1998
Public History tutorial group on field trip checking out Bathurst's monuments.1998
Public History tutorial group on field trip checking out Bathurst's monuments.
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DEFINING MOMENT
This week, we will look at monuments, which we will define initially, with a little help from the dictionary, as:
any structure, statue, tombstone, building, tablet, etc. erected to perpetuate or commemorate the memory of a person or persons, or an event.
For our purposes we will focus on monuments intended for public viewing (even if of a private nature). That is, in some way the monuments are reflecting, expressing or shaping a public understanding of the public’s own history.
Such monuments need not be grand in design or size; a simple plaque or even a few flowers on a highway marker might qualify as a "monument". Their purpose, grand or simple, is to:
That "something important about the past" may be an achievement or event that calls upon the viewer "to walk tall". Or, it may be an event tinged with the sadness of loss or the source of a call of obligation on the present generation from the dead of the past. That type of "monument" we are very likely to call a "memorial".
This week's topic quite obviously combines elements from much of our work over previous weeks. "Monuments" have quite definite connections with memory (in the sense of defining and confirming collective memory, for example) and with objects (monuments are certainly message bearing entities). Their building and continued maintenance are acts of commemoration and, by definition, they are often seen as heritage places requiring care and protection. In many cases, monuments/memorials may also express a particular ownership of the past - and by their very presence may deny or suppress other expressions of ownership.
We can discuss these ideas further in our tutorial, but the main approach we will take with this topic will be to get out of our classroom (real, paper and electronic) and take a look at the monuments in our communities. You might like to take a camera with you on your walk/drive and, if possible, scan and post on the forum some photos.
There are no readings with this topic. Instead I want you to "read" the public history meanings and messages to be found with the monuments in your local community. On the Tutorial Forum tell us about one of the monuments or memorials you encountered. What did it tell you about your local community?
But first, let's look at some "monuments" encountered by your lecturer on a trip between his home, near Bathurst, and Canberra. This is very much a random selection of monuments. Some of them fit the more conventional understanding of what makes a monument; others are less formal, less monumental - but still function as "Monuments and Memorials". My argument is that all the monuments shown here are part of the "public history" of their host communities, reflecting and shaping understandings of the past. I am though going to press our understanding of what makes something a monument or a memorial. An "M & M" in the context of the public's history need not be a formal, officially sanctioned structure. It might rather be something very informal and even transient in its form. Do we need to reconsider our definition? I think not.
CZARS AND
CITIZENS - A MONUMENTAL THEORY
Before we climb aboard the cyber bus for our outing, let me share a theory I have about public monuments in our culture. Originally - as in Imperial Roman times - public monuments were very much the preserve of the state and rulers. The British, and modern Europeans in general, borrowed the concept from the Romans. Imperial Britain consciously emulated Imperial Rome in erecting monuments to its kings and generals, conquests and victories. The design of monuments and their location in public spaces often reflect an Imperial Roman influence.
In the 19th century, with the rise of the middle class and a general democratisation of society, we begin to find monuments and memorials erected to themes other than just the triumphs of state and empire. For example, they are erected to the memory of private citizens or in honour of civic rather than state achievements.
The turning point in Australia is the Boer War and, most especially, the First World War. Obviously, I am refering to war memorials - erected both by state and community in acknowledgement to the service and sacrifice of ordinary citizens. For the first time, the names of ordinary citizens appear on public monuments across the land. There is a convergence here, perhaps, of the individual tombstone with the public monument. The tombstone is another thread one could explore in this analysis of the popularization of monuments.
The 20th century has seen an increasing popularization of public monuments. Indeed, the state now rarely erects monuments or memorials and, most certainly, never to its own glory. Increasingly, the building of a monument is the result of community action even, in recent years, of family or individual action. Perhaps monuments are now more expressions of Public History rather than of state history. What began in our culture as an expression of official history has now evolved, along with other elements in our culture, into an expression of community and even private history.
Because of their permanency, the monuments we see about us will very likely reflect different stages in this evolution from "Czar to Citizen". The consequences for Public History are most interesting. Keep this theory in mind on our bus trip and, of course, during your own personal explorations of your community.
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CLASS OUTING ON THE INTERNET BUS
I would like you to imagine we are on off on a trip aboard the university's Internet minibus. We will start the outing at my farm (just outside Bathurst), stop briefly in Bathurst and then head south to Cowra. From Cowra, we will follow back roads to Frogmore and on to Boorowa. From Boorowa, once more on the main road, we will proceed to Yass and then to Canberra. Along the way, we will stop and look at a number of monuments and memorials. I will offer some thoughts and observations on the monuments from various perspectives. And, of course, I will ask lots of questions.
