Case studies from leading Australian researchers

I Funding for the production of this publication has been provided by the Australian Government through the Department of Education and Training. The views expressed in this publication to not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Education and Training.

Author: Kathy Marks

© Australian Academy of the Humanities 2015

Suggested citation: Marks, K. (2015) The Power of the Humanities. Australian Academy of the Humanities, Canberra.

ISBN 978-0-909897-73-4 (print) ISBN 978-0-909897-74-1 (electronic)

Designed and typeset by Gillian Cosgrove, Australian Academy of the Humanities. Printed by CanPrint, Canberra. FOREWORD

THE POWER OF THE HUMANITIES in Australia and making the On behalf of the Academy, is a welcome addition to the humanities’ contributions to I offer my warmest thanks to suite of publications by the national prosperity and wellbeing the researchers whose work Australian Academy of the more widely known. is profiled here and to those Humanities celebrating the who collaborate with them. Many of the case studies diversity and impact of work I also thank and acknowledge presented here are directly undertaken by Australia’s Kathy Marks, the journalist relevant to the national research humanities researchers. who undertook the interviews priorities identified by the Chief and wrote up the material The case studies presented Scientist and Commonwealth for the case studies – her skill, in the following pages profile Government. In the foreword to enthusiasm and dedication a small sample of the many the Mapping the Humanities, Arts were crucial to the project. outstanding programmes and Social Sciences in Australia Thanks also to Gillian Cosgrove in universities across the (2014) report, Australia’s Chief whose design expertise is country which address major Scientist, Professor Ian Chubb AC, exemplified in the pages societal challenges of our time, noted that the humanities are that follow. nationally and internationally. partners with the sciences in providing critical intellectual My final words of gratitude Some of this work involves infrastructure for responding to go to my predecessor as collaboration between national challenges. President, Lesley Johnson, who humanities and science or herself has made a powerful technology researchers. Several In publishing The Power of the contribution to the Academy are specifically focused on Humanities, the Academy also and to the humanities in Australia’s place in the Asia- hopes to contribute to a wider Australia over the term of her Pacific region while others are national conversation about the Presidency. This publication is focused on national challenges social benefits of research, about another example of her staunch of social cohesion, inclusion engagement with real-world advocacy, commitment and and belonging. Many serve issues, and about the value of vision for the humanities in as reminders that historical collaboration with industry, this country. perspective is as important government, and cultural and as ever in a rapidly changing community organisations. world. All of the work is PROFESSOR JOHN FITZGERALD faha Funding from the Australian international in the sense President, Australian Academy Research Council has been critical of being fully engaged with of the Humanities, 2014– to most of the research projects intellectual developments in profiled here, with many funded other countries. additionally by the collaborators in The Academy is dedicated industry, government agencies or to advancing the pursuit of other external bodies. excellence in the humanities

III PREFACE

AUSTRALIA’S HUMANITIES SCHOLARS aspect of humanities research – Generations has helped contribute to the vitality and its collaborative power. Indigenous people make sense wellbeing of the nation in of their past, and in doing so Collaboration in the humanities a multitude of ways. has helped transform lives. takes a wide variety of forms, Kane Race’s research on HIV Research in disciplines from jointly-authored books education for a new generation such as history, philosophy, and articles, to breakthrough is about stimulating discussion, archaeology, literature, research that builds on the body helping to effect change and linguistics and the classics of work before it, to new avenues ultimately, saving lives. seeks to illuminate the human of enquiry that arise from meeting condition as well as to bring the needs of community groups, Societal challenges are complex imagination and excitement to industry and public sector and won’t be solved by any the intellectual and cultural life organisations. The work of Ien one discipline. Humanities of the nation. Ang in Sydney’s Chinatown and perspectives are critical the researchers that inspired the contributions because these Research in the humanities Zest Festival in Kalbarri, Western challenges are deeply human is sometimes categorised Australia, are further evidence of issues and involve attitudes as having either applied or the diversity of this engagement. which are steeped in culture, intrinsic value; the case studies and in history. The work of presented in The Power of The Power of the Humanities also Han Baltussen shows that the Humanities demonstrate demonstrates the remarkable attitudes can be remarkably starkly that it can be both, outcomes that can be achieved consistent across time and and that ‘blue sky’ or ‘basic’ when humanities researchers space, and that there is research can have unexpected and their colleagues in other much to learn from ancient applications to a range of disciplines collaborate on approaches to death and loss. current issues and challenges. national and global challenges. As Iain McCalman’s research on The Power of the Humanities Joseph Lo Bianco’s decades the Great Barrier Reef proves, contains these and many of research into language, “a union of the arts and sciences – more examples of excellent learning and literacy, for of sensibility and intellect – can humanities research. instance, is given practical have extraordinary impacts”. effect in his ground-breaking As this publication so aptly work in Myanmar where he is This is true of the collaboration demonstrates, the value of developing a national languages between Hugh Craig, a literary research and teaching in the policy to help build peace after and linguistic researcher, and humanities disciplines lies years of ethnic conflict. his colleague Pablo Moscato, a in their remarkable power biomedical researcher, who are to illuminate, understand Catharine Lumby’s work with drawing on the methodologies and transform. the National Rugby League and of each other’s disciplines to the Australian Defence Force mutually inform cancer research on transforming attitudes to EMERITUS PROFESSOR and literary analysis. sexual behaviour and violence LESLEY JOHNSON am faha is also deeply grounded in years Recognising, understanding and President, Australian Academy of research in gender studies giving voice to the complexity of of the Humanities, 2011–14 and media studies. social issues is a key role of the humanities disciplines. Anna Lumby’s and Lo Bianco’s work Haebich’s work on the Stolen exemplify an often overlooked

IV AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF THE HUMANITIES ⁄⁄ THE POWER OF THE HUMANITIES CONTENTS

3 16 31 Enlisting Shakespeare Making fishing more Australian philosopher to help fight cancer sustainable through inspires a Spanish cultural change prime minister 4 19 33 Changing the culture of Oiling the wheels of Healing the broken rugby league – and the China’s New Silk Road circles of our armed forces national life 7 20 34 Using language Learning lessons from Saving the Great to build peace in Antiquity about coping Barrier Reef through Australia’s region with grief a marriage of arts and sciences 9 23 36 A lifetime of cultural Mining a rich seam Sydney’s Chinatown: diplomacy helps to bind of creativity a global crossroads in Australia and China the Asian Century 11 25 39 Healing the scars of A new lens on history, Helping wheat farmers Black Saturday – and a new tourism adapt to a drier climate learning the lessons attraction – and of history a new zest for life 12 26 41 Archaeology gets Tailoring HIV/AIDS The new guardians of sexy – and draws in education for a new Sydney’s Georges River the tourists generation 15 28 Big History: a global Moving from air-con to origin story for the a ‘cool living’ future next generation

1 LEAD RESEARCHER HUGH CRAIG faha

What if you could harness the power of supercomputers, along with the latest computer science techniques, to determine whether an unknown play was written by Shakespeare – then use the same methodology to diagnose cancer?

2 AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF THE HUMANITIES ⁄⁄ THE POWER OF THE HUMANITIES ENLISTING SHAKESPEARE TO HELP FIGHT CANCER

