Geoffrey Blainey
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Professor Geoffrey Blainey AC (born 11 March 1930), is one of Australia's most significant, and yet still popular, historians who is best known for a controversy over immigration policy. Blainey was raised in a series of Victorian country towns before attending Wesley College and the University of Melbourne. He was appointed to a teaching post at the University of Melbourne in 1962, becoming Professor of Economic History in 1968, Professor of History in 1977, and then Dean of Melbourne's Faculty of Arts in 1982.
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[edit] Blainey's Career
His first major project in the 1950's -was as an author and researcher was working on the history of the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company - at Queenstown, Tasmania when a significant number of the older residents could remember back to the beginnings of the community. The resultant book is one of the few company and local histories in Australia to achieve six editions. He has since published 32 books, including his highly acclaimed, 'A Short History Of The World'. Blainey has had an exceptionally long and distinguished career in Australian academia. He was a Professor of Economic History and later the Ernest Scott Professor of History at the University of Melbourne. He held a Chair in Australian Studies at Harvard University. He is listed as one of the Australian Living Treasures. Geoffrey Blainey 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 the Chairman of the National Council for the Centenary of Federation. From 1994 to 1998 he was the Chancellor of the University of Ballarat. Among many other posts, Blainey has served on the Council of Australian War Memorial since 1997, the Council of National Council for the Centenary of Federation since 1997, and the Council of the Royal Humane Society of Australasia since 1997.
[edit] Blainey, Asian Immigration & Accusations of Racism
In March 1984 Blainey made some comments to a group of Rotarians in the Southern Victorian town of Warrnambool to the effect that public opinion would not support the then rate of Asian immigration to Australia. Speaking of South East Asian immigrants, he said: "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 favored majority in its immigration policy." This and other comments caused a great deal of public controversy and the entire staff body of his then Department at the University of Melbourne signed a public letter distancing themselves from his views. Many of Blainey's colleagues argued that his views were divisive and would feed the flames of racism in Australia.
Some Australians claimed that Blainey's views legitimized the stigmatization of Asian migrants and would hinder their integration into Australian society. Others applauded Blainey's comments and his right to free speech, believing that white-Australians needed more time to get used to the idea that migrants who were from Asian countries were no different to other newcomers. Following Blainey's comments, many Asian-Australians claimed to feel more unwelcome in what they had once considered the land of milk and honey. Many Asian-Australian children reported an increase in schoolyard bullying in response to the immigration debate that was instigated by Blainey's comments.
For the most part, Blainey maintained a dignified silence following his comments in Warnambool as others debated the merits or otherwise of his opinions. Blainey remained silent when accused of inciting what his critics saw as racial intolerance in Australia. He did not answer accusations that his views had made it more difficult for Asian-Australians to integrate into Australian society and had led to an increase in the schoolyard bullying of Asian-Australians children.
Blainey's views were widely reported in overseas countries, particularly in Asia and there was a fear, subsequently discounted, that Australia's trading relations with its Asian neignbours would be affected by Blainey's comments. In 1988 Blainey resigned from the University of Melbourne to which he had given most of his working life. It is believed that he had been ostracized by many of his colleagues following his speech in Warnambool. More than two decades later, in the more conservative climate of 2005, the University of Melbourne attempted to make restitution for their treatment of Blainey by naming a Chair in Australian history in his honor.
The right wing activist and former federal politician, Pauline Hanson, often spoke of Blainey's speech when calling for an end to Asian immigration to Australia.
Although Blainey's book Triumph of the Nomads was considered to be a scholarly study into the history of Australia's original inhabitants, his opinions opposing High Court decisions in favor of Aboriginal land rights put him in the line of fire and once again led to accusations of racism.
Aboriginal Australians have a life expectancy well below that of white Australians. Blainey has not made reference to this in his speeches or his many books. His reticence to suggest constructive means by which Aboriginal welfare could be advanced has angered many Aboriginal leaders and embarrassed many of his former colleagues.
[edit] Blainey and the History Wars
Blainey has been an important but low-key contributor to the debate over Australian history and settlement often referred to as the History Wars. Blainey coined the term "the Black Armband view of history" to refer to those historians, usually of leftist political orientation, who accused Australians of genocide against Aborigines having previously referred to nationalistic histories as the "three cheers" school.
[edit] Awards
- Order of Australia (1975).
[edit] Bibliography
- The Peaks of Lyell, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, Vic., 1954.
- Tyranny of Distance: How Distance Shaped Australia's History, Sun Books, Melbourne, Vic., 1966.
- Triumph of the Nomads: A History of Ancient Australia, Macmillan, South Melbourne, Vic., 1975.
- A Short History of the World, Penguin Books Australia Ltd., Vic., 2000.
