109-517: Geoffrey Norman Blainey , AC , FAHA , FASSA (born 11 March 1930) is an Australian historian, academic, best selling author and commentator. Blainey is noted for his authoritative texts on the economic and social history of Australia , including The Tyranny of Distance . He has published over 40 books, including wide-ranging histories of the world and of Christianity. He has often appeared in newspapers and on television. Blainey held chairs in economic history and history at
218-587: A Doctor of Laws to Blainey and declared that he was, in Australia, probably a unique professional historian, noting that he had fostered wide public interest in history. The citation observed that "few graduates of this University have exerted greater influence on national life". Blainey has been an important contributor to the debate over Australian history, often referred to as the History Wars . In his 1993 Sir John Latham Memorial Lecture , Blainey coined
327-561: A challenge to take the prime ministership in September 2015. Two months after coming into office, the new republican prime minister announced that the Queen had approved his request to amend the Order's letters patent and cease awards at this level. Existing titles would not be affected. The move was attacked by monarchists and praised by republicans. The amendments to the constitution of
436-576: A general budget of $ 3.5 million a year. In 1976, one third of Stanford University's book holdings were housed at the Hoover library. At that time, it was the largest private archive collection in the United States. For his presidential campaign in 1980 , Reagan engaged at least thirteen Hoover scholars to assist the campaign in multiple capacities. After Reagan won the election, more than thirty current or former Hoover Institution fellows worked for
545-404: A giant multicultural laboratory for the assumed benefit of the peoples of the world". Blainey also warned that the "crimson thread of kinship" invoked by Sir Henry Parkes was being undermined, stating: "The cult of the immigrant, the emphasis on separateness for ethnic groups, the wooing of Asia and the shunning of Britain are part of this thread-cutting." His views were to receive the support of
654-612: A library founded by Stanford alumnus Herbert Hoover prior to his presidency in order to house his archives gathered during the Great War . The well-known Hoover Tower was built to house the archives, then known as the Hoover War Collection (now the Hoover Institution Library and Archives ), and contained material related to World War I , World War II , and other global events. The collection
763-548: A long run. It saw Australian history as largely a success. While the convict era was a source of shame or unease, nearly everything that came after was believed to be pretty good. There is a rival view, which I call the Black Armband view of history. In recent years it has assailed the optimistic view of history. The black armbands were quietly worn in official circles in 1988. The multicultural folk busily preached their message that until they arrived much of Australian history
872-521: A major Rotary conference in the Victorian city of Warrnambool . He regretted that the Hawke Labor government in "a time of large unemployment" was bringing many new migrants to the areas of high unemployment, thus fostering tension. He blamed the government, not the migrants themselves. Criticising what he viewed as disproportionately high levels of Asian immigration, then running at 40 per cent of
981-749: A majority of Australian voters, both Labor and non-Labor voters, as a national Gallup poll confirmed in August. Victorians especially disapproved of the University of Melbourne's conduct in this matter. In contrast, while Blainey was briefly in Europe in May, a professor and 23 other history teachers from the University distributed a public letter distancing themselves from what they called his "racialist" views. Other historians, including lecturers in Asian history, refused
1090-589: A member of the British Empire, members of the colonies and later federated nation of Australia were able to have achievement awarded under the British Imperial Honours system . However, existing criticism of the aristocratic nature of the awards grew following a cash-for-honours corruption scandal in the UK in 1922. Moves to abolish the awards federally and the states were unsuccessful; however
1199-714: A national curriculum for teaching Australian history. He sat, from 1997 to 2004, on the Council of the Royal Humane Society of Australasia which recommended awards for acts of civilian bravery. In the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, he was a weekly or fortnightly columnist for The Australian , the Melbourne Herald , or the Melbourne Age ; he also wrote often for the Sydney Bulletin ,
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#17327872520351308-585: A representation of the states (with whom Whitlam's government was constantly in dispute) through the state badges within the Commonwealth Coat of Arms . The original three-level structure of the Order of Australia was modelled closely upon the Order of Canada , though the Order of Australia has been awarded rather more liberally, especially in regard to honorary awards to non-citizens. As of July 2024 only 30 non-Canadians have been appointed to
1417-517: A republic, Blainey and the constitutional lawyer, Professor Colin Howard, were singled out by the Australian republicans' leader, Malcolm Turnbull , as deserving a special share of the blame. He alleged that the pair had unduly shaped the official information posted to all electors. In their defence, it was contended that their influence was fair, for they operated in an official committee chaired by
1526-534: A selloff. In 2020, Condoleezza Rice succeeded Thomas W. Gilligan as director. In November 2020, Scott Atlas , a Hoover fellow, was known for opposing public health measures as a major Trump advisor during the COVID-19 pandemic , and was condemned by a Stanford University faculty vote in November 2020. In January 2021, during Stanford University faculty senate discussions on closer collaboration between