WHAT IF YOU COULD harness the writer—indeed, every person – For another study, which they power of supercomputers, along uses language in a uniquely completed in 2014, he and with the latest computer science idiosyncratic way. Craig used even more powerful techniques, to determine whether computing techniques to The pair fed into supercomputing an unknown play was written by crunch 256 plays and poems, systems in Moscato’s laboratory Shakespeare—then use the same comprising millions of words, by all of the plays written by methodology to diagnose cancer? 60 Renaissance writers including Shakespeare and three of his Shakespeare. They then noted Unlikely as it sounds, that is contemporaries, Ben Jonson, how the works clustered by author exactly what two academics Thomas Middleton and John and genre. working in very different fields – Fletcher, comprising, in total, linguistics and bio-informatics – about 57,000 individual words. This, too, Moscato has been able to have achieved, through a apply to his diagnostic work. Out of that process emerged remarkable cross-disciplinary a group of common words which The methodology involves collaboration. each writer used more or less detecting subtle patterns of Hugh Craig is director of the frequently, and which enabled variation across very large data University of Newcastle’s Centre the two academics to establish sets. It not only helps with initial for Literary and Linguistic authorship of disputed works. diagnoses, but can be used to Computing, with a long-standing identify disease types and sub- That was impressive in itself. interest in the mathematical types, which can then be treated But for Moscato, the data set which qualities of language. with specifically targeted drugs. they had assembled also mirrored Pablo Moscato is director of the tens of thousands of biological “We started out of sheer curiosity the university’s Centre for markers found in a blood sample. and the intriguing sense that there Bioinformatics, Biomarker was a common element here,” Just as the pair had used bio- Discovery and Information-Based says Craig. informatics to identify key words, Medicine, with a passion for so Moscato’s team isolated key “The two-way trade is that applying advanced computing biomarkers, such as proteins Pablo has these beautiful bio- to the diagnosis and treatment and gene expressions. And just informatics techniques and of cancer. as he and Craig had studied I can supply this beautifully In 2005, inspired by Professor each playwright’s use of those rich language data, which is a Craig’s use of computational words, the team investigated the goldmine for statisticians and stylistics to analyse literary presence of those biomarkers in bio‑medical researchers as well as works, Professor Moscato, seeing biological samples. for literary people.” its potential to advance his Moscato was then able to own research, suggested they pinpoint a molecular ‘signature’ – work together. equivalent to a writer’s stylistic One of their joint projects, on signature—for not only cancer which they published in 2013, was but also Alzheimer’s and based on the principle that every multiple sclerosis.

3 LEAD RESEARCHER CATHARINE LUMBY CHANGING THE CULTURE OF RUGBY LEAGUE – AND THE ARMED FORCES

A LONG-TERM PARTNERSHIP between Lumby has produced a manual that understanding by footballers of academia and rugby league is explains how the workshop-based the impact on women of “being transforming attitudes to sexual programme can be adapted for plunged into a situation with a behaviour and violence, thanks to use by other sporting, community bunch of guys that are very bonded an approach now being adopted by or corporate organisations. as a team”. other organisations including the The USA’s National Football In the NRL, external educators Australian Defence Force (ADF). League is among those which have partner with specially trained shown interest. Following allegations of sexual former and current players, assault by Canterbury Bulldog In the NRL, the workshops meaning that “these ideas have players at a training camp in are delivered annually to up to become embedded in the culture of Coffs Harbour in 2004, the 1,000 elite and sub-elite players, the organisation”, says Lumby. National Rugby League (NRL) including 16 to 18-year-olds. She is working with the NRL to approached Catharine Lumby for Rather than being given a list of address two other key cultural advice on changing the sport’s off- dos and don’ts, young men are challenges; homophobia, which field culture. helped to develop the skills to “has been a big part of Australian Within five years, the evidence- make ‘ethical’ choices. Teaching sport”, she says, and “the need to based education programme that methods include role plays based get more women into leadership she oversaw the research and on real-life, off-pitch scenarios positions, including on the board”. design of had improved players’ which footballers might encounter, “It’s about embracing diversity,” attitudes and behaviour towards individually or in groups. says Lumby. “I think they’ve women by 15 to 20 per cent. “By ‘ethical’ we mean acting in been very good at doing that in “And when you look at the ways that demonstrate care for terms of ethnic and religious literature on cultural change, yourself and others,” says Lumby, backgrounds. But what you’re that’s a huge shift,” says Professor who consults to the NRL pro bono seeing now is diversity being Lumby, formerly at the University and sits on the League’s Education embraced in a broader way.” of Sydney, now based at Macquarie and Welfare Committee. University. “The question we ask players to ask In 2013, following the so-called themselves is: ‘Does anyone walk Skype sex scandal, the then head away feeling harmed or damaged?’” of the ADF, General David Hurley, Lumby developed Respectful invited her to address his senior Relationships in collaboration leadership team. The ADF has with academic colleagues and since integrated the building Rape and Domestic Violence blocks of the NRL programme, Services Australia. One significant called Respectful Relationships, change, she reports, is a greater into its own education work.

4 AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF THE HUMANITIES ⁄⁄ THE POWER OF THE HUMANITIES Within five years, the evidence- based education programme that she researched and designed had improved players’ attitudes and behaviour towards women by 15–20%.

5 LEAD RESEARCHER JOSEPH LO BIANCO am faha

… language can be a primary cause of problems, particularly in multi- ethnic societies, as well as a powerful tool for resolving them.

6 AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF THE HUMANITIES ⁄⁄ THE POWER OF THE HUMANITIES USING LANGUAGE TO BUILD PEACE IN AUSTRALIA’S REGION

WHEN HISTORIANS and political alternatives to those planned by “and they came about precisely scientists analyse long-running government or already in effect. because of the forced assimilation conflicts, the role of language is of indigenous people who don’t In Myanmar, more than 130 often overlooked. Yet language can want their identity and unique way languages are spoken by the 60 be a primary cause of problems, of life obliterated.” or so per cent of the population particularly in multi-ethnic that belongs to an indigenous In his chosen field, technical and societies, as well as a powerful tool ethnic minority group. One major logistical obstacles are frequently for resolving them. grievance is that mother tongues encountered. Fifty languages are Joseph Lo Bianco, a professor of are not officially recognised or spoken in Myanmar’s Chin state language and literacy education used, particularly in teaching. alone, and few, if any, have an at the University of Melbourne, established orthography. That not only threatens to erode is testing those theories on the the distinctive culture and identity Language and education issues ground in Myanmar (Burma). He of minority groups, but also leads intertwine, sometimes fatally. heads a UNICEF programme to children dropping out of school, In Thailand, where Lo Bianco encouraging dialogue and social adults suffering social exclusion leads a similar initiative, nearly cohesion in a country emerging and families struggling with inter- 200 teachers have been murdered from decades of military rule and generational poverty. by separatist rebels in the mainly ethnic conflict. Muslim, Malay-speaking south. “Often the tensions in conflict Operating in fraught and They are targeted as symbols of zones are because of inequalities, sometimes lawless situations, the reviled school system, where and those inequalities are not and using his mediation skills instruction has historically been separate from language, they’re backed by solid academic research, solely in Thai. actually quite closely connected Lo Bianco brings opposing to it,” says Lo Bianco. Lo Bianco also works in Malaysia parties together in multi-lingual and, funds permitting, plans ‘facilitated dialogues’. Research shows that children learn to expand his programme to best in their own language early At these workshops, he Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam. on, he notes. Then, when older, says, “I try to reconcile they can be taught in the national He still has challenges ahead in people’s positions by building language and/or English. Myanmar, where he is now leading collective agreement among the the development of a ‘peace- antagonists, who include public During Myanmar’s recent building’ national language policy. officials, experts and indigenous troubled past, ethnic groups set community representatives.” up rival education systems and fought battles—real ones—over Lo Bianco, research director the curriculum. of UNICEF’s Language and Peacebuilding Initiative, also helps Lo Bianco dismisses criticism participants to draft proposals that the multi-lingual policies he for more inclusive language and promotes are divisive. “Myanmar’s education policies: workable had many civil conflicts,” he says,

7 LEAD RESEARCHER COLIN MACKERRAS ao faha

”… studying and engaging with another people’s culture over a long period fosters a deeper understanding and builds more durable bridges.“

8 AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF THE HUMANITIES ⁄⁄ THE POWER OF THE HUMANITIES A LIFETIME OF CULTURAL DIPLOMACY HELPS TO BIND AUSTRALIA AND CHINA