Okay, everyone on the bus .....
Our
First Bus Stop
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Flowers on road post.
(Click on image to see full photo) |
This memorial of artificial flowers is just beyond my gate and is a memorial to two university students who were killed in a car accident a few years ago. Very few people passing by would know the details of this accident but all would recognize the meaning of the flowers. Indeed, this type of informal memorial is very common along the roads of New South Wales. They have the respect of the road crews who would have every legal right to remove them but do not and may even tend them. The flowers in question here re-appeared after extensive roadworks. Although the placing of these flowers was a private act reflecting a private grief, they have become a public memorial to the carnage of our roads.
What do you think? Is this a public memorial/monument in a “Public History” sense?
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Macquarie Cairn and Heritage
Wall, Bathurst.
(Click on image to see full photo) |
The stone cairn with its plaque was erected in the 1950s to mark the spot where Governor Macquarie proclaimed, on 7 May 1815, the town of Bathurst following the first divine service west of the Blue Mountains. A portion of the heritage wall is visible behind the cairn. Plaques commemorating early pioneer families are fixed to the wall by their descendants. The cairn was erected about fifty years ago; the heritage wall is a more recent development, dating from the Bicentennial.
Although well-intentioned, the cairn and the heritage wall present in public an understanding of history, sanctioned by the city council, that excludes both local Aborigines and more recent migrants, and their descendants.
What might be done to make this monument more inclusive?
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Italian-Australian Peace
monument Cowra
(Click on image to see full photo) |
“”May we never forget the price of Peace.” This monument is in Cowra, on the edge of the main road from/to Bathurst. Dedicated on Australia Day 1997, it was erected in memory of the Australian and Italian service personnel who died during WWII, together with those who worked or who were interned at the Cowra POW camp. It is also, according to its inscription, “in recognition and appreciation of the very significant cultural, social and economic contributions” to Australian society by the Italian people. The “window” contains two hands clasped in handshake.
The creation of this monument was to some degree spurred on by the ever increasing profile of the Japanese POW camp in Cowra’s wartime history - and post war tourism. The Japanese POW camp was the scene of a mass breakout during the war, the evidence for which can be seen in the extensive POW cemetery. While one cannot deny that the breakout was one of the most dramatic events in Cowra’s history, the convergence of other factors - namely the economic rise of Japan and opportunities of Japanese tourism - have propelled an ever-increasing identification of the city, its history and tourism, with the Japanese POWs. As well as the Japanese cemetery, Cowra boasts Japanese gardens, a Japanese peace bell and a productive relationship with Japanese tourism, institutions and government. The history of Cowra’s POW camp has become very much a Japanese story and that Japanese story in turn has become a major plank in Cowra’s tourism development.
However, this has been at the expense of other elements in Cowra’s POW history, notably the Italian POWs. During the war the Italian POWs were generally well-regarded by the local folk and sufficiently trusted to be assigned to work on local farms. By contrast, the Japanese were feared and kept tightly under guard. In other words, the Italian POWs were more a part of Cowra’s wartime experiences, in the sense of shared experience, than the very alien Japanese POWs. (Indeed, there is probably more than one Cowran with Italian ancestry!)
Yet, by the 1990s it was difficult to find any mention or trace of the Italians in Cowra’s representations of its wartime history. The story was all Japanese. Even Cowra’s invention of itself as a “city of peace” was built on the Japanese POWs and the carnage of their breakout. The better image offered by the Italians - of POW farm worker and Australian farm family working together peacefully in time of war - was ignored if not forgotten.
With their monument, the Australian-Italian community seek to redress this oversight of their place in Cowra’s wartime history. The monument is indeed a memorial to those who served and died, as well as a monument to peace, but it is also meant to serve as a reminder to Cowra that Italians have their place in Cowra’s history and in the POW narrative, along with the Japanese.
But, is a monument on the edge of the road - next to the local Toyota dealer - sufficient to redress this imbalance in Cowra’s representation of its history? The Japanese POW narrative is now very strongly entrenched in Cowra's Public History.
2002 Postscript - I have found another recently erected Italian memorial. This one is near the site of the POW camp. Bravo Italia! Fight for your place in public memory and Cowra's public history.
