The Archives

• Cultural Studies, Historical Studies, Humanities, Museum Studies

  Exploration and Endeavour

  08.02.11 | Permalink | Comments Off on Exploration and Endeavour

  Exploration & Endeavour: The Royal Society of London and the South Seas celebrates the society’s 350th anniversary by bringing together a selection of iconic objects and original documents that highlight the society’s key role in European maritime exploration and discovery in the Pacific. The Royal Society, the world’s oldest scientific academy in continuous existence, was founded on the premise that knowledge should be subject to independent verification—‘freeing oneself from unexamined opinion, particularly through the study of empirical data’, as Andrew Sayers puts it in his introduction to the beautifully produced accompanying book publication. The society’s motto, Nullius in verba (‘Take no-one’s word for it’), attests to this commitment to independence of thought, underpinned by methodologically rigorous inquiry. Fellows of the society include larger-than-life figures who in many cases have revolutionised their field: Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday, Christopher Wren, Charles Darwin, Ernest Rutherford, Albert Einstein, Dorothy Hodgkin, Francis Crick, James Watson, Stephen Hawking and, with particular relevance in the Pacific context, James Cook and Joseph Banks.

• 18th Century, Cultural Studies, Historical Studies, Humanities, Literary Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Travel Writing

  Virtual Voyages

  25.04.10 | Permalink | Comments Off on Virtual Voyages

  Born out of an ancient geographical theory of balance, the term ‘antipodes’ was first used to refer to the vast uncharted underworld of the southern hemisphere from a northern perspective. The principle behind this belief, as described in the Quarterly Review in the nineteenth century, was ‘that all the land, which had till then been discovered in the southern hemisphere, was insufficient to form a counterpoise to the weight of land in the northern half of the globe’. The idea of the antipodes as a counterbalance, though now remembered only as a peculiar, discredited theory, has been surprisingly influential as an imaginative concept. An antipodean expectancy filled minds, maps, novels and utopian plans, laying the foundations for perceptions of Oceania and Australasia that continue to impact on how this part of the world is seen from a distance as well as from within. The region of the antipodes has been occupied by European settlers and their descendants for a relatively short time. And yet, this brief period is set against a backdrop of one of the longest recorded histories of imagining prior to geographical discovery.

• 18th Century, Cultural Studies, Historical Studies, Postcolonial Studies

  Teaching and Learning Guide: Antipodean Myths Transformed

  08.08.08 | Permalink | Comments Off on Teaching and Learning Guide: Antipodean Myths Transformed

  Sample Syllabus:

  Week 1: Introduction and Overview—Exploration and Colonisation of the Great South Land

  • – The myth of the antipodes—the allure of the great south land
  • – Gaps in maps—spaces for the imagination

  Weeks 2–4: Fantasies of the Antipodes

  • – The role of imaginary voyage texts—blending reality with fantasy, pre-programming colonisation
  • – Myths of extreme difference
  • – Myths of Indigenous populations’ welcoming attitude to colonial intrusion
  • – Theories of otherness

  Weeks 3–5: Entering the Antipodes

  • – Early explorers’ contradictory responses to Terra Australis Incognita
  • – Utopias and dystopias
  • – First contact with Indigenous people—the concept of ‘terra nullius’ framed by myths

  Weeks 6–8: Images of Contemporary Australia: Enduring Myths

  • – The myth of terra nullius and the impact on Indigenous Australia
  • – The ‘dead heart’ of Australia as the last unfathomed antipodean space

   

• Cultural Studies, Literary Studies, Postcolonial Studies

  Antipodean Myths Transformed

  25.08.07 | Permalink | Comments Off on Antipodean Myths Transformed

  Australia and the South Pacific held a special status in the eighteenth century: this was the farthest region from Europe and the last part of the earth remaining for Europeans to explore and chart. In the context of European nations’ own histories of discovering and exploring the world beyond Europe’s borders, this region is unique in the sense that no other part of the earth had such a substantial and well-documented body of European thought devoted to it over such a long period of time prior to its physical discovery. The ‘antipodes’ existed in the European imagination for approximately two thousand years before Europeans set foot on antipodean lands. Myths inspired explorers to go searching for the genuine antipodes, and voyages were often undertaken with the specific aim of finding the uncharted places that punctuated otherwise formless maps.

about

Paul Arthur is Vice-Chancellor’s Professorial Research Fellow and Chair in Digital Humanities and Social Sciences, at Edith Cowan University, Western Australia. He speaks and publishes widely on major challenges and changes facing 21st-century society, from the global impacts of technology on communication, culture and identity to migration and human rights. Paul Arthur has over 100 publications including 13 books, and has received A$10M in grant funding, individually and in collaboration. His latest book is Open Scholarship in the Humanities (Bloomsbury 2024, with Lydia Hearn). A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he has held prestigious visiting positions in Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America, and given more than 50 keynote and plenary talks in 20 countries.  Click here for full Profile

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Paul Arthur is Vice-Chancellor’s Professorial Research Fellow and Chair in Digital Humanities and Social Sciences, at Edith Cowan University, Western Australia. He speaks and publishes widely on major challenges and changes facing 21st-century society, from the global impacts of technology on communication, culture and identity

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