WHEN CHINA’S PRESIDENT, Xi Jinping, Those statistics, though, only the traditional culture is very addressed the Australian hint at the scale of Mackerras’s attractive and interesting,” he says. parliament in November 2014, accomplishments, which include “And I like my students. They’re he made special mention of one helping to strengthen bilateral very respectful, very hard-working, person: Colin Mackerras, Emeritus relations through his sustained very family-oriented. The Chinese Professor at Griffith University and committed efforts as a cultural people put a high priority on and one of the world’s foremost ambassador. human relationships.” China experts. The veteran Sinologist has also At Griffith, which has been The President thanked Mackerras inspired generations of students Mackerras’s Australian base, for building “a bridge of mutual in Australia and China to study and he pioneered a ground-breaking understanding and amity between appreciate each other’s history, Asian Studies programme, our people”. And he praised language and culture. During the becoming foundation professor of his “tireless efforts to present 1980s, he played a leading role in the School of Modern Asian Studies a real China to Australia and the instituting educational exchanges. in 1974. world, based on his personal Mackerras—who in 2014 received In an article in Asian Theatre experience of China’s development the Friendship Award, China’s Journal in 2011, the Canadian- and progress”. highest honour for a foreigner— based academic Siyuan Liu wrote Seated in the public gallery, has championed the teaching of that, in the field of Asian theatre Mackerras was “bowled over” by Chinese language and history in research, the Australian “has the accolade, he says. Australian schools and universities. rightly been hailed as rivalling some of the most outstanding Those familiar with his work were He has seen the country emerge Chinese and Japanese scholars in not surprised to hear President Xi from the Cultural Revolution to the past century”. single him out, and in such warm become an economic powerhouse terms. Since first visiting the and fledgling global superpower – The humanities are “an excellent People’s Republic as a 25-year- a place increasingly open to vehicle for building international old in 1964, Mackerras has made Western ideas and influences, but relationships”, Mackerras says. nearly 70 return trips to teach and also itself exerting an increasing While trade can play a significant undertake research. impact on the West. role, “I think that studying and engaging with another people’s Specialising in Chinese theatre, Now 76, Mackerras still spends culture over a long period fosters a ethnic minorities, Western about five months a year in the deeper understanding and builds perspectives on China and Chinese capital, teaching at the more durable bridges”. Australian-Chinese relations, Renmin University of China he has written or edited nearly and the Beijing Foreign Studies 50 books, including about University. a dozen as sole author, and What draws him back time after produced almost 100 book time? “I like the Chinese people, chapters and articles. I like the lifestyle and I think

9 LEAD RESEARCHER TOM GRIFFITHS ao faha

… a research collaboration which … could help bush communities around Australia to understand fire better – and to survive it.

10 AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF THE HUMANITIES ⁄⁄ THE POWER OF THE HUMANITIES HEALING THE SCARS OF BLACK SATURDAY – AND LEARNING THE LESSONS OF HISTORY

FOLLOWING THE 2009 BLACK SATURDAY While all three works helped the as the fact that the worst fires BUSHFIRES, survivors in the Yarra community to “heal and come since British settlement have all Valley hamlet of Steels Creek were together and in some ways become occurred in the same region of tormented by three questions. stronger”, according to Griffiths, Victoria. When such a firestorm they also threw up wider lessons. looms, says Griffiths, encouraging What, precisely, happened that The most important one, he people to believe they can safely day? How on earth could they make says, was the need for “more fire defend their homes is mortally sense of events? And how could studies that are local, ecological irresponsible. a tiny community where 10 people and historical”. and two-thirds of homes had Another lesson: the bunkers dug been lost ever manage to heal and Local because different by sawmill workers early last go forward? forests produce different fires, century—and gradually abandoned meaning they require local by subsequent generations—saved Tom Griffiths, director of the knowledge, experience and many lives. Australian National University management, rather than national (ANU)’s Centre for Environmental Communal memories may fade, or statewide strategies. History, had friends in Steels but history and good storytelling Creek. He had also been studying Ecological because fire behaviour keep alive such valuable insights. Victoria’s mountain ash forests for is heavily influenced by vegetation, Griffiths notes that the cultural two decades. such as the highly combustible dimensions of fire—how we mountain ash forests north manage and cultivate it—are as And so was born a research and east of Melbourne, which crucial as the science, but receive collaboration which Professor require rare but catastrophic fires little attention or funding. Griffiths believes could help bush to regenerate. communities around Australia History also helped to illuminate to understand fire better—and to And historical, says Griffiths, the Blue Mountains bushfires survive it. because “history is your best of October 2013. While many survival guide”. believed they were unnaturally The project spawned two books early, statistics show the region’s and a film, each addressing one of History teaches communities fire season has always peaked the three questions. when the deadliest fire days occur. in November and December. In It teaches the distinctive pattern Black Saturday at Steels Creek is a fact, October is “exactly the kind that bushfires follow, and whether forensic account by Peter Stanley of incremental advancement they may escalate into what of the day’s events. Living with Fire, you would expect” with global Griffiths calls a ‘firestorm’. by Griffiths and an ANU colleague, warming, says Griffiths. Christine Hansen, is a history of The old-timers, he observes, What disturbed him most about the valley’s relationship with fire. “know from what direction the fire Black Saturday, by contrast, And Afterburn, a documentary by will come on a particular day and was its “haunting familiarity”, Moira Fahy, follows three families which parts of the valley will burn”. reinforcing his conviction that we trying to rebuild their lives. History also offers significant need to act on the distilled wisdom lessons for policymakers, such of past experience.

11 LEAD RESEARCHER TIM MURRAY fsa faha ARCHAEOLOGY GETS SEXY – AND DRAWS IN THE TOURISTS

WITHIN A FEW YEARS OF ARRIVING in tea sets, lice combs, clay pipes pubs and brothels, were a tourist Melbourne in 1849, John Maloney, and diaphragm-style female attraction in themselves. an illiterate Irish labourer, had contraceptives. Thousands of people took tours, bought a small weatherboard Little Lon was just one portion watched from the viewing cottage in the fast-growing city. of a long-term project by Murray platform or even volunteered—all He and his siblings decorated and colleagues exploring the testament, Murray believes, to it with Staffordshire china, 19th century city in Australia, Australians’ increasing fascination dined on chicken and beef, and Europe and North America. with their history and heritage. fastened their clothes with carved But it illustrates the synergy that Artefacts and photographs are bone buttons. has arisen between academic displayed in the lobby of the office archaeologists, commercial The story of the Maloneys—and towers built on the site. specialists, heritage agencies their neighbours in the bustling and developers. More recently, Murray has worked working-class area known on archaeological items from as ‘Little Lon’ (bordering Little Developers are required to engage Sydney’s Rocks area, where the Lonsdale Street)—has been pieced archaeological consultants remains of buildings dating back together from excavations in to investigate and document to 1795 have been uncovered. the Melbourne CBD. It forms sensitive sites. That means a centrepiece of a permanent cultural heritage is big business. The dig itself was incorporated exhibition, The Melbourne Story, into the design of a YHA hostel And consultancy firms collaborate at the Museum of Victoria. constructed on pillars above it. closely with academics, who Visitors can stroll through two As with most urban archaeological without funding from industry recreated historic laneways. digs, the work in 2002 was funded would never get the chance to work by a developer, in this case on digs as extensive as Little Lon. By linking artefacts to the Industry Super­annuation documentary records, such Here, over the years, almost an Property Trust. as rate books and newspaper entire city block has been turned clippings, the La Trobe team has Coordinated by consultants in over, yielding the world’s largest also challenged perceptions of the conjunction with a team from 19th century urban archaeological Rocks and Little Lon as slums. La Trobe University, it unearthed collection. a wealth of material offering new While both attracted thieves, Tourism also benefits, since insights into daily life in mid- prostitutes and sly-groggers, their academic analysis adds to the 19th century Melbourne and the populations were socially and sum of knowledge about historical city’s evolution. ethnically diverse. buildings such as Sydney’s First The half-million or so artefacts Government House and Hyde “What’s exciting is that although analysed by the La Trobe team, Park Barracks. a lot has been written about the headed by Professor Tim Murray, history of Sydney and Melbourne, The excavations at Little Lon, a historical archaeologist, included there’s still an enormous amount where the narrow, crowded coins, ink wells, miniature more to be done,” says Murray. laneways once housed shops,

12 AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF THE HUMANITIES ⁄⁄ THE POWER OF THE HUMANITIES … it illustrates the synergy that has arisen between academic archaeologists, commercial specialists, heritage agencies and developers.

13 LEAD RESEARCHER DAVID CHRISTIAN faha

[Bill] Gates marvelled at the way Big History connected multiple fields of knowledge and “made it all make sense”.

