and important for me. I thank them for their help and support. I have met numerous other people during the course of the thesis that I need to thank. There were those who helped me when I first began, such as Setyaningrum Rahmawaty and Nick Southall. This thesis has led me to travel across the country and without the support of the following people and their hospitality, this would not have been possible. These people are, Joshua Parker, Pramesh Hettiarachchi, Jennifer Anderson, and John Cramp. There are also people that I need to, and want to thank, that I met along the way and who at various times, offered support in their own ways. These people are, Peter Lalli, Joakim Eidenfalk, Maria Pineda, Hanh Nguyen, Frank Huang, Paula Arvela, Cecilia Leong-Salobir, Kristine Santos, Tshering Yangden, Yeshi Choden, Marisa Gonçalves, Ida Puspita, Nga Pham, Michael Matteson, and Zhuoling Tian. There are also people that I did not expect to meet along the way. These people are those who I met at an intellectual history reading group in Sydney. I need to thank Hugh Chilton specially for inviting me, and for Uraiwan Keodara for welcoming me and for doing most of the organising for the meetings as well! I would also like to iii thank Greg Murrie, Peter Moor, Dorothy Kass, and Korshi Dosoo. Also someone who I did not expect to meet along the way but who helped me nevertheless in his own way whenever I was in the National Library was Frank Bongiorno. The people above may not be aware of the help that they have provided but the following two do, and I would like to thank them especially. Both Amanda Anderson and Ryan Kernaghan were there from the beginning and know what it has taken. Their support simply has been invaluable and without them the undertaking of the thesis would have been demonstrably different. Both have helped and supported me in innumerable ways, and I thank them. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION……………………………………………………………………...i ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................ iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................. v LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... x LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... xi Chapter 1 – Introduction I: Introduction and Literature Review ................................. 1 1.1 Thesis Statement and Goal ................................................................................. 1 1.2 Definition of Religion ........................................................................................ 3 1.3 Religion and Australian Society......................................................................... 4 1.3.1 Diversification and Christianity’s Decline .................................................. 5 1.3.2 Non-Establishmentarianism ........................................................................ 8 1.4 Australian History .............................................................................................. 9 1.4.1 The ‘Narrative’ ............................................................................................ 9 1.4.2 Themes ...................................................................................................... 10 1.4.3 Historians and History............................................................................... 12 1.5 Australian Religious History ............................................................................ 15 1.5.1 Marginalisation ......................................................................................... 15 1.5.2 Popular Religious Sentiments and Personalities ....................................... 20 1.6 Australian Religious Historiography ............................................................... 26 1.6.1 Denominationalism ................................................................................... 26 1.6.2 Ethnicity ...................................................................................................