Review: Blue Mountains Dreaming
by Rob Paton and Julia Torpey
I (RP) recall the first edition of Blue Mountains Dreaming published in 1993. It was a delight then to see the disparate knowledge of Aboriginal heritage for the mountains west of Sydney brought together in such a fine volume. More
The Ingredients (The Sources)
By Rob Paton
My cooking analogy is particularly relevant when discussing the sources I might use to address my topic. I liken it to opening my fridge, my pantry and my spice cupboard at the one time and staring wide eyed at the potential ingredients. It certainly brings to mind my first few months of research where everything I pick up, watch on television or read in the papers seems to be relevant. But like good cooking, I remind myself that the meal directs the ingredients. The ingredients themselves are there to be interrogated and with care they can be selected and combined. In our readings, and in the classes, it was interesting to see the freedom, tempered with careful precision, which was used to select and interrogate the sources.
A Reflective Essay
By Rob Paton
I thought it worthwhile to post this reflective essay to show something about the development and structure of my part of the Deepening Histories of Landscape Project. To place the essay in context, it was written as part of the Craft of History Masterclass course for post graduates run by the School of History at ANU. The course consisted of a series of eight seminars on different “types” of histories. Each seminar was taught by an expert in the field and we discussed some selected readings. The idea was to reflect on how these different types of histories, and indeed many other sorts of histories, might impact on our own projects. More