14 AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF THE HUMANITIES ⁄⁄ THE POWER OF THE HUMANITIES BIG HISTORY: A GLOBAL ORIGIN STORY FOR THE NEXT GENERATION

IT’S A STORY that bridges nearly “I thought, God, everybody should that teaching history through 14 billion years, linking insights watch this thing!” he told the New a national lens is outmoded from fields as diverse as astronomy, York Times. and divisive. geology, anthro­pology, archaeo­ He and Christian co-founded Although humans appear only logy and physics. the Big History Project, with the half-way through his story, Spanning Earth, the stars, life and aim of getting the story into high “you encounter them as a single, humanity, ‘Big History’ traces the schools and out to the public, for remarkably homogeneous species,” evolution of the Universe from the free. Gates put up US$10 million says Christian, who was invited Big Bang to the internet. for course development, teacher to address the World Economic training and content creation, Forum about Big History in 2015. For David Christian, the Macquarie including a website designed as an University historian who coined “It’s only right at the end that electronic textbook. the term and pioneered the new we see them as tribally divided. field, it’s a “unifying origin story Feedback from schools suggests We share a common history for a modern age”. Big History also Big History is engaging and as a species, and we should be melds the humanities and sciences enthusing students, including planting in the heads of young in a way which could help us tackle those who might otherwise have people an origin story that works global challenges such as the shunned the sciences. as well in Beijing as it does in decline in biodiversity, he believes. Buenos Aires.” Unlike conventional science Originally a Russian history expert, teaching, says Christian, Big Christian says: “We’ve now Professor Christian has been History tells a “meaningful reached a point in modern delivering a Big History course to story”—one that is compelling knowledge where the big undergraduates at Macquarie and and comprehensible, but also problems lie between [academic] elsewhere since 1989. scientifically rigorous. Moreover, disciplines … To tackle them, the he believes, it addresses students’ next generation will have to be able Now, with a little help from Bill yearning to understand the origins to think across disciplines, and Gates, he is pioneering its teaching of life and their place in a bigger think globally.” in hundreds of high schools picture. “What they love is that around Australia, as well as Britain, we’re asking universal questions.” the United States, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Japan and As a historian, Christian—who is South Korea. director of Macquarie’s Big History Institute—was “always fascinated Christian met the Microsoft by the idea that we teach bits co-founder in 2008 after Gates and pieces of the past”. And he watched a DVD lecture series wondered: “Why not teach the which he had recorded. Gates whole damn thing?” marvelled at the way Big History connected multiple fields of As he set about constructing a Big knowledge and “made it all History narrative, one thing that make sense”. drove him was the conviction

15 LEAD RESEARCHER ELSPETH PROBYN faha fassa MAKING FISHING MORE SUSTAINABLE THROUGH CULTURAL CHANGE

ANDREW PUGLISI’S FATHER, Bob, Prawns, an iconic Australian She is also exploring cultural trawled for prawns 280 days of the seafood, are one focus of representations of fishing, year, pulling in up to 2,000 tonnes Probyn’s research. Another is the on TV and social media from the clear, cold waters of farming of critically endangered and in documentaries and South Australia’s Spencer Gulf. southern bluefish tuna by Croatian advertisements. One aspect which migrant families in Port Lincoln, strikes her is the rise of consumer Andrew works just 50 days a year South Australia. activism relating to the marine but harvests a similar quantity, production of food. thanks to his local fleet targeting She is also examining oyster only the largest prawns, leaving and mussel aquaculture, since Instigating cultural change is smaller ones to mature and spawn. those two shellfish, she says, critical, Probyn says, particularly are “as close as you can get to amid forecasts that a swelling The changes—which Puglisi and sustainably grown, ‘clean green’ world population will increasingly his fellow fishermen implemented marine protein”. rely on the oceans for food. after they realised that stocks were seriously depleted—have led the Of key interest to Probyn is what In the Spencer Gulf, the prawn Marine Stewardship Council happens when communities fleet carries out annual surveys (MSC) to certify their fishery choose or are forced to abandon of the fishing grounds. Based as sustainable. fishing, often through government on that data, fishermen confine buy-outs, and how such their trawling to small, well- Puglisi’s company remains communities adapt. stocked pockets. a rarity, though—one of only two prawn fisheries in Australia, Meanwhile, at supermarkets and While Puglisi and his colleagues and nine in the world, to receive fish markets in Australia, China are models of good practice, their MSC certification. and Japan, Probyn—a gender and prawns constitute less than one- cultural studies expert—plans to tenth of Australia’s annual catch. To achieve that kind of radical shift survey the attitudes of retailers, Moreover, 70 per cent of prawns in practices, says the University of buyers and consumers. Among eaten in Australia are imported, Sydney’s Elspeth Probyn, large- the questions she will probe is why mostly from Asia. scale cultural change is required. most Australians say they value Probyn, who has set up a website Professor Probyn is studying sustainability yet very few buy called The Sustainable Fish Lab, how society engages with fish sustainable products. considers cultural and social production and consumption In the UK, Probyn is investigating research to be a vital adjunct to in Australia, the UK and Asia. how supermarket chains such work being conducted in marine For the industry to become more as Tesco and Sainsbury’s have and environmental science. sustainable, she believes, we will transformed buying habits by all—retailers, processors and “It’s about changing mindsets,” promoting sustainable fish. consumers as well as fishermen – she says. have to rethink the way we view fish and fishing.

16 AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF THE HUMANITIES ⁄⁄ THE POWER OF THE HUMANITIES Probyn … considers cultural and social research to be a vital adjunct to work being conducted in marine and environmental science.

17 LEAD RESEARCHER BRETT NEILSON

While technical and managerial expertise are critical, says Neilson, so is the capacity to navigate differences in language, culture and labour practices, along with social and political complexities.

18 AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF THE HUMANITIES ⁄⁄ THE POWER OF THE HUMANITIES OILING THE WHEELS OF CHINA’S NEW SILK ROAD

IT’S A HUGELY AMBITIOUS VISION: ports: Piraeus in Greece, Kolkata Wider cultural and political factors a vast complex of trans-global in India and Valparaiso in Chile. are at play in the anti-Chinese trade routes rivalling the ancient sentiment which the New Silk Logisticians seek the most efficient Silk Road, along which camel Road arouses in some quarters, means of transporting people and trains hauled Chinese silk, spices where it is viewed as a front for goods – and, increasingly, ideas and precious stones centuries ago. Chinese global military ambitions. and technologies. While technical The ‘New Silk Road’ will consist and managerial expertise are For Australia, the new trade of roads, railways, ports, pipelines critical, says Neilson, so is the corridors present lucrative and fibre-optic cables linking capacity to navigate differences opportunities but also challenges, China with Central Asia, the in language, culture and labour such as enhanced competition Middle East and, eventually, practices, along with social and from Chile, a rival supplier of raw Europe and Latin America. political complexities. materials to China. Also significant for Australia will be the effect of Like its legendary predecessor, That is sharply evident in Piraeus, massive Chinese investment on the network consists of both a land where part of the port has been developing nations in its region. and a maritime route. The logistics leased by China’s state-owned of developing it are immensely shipping company, Cosco. The Neilson collaborates with industry challenging. What could Australian remainder is still owned and run and other key logistics players humanities researchers possibly by the debt-strapped Greek state, through a Sydney think-tank, the contribute? with a chain-link fence separating Future Logistics Living Lab. the two workforces. Plenty, says Brett Neilson, research Closer ties with Asia are crucial director of Western Sydney The unionised dockers on the if Australia is to take advantage University’s Institute for Culture Greek side are suspicious of the of its position in the region in and Society. non-unionised, more modern coming years. Neilson believes his and more productive Chinese study will deliver vital insights for Together with international operation. The stevedores’ union companies and policymakers. collaborators, he is investigating managed to stir up a brief strike on the cultural and social impacts of the Chinese side in 2014. the mega-project on communities along its route, where Chinese Outside the port, China has built investment is transforming the a new rail line linking Piraeus way people work and live. with a logistics centre under construction on the outskirts of Although much of the attention Athens, from which Chinese goods generated by the New Silk Road will travel on to European markets. has focused on new and upgraded Some of the railway fencing has road and rail links, infrastructure been torn up and sold for scrap is just one element of logistics, metal by low-income families according to Professor Neilson. living in the hills outside Piraeus. He is studying three key container