1635-554: A single flower of mimosa . At the centre is a ring, representing the sea, with the word Australia below two branches of mimosa. The whole disc is topped by the Crown of St Edward . The AC badge is decorated with citrines , blue enamelled ring, and enamelled crown. The AO badge is similar, without the citrines. For the AM badge, only the crown is enamelled, and the OAM badge is plain. The AK/AD badge
1744-434: Is a registered charity, whose stated purpose is "[t]o celebrate and promote outstanding Australian citizenship". It also supports the "community and social activities" of members and promotes and encourages the nomination of other Australians to the Order. The Order also runs a foundation that provides scholarships to tertiary students that show potential as future leaders and are involved in community activities. Branches of
1853-452: Is an American public policy think tank which promotes personal and economic liberty , free enterprise , and limited government . While the institution is formally a unit of Stanford University , it maintains an independent board of overseers and relies on its own income and donations. It is widely described as conservative , although its directors have contested the idea that it is partisan . The institution began in 1919 as
1962-473: Is issued with each badge of the order at the time of investiture; AK/AD and AC lapel pins feature a citrine central jewel, AO and AM lapel pins have a blue enamelled centre and OAM lapel pins are plain. The different levels of the order are awarded according to the recipients' levels of achievement: Since 1976 any Australian citizen may nominate any person for an Order of Australia award. People who are not Australian citizens may be awarded honorary membership of
2071-563: Is likely to feel a bit second-rate, and the public is likely to agree. We hate to be the first to say it, but there is no doubt that the Order of Australia (OA) will be labelled as the Ocker Award. Satire and mockery also greeted the awards, being dubbed "Gough’s Gongs" and "the Order of the Wombat". The newly elected Liberal Fraser government decided to once again make recommendations for imperial awards, whilst maintaining and expanding
2180-485: Is similar to that of the AC badge, but with the difference that it contains at the centre an enamelled disc bearing an image of the coat of arms of Australia . The colours of royal blue and gold are taken from the livery colours of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms , the then national colours . The star for knights and dames is a convex golden disc decorated with citrines, with a blue royally crowned inner disc bearing an image of
2289-483: The Australian Business Monthly and other national journals. Booklets listing these articles and other works have been published by the library of Monash University . The latest booklet was last updated in about 2001. As a book reviewer, he has written for many Australian, UK and US publications. His ten-part series on Australian history, "The Blainey View", appeared on ABC television in 1982–83,
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#17327872520352398-519: The Australian Bicentenary in 1988, Blainey accused some academics and journalists of depicting Australian history since European colonisation as essentially a "story of violence, exploitation, repression, racism, sexism, capitalism, colonialism, and a few other 'isms'." Blainey also accused supporters of multiculturalism of having "little respect for the history of Australia between 1788 and 1950," claiming that in their eyes "Australia
2507-488: The Australian Labor Party remained opposed and generally refused to recommend awards whilst in office, with this a part of the party's platform since 1918. This was confirmed in a resolution adopted unanimously by the party conference in 1921. However, the non-Labor parties remained supportive, with the long running Menzies government making significant use of the imperial system. The Order of Australia
2616-466: The Council for the Order of Australia . Members of the government are not involved in the recommendation of appointments, other than for military and honorary awards. The King of Australia is the sovereign head of the order, and the governor-general is the principal companion and chancellor of the order. The governor-general's official secretary , Paul Singer (appointed August 2018), is secretary of
2725-669: The Mayne Hall at the University of Queensland and chaired by the chancellor Sir James Foots, noisy protesters tried to dislocate the meeting. These and similar protests were major items in the national television news. Blainey continued to express his views periodically on television, radio and his own newspaper columns but not in his own university. He retained his main position as Dean of the Faculty of Arts. Blainey and his family were subject to threats of violence, prompting him at
2834-785: The National Humanities Medal to the Hoover Institution. In August 2017, the David and Joan Traitel Building was inaugurated. The ground floor is a conference facility with a 400-seat auditorium and the top floor houses the Hoover Institution's headquarters. At any given time, as of 2017, the Hoover Institution has as many as 200 resident scholars known as fellows. They are an interdisciplinary group studying political science, education, economics, foreign policy, energy, history, law, national security, health and politics. Some have joint appointments as lecturers on
2943-423: The University of Melbourne for over 20 years. In the 1980s, he was visiting professor of Australian Studies at Harvard University , and received the 1988 Britannica Award for 'exceptional excellence in the dissemination of knowledge for the benefit of mankind', the first historian to receive that award and was made a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2000. Blainey was once described by Graeme Davison as
3052-584: The University of Melbourne . While at university he resided at Queen's College and was editor of Farrago , the newspaper of the University of Melbourne Student Union . After graduating, Blainey took a freelance writing assignment and travelled to the Mount Lyell mining field in Tasmania to research and write the history of the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company , at Queenstown . In
