Move Over, Blinky Bill

The Choice of Botany Bay,
Manning Clark,
Melbourne, 1960

WE live in an age of successful intellectual frauds, and not all of them are French; we grew one of our own, in Manning Clark.  It would take a longish essay to describe his pernicious influence, to show the falsehoods, exaggerations and obfuscations of his History of Australia, and to trace the impact of this bad history on political thinking.  In a little space I shall, rather, take one of his essays, The Choice of Botany Bay, published shortly before the first volume of the History.  There Clark sets out his contestable (and much contested) theory that the sole purpose of the settlement of Australia was convict-dumping.  He reviews the debate about the Botany Bay project that raged from 1776 to 1788 in Britain (not just England; the Scots joined in, characteristically complaining of the expense), in Parliament, in the press, even in the theatre.  In his last paragraph, Clark says, "No one paused to ponder the effect on the Aborigine ..."

The impudence of this Goebbels-size lie leaps from the page.  The suggestion that in Enlightenment Britain, in the middle of the anti-slavery agitation and the noble savage fad, no-one thought of the Aborigines could come only from an ignoramus or a determined ideologue.  In fact, the fate of the blacks (whom, God knows, Cook and Banks had described most unflatteringly) was at the forefront of the debate.  Opponents of the project warned that if British criminals were settled in the South Sea paradise, "the innocent Pagans [would] be corrupted, and vices, crimes, and diseases unknown, be disseminated among them".  The Government felt obliged to reply, e.g. under the pen-name Nauticus which is thought to hide Sir George Young:  "It is not the intention of Government to annoy the natives; they wish to form them into a more civil community, so as that they and our countrymen may reciprocally contribute to the felicity of one another".  Critics replied sarcastically that to achieve this noble aim "our prisons are to be ransacked for Solons and Lycurguses". 

The debate about the blacks took such proportions that another historian, Alan Atkinson, can conclude, "The fate of the Aborigines was the main concern of the critics" of the Botany Bay project.  That is exactly the opposite of what Manning Clark had said, for reasons of his own.  It is nothing to the point that some of the worst fears of the critics of the scheme were confirmed, notably that mere contact would entail the spread of "vices and diseases", specifically of alcohol and smallpox.  The fact is that Britain in the 1780s did indeed pause to ponder the effect of settlement on the Aborigines and in doing so conceived not only justifiable fears, but noble and hopeful intentions.  (Before dismissing the words quoted from Nauticus as hypocrisy, consider how apt they would be for an Australian Government policy today). To neglect or deny that fact entails getting the story of Australia wrong from the start, and makes it harder to understand why it is also the story of the defeat and decline of the Aborigines.

Clark was determined to plant the seed of a historical lie, the myth of white invaders so brutal and insensitive that they did not even stop to think of the dreaded consequences, some inevitable, other avoidable, of a clash of cultures and technologies.  This is the myth that flourishes failure".  To create a socialist education system, the hierarchy of knowledge must be challenged, failure must be eliminated, and competition dismantled:  "the competitive education framework is based on the doctrine that justifies unearned, undeserved privilege".  She suggests:  "we could reintroduce the idea of the ballot for university places".

It is thinking such as this that has led to the fundamental problems in our education system:  no competition and a turning away from rigorous standards in maths, science and English.  Vocational pathways have been discarded and international testing boycotted.  The National Statements and Profiles, released last year and originally designed to be a framework for a national curriculum, do not contain the basis for giving students the skills they need.  Despite this, it seems that most States, except Victoria, will adopt these documents in one form or another.

In Victoria, teacher unions -- and certain other left-wing organisations in the State -- are presently pre-occupied with opposing primary school testing initiatives announced by the Government.  Last year, a research group led by Professor Peter Hill found that a substantial number of Victorian students completing Year Nine had not improved their reading, writing and oral skills significantly beyond Grade Four achievement levels.  Testing ensures accountability to parents and students and identifies students who need extra attention.

Speaking recently in Melbourne, the former Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, referred to the high standards in mathematics achieved by Asian and Eastern European students in comparison with many Western countries.  Surely we have to measure ourselves by similar yardsticks.

We cannot afford to let our education system be dominated by the philosophies espoused by thinkers such as Bowles and Gintis.  It is critical that young people are given opportunities to compete effectively in an international environment.