19 LEAD RESEARCHER HAN BALTUSSEN faha LEARNING LESSONS FROM ANTIQUITY ABOUT COPING WITH GRIEF

GRIEF IS A UNIVERSAL MARKER Those three stages mirror Now, though, the medical of humanity, and the pain of what modern psychology calls approach is being re-assessed, bereavement and loss was felt the “process” of dealing with and reading and writing are being as keenly in Ancient Greece and bereavement. embraced anew as belonging to the Rome as it is today. ‘healing arts’, which also include Baltussen points to similarities film, poetry and drama. Han Baltussen is studying how between ancient and modern the ancients wrote about grief and coping strategies, which he says The ancients were familiar with consolation, and he believes their reflect the “universality of loss”. all types of loss, including that works contain important lessons of an animal—Alexander the Techniques of cognitive- for modern society. Chief among Great was said to be inconsolable behavioural therapy, for instance, them, he says, is the therapeutic following the death of his horse. echo the rational approach of the power of language. Their writings allow us to “tap into Stoics. The Ancient Greeks also a reservoir of human experience Through words we not only recognised the benefits of what is which transcends the historical articulate thoughts and nowadays called narrative therapy. gap”, says Baltussen. feelings—“give sorrow words”, Learning of the death of his two- as Shakespeare put it—but are able He is composing a booklet for the year-old daughter while travelling, to rationalise and reconceptualise bereaved, consisting of classical the philosopher Plutarch wrote the death of a loved one. Language stories woven together by his a letter of consolation to his wife is also a means for comforting commentary, with the working in which he recalled how the little the bereaved. title Consolation in Translation. girl would “generously invite” A professor of classics at the her dolls to eat with her. He was For him, grief management and University of Adelaide, Baltussen “‘picturing’ her with words … as consolation are “at the core cites the example of Cicero, the a lasting image for the mother to of what the humanities deal Roman orator and politician, who treasure”, says Baltussen. with: human experience, how was plunged into deep mourning it is expressed in the miracle of Commenting on language’s after his daughter, Tullia, died in language and what we might learn healing role, Baltussen says: childbirth in 45 BC. from it”. “When you vocalise the experience, Cicero first poured his anguish you rise above it and start to see into daily letters to a trusted friend, how you can overcome it.” Atticus. He then read everything he Modern authors such as C S Lewis could find on the subject of grief – and Joan Didion have sought solace and, dissatisfied, wrote a ‘Self- in a literary response, too. But the Consolation’. Finally, he penned medicalisation of grief—viewing a philosophical work reflecting it as a mental health problem, to be on the subject within a wider treated with drugs—has resulted framework of human emotions. in language being neglected, some believe.

20 AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF THE HUMANITIES ⁄⁄ THE POWER OF THE HUMANITIES Baltussen points to similarities between ancient and modern coping strategies, which he says reflect the “universality of loss”.

21 LEAD RESEARCHER STUART CUNNINGHAM am faha

… it has also been adopted by overseas agencies, including the British Government department which conceived the idea of the creative economy in the late 1990s.

22 AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF THE HUMANITIES ⁄⁄ THE POWER OF THE HUMANITIES MINING A RICH SEAM OF CREATIVITY

AUSTRALIAN ACADEMICS have In Australia, many believe the they are increasingly prominent in developed an internationally creative economy could power the the wider economy—in advanced recognised tool for defining the next boom. Thanks to demand manufacturing, for instance, as ‘creative economy’—and used the for creative services, particularly well as health, the public sector new methodology to establish that design and digital content, it and community services. half a million Australians work in is one of the country’s fastest There are, in fact, more the dynamic sector, more than in growing sectors, earning just over creatives working in other mining and agriculture combined. $36 billion in 2011. sectors than in the creative The figure is far higher than There has long been disagree­ment, industries proper: a sign of the previously thought, and has though, on how to define it. expansion of customer-focused wide-ranging policy implications, ‘design thinking’ in business. Creative Trident measures three according to Stuart Cunningham, In Cunningham’s view, Australia categories of creative workers: director of the ARC Centre of should be emulating the likes creative professionals in the Excellence for Creative Industries of Britain and New Zealand, creative industries; support and Innovation (CCI), based which have adopted whole-of- staff in those industries, such as at Queensland University of government design strategies. administrators and accountants; Technology. and creatives ‘embedded’ in other The result of 10 years of research, The methodology—named sectors—mobile app designers Creative Trident has been Creative Trident, after Neptune’s working with banks, for instance. employed around Australia – three-pronged fork—meets and in several places overseas – Until the CCI’s breakthrough, the rigorous standards of the to gauge creative workforces Australia’s creative economy was Australian Bureau of Statistics. more accurately. greatly underestimated. In fact, It has also been adopted by based on 2011 census data, it In Australia, says Cunningham, overseas agencies, including the employs 530,944 people, or about the data which it has produced British Government department 5.3 per cent of the workforce. will help drive innovation across which conceived the idea of the economy. These days, creative professionals the creative economy in the not only make films, write books late 1990s. “We are, if you like, and record albums; they also ‘selling coals to Newcastle’,” says design software, develop online Professor Cunningham. games and produce graphics. And

23 LEAD RESEARCHER ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR JACQUELINE VAN GENT ⁄⁄ FESTIVAL DIRECTOR MS REBECCA MILLAR

Zest adds A$450,000 to the town’s annual tourism revenue. And that’s not counting the less tangible benefits, such as the boost to community pride and relationships.

24 AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF THE HUMANITIES ⁄⁄ THE POWER OF THE HUMANITIES A NEW LENS ON HISTORY, A NEW TOURISM ATTRACTION – AND A NEW ZEST FOR LIFE

AN 18TH CENTURY shipwreck Thanks to CHE researchers based Adults, too, have developed a keen has revitalised a small coastal at the University of Western interest in faraway places and community by inspiring residents Australia, locals and visitors have times, and empathy for the people to explore their unique history had their imaginations fired by the who inhabited them. and their cultural links with Zuytdorp story. They are also being The wives of fly-in, fly-out miners Europe and Asia—enriching their immersed in the cultural heritage marvel at 17th century sailors’ own lives while also boosting the of the Netherlands, South Africa, wives, left alone for years without local economy. India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, China email or Facebook. The old sea and Japan, all linked through their “It has been transformative,” says dogs of Kalbarri, mourning VOC history. Rebecca Millar, who coordinates the decline of their industry, the Zest Festival in Kalbarri, Incorporating dance, music, sympathise with the sailors whose 140 kilometres north of Geraldton, drama, performance, artworks, livelihoods were jeopardised by the Western Australia, in partnership crafts, storytelling and food, loss of a VOC ship. with the ARC Centre of Excellence the Zest Festival—which is “People are thinking about the for the History of Emotions (CHE). being staged every September humanity behind the history. until 2016 – explores themes The festival celebrates Kalbarri’s They’re also feeling more relevant to both the VOC era and history and heritage, and its globally connected,” says Millar, contemporary society. connection to countries on who is director of the Kalbarri the route of the former Dutch The CHE’s wider focus is Development Association. East India Trading Company, Australia’s European emotional CHE’s chief investigator, or Vereenigde Oost-Indische heritage. As well as unearthing Jacqueline Van Gent, sees the Compagnie (VOC). the compelling stories for Zest, festival as an opportunity for CHE researchers write education First held in 2012, Zest is engaging researchers and education packs, organise exhibitions and the town of 1,500 people in year- outreach officers to share their workshops, and establish links round educational and creative knowledge and skills with the with overseas institutions, such as arts projects. community. “We’re excited to see Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum. Kalbarri’s cultural heritage being The catalyst was the 300th They also bring international appreciated far beyond the town’s anniversary of a VOC ship, the artists and musicians to Kalbarri, borders,” she says. Zuytdorp, crashing into cliffs where festival themes have been between Kalbarri and Shark Zest adds A$450,000 to the woven into the school curriculum. Bay in 1712. Struggling ashore, town’s annual tourism revenue. School students have analysed survivors encountered the And that’s not counting the less Dutch paintings, learnt to local Nhanda people, in what tangible benefits, such as the play gamelan instruments and was almost certainly the first boost to community pride and imagined life for sailors, slaves and contact between Europeans and relationships. company men aboard VOC vessels. Australian Aborigines.

