{"id":6699,"date":"2018-07-04T08:24:53","date_gmt":"2018-07-03T22:24:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/?p=6699"},"modified":"2022-08-04T00:26:07","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T00:26:07","slug":"war-masculinity-belief-ozha2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/2018\/07\/04\/war-masculinity-belief-ozha2018\/","title":{"rendered":"War, Masculinity and Belief – day 2, Australian Historical Association Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"
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2018 Australian Historical Association conference, 2nd to 6th July.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the end of the day I sat down to write up a post about the sessions I had listened to at the Australian Historical Association conference but I struggled to find a common theme in all of them on which I could develop a coherent post. But of course, I chose these sessions because they all said something about my current interests in war, masculinity and belief.<\/p>\n

I heard some great papers yesterday. Both Rosalie Triolo\u2019s paper on ‘Statehood, Strength and sorrow in Australian and German school Songs, 1870-1918’ and Michael Gladwin\u2019s, \u2018Preaching Australia: Sermons, emotions and religious sensory practice in Australian history\u2019 examined different historical aural experiences \u2013 one secular and the other religious. Triolo drew on the fact that singing was compulsory in early 20th<\/sup> century Victorian school classrooms. \u201cRote learning through rhythm”, was the advice of educational experts. Through careful examination of the Department of Education\u2019s regular publication for schools, The School Paper, <\/em>Triolo analysed the songs that were published for use in schools. She noted that before the Great War, the songs were British in origin, but with the onset of war, songs were also drawn from outside the Empire. La Marseillaise, the Belgian and Russsian national anthems were published as sentiment towards the suffering of those countries developed during the War. Triolo noted that no songs were published in 1917, but publication of songs resumed in 1918. She did not speculate on the reason for this. I wonder if this was reflective of the depressed state of Australia as the casualties mounted and no end was in sight? It was also the year of horrendous strikes and the divisive referendum on conscription.<\/p>\n

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Pianos were an important technology in the early 20th century classroom.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Michael Gladwin\u2019s paper examined the aural and visual soundscape in churches. He noted that sermons were an important form of public communication in 19th<\/sup> century Australia, as were newspapers. He finds newspapers a good source on how a sermon was received. Sermons were assessed in many ways. A good sermon had to appeal to both the emotions and intellect. As the century progressed the middle classes became less vocal when hearing a sermon. By the end of the century they preferred to listen in silence. He is at the start of an exciting new project Hilary Carey developing on these themes.<\/p>\n

Everyone seems to have an opinion on Ned Kelly. I certainly do, and it is coloured by an over-enthusiastic grade 4 teacher spending waaaaay too much time on bushrangers. I would not have chosen to listen to Glen O\u2019Brien\u2019s paper on \u2018The religious world of Ned Kelly\u2019 but it was in the same session as Michael Gladwin\u2019s paper. I am glad that I did listen. I found O\u2019Brien\u2019s argument persuasive as he urged us to look more deeply in how Kelly drew not only on his religious background but the multi-church society of 19th<\/sup> century Victoria. He shared evidence that despite secularism there was a significant amount of interaction between people from different religious backgrounds at the time. \u201cIt was the age of prosletysing,\u201d argued O\u2019Brien when explaining why a Methodist preacher would engage in conversations about religion with Ned Kelly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe language of the Bible shaped his conscience,\u201d said O\u2019Brien but at the same time acknowledged that Ned Kelly was a \u201cviolent man\u201d. O\u2019Brien\u2019s paper was not a hagiography. It was a sophisticated reading of the historical evidence.<\/p>\n

After O\u2019Brien\u2019s and Gladwin\u2019s session I dashed into another room in another building and heard part of Effie Karageorgos\u2019 paper on \u2018Australian military psychiatry from South Africa to the First World War\u2019. There is an abundance of evidence regarding the mental health issues and treatments of soldiers who fought in the First World War, but not much regarding the Australian soldiers in the Boer War. But as Karageorgos noted, the experience of the Boer War is an important context to consider when analysing the First World War. She noted that Australian authorities shyed away from diagnosing mental illness in Boer War soldiers as at the time conditions such as \u2018hysteria\u2019 were seen as feminine conditions. She noted that Australia lagged behind Britain in war psychiatry during this period despite fighting with the British Army. The \u2018heightened masculinity\u2019 in Australia at the time was the possible reason for this she argued.<\/p>\n

Lea Doughty was the only presenter of a regular paper yesterday who I heard explicitly present arguments about the scale of history in her research on pharmacy units in the First World War. She also pointed out the importance of the pre-war context in understanding historical issues in the First World War. Pharmacy involves the use of pharmaceutical goods as well as the provision of pharmaceutical services. She noted that consideration of pharmaceutical goods requires the historian to consider scales such as the local, national and global in order to consider trading networks and the production of the goods. She also considered the micro-scale of the pharmacy dispensary in the hospital, and the interaction between pharmacists and nurses. In her sophisticated argument she also compared the New Zealand and the Australian organisation of the pharmacy units in the armies. She ended by noting that the support units such as pharmacy and veterinary units are poorly researched.<\/p>\n

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Lea Doughty has struggled to find primary sources about the pharmacy units in WWI, but she did find this photo of an AIF pharmacy in England.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yesterday I attended two keynotes, one of which was on music and Sufi Islam in India presented by Katherine Butler Schofield. I am not qualified to comment on the latter nevertheless it is good to stretch oneself and recognise that the world is far better than one\u2019s one miniscule interests. I will comment on the morning keynote panel which was on the conference theme in a later post.<\/p>\n

This is a very personal account of my experience of the conference. It is wonderful to see so many people tweeting using the #OzHA2018 hashtag<\/a>. There has been good tweeting of other sessions and I urge you to spend some time looking through other tweets.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know of anyone else who is blogging the conference. I hope that someone else does, but to do it requires a lot of time each evening. The conference is an intense time of learning, sharing and networking. I hope my energy keeps up for the rest of the week!<\/p>\n

Related Posts<\/h2>\n

This is the third post in a series I have written about the 2018 Australian Historical Association conference:<\/p>\n