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Spring is upon us here and the view from the Menzies Centre's windows onto Russell Square is quite uplifting, with the young green leaves sprouting on the plane trees and daffodils and tulips massed in the garden beds. Change has also come to our world in other ways. Neal Blewett finishes his term as High Commissioner this month. We could not have had a more stalwart, understanding and practical friend than Neal, and we shall miss him enormously. He encouraged us in all of our activities and will be particularly remembered for his role in establishing the Literary Links programme which, as you will see from elsewhere in this Newsletter is thriving. John Ryan, our Public Service Fellow, has moved on to an attachment at Shell; he, too, has left a legacy in the Australia Updates briefings, and his cheerful and efficient presence will be noticed. We welcome a new Director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Professor Pat Caplan from Goldsmith's College, whose presence has already energised the building, and whose discipline of Anthropolgy will broaden our intellectual horizons. And we shall also welcome a new Public Service Fellow shortly, though I cannot say more as the formalities are yet to be completed.
The term has seen some excellent symposia on British Studies in Australia and on the Constitutional Convention; a splendid Reese Lecture by Jeffrey Grey; and a superb start to the Australia Updates briefings. We look forward with anticipation to other events: Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett's Menzies Memorial Lecture; conferences on 'The British World, 1880-1940', on 'The Australian and British Churches and Social Action', and on 'Pacific Prospects: Australian and New Zealand roles in Future Conflict'; Les Murray's Literary Links reading; and the next Update.
Visitors to the Centre will notice some recent rearrangements: all staff offices are now on the same floor; the Burney Room has moved upstairs to what will be better appointed premises; and the Centre's small library has been divided between the ICS library and the Senate House library, thus providing serviced access. Do have a good Spring and Summer.
On 13 March the Menzies Centre and Institute said a sad farewell to Mr John Ryan. John had come from the Department of Trade and Industry in Canberra and has been the Centre's Visiting Public Service Fellow since February 1997. We look forward to seeing John throughout the year as he will still be working in London.
Congratulations to Dr Jane Samson, Menzies Centre Research Associate, on her appointment to the post of Lecturer in British Imperial History at the University of Alberta Edmonton, Canada. Jane has been an Associate of the Centre since 1993 and also will be greatly missed by all the staff.
The following have been awarded Australian Bicentennial Scholarships or Fellowships to travel to the UK: John Carver, Chemistry, University of Wollongong; Jasper Goss, Science Policy Research Centre, Griffith University; Judith Johnston, English, University of Western Australia; Adrian Kelly, Classics & Archaeology, University of Melbourne; Rebecca Langlands, History and Sociology, Griffith University; Andrew McCann, English, University of Queensland; Patrick McConvell, Anthropology, Griffith University; Brian Murphy, Computer Sciences, Australian National University; Ian Taylor, Agricultural Science, University of Queensland; Craig Wilcox, ADFA, University of New South Wales.
The Laporte Centenary Scholarship was awarded to Aaron Micallef, Physical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology.
On 25 March the Menzies Centre held a highly successful symposium on the recent constitutional convention in Australia. The four speakers were the constitutional historian, Associate Professor Peter Howell, of Flinders University; the Australian High Commissioner in London, Dr Neal Blewett; the political scientist and noted psephologist, Dr David Butler of Nuffield College, Oxford; and James Crawford, Professor of International Law at Cambridge. The symposium was chaired by Professor Carl Bridge and over fifty people attended.
Professor Howell, who prepared the South Australian state government submission, provided a detailed overview of the elections to and proceedings of the Convention. He noted the significance of the emergence of the view on the part of the Prime Minister that the meeting had to be a success and analysed the critical issues concerning the model for the appointment of a president, arguing that popular support for direct election reflected widespread disillusion with Australia's politicians. This, he felt, called for a public education campaign about the implications of popular election. Finally, he discussed the mechanisms by which the constitution could be altered, including the implications of a republic for the states. As regards his own state, he argued that any changes should be automatically incorporated into the South Australian constitution.
Dr Blewett gave a succinct overview of the politics of the convention, dividing the delegates into three groupings, each split internally: the monarchists (divided into 'true blues' and 'constitutional monarchists'), the popular republicans (favouring direct election and consisting of the 'populists' and the 'despairing moderates'), and the centre, with approximately forty per cent of the delegates. Although republicans were in an absolute majority, the centre lacked sufficient numbers for its preferred minimalist republican model being adopted without support from some members of the other groupings. The compromise model ultimately adopted, however, was ominous for the success of the referendum next year and Dr Blewett felt that Australia was entering a deeply troubled period. Even if the referendum was unsuccessful, the republic was inevitable. The debate would continue and become more polarised, leading possibly to the adoption of a more radical model than that endorsed by the Convention. The solution lay with the Prime Minister, whose actions would determine how the problem would be resolved. On one hand, the Australian people were more likely to accept a republic from the conservatives; on the other, Howard would gain much needed electoral momentum.