25 LEAD RESEARCHER KANE RACE TAILORING HIV/AIDS EDUCATION FOR A NEW GENERATION

AUSTRALIA’S RESPONSE to the organisations to tailor programs Not only is that a dubious health HIV/AIDS crisis, which grew for a new generation of gay men. strategy, says Race, but it threatens out of a unique engagement to engender the very divisions Some experts believe that the between government and the gay which the gay community’s anti-retroviral drugs which community, was widely seen as response to the disease—based on have spectacularly improved world-leading. inclusiveness and mutual support— life expectancy for HIV-positive always sought to avoid. A recent surge in new infections, people have fostered a dangerous though, has raised questions about complacency. There have even His research underlines the the effectiveness of present-day been calls for a return to ‘Grim importance of finding new ways to strategies in a changing social Reaper’-style scare campaigns. stimulate discussion and re-create landscape. a sense of shared concern. Race disagrees. “I think younger When the epidemic struck in the gay men are actually very anxious Ironically, a new approach to 1980s, gay men socialised mainly about HIV/AIDS, and that anxiety preventing HIV infection, which in urban public spaces, such is really around stigmatisation involves taking anti-retroviral as bars, nightclubs and dance and shame,” he says. “Instead of drugs prophylactically, may parties. Nowadays, thanks to making this a scarier issue, we be achieving just that. PrEP dating websites and ‘hook-up’ should be encouraging them to (Pre‑Exposure Prophylaxis), as apps, many find sexual partners get regularly tested and adopt it is known, has sparked a lively online. That has given rise to pragmatic strategies if they debate, with some concerned new forms of social connection encounter an HIV-positive person.” it may promote irresponsible and new, sometimes risky HIV sexual behaviour. Whereas in the past gay men had prevention tactics. access to reliable information in “The level of community discussion The shift in social and sexual bars and clubs, on the internet it is making the field very dynamic dynamics is being investigated by is easy to ‘block’ such information, again,” says Race. “It’s making Kane Race, a cultural and social Race’s research suggests. people think, and is creating researcher at the University of engagement.” Moreover, the decline of gay Sydney. Associate Professor Race neigbourhoods, venues and is also analysing that much- institutions has eroded what praised early official response, he calls the “shared sense of seeking useful insights for today. community” around which gay With HIV infection rates at a men mobilised and embraced safe 20-year high, and young men sex practices in the 1980s. constituting the bulk of new By contrast, the online world, diagnoses, experts say a re- with its distance and anonymity, focusing of public health efforts has popularised ‘sero-sorting’ – is urgently required. Race hopes filtering potential partners his research will help community according to their HIV status.

26 AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF THE HUMANITIES ⁄⁄ THE POWER OF THE HUMANITIES Race hopes his research will help community organisations to tailor programs for a new generation of gay men.

27 LEAD RESEARCHER TIM WINTER MOVING FROM AIR-CON TO A ‘COOL LIVING’ FUTURE

IN THE SWELTERING CLIMATES of middle class, it is spreading Since Melaka was placed on Southeast Asia and the Arabian rapidly, with units being installed the World Heritage List in 2008, Gulf, air-conditioning has become throughout homes. tourism has boomed in the the norm. Yet for millennia, people Malaysian port city. Paradoxically, In the tropics, buildings drew on local knowledge to dress that has led to the gradual traditionally featured high ceilings, and live and sleep in ways that kept enclosure of its historic open- courtyards, verandas and gardens, them cool. fronted shophouses, perfectly all aimed at maximising shade and suited to the climate. Tim Winter, a sociologist at Deakin air flow. University, is researching the “It’s for restaurants, it’s for hotels, But cool living, according ‘cool living heritage’ of Singapore, it’s for shops, it’s for travel agents,” to Winter, is not just about Melaka and Qatar—traditional says Winter. “You can actually architectural design. While social and cultural practices which see air-con creep street by street shutters, blinds and fans might could, he believes, offer low- across the landscape.” seem old-fashioned, they are carbon alternatives to air-con. highly effective. So are loose cotton In Singapore, ‘green’ buildings “It’s not about romanticising the clothes, thin bedsheets and open- such as Ken Yeang’s National past, but raising awareness that backed wicker furniture. Library, with its rooftop gardens, there’s a whole way of maintaining reflect the city-state’s attempts Older rhythms of life are also thermal comfort that’s been lost in to shed its ‘air-conditioned instructive. People used to shop in the space of a generation,” he says. nation’ image. the morning or evening. As the sun Buildings account for nearly half moved, they opened up or closed Winter plans to stage ‘cool living’ of the world’s carbon emissions— rooms. There were times to bathe, workshops and exhibitions in and, in the tropics and sub-tropics, and times to eat—and things to Singapore and Qatar. 50 to 70 per cent of those come eat, such as olives at breakfast, His overall aim, he says, is “to from air-conditioning. in anticipation of the loss of salt make air-con a more contested through sweat. “It’s a huge deal, but it rarely gets issue, by initiating debate and talked about,” says Professor Winter stresses: “It’s not about challenging social expectations Winter. “We worry about light banning the air-conditioner, but and norms of comfort”. bulbs and plastic bags and looking at where and when less recycling while these incredibly energy-intensive alternatives energy-intensive air-con units are could be revived.” blasting away in the background.” Frustratingly for him, luxury is In Southeast Asia, where Winter increasingly equated in Asia and and colleagues are investigating the Gulf with deep-pile furniture air-conditioning and urban and furnishings, particularly by development, air-con used to be the tourism industry. Hotel guests considered a luxury. However, with sleep under heavy doonas, in the rise of a new and populous rooms with non-opening windows.

28 AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF THE HUMANITIES ⁄⁄ THE POWER OF THE HUMANITIES … traditional social and cultural practices which could, he believes, offer low-carbon alternatives to air-con.

29 LEAD RESEARCHER PHILIP PETTIT fassa faaas mria fba faha

Civic republicanism can guide either side of politics, according to Pettit, and it lends itself to practical application.

30 AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF THE HUMANITIES ⁄⁄ THE POWER OF THE HUMANITIES AUSTRALIAN PHILOSOPHER INSPIRES A SPANISH PRIME MINISTER

EVERY POLITICAL THEORIST dreams Unlike the conservative notion of interest groups, the review of making a concrete impact on freedom as ‘non-interference’, or highlighted the decision to public life. being left alone, non-domination make the national TV station means freedom from tyranny— independent. The Australian National University and from being dependent for that (ANU)’s Philip Pettit has not only Pettit’s involvement with Zapatero freedom on another’s goodwill. realised that ambition, but has ended after 2008, by which time It applies to the home and seen the philosophy he champions he had become a well-known workplace, as well as to dealings adopted wholesale by a European figure in Spain. So unusual was his with government. government. experience that he and a colleague, Pettit, who divides his time José Luis Marti, have recounted José Luis Zapatero, then Spain’s between Princeton University it in a 2010 book, A Political newly elected opposition leader, and the ANU, describes non- Philosophy in Public Life. came across Professor Pettit’s domination as the ability to “look landmark book Republicanism Pettit’s Republicanism, others in the eye without reason while searching for a vision that meanwhile, has been translated for fear or deference”. reflected his core values. into a dozen languages, and he The ‘eyeball test’ was invoked frequently speaks at international The philosophy which by Zapatero in a parliamentary conferences. In 2014, he was Pettit outlined—called civic speech arguing for gay marriage, invited to address the Swiss republicanism, or neo-republican­ one of his first legislative reforms. President in a castle outside Berne. ism—inspired a policy platform which helped Zapatero’s Spanish In his largely positive review Civic republicanism can guide Socialist Party to win the of Zapatero’s policies, Pettit either side of politics, according 2004 election. applauded the way they embodied to Pettit, and it lends itself to the civic republican view of practical application. All of his Once in office, Zapatero invited government and society. books include specific policy Pettit to deliver a public lecture in recommendations. Madrid. Pettit accepted. During They included an amnesty his lecture, he warned the Prime for illegal immigrants, the Zapatero won the 2008 election, Minister, half-jokingly, that living country’s first domestic violence but resigned in 2011 amid criticism up to republicanism’s principles laws and a legal obligation on of his handling of the global would be tough. That prompted an companies and political parties economic crisis. He is already invitation to return to Spain before to eliminate gender inequalities. being reappraised, says Pettit, the 2008 election and evaluate (Zapatero’s own ministry was who believes he has left a rich Zapatero’s performance. 50 per cent female.) legacy for Spain.

The central concept of civic In the public domain, where republicanism, of which Pettit is a republicanism emphasises leading international proponent, the importance of transparent is freedom as ‘non-domination’. government and strong public

31 LEAD RESEARCHER ANNA HAEBICH faha fassa

And it “opened them up to the possibility of healing”, spurring many to seek out their birth parents, says Haebich.

