Our Stories: Protest in Australia

Our Stories: Protest in Australia by Sue Lawson (Walker Books)

PB RRP $ 17.99

ISBN 9781922244543

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Change and how it influenced the history of Australia is another title from the excellent Our Stories series. The various forms this change took, mainly through protest in one form or another against injustice of every kind, and in the name of democracy, are documented here. There are seventeen entries not including the Introduction, Conclusion, Glossary and Index.

The entries begin with the 1804 convict uprising known as the Castle Hill Rebellion, or The Battle of Vinegar Hill. The Rum Rebellion is followed by the miners’ revolt at the Eureka Stockade and end at the Saving Whales entry.

The rallies, strikes, and petitions against unjust laws cover the Shearer’s Strike, the Wave Hill Walk Off, Freedom Ride, Stolen Generation, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, Mabo and Land Rights, Women’s Suffrage, Aboriginal Vote, conscientious objectors and the Vietnam War, and Sorry Day.

This is a compact history of change linked to major events. Its valuable resource material can be used at home and in class for the 8+ year age groups. The easy to follow presentation makes learning or refreshing any aspect of Australia’s significant history accessible, particularly that part which relates to social and political causes for change.

The pictures, posters and photographs that draw us back in time, are resourced from archival material from the major State libraries around Australia. This series can be collected, and referred to time and again.

Our Stories: Eureka Stockade

Our Stories: Eureka Stockade by Marion Littlejohn (Walker Books)
PB RRP $17.95
ISBN 9781922179111
Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

The rich history of the Eureka Stockade and the revolt of the miners for their rights was a battle that lasted twenty minutes but marked ‘the birth of democracy in Australia’.

Welcome to another outstanding history from the Our Stories collection. It opens from the Guttenberg Press and the birth of knowledge and learning opening up for more than the select few. The chapters flow through the French Revolution, the poverty and slums of Britain’s poor as people moved into the overcrowded cities, on to the Irish Potato Famine which initiated the migration of countless people to Australia.

All these former things with many that are unmentioned, follow a common thread of the downtrodden  rising up, demanding rights to join the changes that were brought on by  the ‘People’s Charter’ that was drafted by William Lovett which, having failed in Britain, would succeed on the Ballarat goldfields.

There is so much information packed into this book which is comprised of 30 pages (not including glossary and references) on the subjects of settlement, political, cultural, social and economical history of Australia, a history of immigration ranging from poverty to opportunity, and the tremendous change that occurred during these historical times.

These books are educational while entertaining. They’re written in a sparse but precise style with supporting archival pictures which visually reinforce the text. This series comes highly recommended for the 8+ age group.