3161-836: The "most prolific, wide-ranging, inventive, and, in the 1980s and 1990s, most controversial of Australia's living historians". He has been chairman or member of the Australia Council , the University of Ballarat , the Australia-China Council , the Commonwealth Literary Fund and the Australian War Memorial . He chaired the National Council for the Centenary of Federation. Blainey has appeared in lists of
3270-457: The 1950s, many older residents could remember the beginnings of the community. The resultant book, The Peaks of Lyell (1954), achieved six editions. He then wrote a history of his university: The University of Melbourne: A Centenary Portrait (1956). He married Ann Warriner Heriot in 1957, who as Ann Blainey has become an internationally regarded biographer. Blainey has published over 40 books, including his highly acclaimed A Short History of
3379-474: The 435 people who have received the nation's top Order of Australia honours since they were first awarded in 1975, shows they disproportionately attended a handful of elite Victorian secondary schools. Scotch College alumni received the highest number of awards, with 19 former students receiving Australia's [then] highest honour". On 26 January 1980 the Order of Australia Association was created as an incorporated body with membership open to award recipients. It
Geoffrey Blainey - Misplaced Pages Continue
3488-504: The ABC's most ambitious venture so far on Australian history. Graham Kennedy , the television star, narrated the continuity script. Blainey is well known for speeches, often without notes, on historical and contemporary topics. In most anthologies of notable Australian speeches, present and past, one of his addresses is reprinted. On television and stage in later years, Max Gillies the comedian cleverly mimicked some speeches. He has served on
3597-401: The Australia's People Vol 1 : The Rise and Fall of Ancient Australia and The Story of the Australia's People Vol 2: The Rise and Rise of a New Australia . Throughout the course of his career, Blainey has also written for newspapers and television. The Blainey View (1982) was a history of Australia shown in ten episodes on ABC television. In 1961, he began teaching economic history at
3706-653: The Australian Heritage Commission, set up by the Fraser government to decide on conservation and environmental matters. On the first council of the National Museum set up by the Hawke government in 1984 he was a short-term member. He was chairman of the Australia Council for four years and Chairman of the Australia-China Council from its inception in 1979 until June 1984. In 2001, he was
3815-404: The Australian government's immigration policy was increasingly being influenced by multicultural ideology to the detriment of the national interest and the majority of Australians. He argued: "We are surrendering much of our own independence to a phantom opinion that floats vaguely in the air and rarely exists on this earth. We should think very carefully about the perils of converting Australia into
3924-536: The Chairman of the National Council for the Centenary of Federation. From 1994 to 1998, he was the Foundation Chancellor of the University of Ballarat . He was an inaugural member and later the chairman of the National Council for the Centenary of Federation and spoke at the centenary celebration of the opening of the federal parliament in May 1901.He was an inaugural member and later the chairman of
4033-460: The Chinese and Russian collections grew considerably. Despite student unrest during the 1960s, the institution continued to develop closer relations with Stanford University. In 1975, Ronald Reagan , who was Governor of California at that time, was designated as Hoover's first honorary fellow. He donated his gubernatorial papers to the Hoover library. During that time the Hoover Institution had
4142-510: The History Wars would continue in the public arena for some time as "it is in the nature of history and of most intellectual activities, and the more so in a nation where the main strands of history — Aboriginal and European — are utterly different." Companion of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It
4251-464: The Hoover Institution and Library was renamed the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, its current name. In 1959, Stanford's Board of Trustees officially established the Hoover Institution as "an independent institution within the frame of Stanford University". In 1960, W. Glenn Campbell was appointed director and substantial budget increases soon resulted in corresponding increases in acquisitions and related research projects. In particular,
4360-403: The Hoover board of trustees brought in senior Trump economic officials for off-the-record forecasts. According to The New York Times , "The president’s aides appeared to be giving wealthy party donors an early warning of a potentially impactful contagion at a time when Mr. Trump was publicly insisting that the threat was nonexistent." The board members spread the bad news and the stock market had
4469-565: The House of Representatives Newt Gingrich ; and former Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis . In 2020, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice became the institution's director. It divides its fellows into separate research teams to work on various subjects, including Economic Policy , History , Education , and Law . It publishes research by its own university press , the Hoover Institution Press. In 2021, Hoover
Geoffrey Blainey - Misplaced Pages Continue
4578-691: The Labor opposition but approved in other circles. There was no opposition when his first three-year term was renewed. At the Constitutional Convention , held in Canberra for 10 days in February 1998 to debate and vote on whether Australia should become a republic (and if so what kind of a republic), he was a non-elected delegate. He argued that Australia was already a "de facto republic" and that any further change should be made only if
