AustLit

'Russel Ward's "The Australian Legend" appeared in 1958 amidst a deepening Cold War in Australia and abroad. This article seeks not to analyse in depth the text itself, but rather by exploring its political and intellectual context and Ward's own personal biography to consider why Ward was inspired to write such a book at this particular juncture. His study reflected a desire to understand something of the history of Australia beyond its status as a possession of imperial Britain. Ward, however, was not alone in this period in attempting to realise this objective, and the publication of his book was part of a broader post-Second World War movement toward the research, writing and teaching of a specifically Australian history, a cultural project in which other radical-nationalist intellectuals such as Ian Turner, Geoffrey Serle, and Robin Gollan played a prominent part. This article explores the moment when, out of a combination of personal, political, cultural and intellectual impulses, a text emerged that would have a formative influence on much subsequent debate about Australian history, culture and identity. Indeed, the book's standing in the fifty years since first publication can obscure the particular life-experience and set of political and cultural circumstances that inspired it.'

Source: Article abstract.