Backbencher

Dr. Troy Whitford’s lecture was very interesting. This lecture was entitled, Australia: A Short History of Mentalities. This focused on the Australian history while the middle class ideas and values rose dramatically. These ideas emphasized from materialism, entreprenuerism, and self-reliance. This lecture was very broad. The one thing he discussed in great detail is how you can build a nation with these left values. It was very interesting having him talk about this matter. Dr. Whitford also talked about the colony and settlement being an open goal. This was based on the whole convict era and their beliefs on marriage. The Eureka Stockade also had a major impact. This was a rebellion against taxation by the self employed community. He then discussed how these miners raised this Eureka flag as a symbol and sign of the rebellion against the government. This became known as Australian’s independence. Troy Whitford also discussed the economics of Australia. At this time, the economy was in a bad state. The Australian Federation united the colonies in this economic state of mind. The post World War II era was basically a recovery era for the people in Australia. This brought consumerism into play. After this, Australians began to act like Americans with clothes, ideas, beliefs, etc. He also talked about Manning Clark, which was interesting to hear an Australian view of him. Manning Clark supposedly was their famous historian. The discussion with Clark was intriguing to say the least.

I really enjoyed this. We should have had more of these over the semester, because it was a good change of pace, not to mention very informative. We would get an Australian’s point of view on everything. One interesting thing was about the sports, since I am a big sports fan. Also, how he does not understand American football, but does like those cheerleaders. Overall, it was a great presentation.