32 AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF THE HUMANITIES ⁄⁄ THE POWER OF THE HUMANITIES HEALING THE BROKEN CIRCLES OF OUR NATIONAL LIFE

FOR THE STOLEN GENERATIONS, still What developed into the multi- For the Stolen Generations, traumatised by the recent past, award-winning Broken Circles it has proved therapeutic, truth-telling can help in small but was suggested and funded by Haebich believes. significant ways. Anna Haebich has the Johnsons, who wanted to Stolen children have drawn made truth-telling her mission for understand the bigger picture. comfort from the realisation that nearly three decades. The book made a deep impact on they are part of a shared history of Australians black and white, and Professor Haebich, a historian at Aboriginal people across Australia. 15 years on is still considered the Curtin University, published For They have also come to understand definitive work on the Stolen Their Own Good, about Aboriginal that their parents—far from Generations. policy in Western Australia, in abandoning them, as many were 1988. That was followed in 2000 Haebich, though, is keenly told—tried their utmost to get by Broken Circles, a comprehensive conscious of our capacity to forget them back. national history of child removals. troubling events in Australia’s Broken Circles has helped them to recent past. She hopes A Boy’s Short The latter grew out of the make sense of their subsequent Life will help to educate a new heartbreaking story of Louis experiences, including the cruelty generation. Johnson, which Haebich and they suffered in institutions a colleague, Steve Mickler, Another reason for revisiting and, for some, addictions such as subsequently re-told in A Boy’s Louis’s story—which also inspired alcoholism. And it “opened them Short Life, published in 2014. a 2007 documentary, Liyarn up to the possibility of healing”, Ngarn – is that the practices “didn’t spurring many to seek out their Born Warren Braedon in Alice stop, they just took a new form”, birth parents, says Haebich. Springs in 1973, Louis was taken Haebich feels. from his mother as a baby and The book has resonated with white adopted by a Perth couple, Bill and The disproportionately high rate of readers, too, assisting them in Pauline Johnson. In 1992, walking Aboriginal youths in detention and “facing up to the past, and going home after celebrating his 19th children in foster care, she says, beyond the shock and weeping to birthday, he was beaten up and is “just another way of breaking seek some sort of reconciliation”. run over by two white youths, who up families and removing kids Haebich says she hopes her work attacked him “because he was because they’re black”. has played a part in “healing the black”, they told police. With its densely detailed broken circles of our national life”. Although Louis had multiple exposition of the social, cultural injuries, an ambulance took him and political background to the home rather than to hospital, with policies and practices, Broken the crew dismissing him as a petrol Circles complements and sniffer. He died a few hours later. amplifies the 1997 Bringing them home report.

33 LEAD RESEARCHER IAIN McCALMAN ao faha fassa SAVING THE GREAT BARRIER REEF THROUGH A MARRIAGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

THEY WERE AN UNLIKELY TRIO, but shaped the Reef’s multiple Such ‘wickedly complex’ together poet Judith Wright, artist identities. challenges, McCalman believes, John Büsst and forest ecologist Len require humanities scholars to For Cook, the vast coral kingdom Webb waged a campaign that saved exploit their storytelling and visual was a ‘labyrinth of terror’. the Great Barrier Reef from being skills to “persuade the public of For Indigenous peoples, it mined, culminating in its 1981 the absolute importance of their was a ‘nurturing heartland’. World Heritage listing. engagement”. For scientists, an engrossing For Iain McCalman, author of the mystery. For divers, a place of With most of his own research award-winning The Reef— wonder and beauty. For artists, projects, he collaborates with A Passionate History, their story a source of creative inspiration. scientists and digital artists. showed not only that ordinary The Reef spawned an award- Incorporating a mass of original people can take on powerful forces winning website. The Sydney research, the book presents and win. It demonstrated that Environment Institute, which characters such as William a union of the arts and sciences— McCalman founded and co-directs, Saville-Kent, a distinguished of sensibility and intellect—can is multi-disciplinary. marine scientist with a dreadful have extraordinary impacts. secret, and Ted Banfield, author of The Reef inspired an approach The Barrier Reef itself is a the early 20th century bestseller to McCalman by residents of product of both nature and Confessions of a Beachcomber. cyclone-ravaged Mission Beach, the human imagination, notes south of Cairns, where Büsst It was Saville-Kent’s photographs Professor McCalman, a cultural lived and planned the campaign of living reefs, and his brilliant, and environmental historian with Wright and Webb. They told hand-coloured drawings of coral at the University of Sydney. him they wanted to rebuild their and fish, that first opened people’s And understanding that duality community and tourism industry eyes to the Reef’s riotous beauty. is crucial, he believes, if we are around the trio’s story. to combat the modern perils As for the Reef’s dwellers, With his help, they secured state now threatening the Reef’s the accounts of 19th century heritage listing for Büsst’s home, very existence. castaways whom they rescued Ninny Rise, and custodianship helped to counter the prevailing His book tells the story of human of the property. It is destined view of Indigenous tribes as engagement with ‘this colossus of to become a centre for artists, violent savages. nature’, and with the communities and for reef and rainforest it sustains. The Reef’s final story features environmental research. the renowned coral scientist Beginning with Captain James John ‘Charlie’ Veron, who stunned Cook, whose ship Endeavour came a Royal Society audience in 2009 to grief on a coral outcrop in 1770, with a warning that the world’s McCalman reveals how different reefs face extinction within a eras, ideas and values—economic, few decades. scientific and aesthetic – have

34 AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF THE HUMANITIES ⁄⁄ THE POWER OF THE HUMANITIES … a union of the arts and sciences – of sensibility and intellect – can have extraordinary impacts.

35 LEAD RESEARCHER IEN ANG faha SYDNEY’S CHINATOWN: A GLOBAL CROSSROADS IN THE ASIAN CENTURY

SYDNEY’S CHINATOWN is fast Her three-year research project is census—used to be predominantly becoming an Asian hub connecting part-funded by the City of Sydney. from southern China and Australia with the wider region— The study will help the City to plot Hong Kong. and its rich economic and cultural Chinatown’s future as the area Nowadays the area also houses potential is being investigated by absorbs ever more businesses, ethnic Chinese from Taiwan, Western Sydney University (WSU) tourists and international Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, researchers. students while striving to protect as well as mainland Chinese and its unique history and heritage. With its restaurants, fresh non-Chinese Asians from Thailand, produce market, language schools A low-rise island in a sea of office Korea and Japan. and Asian fashion boutiques, and residential towers, Chinatown Chinatown was once inward- Chinatown has long been an is under intense development looking—a place where Chinese important tourist destination. pressure. The City of Sydney migrants could escape racial hopes the WSU project, by As Australia forges closer ties discrimination and feel at home. pointing up its value as a cultural with China and other regional Now it looks boldly outwards: to asset, will give planners a strong neighbours, the former ethnic the rest of Sydney, to the wider argument for conserving and enclave is gaining new significance Australian community and across enhancing its distinctive character. as a gateway for Asian migrants, to Asia. As a result, says Ang, it is goods, services, investment and The council is also hoping to learn becoming “the centre of a strong even cultural trends. how major cultural initiatives can transnational connectiveness in be used to attract more visitors the region”. It also offers a foretaste of and enhance Australian-Chinese Australia’s increasingly Asian Chinatown, she believes, is “an business links. Foremost among multicultural future, which is important source of knowledge, these is the Chinese New Year already a bustling reality within cultural capital and cross-cultural festival, showcasing Sydney as an this cluster of city blocks just connections”—in short, a resource Asia-focused, global city. south of the CBD, according to Ien that has yet to be fully exploited. Ang of WSU’s Institute for Culture In their quest to glean a and Society. wide-ranging community perspective, researchers have “What’s interesting is that it is interviewed scores of locals, Asian perspectives and ways of including residents, artists, doing things enmeshing with international students, developers, already existing local practices,” bankers, real estate agents, says Professor Ang. “So you hoteliers, restaurateurs and get this cross-fertilisation of migration agents. Australian and Asian cultures in an area which tells us much about Chinatown’s Asian residents— Australia’s increasing integration constituting 64 per cent of its with Asia.” population, according to the 2011

36 AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF THE HUMANITIES ⁄⁄ THE POWER OF THE HUMANITIES The council is also hoping to learn how major cultural initiatives can be used to attract more visitors and enhance Australian-Chinese business links.

37 LEAD RESEARCHER LESLEY HEAD faha fassa

But equally important … are the social and cultural dimensions of adaptation: the everyday changes being made – and impacts being felt – by farming families.

