Is Australia just one big Pacific Island? In this course we tease this core question by exploring the history of Australia and Oceania – with a special focus on the island Pacific – through the ‘long’ 19^th and 20^th centuries. As a preliminary, we look at Australia and the Pacific in ‘deep time’, outlining the initial waves of human settlement and prehistoric mobility, before tackling major themes of Australia’s interactions with the island world: through European expansion and first encounters; the thickening relationships of trade, missionisation and formal colonialism in the 19^th century; the world wars; the post war period; the era of independence; and developments of the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries – including Australia’s ‘interventions’ in the Pacific, the growth of Australia’s own Pasifika populations, and changing perceptions of Australia in the region.

This course aims to develop a wider understanding of Australia’s shared history with Oceania and the evolution of the Pacific community of which Australia is part. It will highlight the Pacific’s impacts on Australia and the multiplicity of Australia’s past and present engagements with the island region.

The course caters for students curious about Australia’s place in the world, the histories and cultures of Oceania, the ‘framing’ of national, regional and international identities, and Pacific views –from within and outside Australia – on Australia itself. It will also appeal to students who want to trace the genealogies of current national and regional debates in international relations, security, aid, and immigration that relate to Oceania.

The course will help students further develop their skills in critical thinking, in oral and written communication, and independent research.

It will be useful for students working towards a bigger, independent research project or seeking professional enrichment and development in areas concerned with Australia-Pacific relations.

‘Australia and Oceania’ is available both online and on campus.

On successfully completing the course, a student will be able to

1. Demonstrate knowledge of key historical developments
2. Identify and critically assess different viewpoints and angles of interpretation from selected primary and secondary materials and place these in context
3. Conduct extended independent research
4. Communicate findings and conclusions clearly
5. Support, in essay format, a convincing argument or thesis that draws on a range of sources.

1. 30%: 4 critical reviews @ 500 words, including one review of a book, posted on Wattle (these also serve as contributions to discussion) (LOs 1, 2, 4)
2. 30%: short essay of 2,500 words (LOs 1, 2, 4, 5)
3. 40%: long research essay 5,000 words (LOs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

2 hours lecture per week; 1 hour tutorial or online discussion; 7 hours private study

Completion of undergraduate degree, or equivalent, subject to approval

Readings will be available on Wattle. As preparation, students can consult:

• Donald Denoon, ‘An Argument for an Australian Federation’, broadcast ABC Radio National 5^th Feb 2003 http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/perspective/donald-denoon/3522616
• Greg Fry ‘Framing this Islands: Knowledge and Power in Changing Australian Images of the South Pacific’, in David Hanlon and Geoffrey M. White (eds) Voyaging through the Contemporary Pacific (Honolulu 2000), 125-140
• I. C. Campbell, Worlds Apart: A History of the Pacific Islands (Christchurch 2003)

online access and Skype