Australia's History under Howard, 1996-2007

Abstract

This article argues that since the election of his Coalition government in 1996, John Howard and his conservative allies in government and the media have waged a long campaign to influence the representation and public understanding of Australian history. They have sought to play down the historical harm done to Indigenous Australians and to emphasize more affirming stories of the rise of a new, democratic nation. The conservatives' waging of the “history wars” has been motivated by neoconservative ideology imported from the United States, the political interests of the Coalition government, and the personal background and convictions of the prime minister. Despite sustained criticism of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as well as the National Museum of Australia and many academic historians, and despite attempts to institute a national history curriculum, this article concludes that the history wars, for all their smoke and fury, have had only transient effects on the practice of Australian history.