38 AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF THE HUMANITIES ⁄⁄ THE POWER OF THE HUMANITIES HELPING WHEAT FARMERS ADAPT TO A DRIER CLIMATE

A STUDY EXAMINING how wheat tended to be less well off and more to juggle multiple, intertwined farmers handled the last major likely to be struggling”. challenges, some not directly drought has delivered new insights climate-related. Among these According to the Bureau of into their capacity to deal with are stress-induced health Meteorology, southern Australia climate change, and guidance on problems and the banking will receive significantly lower how they can be helped to adapt. system’s inflexibility. rainfall in coming decades and Lesley Head, a geographer at the experience more frequent and “Approaches [by government] that University of Wollongong, has severe droughts. focus only on the response to found that climate is only one climatic factors are likely to miss Worryingly for NSW wheat farmers, of many interlinked challenges broader connections and advocate rainfall decreases are projected to facing wheat farmers in New South misguided policy outcomes,” be greatest in winter and spring, Wales (NSW). Understanding this she warns. And the same goes their growth seasons. complex, multi-faceted picture, for “strategies that aim to simply rather than viewing climate While these farmers are educate farmers about the ‘facts’ change as a separate, discrete accustomed to natural climate of climate change” and “risk issue, is key for policymakers, she variability, the drought that undervaluing existing adaptive believes. gripped Australia’s southern capacities”. regions during the 2000s Professor Head and colleagues Wheat farmers, Head concludes, was unprecedented in living studied 24 farming households “have strong coping patterns memory. Some scientists saw in the NSW wheat belt, which for incremental changes, but it as a foretaste of conditions runs south-north from Albury to depending how severe the change which are expected to become Parkes and east-west from Orange is, however resilient you are might more commonplace as climate to Griffith. not be enough”. change bites. The team found varying degrees Most research in this field has Head discovered that farmers of resilience and vulnerability focused on scientific solutions, are already starting to adapt— among the family-sized such as adapting crops—trying to by growing different crops, for enterprises that still dominate breed a drought-resistant wheat instance, or forward selling Australian wheat farming. variety, for instance. But equally their wheat, or buying land far Geography, socio-economics and important, Head believes, are the enough away from the main education levels were among the social and cultural dimensions of property to offer different rain and main determining factors. adaptation: the everyday changes soil conditions. being made—and impacts being The more resilient “tended to have Deregulation of the market felt—by farming families. a lot of business savvy, and to be has also enabled them to store in higher rainfall areas and closer For agriculture, as she reminds wheat and sell it when prices to transport, so they had more us, is “a co-production between are favourable. [marketing] options”, says Head. humans and the natural world”. By contrast, “the people further Head was struck by the way west, where it’s drier anyway, farming households are having

39 LEAD RESEARCHER HEATHER GOODALL fassa

… all the migrant groups share a deep interest in water quality and conservation, and keep a sharp eye on the river’s health.

40 AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF THE HUMANITIES ⁄⁄ THE POWER OF THE HUMANITIES THE NEW GUARDIANS OF SYDNEY’S GEORGES RIVER

ONCE HEAVILY POLLUTED, the Georges These new Australians value developing a sense of ownership River—one of Sydney’s great water highly. Muslims consider and responsibility. waterways—remains a fragile it a scarce and precious resource. Migrants, she believes, are an resource. These days its water For Vietnamese, all rivers have untapped resource, and she quality is monitored not only by spiritual significance. The Georges hopes that the reports and environmental scientists, but by River “evokes memories of the books generated by her five-year Iraqi Mandaeans. ‘water world’ of their homeland, research programme can prove an with its ubiquitous paddy fields, For Mandaeans, followers of an impetus for change. high rainfall and numerous rivers”, ancient Middle Eastern religion, as Professor Goodall writes. The programme, entitled regular immersion in fresh Parklands, Culture and flowing water is an important These different park users all bring Communities: Ethnic Diversity religious ritual. In Sydney, their to Australia a fund of knowledge on the Georges River, involved a favourite spot is the Nepean River. and expertise, as well as experience partnership with the Office of However, they closely observe of a different natural environment. Environment and Heritage (OEH), other waterways, making them That makes them highly motivated which oversees New South Wales’ sometimes better informed to care for their surroundings. national parks. than their longer-established Growing numbers of Arabic neighbours. As well as updating its speakers participate in Clean Up management models to reflect Heather Goodall, a cultural programs along the riverbank. the multicultural backgrounds and environmental historian But all the migrant groups share of today’s park users, the at the University of Technology a deep interest in water quality and OEH hopes to draw on their Sydney, has been researching how conservation, and keep a sharp eye knowledge to manage green migrants perceive and use the on the river’s health. spaces more effectively. Georges River and its patchwork of The migrant experience suburban parklands: the Georges reinforces this behaviour. One of River National Park. Goodall’s studies has examined In common with many new ‘place-making’—the way new arrivals, Mandaeans have settled Australians create a feeling in Sydney’s densely populated of home by exploring their and ethnically diverse southwest, surroundings and forging through which the river winds. attachments to certain locations.

Like other Arabic-speaking As Goodall watched Vietnamese Australians, and like the people fishing, young Arabic men Vietnamese, the southwest’s playing football and extended other major ethnic group, they families from both communities are frequent visitors to the picnicking, she realised they were national park. place-making—and, in the process,

41 CASE STUDY FUNDING SOURCES

Anonymous private donors Historic Houses of New South Victoria’s Office of Emergency Wales Trust Services Commissioner Asian Studies Council Industry Superannuation Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction Australia China Council Property Trust and Recovery Authority

Australian Research Council Louis Johnson Memorial Fellowship Victorian Fire Services including Discovery, Linkage grants and Commissioner Laureate Fellowships National Museum of Australia

Australian Research Council Centres New South Wales Office of of Excellence* Environment and Heritage The ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation; Qatar National Research Fund The ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of the Emotions Sidney Myer Foundation bgC3 (Bill Gates Catalyst 3) Thomas Foundation

City of Sydney Council UNICEF through the Netherlands Ministry of Country Fire Authority Victoria Foreign Affairs

* The majority (16/20) of the projects profiled received ARC funding from one or more of its programmes.

LIST OF RESEARCHERS CITED

Professor Ien Ang faha Professor Catharine Lumby Professor Elspeth Probyn faha fassa Western Sydney University Macquarie University The University of Sydney

Professor Han Baltussen faha Emeritus Professor Associate Professor Kane Race The University of Adelaide Colin Mackerras ao faha The University of Sydney Griffith University Professor David Christian faha Associate Professor Macquarie University Professor Iain McCalman ao faha fassa Jacqueline Van Gent The University of Sydney Chief Investigator, ARC Centre of Professor Hugh Craig faha Excellence for the History of Emotions, University of Newcastle Ms Rebecca Millar The University of Western Australia Artistic Director, Zest Festival; ARC Centre Professor Stuart Cunningham am faha of Excellence for the History of Emotions, Professor Tim Winter Queensland University of Technology The University of Western Australia Deakin University Professor Heather Goodall fassa Professor Pablo Moscato University of Technology Sydney University of Newcastle Professor Tom Griffithsao faha Professor Tim Murray fsa faha The Australian National University La Trobe University Professor Anna Haebich faha fassa Professor Brett Neilson Curtin University Western Sydney University Professor Lesley Head faha fassa Professor Philip Pettit fassa faaas mria University of Wollongong fba faha The Australian National University; Professor Joseph Lo Bianco am faha Princeton University, USA The University of Melbourne

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THE AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF THE HUMANITIES advances knowledge of, and the pursuit of excellence in, the humanities in Australia for the benefit of the nation. Established by Royal Charter in 1969, its elected Fellows are leaders and experts in the broad disciplinary groups which share a common and central concern with human behaviour and culture. As one of Australia’s four Learned Academies, a key role of the Academy is to provide independent expert advice to government and policy makers, promoting the social significance of humanities scholarship and its importance in shaping effective public policy. The Academy acts as a national focal point to promote the value of the humanities disciplines; encourages international research collaboration for humanities researchers; supports the next generation of scholars; and encourages and disseminates excellent research in the humanities disciplines, including through its annual journal, Humanities Australia. The Academy also promotes the crucial role of the humanities in interdisciplinary collaboration, recognising that the key challenges and opportunities facing Australia in the twenty-first century are not merely technical or economic in nature, but are deeply embedded in our society and culture.

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