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Cowra Bridge Span in Bryant
Park, Cowra
(Click on image to see full photo) |
The wooden bridge on the grass is one of three spans from the old bridge across the Lachlan at Cowra. The bridge was the first composite timber and iron truss bridge in New South Wales and the largest of its type in Australia. It was in use for 93 years. In the context of inland transport and civil engineering histories, this bridge span is an important artifact.
The very tatty sign to the left tells the visitor, in peeling and blistered paint, something of the bridge’s history and how the one span came to be preserved in a joint project between the local shire and the UNSW School of Civil Engineering. Various sponsors are listed on peeling corporate stickers. A plaque with suitable inscription might be appropriate.
This is not a monument or memorial in the conventional sense. Perhaps though the bridge span does function as such and, given its size and nature, doesn't need a brass plaque to tell its story.
2000 UPDATE: The span is gone! Not a trace left. Not a stick of wood. Not even a plaque. Even the tatty sign is gone. Apparently, Cowra Council considered ongoing maintenance of the span was too expensive. Comrades! The Barbarians are not just at the gate - they are amongst us. I truly despair. I wonder what would have happened if it had been built by Japanese POWs ....??
2002 UPDATE: I still feel this is one of the most awful cases of council vandalism I have encountered in the Central West. Hanging is too good for Cowra Council. This bridge was in its small and humble way the equivalent of Sydney's Harbour Bridge in the story of inland transportation. Oh, barbarians. Barbarians all.
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Mechanics Institute Building.
Morongla Creek, near Cowra.
(Click on image to see full photo) |
The tablet above the door identifies the building as a Mechanics Institute built in 1900. Morongla Creek is a very small community of a few houses, a church, a show ground - and a Mechanic's Institute. At the time of its building, the Institute was very likely not regarded as a monument, leastwise not in the commemorative sense. However, a century later, the building with its sign dated 1900 very likely serves now as monument to the community's past history for local residents. It is a reminder of the depth of history of this little community and is perhaps a memorial to past times, past people and given the self-improvement role of the Mechanic Institutes movement, the past attainments of Morongla Creek.
Can a building or similar structure become a monument or memorial over time?
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Frogmore's Mystery Monument
(Click on image to see full photo) |
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Frogmore's Mystery Monument (closeup)
(Click on image to see full photo) |
This carved tree sits in its own fenced enclosure alongside the road between Darby's Falls and Frogmore. (This is a backroad between Cowra and Boorowa.) The "hat" is a plough disc fixed to keep water out of the interior of the badly split tree trunk. The trunk is covered with assorted carvings, including the profile of a man in a hat, an emu, a clock face as well as initials, names and dates. Most of the inscriptions are too weathered to decipher, but one can make out the words, “To the Memory of H Baker 1882”.
Judging by the care, even if inexpert, taken with its conservation and the provision of a very superior fence to protect it from stock, this monument would seem to be important to local folk. What meaning it might have for them is not clear, however. Is it only a memorial to H Baker? Does it mark a grave? (There is no evidence of such.) Is it perhaps no more than an elaborate form of communal graffiti? It is clearly of some age judging from the appearance of the object, shaped by axe or knife and not chain saw.
Perhaps the meaning of this monument or memorial is that it has no meaning today but it is only a mystery from the past and that is meaning enough. If you get my meaning, that is.
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Suffolk Public School Monument
(Click on image to see full photo) |
This boulder with plaque attached sits alongside the road between Frogmore and Boorowa. On the other side of the fence is the site of the now closed and vanished Suffolk Vale Public School. The school functioned in the 1930s - 40s. It was probably a school not unlike many rural one teacher schools of those times. But, for this school’s ex-pupils, this was a special place and a special time. They have gone to some trouble and expense to provide a lasting, quality monument to their old school.
This is not an official monument; it has been provided by the ex-pupils. It is interesting though that their monument (boulder with bronze plaque) is in keeping with current design ideas for official monuments (as used in marking the opening of bridges, highways, etc.).
Might there be some meaning in this emulation of officialdom? A new bridge just outside Boorowa - only a few kilometres away - has a similar boulder and plaque monument.
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The WWI War Memorial in
Boorowa
(Click on image to see full photo) |
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The Boer War Memorial in Boorowa
(Click on image to see full photo) |
We have now arrived in Boorowa and before we head for the local cafe (Holly's Top Cafe, where you can get the best hamburgers between Bathurst and Canberra) we cannot but notice the town's War Memorial at the head of the main street. Such memorials are a common feature of country towns throughout Australia and much has been written on their particular significance in Australian culture. The Boorowa memorial is perhaps more elaborate than most and, yes, the clock is telling the correct time. (Hence your lecturer's concern with his hamburger.)