4687-647: The Literature Board of the Australia Council for the Arts (Later called Australia Council), set up by the Whitlam government . He served on the Council from 1977–1981. Following Whitlam's election promise to introduce a Public Lending Right Scheme for authors, Blainey was appointed chairman of the committee representing authors, publishers and librarians that, in 1973, recommended the scheme adopted by
4796-533: The Melbourne historian John Hirst made his assessment: "Geoffrey Blainey, the most prolific and popular of our historians". Alan Atkinson , author of a three-volume history of Australia, called Blainey "our most eminent living historian" in a long review that mixes criticism with praise. Blainey was born in Melbourne and raised in a succession of Victorian country towns before attending Wesley College and
4905-590: The National Council for the Centenary of Federation and spoke at the centenary celebration of the opening of the federal parliament in May 1901. In 2001, Blainey presented the Boyer Lectures on the theme This Land is all Horizons: Australian Fears and Visions . Under the Howard government , he served as a member of the council of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra from 1997 to 2004, an appointment initially criticised in parliament by Laurie Brereton of
5014-418: The Order of Australia and the award of 199 Honorary Medals of the Order of Australia. Notable honorary awards include: Since 1975, just over 30 per cent of recipients of an Order of Australia honour have been women. The number of nominations and awards for women is trending up, with the 2023 Australia Day Honours resulting in the highest percentage of awards for women to date (47.1 per cent, 47.9 per cent in
5123-597: The Order of Australia. This was done by with the addition of two additional award levels: Knight or Dame (AK or AD) above the level of Companion, and the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) below Members. The Civil Division was also renamed the General Division, so that awards could be given to those in the Defence Force for non-military achievement. These changes were made on 24 May 1976. The reaction to
5232-486: The Order of Canada, while 537 non-Australians have been appointed to the Order of Australia, with 46 to the Companion level. Public reaction to the new awards was mixed. Only the state Labor governments of Tasmania and South Australia agreed to submit recommendations for the new awards, with the remaining governments affirming their committent to the existing imperial honours system. Newspaper editorials similarly praised
5341-439: The Order were gazetted on 22 December 2015. Yvonne Kenny AM represented the Order at the 2023 Coronation . King Charles III , when he was Prince of Wales , was appointed a Knight of the Order of Australia (AK) on 14 March 1981. As he is not an Australian citizen, even though he was the heir to the Australian throne at the time, this would have required the award to be honorary. To overcome this issue, his appointment
5450-539: The Order would be determined by the Council of the Order of Australia. Awards of the Order of Australia are sometimes made to people who are not citizens of Australia to honour extraordinary achievements. These achievements, or the people themselves, are not necessarily associated with Australia, although they often are. On 1 July 2024, the Australian Honours website listed appointments for 46 Honorary Companions, 118 Honorary Officers, 174 Honorary Members of
5559-441: The Queen to reinstate the level of knight or dame and the Queen co-signed letters patent to bring this into effect. The change was publicly announced on 25 March, and gazetted on 17 April 2014. Up to four knights or dames could be appointed each year, by the Queen of Australia on the advice of the prime minister after consultation with the chairman of the Order of Australia Council. Five awards of knight and dame were then made, to
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#17327872520355668-590: The Reagan administration in 1981. In 1989, Campbell retired as director of Hoover and replaced by John Raisian, a change that was considered the end of an era. Raisan served as director until 2015, and was succeeded by Thomas W. Gilligan . In 2001, Hoover Senior fellow Condoleezza Rice joined the George W. Bush administration , serving as National Security Advisor from 2001 to 2005 and as Secretary of State from 2005 to 2009. In 2006, President George W. Bush awarded
5777-610: The Stanford Library system. The 285-foot tall tower was completed in 1941 on date of the university's golden jubilee . The tower has since been a well-recognized part of the Stanford campus. In 1956, former President Hoover, in conjunction with the Institution and Library, began a major fundraising campaign that transitioned the organization to its current form as a research institution as well as archive. In 1957,
5886-532: The Stanford faculty. The first Trump administration maintained relations with the institution during his presidency, and several Hoover employees became senior advisors or were hired for jobs in his administration, including Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis , who was the Davies Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Hoover from 2013 to 2016, where he studied leadership, national security, strategy, innovation, and
5995-560: The University of Melbourne, was made a professor in 1968, and was given the Ernest Scott chair in history in 1977. In 1982 he was appointed dean of Melbourne's Faculty of Arts. From 1994 to 1998, Blainey was foundation Chancellor of the University of Ballarat . He was visiting professor of Australian Studies at Harvard University . In the academic field, he was on the board of the Melbourne University Press in
6104-897: The World . His works have ranged from sports and local histories to interpreting the motives behind the British settlement of Australia in The Tyranny of Distance ; covering over two centuries of human conflict in The Causes of War (1973); examining the optimism and pessimism in Western society since 1750 in The Great See-Saw ; Aboriginal Australia in Triumph of the Nomads (1975) and A Land Half Won (1980); and his exploration of
