t •• CANBE~RA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY - Al'Tl'TUAL REPORT 19__2? .. _

Subjects The Department was responsible for the teaching of the following subjects duri~g 1952:

Courses

A~ un:.versity of Melbourr.e. British History Modern History Australian History

B~ School of Diplom_~tic Studies .. Auatralian Affairs Modern Histo2.'y.

Research and PublicationE : During 1952 Mrs~ Lq Gardiner completed her thes-isonthe HistoI'y of the Eden Monaro District . She subrditten_ tl:is worl:: for the d gree of Master of Arts at the University of Mell.Journe 9 and was awarded Second Class Honours Division An Miss A.G. ThoLlson completed her work on the Bulletin and Australian Nationalism, and will enter it for the Degree of Mast e:i., o:·-:' A:ct s i;:-i February or March of 1953 . Mro Du~n of the Ami:;rican Educatio~1 Foundation did some preliminary work for his research on the gold fields of the south eastern dist1'ic-::;s of E;;w South Wsles" Ivir·o D. W.A. Baker continued his work on the Pobertson Lar.~ Acts, and should begin to write up the results of his work i~ February of 1953m Mro F . Picard, of the University of Nebrn.ska, did tno terms' work under my supervision ao ". F'u2.lb_ :· __ .:::u Scholar on He~ry George

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and the Labour Party. His work has been accept~d for' publication by Historical Studies, and will appear in the issue for November 1953. At the end-Of the year I sent of:':' the manuscript of Volume 2 of Select .... I~ .. Q_g__u.;_:::~r.t s i_r A\~stral.?:.si-:n_ Hi_stoJ:;[!. This has been accepted for p~blicntion by Angus a~d Robertson in Sydneyo

In 1949 I mentioned to the Council that I hoped to encourage research on the hi3tory of tLe Cistrict . The com­pletion of Mrso Gardiner ' s thesis, and the work begun by Mr . Dunn are the first fruits of t~ic po2icy . I believe the next step should be to make short studies of people important in the early history of the d.ist1·ict. In 195::! I hope to begin work on the liveb of such men as Fo~e~~ Cn~p~ell, Terence Murray, and Robert Ca:i:twrigh~.

Students: The number of students ii'l eac:1 class con-cinues to be very small o The q_ua1i ty of the 1.vork 6 ~ill suffers from lack of time, and their lack of opportunities for the exchange of ideas and experier.ceso The erafting of the :rsoul 11 of a University on to t~~-e p:."Gsent :co-..md and grind of classes and examinations :'..s the crttcial problem in -;~his, and 9 I suspect, in other departments" ~t is gratifying to report that our small group of students W[tnt this to occur. They are just as baffled as others 0:1 how-this is to be achieved0

In 1952 the DepartLle~t continued to hold a discussion group on each Tuesday evenj_ng in term time for people actjvoJ ;\. engaged in or interested in historJ~Rl r o 8eRP0h. T~0 aanger in such a pursuit is thaL l i.. uev-e.r:- goes pa e ~ the stage of talking about how to do hiLl~orical research. As a counter to such a danger we will begin ~ork a~ a g~oup on the biographical sketches referred to above.

During 1 952 four st uc ent s beg:J.!1 -,'.'o.rlc on the course for the M. A. Qualifying Examination. Thio may develop into a regular class doing work at ho~ours standard, and may thus provide the occasion for the Department to est~blish honours cou~ses in addjt.ion to the existing pass courses.

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Library : Mr . Baker has continued to watch the interests of the Department in the Library. Students of history in the Territory are fortunate to have the extensive resources of the National Library . We believe the College Library should contain the essential reference works for undergrad~ates . On the existing Library grant it will be many years before the Library contains such works .

Examinations : The results in the Annual Examinations in 1952 were disappointing . The right of the Department to a voice in the setting of examination p~pers, a nd in their correction is almost worthless unless that voice carries weight when decisions on either score are being made . In the twilight era of Melbourne control we can do little more than prevent grave injustices. I hope in 1953 to send a member of the Department to Melbourne both for the setting and the marking of papers .

Relations with Other Universities : During 1952 members of staff maintained contact with their opposite numbers in Melbourne . At the end of the year I began negotiations with the History Department in Sydney for the exchange of lecturers for brief periods during 1953. Professor Ward welcomed the proposal .

Relations with the people engaged in historical research at the National University remained close and cordial . Such a wealth of t a lent should be used for occasional teaching work in the Department. I suggest that it has become urgent for the College to define its policy to such invitations .

Future Development~ : During 1952 I invited Professor Davidson and Professor Spate of the Australian National University to contribute to discussion with my colleagues on what history should be taught when we obtain the right to define our own syllabuses . We had some stimulating discussionso Indeed it became clear that the most exciting prospect in the future would be the opportunity to draw up the syllabus of a School of History to meet the peculiar needs of our own undergraduates.

C. M. H. CLARK

Head of the Department of Hi~tory-!..