Does this memorial convey the same meanings for Boorowans of today as it did just after the war? Will it over time become less of a "memorial" and more of a "monument"? Do we perhaps even “see” it differently to someone from the time of its construction? For example, where do our eyes travel - to the names of friends and relatives on the plaque or to the clock?
A few blocks away is another war memorial. This one dates from the time of the Boer War and was erected in the memory of a local chap killed in South Africa. It seems likely from its location, on "official" ground next to the old shire office, that at the time this was regarded by the community as an important monument. Time and the Shire office have moved on, however. What meanings might the Boorowa community of today give to this memorial?
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Yass historical town sign Caption reads "Historic Yass 1823 Pastoral Settlement" (Click on image to see full photo) |
We have now reached the Hume Highway, the major road between Sydney and Melbourne. The top (brown) highway sign is of a type and design recognisable throughout New South Wales. These signs mark, officially, historic places of likely interest to motorists. Such signs are not really monuments in the usual sense but they do mark and/or commemorate past events in a public way. This one refers to the “pastoral settlement” of Yass in 1823.
Pastoral settlement??!! Why "Pastoral"? Why not “European settlement” or “Colonial Settlement”? Is it that Colonials and Europeans might be seen as invaders but cows and sheep only settle? Is this sign suffering perhaps from a bad case of "PCitis"?
If we are to have “1823 Pastoral Settlement”, then why not another sign saying “40,000 years BP* Hunter & Gatherer Settlement”? “Yass” is, I believe, an Aboriginal place name much older than 1823. (*BP, abbreviation for Before Present.)
Why not a series of road signs throughout the state advising the traveler of the much older - Aboriginal - settlement of Australia? Would a system of road signs announcing the boundaries of traditional Aboriginal tribal lands be a feasible arrangement to mark publicly this earlier presence? Imagine a highway sign, "Welcome to the Traditional Lands of the Wiradjuri. Have a safe trip." Would there perhaps be opposition to such signs?
Note the castle tower as the symbol for an Australian historic site. Is this an appropriate symbol? What sort of message does this symbol send? Can you think of a symbol more appropriate to Australia and Australian history?
As you probably realize, I do not like this "monument". It may very well disappear one day. Anyone seen the hacksaw?
Everyone back on the cyberbus. I have calmed down and we can safely resume our journey. Almost there ....
Australian War Memorial, Canberra
We have now arrived in Canberra and our final stop is the Australian War Memorial, probably the most significant public memorial/monument not only in Canberra, but in Australia.
But why is it that a war memorial should be so significant in Australian culture? Are there other national memorials and/or monuments of equal standing?
I have not included a photograph of the Australian War Memorial because its appearance will be familiar to all students - even those who have never before visited the place. This perhaps reinforces my point about the significance - the power - this memorial has in Australian culture.
You might like to visit the Australian War Memorial's website.
This completes our class outing. But, before you disappear I would like to "hear" your thoughts and observations on the monuments and memorials I have shown you.
Do you accept my selection as fitting within the definition of an "M & M"?
Do you have any comments to make on the "stories" I have read within - or behind - particular monuments and memorials we have seen on our class outing.. Post your observations on our forum for this topic.
Do you have any comments on how I have "stretched" the definitions of monument and memorial to include things not normally seen as such, for example buildings and road signs.
Before you leave the cyber bus, please return your seat to the upright position and ensure you have all your possessions - and your rubbish. I am sick of sweeping candy wrappers out of the bus. Have a nice day!
Take a good look around your community for monuments and memorials - intentional and accidental, official and unofficial, grand and simple. Spend some time reflecting on them and the meanings they may offer in the Public History of your community - as I have with the monuments and memorials I encountered on our class trip.
Pick one of the more intriguing ones and tell us about it on our Tutorial Forum. You are welcome to send to send photographs of these monuments as attachments to your forum posting.
Visit the US Vietnam Veterans' webpage - Remembrance: Reflections, memories, and images of Vietnam past.
Public History
definition| Access the forum through the Communicate link, see panel on left |
Tutorial| Access the forum through the Communicate link, see panel on left |
| Access the forum through the Communicate link, see panel on left |
CLICK HERE FOR ROBIN'S BOOKMARKS - This page provides links to websites of special interest to Public Historians. Get in the habit of checking it for new listings. You can provide URLs for this page as well.
