Who the Bloody Hell Are We? Story and Citizenship in Australian History
UndergraduateMAQ-MHIX30402025
Course information for 2025 intake
- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Enrol by
- 20 July 2025
- Entry requirements
- Prior study needed
- Duration
- 13 weeks
- Start dates
- 28 July 2025
- Price from
- $2,160
- Upfront cost
- $0
- Loan available
- HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP available
Who the Bloody Hell Are We? Story and Citizenship in Australian History
About this subject
On successful completion of this subject, you will be able to:
- Analyse different kinds of historical evidence, including visual and textual sources
- Analyse and apply historical information (especially self-located research materials)
- Communicate effectively in oral forms, and in a range of written forms
- A week-by-week guide to the topics you will explore in this subject will be provided in your study materials.
Ideas about Australian identity have always been expressed and contested in popular culture. These stories of ‘us’ have also meant that some people are seen to belong, and others are excluded from the full exercise of citizenship. This unit will examine Australian history through an examination of 10 key moments when the nation and its citizens were re-imagined in films, songs, novels, poetry, advertisements, sporting contests and plays. Each week we will examine a key turning point in Australian history and the popular culture that was produced to grapple with its consequences. When and why did the bushman become a central figure in the Australian imagination? How did ‘Muriel’s Wedding’ reimagine mateship in the wake of feminist protest? In what ways did advertisements featuring Rhonda and Ketut envisage the relationship between Australia and Asia? Students who complete this unit will develop a critical understanding of the relationship between storytelling and citizenship, master a chronology of the struggles over citizenship that shaped twentieth century Australian political history, and engage widely with the cultural institutions and archives in which our national memory is stored. They will also engage in a wide variety of historical research, classroom debate, and develop an original research topic to investigate. If you have already studied some Australian history, the unit offers a fresh perspective. It will be particularly useful for students who are intending to teach Australian history in schools.
- Research essay (50%)
- Research Proposal (20%)
- Weekly Quiz (30%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
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Entry requirements
Others
Pre-requisite 130cp at 1000 level or above OR (20cp in HIST or MHIS or POL or POIR or MHIX or POIX units at 2000 level)
Additional requirements
- Other requirements - Students who have an Academic Standing of Suspension or Exclusion under Macquarie University's Academic Progression Policy are not permitted to enrol in OUA units offered by Macquarie University. Students with an Academic Standing of Suspension or Exclusion who have enrolled in units through OUA will be withdrawn.
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
Equivalent full time study load (EFTSL) is one way to calculate your study load. One (1.0) EFTSL is equivalent to a full-time study load for one year.
Find out more information on Commonwealth Loans to understand what this means to your eligibility for financial support.
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