Professor Crawford stated baldly that he considered the only legal issue arising from the convention was section 128 of the constitution which prescribes how the constitution can be altered by referendum. He emphasised that section 128 allowed any part of the constitution to be changed. As a federalist and a democrat, he also did not believe that the requirement that a successful proposal obtain a majority in a majority of states was too high a threshold. While section 128 was the only legal issue, however, he noted four 'paralegal' issues. First, he raised the question of how 'minimal' could a minimal republican proposal be and argued that there was danger in adding too much to the referendum proposal; for example, provisions relating to the states. These would make a referendum more difficult, possibly adding to conservative majorities in some states. Second, he warned of the dangers of 'preamble-ism', the addition of broad statements of principle at the beginning of the constitution. Third, he noted the possibility that after a successful referendum, Australia might find itself with a republican Commonwealth and some monarchical states. He felt, that there was no reason why this could not occur and that a resolution should be left to the states. Finally, he came to the 'extremely difficult area' of the current reserve powers of the Governor-General, arguing that the problem could be resolved if a president was dismissable. In conclusion, he declared that if his views meant that the republic is a 'cobbler's paradise', he reminded the audience that the constitution itself was a cobbler's paradise, and that it had worked.
Dr Butler concluded the symposium with a vigorous analysis of the likely outcome of the referendum next year. He first stressed the remarkable movement in public opinion in favour of a republic in recent years, despite the earlier conservatism of the Australian electorate, which he could not foresee being easily reversed. Focusing on the referendum, he noted that while politicians did not like them, political parties were the only organisations in a position to run them successfully, and that the next election will be out of the way before the referendum was conducted. The only thing that could stop the republic, was the stringent referendum requirements in section 128. On the basis of an analysis of Australia's previous forty-two referenda, New South Wales and Victoria would vote 'yes', Tasmania was likely to vote 'no', and the vote in Queensland was critical. He could not believe, however, that the smaller states would deliberately vote 'no' to snub New South Wales and Victoria. He was also unable to believe that radical republicans would vote against a minimal republic proposal on the basis that 'no bread was better than half a loaf'. He concluded by reiterating his feeling that Australia was well on the way to becoming a republic on a minimalist model, and that all 'will be right on the night'.
The symposium concluded with lively exchanges of views between speakers and the audience and drinks in the Hancock Room.
This year's Trevor Reese Memorial Lecture was delivered by Associate Professor Jeffrey Grey, of the History Department, University of NSW at ADFA, on 2 February in the Downer Room at Australia House. Over 100 people attended, including Mrs Hilary Reese, the High Commissioner, and the noted military historians Lord Farrar-Hockley, John Terraine and Richard Overy. Professor Grey's subject was 'A commonwealth of histories: the official histories of the Second World War in the United States, Britain and the Commonwealth'.
In a lively and entertaining manner, Professor Grey compared and contrasted the official second world war histories of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Britain and the US, thus demonstrating a breadth of vision befitting Trevor Reese's own. Reflecting another of Reese's major preoccupations, he focused particularly on the Pacific war. We heard of the different styles of the US and British histories -- the first using professional historians as authors, the second military authors; of the 'democratic' Australian model; of Cold War and nationalist influences on the Indian histories; and of the difficulties encountered in dealing with living legends like Douglas MacArthur, Lord Freyberg and Gordon Bennett. The US unit was careful to publish volumes on US successes on Okinawa and Guadalcanal before embarking on the difficult task of describing the loss of the Philippines. However, the Australian and British accounts of the fall of Singapore pulled few punches. Though official histories were 'the first, but not the last word', they were considerable achievements; themselves monuments to the democratic values in whose defence the war they described were fought.
The Menzies Centre wishes to record its thanks to P&O; for its enthusiastic support for the Reese Lecture series, to the High Commission for once again providing such a pleasant venue, and to BTR for supporting the lecture's publication. Professor Grey's lecture is now published and available from the Centre.
