Places of the Heart: Memorials, Public History and the State in Australia Since 1960
- Publisher:
- UTSePress
- Publication Type:
- Journal Article
- Citation:
- Public History Review, 2008, 15 pp. 1 - 29
- Issue Date:
- 2008-01
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Memorials as a form of public history allow us to chart the complex interactions and negotiations between officially endorsed historical narratives, public memorials, privately sponsored memorials in public spaces and new histories. As Ludmilla Jordanova reminds us, âthe state⦠lies at the heart of public historyâ. And this is evident in the public process of memorialisation. At one level, the state endorses certain narratives within which communities and organisations need to operate if they are to be officially part of the national story and its regional and local variants. Ultimate endorsement for memorials includes listings on heritage registers. Controls over the erection of memorials vary from official policies to process for the issue of permits for their construction in public places or their removal. The state, however, is not monolithic. Permissible pasts evolve over time given shifts in power and social and cultural change. This involves both âretrospective commemorationâ and âparticipatory memorialisationâ. The presence and power of the past in peoplesâ lives, too, means in practice that memorial landscapes will reflect, in truly democratic societies, the values, experiences and dominant concerns of its citizens.
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