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This book seeks to highlight the influence of the Enlightenment idea of social progress on the character of the "civilising mission" in early Australia by tracing its presence in the various "civilising" attempts undertaken between 1788 and 1850. It also represents an attempt to marry the history of the British Enlightenment and the history of settler-Aboriginal interactions. The chronological structure of the book, as well as the breadth of its content, will facilitate the readers' understanding of the evolution of "civilising attempts" and their epistemological underpinnings, while throwing additional light on the influence of the Enlightenment on Australian history as a whole.
List of contents
Introduction 1. A Shortcut to Civilisation: The Idea of Social Progress and the Founders of Australia 2. The Purveyors of Modernity: Early "Civilising" Attempts 3. Lachlan Macquarie: The Enlightened Autocrat, the Laird of New South Wales 4. The Handmaid of Religion?:"Civilisation – Christianisation" Debate and the Progress of the Protestant Missions 5. The Folly of the Enlightened Mind: The Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate, the Rise of the Scheme 6. The Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate: The Climax and the Unraveling. Conclusion
About the author
Ilya Lazarev holds a PhD in History from the University of Melbourne, and an MA in International Relations from Ritsumeikan University, where he researched Russo-Japanese economic cooperation.
Summary
The Enlightenment begot a panoply of ideas, of which the notion of social progress is one of the most salient. It informed not only the way Europeans saw themselves, but also how they viewed indigenous people of their empires. This book describes how this theory influenced the civilising mission in early Australia.