On 19 January, the Menzies Centre held the first Australian Updates briefing, with an audience of over thirty from both the business and official world. The Updates are supported by Telstra in Association with the Australia and New Zealand Chamber of Commerce UK and are intended to provide regular briefings on Australia's political, economic, business and regional outlook for British companies with offices in Australia or which may be contemplating new investment in the region. Michael Cook, a former Australian Ambassador to the United States and Chairman of the Centre's management committee, spoke about on the political environment with particular regard to the native title issue. James Shugg, Economist in the European Division of Westpac Banking Corporation, provided an overview of the macroeconomic outlook. Finally, Michael Whalley, the London-based Partner of the Australian legal firm Minter Ellison, commented on recent legislative and regulatory changes affecting business in Australia. Each speaker was allowed fifteen minutes and fielded questions in a plenary session at the end of the formal presentations.
The next Update will be held on 1 June at 6 pm with Michael Cook and James Shugg respectively again dealing with the political and economic outlooks, and John Raven of the Macroeconomics Unit in Coopers & Lybrand reviewing the impact of the Asian financial crisis on investment in the Asia Pacific region. For further information, contact Bernard Attard: Telephone (direct) 0171-862 8851; email: [email protected].
Some 30 scholars from various universities in Australia and Britain met in the Menzies Room on 23 February for this half-day symposium jointly convened by the Menzies Centre and the Centre for British Studies at the University of Adelaide. Alistair Niven, chair of the Literature Department of the British Council, opened proceedings. He was followed by three spirited and informed speakers on aspects of British Studies: Mary Griffith (Monash) on the wide range of sources available in Australia; Wilfrid Prest (Adelaide) on the need to re-remember the forgotten but central British element in Australian history; and Clare Jackson (Cambridge) on late seventeenth century Scotland's views about England. The Australian Studies element consisted of a panel discussion between Angela Smith (Stirling), Carl Bridge (SRMCAS) and John Arnold (Monash) how an analysis of some of the joys and sorrows experienced by Australian Studies in the so-called discipline wars of the last decade might be instructive to its younger cousin in the discipline/area of British Studies.
Applications are invited from Australian citizens who are BA students majoring in History (Ancient, Medieval, Modern or Economic) in an Australian university for two to three Menzies Centre History Studentships for the academic year September/October 1998-June 1999, one tenable in the History Department of King's College London and the other in the History Department of Queen Mary and Westfield College, both colleges of the University of London.
Course details for Queen Mary & Westfield are on their web site: http://www.qmw.ac.uk/~codir/ThisYear/History.html
Course details for King's College London are available from the Menzies Centre, email: [email protected]
Applicants should be at least entering the second semester of their second year in History and have an outstanding academic record. Each studentship, which is broadly along the lines of an International Year Abroad, entitles the holder to a free place in second/third year History in the relevant department and to access to student halls of residence. Applicants should fax a CV, a copy of their academic record, and an official letter confirming that they are still enrolled in their Australian degree and that their London work will be credited towards it. They should also arrange for a reference by their Head of department to be faxed by the closing date 26 June 1998.
Contact: The Secretary, Sir Robert Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, 28 Russell Square, London, WC1B 5DS, United Kingdom
Applications are invited from British post-graduate scholars or academic faculty members for Australian Bicentennial Scholarships/Fellowships, tenable in 1998/99. The grant is available for research in Australia, at any appropriate tertiary institution, in any discipline where it can be demonstrated that such a visit offers special scholarly or practical advantages.
The closing date for applications is 5 June 1998. Application forms will not be distributed after 29 May 1998.
Applications are invited from appropriately qualified British candidates for a Visual Arts fellowship to be awarded jointly by the Sir Robert Menzies Centre for Australian Studies and the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) at Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia.
The closing date for applications is 3 July 1998. Application forms will not be distributed after 26 June 1998.
For further particulars and application form for either scheme send s.a.e. to Kirsten McIntyre.
This well-established masters degree can be taken by evening study, one year full-time or two years part-time. The approach is cross disciplinary. Students take a core course in Twentieth Century Australian History and two elective, specialised courses in Australian Literature and Culture, Australian Politics or any other suitable course from the University of London's wide range of offerings. They also complete a research dissertation on an Australian subject. We welcome applications from honours graduates.
For details and an application form please contact Kirsten McIntyre.
For copies of any of the above please send a cheque payable to the University of London to Kirsten McIntyre at SRMCAS.
Third Term 1997-98
Seminars are to be held on Wednesdays at 5.15pm (unless otherwise indicated) in the Menzies Room, 28 Russell Square, London, WC1B 5DS.
* Joint meeting, Multiculturalism and the State Seminar
** Joint meeting, Commonwealth History/Decolonisation Seminar Organisers: Professor Carl Bridge and Dr Bernard Attard (SRMCAS)
Forthcoming events at the Australian High Commission, for an invitation please call either Penny Lisles at the High Commission on 0171-887 5202, or Kirsten McIntyre on 0171-580 5876
Admission 6.30pm for a 7.00pm start