6213-464: The annual intake, he added: "Rarely in the history of the modern world has a nation given such preference to a tiny ethnic minority of its population as the Australian Government has done in the past few years, making that minority the favoured majority in its immigration policy". Three days later, in response to the prediction of the "increasing Asianisation" of Australia made by Labor's Immigration Minister Stewart West , Blainey argued: "I do not accept
6322-462: The association are in all the states and territories of Australia as well as the UK and the USA. Total inductees as of July 2024 . The order of wearing Australian and other approved honours is determined by the government. The award is parodied in the play Amigos , where the central character is determined to be awarded the AC, and uses persuasion, bribery and blackmail in his (ultimately successful) attempts to get himself nominated for
6431-450: The award to Prince Philip in a ReachTEL poll. The Australian Labor Party continued to oppose knighthoods and damehoods. Leader of the opposition Bill Shorten stated in March 2014 that the party would again discontinue the level if it were to win the next Australian federal election. The knighthood decision was a significant factor that caused Liberal party members to question Abbott's leadership, with Malcolm Turnbull succeeding in
6540-639: The award. During the 1996 season of the popular television programme Home and Away , the character Pippa Ross was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for her years of service as a foster carer. Hoover Institution Defunct Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Miscellaneous Other The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace and formerly The Hoover Institute and Library on War, Revolution, and Peace )
6649-411: The awards as an example of Australia's greater independence, whilst also noting that the awards would likely appear second-rate. The Australian stated that There is no longer a British Empire; everyone knows that. But somehow the phrase "imperial honours" still carries a ring of regal authenticity that somehow transcends nationalism. For the time being a recipient ... of the Order of Australia
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#17327872520356758-442: The boards of philanthropic bodies, including the Ian Potter Foundation from 1991 to 2015 and the Deafness Foundation Trust since 1993, and is patron of others. Blainey has, at times, been a controversial figure too. In the 1980s, he queried the level of Asian immigration to Australia and the policy of multiculturalism in speeches, articles and a book All for Australia . He was said by leftist critics to be closely aligned with
6867-405: The case was very powerful. With his ally, George Mye from the Torres Strait Islands , he was the leading critic of the adopted proposal that any citizen whose name was on the general electoral roll, even a migrant of only two years' standing, should automatically be eligible to be president of the proposed republic of Australia. After the decisive failure in 1999 of the referendum to make Australia
6976-519: The changes to the awards were similarly split along party lines. Following the 1983 federal election , Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke recommitted to the end of recommendations for imperial awards. No knighthoods were awarded during his first term in office and he advised the abolition of the knight/dame level after being re-elected in 1986. During the time the division was active from 1976 to 1983, twelve knights and two dames were created. On 19 March 2014, monarchist prime minister Tony Abbott advised
7085-463: The coat of arms of Australia. The ribbon of the order is royal blue with a central stripe of mimosa blossoms. Awards in the military division are edged with 1.5 mm golden bands. AKs, male ACs and AOs wear their badges on a necklet and male AMs and OAMs wear them on a ribbon on the left chest. Women usually wear their badges on a bow on the left shoulder, although they may wear the same insignia as males if so desired. A gold lapel pin for daily wear
7194-485: The collection of documents of President Herbert Hoover , which he began to collect at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. Thousands of Persian books, official documents, letters, multimedia pieces and other materials on Iran 's history, politics and culture can also be found at the Stanford University library and the Hoover Institution library. The Hoover Institution's in-house publisher, Hoover Institution Press, produces publications on public policy topics, including
7303-420: The collection of primary materials related to World War I , a project that became known as the Hoover War Collection. Assisted primarily by gifts from private donors, the Hoover War Collection flourished during its early years. In 1922, the collection became known as the Hoover War Library, now known as the Hoover Institution Library and Archives , and includes a variety of rare and unpublished material, including
7412-495: The early 1960s, deputy dean of the Economics Faculty in the early 1970s, president of the council of Queen's College in the University of Melbourne from 1971 to 1989, and on the national selection committee for the Harkness Fellowships from 1977 to 1989 (chairman 1983–89). Blainey was invited by Prime Minister Harold Holt in 1967 to sit on the advisory board of the Commonwealth Literary Fund, serving until its abolition in 1973 (chairman 1971–73). He then became inaugural chairman of
7521-418: The effective use of military force. In March 2019, Mattis returned to his post at Hoover. Distinguished Visiting Fellow Kevin Hassett became the first chairman of Trump's Council of Economic Advisors (CEA). The CEA chief principal economist, Josh Rauh, took leave from his Hoover Institution fellowship. After the third CEA chairman Tyler Goodspeed resigned in 2021, he went to Hoover. In February 2020,
7630-407: The exception of awards recommended by the soon to be independent government of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea ); however this did not affect the constitutional right of state governments to recommend imperial awards. According to the governor general's then-secretary Sir David Smith , Whitlam was furious when he first saw Devlin's design for the insignia of the order, due to the inclusion of
