Chris McConville

Matthew Nickson

Hanging Rock Reserve is a popular recreation arena, north of Melbourne. At its heart stands the Rock itself, a massive volcanic outcrop rising above undulating forest and farmland. Hanging Rock is celebrated as the site of outdoor concerts by popular music legends such as Bruce Springsteen and Leonard Cohen. Great Australian artists and pioneer photographers came to Hanging Rock, trying to capture its enigmatic spirit. What's more, Joan Lindsay's novel, Picnic at Hanging Rock, and Peter Weir's 1975 film of the same name, have added to that aura of mystery surrounding Hanging Rock. Visitors wonder if, as in both novel and film, a group of schoolgirls really did vanish there, during a St Valentine's Day picnic in 1900.Hanging Rock though has a deeper history. Its fortress-like rock walls fascinate all who visit the recreation reserve, and are the result of rare volcanic events, some six million years ago. For thousands of years, Hanging Rock was a meeting place for Aboriginal people, a centre for barter in greenstone and the site of ceremony. It has been at the centre of disputes, between farmers using its water, and picnickers holidaying in the reserve. Hanging Rock horse races are much loved as the classic bush meeting. But horse racing, gambling and drinking within a recreation reserve have raised the ire of environmentalists and anti-gamblers. There have been many plans to `improve Hanging Rock; to turn it into a quarry, a zoo, or a theme park. But despite all the grandiose schemes, Hanging Rock still holds a special place in the Australian imagination. This is the story of how Hanging Rock survived all of these `improvements, to remain a special place for visitors, an icon of global popular culture, and a place that raises new questions about Aboriginal history.

A History

Hanging Rock

Graeme Davison

David Dunstan

Behind the glittering image of 'Marvellous Melbourne' there existed in the popular imagination another, very different, picture of the colonial metropolis. This was the city of 'low life', of crowded slums, poverty, disease and vice. The nine essays in The Outcasts of Melbourne attempt to reveal the social realities behind this picture. They include new accounts of the forces which created the city's physical environment. They show how perceptions of a city can be shaped by campaigning journalists, artists and writers. They present collective portraits of the poor and the 'criminal classes' - and of those who set out to save them. They describe how the city's guardians - the police, public health authorities and charity workers - responded to the challenge of the slums. By imaginative use of the rich deposits in the public records, these explorations in social history present new ways of documenting the lives of people whose daily activities were seldom reported in the popular press. In doing so, they also map the chains of causation which link the actions of individuals - appearing before a committee of a benevolent society, getting arrested, evangelising at a Salvation Army rally - to the social forces which have shaped the cities in which we live.

Essays in social history

The Outcasts of Melbourne

Douglas Newton

Carolyn Holbrook

Anne Beggs-Sunter

Phil Roberts

Julie Kimber

Phillip Deery

Karen Agutter

Robert Bollard

Verity Burgmann

Liam Byrne

Lachlan Clohesy

Rhys Cooper

Nick Irving

Bobbie Oliver

Carolyn Rasmussen

Kim Thoday

Throughout the twentieth century, labour movement activists have been in the forefront of challenges to war and militarism. With a particular emphasis on the First World War this book seeks to restore their role to our historical memory. Contributors include Karen Agutter, Anne Beggs-Sunter, Robert Bollard, Verity Burgmann, Liam Byrne, Lachlan Clohesy, Rhys Cooper, Carolyn Holbrook, Nick Irving, Chris McConville, Douglas Newton, Bobbie Oliver, Carolyn Rasmussen, Phil Roberts, and Kim Thoday.

Peace Activism in the Twentieth Century

Fighting Against War

Fred Cahir

Katherine Kovacic

Alison Inglis

Malcolm David Prentis

Jon Addison

Nicola Cousen

Ian D. Clark

Jason Gibson

Lizanne Henderson

Bronwyn Eleanor Hughes

Alex Millmow

Sandi Mitchell

Benjamin Wilkie

Douglas Wilkie

Scots Under the Southern Cross is a collection of essays from speakers at the Scottish Symposium held in Ballarat 9-11 May 2014. The chapters reflect the many styles, themes and formats embracing the Scottish Diaspora in Australia. This publication complements the Art Gallery of Ballarat Exhibition For Auld Lang Syne: Images of Scottish Australia from First Fleet to Federation. The five interrelated sections of Scots Under the Southern Cross are: 'Retrospect', 'The Scots in Aboriginal Australia', 'Biographical Studies of Scottish Australians', 'Scottish Artists on Australia' and 'Commemorating Scotland in Australia'. Essays tell the stories of Scottish immigrants and their successful establishment of economic and cultural networks in Australia. These chapters hopefully will form a basis for expansion into research of the Scottish diaspora and the way the Scots and their descendants have contributed to and adapted to Australian conditions.

Scottish Impressions of Colonial Australia

Scots Under the Southern Cross

Chris McConville

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