10 episodes
An Australian World Professor James Curran
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- Society & Culture
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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This podcast series is about Australia’s relations with and response to the world from the late 19th Century to the present. It focuses on the historical, cultural, ideological, economic and strategic factors shaping the government’s foreign and defence policies. It looks first at historical themes that still have a bearing on Australia in the contemporary world, then moves on to discuss how Australian politicians and policymakers have reacted to and acted in periods of war and stress, crisis and creativity, hope and delusion. It looks at the role of prime ministers, individual ministers and political parties, the globalising economy, trade, immigration and debates over alliances, Asia, and national loyalty. Written and presented by Professor James Curran from the University of Sydney (Discipline of History) , who is also the International Editor at The Australian Financial Review.
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Comprehensive Engagement with Asia
The retreat of Britain and America from the region at the end of the East Asian Cold War caused Australia to redefine itself in relation to Britain and to reassess it relations with the US. As a result Australia, recognising the limits of the American alliance began to focus its energies on the Asia Pacific region in a new way. This episode will look first at the foundations of Australia’s new approach to Asia which the Whitlam and Fraser governments laid down from 1972 to 1983.
Voice Actor: Associate Professor Nick Eckstein -
New Maturity
This episode explores how in response to changes in America’s East Asia policy and the course of the Vietnam war, Australian governments, particularly that of Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, sought to redefine Australia’s relations with the US.
Voice Actor: Associate Professor Nick Eckstein -
The Great Powers retreat from Asia
Now comes the reassessment. In this episode, I begin to explore the breakdown of the bi-polar ideological world and the decision of Australia’s ‘Great and Powerful Friends’ to withdraw from Asia. Today, the “new nationalism”, or how Australia began to redefine its relations with Britain for a new era.
Voice Actors: Associate Professor Nick Eckstein, Dr. Vanessa Witton. -
Indonesia’s Confrontation of Malaysia and war in Vietnam
Following on from the previous episode, this episode looks at the Indonesian Confrontation with Malaysia over the future of the British territories in Borneo, Sarawak and British North Borneo; and the Communist led Vietnamese nationalist movement and the Vietnam War.
Voice Actor: Associate Professor Nick Eckstein -
The rise of Asian nationalism
This episode is about Australia and the National Independence movements in Southeast Asian region, the issue which above all dominated Australian defence and foreign policy during the 1950s and 1960s. There is a particular focus on Indonesia’s independence and the fate of West New Guinea.
Voice Actor: Associate Professor Nick Eckstein -
Australia and the coming of the Cold War
This episode explores how Australia responded to the two great defining developments which dominated its international environment from the end of World War Two until the end of the 1960s. The first of these was the coming of the Cold War to Asia and the second the Asian and African peoples struggle for national independence.
Voice Actor: Associate Professor Nick Eckstein
Customer Reviews
Fantastic Series
This podcast is an absolute must for anyone with even a passing interest in how modern Australia was shaped. 5 stars.