7739-542: The files of the Okhrana and a plurality of government documents produced during the war. It was housed originally in the Stanford Library , separate from the general stacks. In his memoirs, Hoover wrote: I did a vast amount of reading, mostly on previous wars, revolutions, and peace-makings of Europe and especially the political and economic aftermaths. At one time I set up some research at London, Paris, and Berlin into previous famines in Europe to see if there had developed any ideas on handling relief and pestilence. ... I
7848-812: The first UNESCO conference held in Asia, in Yogyakarta , Java ; it recommended cultural policies for Asia. Blainey was deputy chairman in 1974 and 1975 of the Whitlam government's Inquiry into Museums and National Collections, whose report ultimately led to the completion in Canberra, in 2001, of the National Museum of Australia with its emphasis on indigenous history. Most of the Inquiry's report had been drafted by Blainey and his colleague, Professor JD Mulvaney. In 1976, he became an inaugural commissioner on
7957-409: The former Liberal - National Coalition government of John Howard in Australia, with Howard shadowing Blainey's conservative views on some issues, especially the view that Australian history has been hijacked by social liberals. As a result of these stances, Blainey is sometimes associated with right-wing politics. Blainey himself is a member of no political party. On 17 March 1984, Blainey addressed
8066-489: The general division). Advocacy groups such as Honour a Woman and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency have called for greater effort to be made to reach equal representation of men and women in the order. In December 2010, The Age reported a study of the educational backgrounds of all people who had received Knight/Dame and Companion level awards at that time. It reported: "An analysis of
8175-465: The government a year later. Australia's scheme differed from the pioneering scheme adopted in Denmark in 1946. Blainey represented writers on the small group instructed to find the new national anthem that Whitlam had promised. From that initiative came a public poll supporting the long-standing Australian patriotic song, " Advance Australia Fair ". In December 1973, Blainey was an Australian delegate to
8284-683: The governments of each respective state and territory, and three ex officio members (the chief of the Defence Force , the vice-president of the Federal Executive Council and a public servant responsible for honours policy). The Council chair as of August 2024 is Shelley Reys. The Council makes recommendations to the governor-general. Awards are announced on Australia Day and on the King's Birthday public holiday in June, on
8393-586: The governor-general to remove an individual from the order, who may cancel an award. Announcements of all awards, cancellations and resignations appear in the Commonwealth Gazette . Nomination forms are confidential and not covered by the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) . The reasoning behind a nomination being successful or unsuccessful—and even the attendees of the meetings where such nominations are discussed—remains confidential. As
8502-515: The history of Christianity in A Short History of Christianity (2011). He has also written general histories of the world and the "tempestuous" 20th century. Triumph of the Nomads is "a book which has done more than any other to open Australian minds to the pre-European past of their land" , according to Ken Inglis of the ANU. Blainey was also "the first writer to make that daring comparison that Aboriginal societies differed as much from one another as do
8611-569: The most influential Australians, past or present. The National Trust lists Blainey as one of Australia's " Living Treasures ". He served on the boards of philanthropic bodies, including the Ian Potter Foundation (1991–2014) and the Deafness Foundation Trust since 1993, and is patron of others. Biographer Geoffrey Bolton in 1999 argues that he has played multiple roles as an Australian historian: In 2006,
8720-462: The name and reputation of that great Australian historian Geoffrey Blainey." In December 1988, Blainey resigned from the University of Melbourne and resumed his former career as a freelance historian. In 1994, the Victorian government appointed him to the honorary position of foundation chancellor of the new University of Ballarat. Subsequently, in December 2007, the University of Melbourne granted
8829-526: The nations of Europe". The Causes of War has become one of the most cited works in founding modern scholarship on international conflict (as at Sep 2020 – 2095 citations on Google Scholar). It is commonly cited by the Hoover Institution as a foundation work in the field. He has revisited some of his earlier successes to take into account new discoveries and scholarship – Triumph of the Nomads and A Land Half Won were revised as The Story of
8938-560: The neutral Sir Ninian Stephen , lawyer and former governor general. Blainey served on the National Council for the Centenary of Federation from 1997 to 2002 (chairman from May 2001, succeeding Archbishop Peter Hollingworth ), and chairman of the Council of the Centenary Medal from 2001–03. Later appointments included membership of the History Summit in Canberra in 2006 and the federal committee set up in 2007 to recommend
9047-417: The occasion of a special announcement by the governor-general (usually honorary awards), and on the appointment of a new governor-general. The governor-general presents the order's insignia to new appointees. Appointments to the order may be made posthumously as long as a person was nominated for an award whilst they were still alive. Awardees may subsequently resign from the order, and the Council may advise
