Russel Ward, The Australian Legend - Book Review Essay -- essays resea

When writing the "big picture" histories, historians often lack or exaggerate certain aspects of Australian history to make their point. discuss with reference to unity the recommended texts.The apply "The Australian fiction", written by Russell Ward and published in 1958 speaks mainly of "Australian Identity". It looks at nationalism and what has formed our self-image. There are many aspects that are left over(p) overlooked however, as the Authour makes his assumptions. Significant parts of society are omit consideration, these include those that werent from the scrub, non-British immigrants, the Aboriginal people and women. Also the use of romanticised and exaggerated testify causes an imbalance in his conclusions.Wards main reason for writing "The Australian Legend" was to portray the typical Australians perception of himself. He admitted that the book was not think to be a history of Australia, and it wasnt. What the narrative does do ho wever, is trace and seek the source of what he referred to as the "national mystique". Ward bases his work on the opinion that the Australian spirit is somehow intimately connected with the bush and that it derives rather from the car park folk than from the more respectable sections of society. He treats this assumption methodically, using literary and historical consequence. The majority of the evidence, are extracts taken from the Sydney Bulletin, a paper edit by J.F Archibald. Writers included "the three greatest nationalist writers of the nineties", as Ward called them. They were Banjo Paterson, henry Lawson, and Joseph Furphy. Ward believed that their whole caboodle were hard fact - a reflection of the result of a distinctively Australian way of life in the outback. This evidence however is rather selective. It appears that Ward has only chosen to include the works that support his version of the Australian identity, intentionally leaving out works by the aforementioned writers that gave reference to anyone not fitting his description of typical, ie. women, foreigners, aboriginals and city-dwellers.The Australian bush legend, Ward believed, came to its climax in the 1880s. He mentions that it was during this condemnation that the majority of the race were native-born, white males who enjoyed the works of writers such as Paterson and Lawson. It w... ...Although partially true in its time, the Australian bush legend fades more and more as time progresses. The Australian identity of the 1890s was not the same as it was in the 1950s, nor do we have the same self-image today, as portrayed in The Australian Legend. Recent statistics show that we work longer hours and drink far slight then we used to. Many more Australians go to the strand than to the bush and despite the iconic male bushman, for most men and women in Australia the beach is far more central to our identity and lives, as the majority of the community lives closer to o ur coastal shores.The Australian Legend, in itself is an acurate portrayal and recount of one part of society, from a specific era, ie. the Australian bushman of the 1890s. Its exaggerations, however, such as the romanticism of the bush ethos by Australian writers, the unbalanced use of evidence, and the neglect to get laid the contribution to our national identity from certain sections of society, ie. aboriginal people, city-dwellers, women, and non-British immigrants, render this book to be flawed. For these reasons, it cannot be regarded as a complete and balanced grievance of Australian history.