Tom Griffiths - The Art of Time Travel: Historians and Their Craft

Acknowledgements

I hope this book conveys the collegiality of writing and researching history and the strong sense of collaborative inquiry that informs the discipline. My sincere gratitude goes to the subjects of these chapters for the inspiration of their writing and teaching, and in many cases for conversation and friendship. My intellectual debts to these great writers are revealed through the portraits. I have met them all except for Eleanor Dark and in her case I was made welcome in her home, where I was privileged to work in her writing studio at Varuna in the Blue Mountains. I am grateful to Varuna (The Writers House, Katoomba) for a residential fellowship that stimulated my interest in Darks work, and I thank Peter Bishop and Vera Costello for making it possible. I was also fortunate to meet and talk with Mick and Jill Dark and to give the inaugural Mick Dark Lecture in Katoomba in 2007. Mark OFlynn kindly guided me to the Darks cave in November 2014.

I am deeply indebted to my fellow historians, in Australia and around the world, for the stimulus of their work and the model of their citizenship. As well as the historians Ive portrayed here, I am grateful to Alessandro Antonello, Alan Atkinson, David Armitage, Bain Attwood, Alison Bashford, Tim Bonyhady, Tom Brooking, Jane Carruthers, Michael Cathcart, Dipesh Chakrabarty, David Christian, Ann Curthoys, Jim Davidson, Bronwen Douglas, Kirsty Douglas, Moira Fahy, Tim Flannery, Meredith Fletcher, David Garrioch, Andrea Gaynor, Heather Goodall, David Goodman, Billy Griffiths, Pat Grimshaw, Brigid Hains, Christine Hansen, Barry Hill, Katie Holmes, Ken Inglis, Rani Kerin, Dick Kimber, Steve Kinnane, Shino Konishi, Marilyn Lake, Jane Lennon, Darrell Lewis, David Lowenthal, Stuart Macintyre, Iain McCalman, Mark McKenna, Christof Mauch, Joy McCann, Gregg Mitman, Cameron Muir, Chris OBrien, Emily OGorman, Stephen Pyne, Peter Read, Libby Robin, Tim Rowse, Tiffany Shellam, Stefan Sippell, Dan Smail, Peter Stanley, Rebe Taylor, Stuart Ward, Richard Waterhouse and Clare Wright.

I feel lucky to work in a stimulating and supportive school of history at the Australian National University and I thank all my colleagues and students, especially Malcolm Allbrook, Gemma Betros, Frank Bongiorno, Nicholas Brown, Alex Cook, Doug Craig, Diane Erceg, Karen Fox, Pat Jalland, Rebecca Jones, Daniel May, Ann McGrath, Melanie Nolan, Maria Nugent, Jayne Regan, Alex Roginski, Carolyn Strange, Martin Thomas, Chris Wallace and Angela Woollacott. As chair of the editorial board of the Australian Dictionary of Biography, I am privileged to witness the depth of biographical scholarship in Australia and to work with the general editor, Melanie Nolan.

Many people have generously assisted me with references, information, practical assistance and stimulating discussion. I especially thank John Arnold, Geoffrey Bolton, John Cashmere, Michael Davis, Delia Falconer, Anne Faris, Kate Grenville, Kate Griffiths, David Hansen, Marcus Haward, Bernadette Hince, John Hirst, Paul Irish, Brian Matthews, Meredith McKinney, Tony Marshall, Philip Mead, Alison Pouliot, Joe Powell, Tony Press, Deborah Rose, Barry Smith, Will Steffen, John Thompson and Patrick Troy. My thanks to the staff of the National Library of Australia (and its wonderful Petherick Room), the Mitchell Library of the State Library of NSW, and the State Library of Victoria. The National Museum of Australia is an essential part of my work in Canberra and I thank its staff and director, Mat Trinca, for their support for research and scholarship.

Publishers and editors have encouraged my writing and shaped my thinking in the course of this inquiry, and I especially thank Peter Browne of Inside Story, Morag Fraser of Eureka Street, Brigid Hains of Aeon, Phillipa McGuinness of NewSouth Publishing, Peter Rose of the Australian Book Review and Julianne Schultz of Griffith Review. I am also grateful to those who invited early versions of these portraits: Bain Attwood and Stephen Foster, John Dargavel, Elaine van Kempen, Anthony Low, Camilla Nelson and Christine de Matos, Stuart Macintyre and Deborah Gare, Doug Munro and John Reid, and Mark Peel. I was fortunate to work closely with Bain Attwood in editing a book about Henry Reynolds and with Tim Bonyhady in editing a book about John Mulvaney and I learned a great deal from them both. Mark McKenna has generously encouraged this work with enthusiasm, scholarship and good conversation. Special thanks to Stuart Macintyre, who has cultivated the field of Australian historiography for decades.

It has been a pleasure working with the impressive and talented staff at Black Inc. My publisher Chris Feik fostered this book from its beginnings with intelligent questioning and thoughtful support. His strong commitment meant a great deal to me. Jo Rosenberg is a brilliant senior editor and helped to make this a better book. It was great fun working with her.

Malcolm and Jane Calder, Guy Fitzhardinge and Mandy Martin, Charlie and Christian Menzies-Wilson, Steve Morton and Faye Alexander, Richard Nelson and Debbie Miller, Alan and Margaret Platt, Mike Smith and Manik Datar, and Angela and Grahame Smith have constantly engaged me in exhilarating discussions about art, science, books and ideas.

I am grateful to John Mulvaney, Donna Merwick, Graeme Davison, Inga Clendinnen, Grace Karskens and Mike Smith for comments on the chapters about their work and to Alessandro Antonello, Bain Attwood, David Goodman, Stuart Macintyre, Mark McKenna and Libby Robin for reading draft chapters. Billy Griffiths has read every word and I have benefited immeasurably from his perceptive insights and literary judgement.

My family has always encouraged me in my writing and helped to make it feel like a natural part of our life together. I feel blessed to have their love and support. My heartfelt thanks go to Libby, Kate and Brent, and Billy and Emily.

My mother, Kathleen Wembridge (19212008), introduced me to Eleanor Dark and Judith Wright, and my father, Raymond Griffiths (19232011), shared my admiration for Eric Rolls and Greg Dening. A science teacher and an engineer, they encouraged my study of history and enjoyed reading and talking about all the writers portrayed here.

This book celebrates reading and Australian writing. In that quest Ive had treasured companions who are always happy to go time-travelling (as well as just travelling), and whose wisdom, conversation and sense of adventure are a constant inspiration. This book is dedicated to them: Michael, Julie, Mardie and Dominic Landvogt.

Tom Griffiths

April 2016, Canberra

ONE

The Timeless Land: Eleanor Dark

B ennilong and his father, Wunbula, gazed out to sea from the clifftop, searching the horizon for the boat with wings. Wunbula remembered the moment he had first seen the magic boat borne along the ocean like a bird. He had been participating in a ceremony south of his country when it appeared. His heart had leaped and his pulses hammered; he had felt both fear and rapture. The boat had flown into the harbour, folded its great white wings and come to rest. Mysterious beings with faces pale as bones, and with coverings on their heads, feet and bodies, had come ashore. After staying for many days, the Bereewolgal (strangers) suddenly left. Wunbula, who had by then returned to his own country, watched from a headland as the boat passed by on its journey north. He had etched an image of it into the sandstone and into his memory, and he had made a corroboree to tell of it. In the seasons following, Wunbula and Bennilong came secretly and often to the high cliffs to look for its return.

It is with this powerful image of a young Bennilong watching and waiting on the edge of a silent continent that the novelist Eleanor Dark begins her book The Timeless Land