9156-674: The order at all levels. Nomination forms are submitted to the Director, Honours Secretariat, a position within the Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General of Australia , at Government House, Canberra , which are then forwarded to the Council for the Order of Australia . The council consists of 19 members: seven selected by the prime minister (described as "community representatives"), eight appointed by
9265-448: The order. The order is divided into a general and a military division. The five levels of appointment to the order in descending order of seniority are: Honorary awards at all levels may be made to non-citizens. These awards are made additional to the quotas. The order's insignia was designed by Stuart Devlin . The badge of the Order of Australia is a convex disc (gold for AKs, ADs and ACs, gilt for AOs, AMs and OAMs) representing
9374-912: The other half from its endowment. Funders of the organization include the Taube Family Foundation, the Koret Foundation , the Howard Charitable Foundation , the Sarah Scaife Foundation , the Walton Foundation , the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation , and the William E. Simon Foundation . Funding sources and expenditures, FY 2022 Funding Sources, FY 2022: $ 78,800,000 Expenditures, FY 2022: $ 77,600,000 In May 2018,
9483-457: The outgoing governor-general , Quentin Bryce ; her successor, Peter Cosgrove ; a recent chief of the Defence Force , Angus Houston ; a recent governor of New South Wales , Marie Bashir ; and Prince Philip . This last award was widely met with ridicule and dismay by many in the Australian media. The award was also heavily criticised in the community, with 72% disapproving and 12% in favour of
9592-442: The phrases " Black armband view of history " versus the contrasting "three cheers" view (see History wars ). The phrase "Black armband view of history" began to be used, pejoratively or otherwise, by some Australian commentators and intellectuals about historians and journalists, judges and clergymen, whom they viewed as having presented an unfairly critical portrayal of Australian history since European settlement. Blainey coined
9701-461: The police's request to remove his name and address from the public telephone book and organise security for his home. According to fellow historian Keith Windschuttle : "The immediate consequence of all this was that Blainey, easily Australia's best and most prolific living historian, was effectively silenced from speaking at his own university.... This violation of academic freedom, clearly the worst in Australian history, provoked no protest at all from
9810-681: The prime minister alone, rather than by the Council of the Order of Australia, as is the case with all lower levels of the order. In accordance with the statutes of 2014, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , was created a Knight of the Order by letters patent signed by the Queen on 7 January 2015, on Abbott's advice. Prince Philip's knighthood was announced as part of the Australia Day Honours on 26 January 2015 and his appointment attracted criticism of what Abbott described as his "captain's call". Abbott responded by announcing that future recommendations for appointments as Knights and Dames of
9919-591: The quarterly periodicals Hoover Digest , Education Next , China Leadership Monitor , and Defining Ideas . The Hoover Institution Press previously published the bimonthly periodical Policy Review , which it acquired from The Heritage Foundation in 2001. Policy Review ceased publication with its February–March 2013 issue. The Hoover Institution Press also publishes books and essays by Hoover Institution fellows and other Hoover-affiliated scholars. The Hoover Institution receives nearly half of its funding from private gifts, primarily from individual contributions, and
10028-431: The quicker we move towards it the better". Blainey's speech, along with subsequent articles and a book on the subject, ignited nationwide controversy, especially in the Australian federal parliament, which had not debated the principles of the immigration policy for many years. Some critics argued that Blainey's views were moderate and not racist, citing the idea that "All peoples of the world are worthy and deserve respect"
10137-697: The real scene. Therein lay the origins of the Library on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University. By 1926, the Hoover War Library was the largest library in the world devoted to World War I , including 1.4 million items and too large to house in the Stanford University Library, so the university allocated $ 600,000 for the construction of the Hoover Tower , which was designed to be its permanent home independent of
10246-433: The request to sign the letter. After a crowd of left-wing students and marchers broke into the heavily guarded building where Blainey was conducting a tutorial in historical research, he was advised by the university on security grounds that it must cancel all his future addresses within the University for the rest of 1984. In Brisbane on 5 July, when he gave a memorial address in honour of a deceased Queensland businessman in
10355-495: The ten most significant Australian books of the previous 10 years. Blainey has been critical of Bruce Pascoe 's work, Dark Emu , regarding Aboriginal life prior to 1788 stating that there existed "no evidence that there was ever a permanent town in pre-1788 Australia with 1000 inhabitants who gained most of their food by farming" as claimed by Pascoe. During the launch of his 2015 book The Story of Australia's People Volume 1: The Rise and Fall of Ancient Australia , Blainey predicted
10464-464: The term the "Black armband view of history" to refer to those historians and academics, usually leftist, who denigrated Australia's past to an unusual degree and accused European Australians of genocide against Aboriginal people. Former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser described the Australian history wars as a branch of the " culture wars " and attributed Blainey with having initiated the wider wars in his immigration speeches of 1984. Reflecting on
10573-662: The university and the Institution in 2021, Rice "addressed campus criticism that the Hoover Institution is a partisan think tank that primarily supports conservative administrations and policy positions" by sharing "statistics that show Hoover fellows contribute financially to both political parties on an equal basis", according to the university's newsletter. According to DeSmog , the Hoover Institution accepts scientific consensus on climate change , but has long opposed climate action . Some Hoover fellows downplay climate change . The Institution has libraries which include materials from both World War I and World War II , including
10682-406: The university's academic staff association, nor from the university council, let alone his own departmental colleagues." On the so-called "Blainey affair", Australian prime minister John Howard would remark: "Nowhere, I suggest, have the fangs of the left so visibly been on display as they were in a campaign based on character assassination and intellectual dishonesty through their efforts to trash
10791-525: The view, widely held in the Federal Cabinet, that some kind of slow Asian takeover of Australia is inevitable. I do not believe that we are powerless. I do believe that we can with good will and good sense control our destiny.... As a people, we seem to move from extreme to extreme. In the past 30 years the government of Australia has moved from the extreme of wanting a white Australia to the extreme of saying that we will have an Asian Australia and that
10900-539: Was a desert between 1788 and 1950 because it was populated largely by people from the British Isles and because it seemed to have a cultural unity, a homogeneity which is the very antithesis of multiculturalism." Blainey referred to the contrasting positive histories as the "three cheers" school. To some extent my generation was reared on the Three Cheers view of history. This patriotic view of our past had
11009-481: Was a disgrace. The past treatment of Aborigines, of Chinese, of Kanakas, of non-British migrants, of women, the very old, the very young, and the poor was singled out, sometimes legitimately, sometimes not.... The Black Armband view of history might well represent the swing of the pendulum from a position that had been too favourable, too self congratulatory, to an opposite extreme that is even more unreal and decidedly jaundiced. Critics of Blainey's article claimed that it
11118-491: Was anti-Aboriginal. However, Blainey applauded the "many distinctive merits" of the traditional Aboriginal way of life. Moreover, Blainey's earlier book Triumph of the Nomads , was highly sympathetic to Aboriginal people, as the title indicates. It is still said to be the only narrative history of Aboriginal Australia before 1788, and a pioneering work. It was listed by the National Book Council in 1984 as one of
11227-447: Was created by an amendment to the constitution of the Order of Australia by special letters patent signed by the Queen, on the recommendation of Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser . In March 2014 the knight and dame levels, which had been abolished in 1986 by Prime Minister Bob Hawke , were reintroduced to the Order of Australia by Tony Abbott . At the same time, Abbott announced that future appointments at this level would be recommended by
11336-408: Was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II , Queen of Australia , on the advice of then prime minister Gough Whitlam . Before the establishment of the order, Australians could receive British honours , which continued to be issued in parallel until 1992. Appointments to the order are made by the governor-general , "with the approval of The Sovereign", according to recommendations made by
11445-498: Was established on 14 February 1975 by letters patent of Queen Elizabeth II , acting as Queen of Australia , and on the advice of the newly elected Labor prime minister , Gough Whitlam . The original order had three levels: Companion (AC), Officer (AO) and Member (AM) as well as two divisions: Civil Division and Military Division. Whitlam had previously announced in 1972 (on his third day in office) that his government would no longer nominate persons for British Imperial honours (with
11554-536: Was ranked as the 10th most influential think tank in the world by Academic Influence . It was ranked 22nd on the "Top Think Tanks in United States" and 1st on the "Top Think Tanks to Look Out For" lists of the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program that same year. In June 1919, Herbert Hoover , then a wealthy engineer who was one of Stanford University 's first graduates, sent a telegram offering Stanford president Ray Lyman Wilbur $ 50,000 in order to assist
11663-924: Was renamed and transformed into a research institution ("think tank") during the mid-20th century. Its mission, as described by Herbert Hoover in 1959, is "to recall the voice of experience against the making of war, and by the study of these records and their publication, to recall man's endeavors to make and preserve peace, and to sustain for America the safeguards of the American way of life." It has staffed numerous jobs in Washington for Republican presidents from Richard Nixon to Donald Trump . It has provided work for people who previously had important government jobs. Notable Hoover fellows and alumni include Nobel Prize laureates Henry Kissinger , Milton Friedman , and Gary Becker ; economist Thomas Sowell ; scholars Niall Ferguson and Richard Epstein ; former Speaker of
11772-473: Was shortly convinced that gigantic famine would follow the present war. The steady degeneration of agriculture was obvious. ... I read in one of Andrew D. White's writings that most of the fugitive literature of comment during the French Revolution was lost to history because no one set any value on it at the time, and that without such material it became very difficult or impossible to reconstruct
11881-447: Was the 'prime principle' of Blainey's book, All for Australia , which he wrote on the topic. However, in All for Australia he criticised the belief that "immigration policy should primarily reflect the truth that all 'races' are equal. On the contrary, an immigration policy should not, any more than a trade or tariff policy, be designed primarily to reflect that fact". According to Blainey,
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