Learning how West was won

But what history is the obvious question. It is impossible for anyone, be they a professional historian let alone an ordinary citizen, to know about every aspect of the human past.

This means we need to be selective when considering what sorts of history should be taught and encouraged in our schools and universities. To do so we need to establish what elements of history constitute the "significant past" for Australia.

Some of this is obvious. Australia's national story is a central element of our "significant past", as is the history of our indigenous people. In the national history curriculum there is also an emphasis on world history, the history of humanity as a whole, and Asian history. What is missing is any emphasis on the history of Western civilisation, the civilisation of which Australia is part.

If one wishes to focus on Australia's "significant past", this is very odd. If history is to be given a place of honour ahead of social studies or geography then surely that is because it can provide citizens with an appreciation of their heritage. It provides citizens with an awareness of where their values and way of life came from, thereby enabling them to reflect on those values in an intelligent fashion.

I argue the public face of history, the ideal of history that should inform what is taught and researched, needs to balance world history, the history of Western civilisation and national history.

National history is important because it tells us about who we are as a particular people.

World history is important because it provides a big picture as it traces the path of humanity from being gatherers and hunters to agriculturalists to members of a modern industrial civilisation. It tells us what sorts of influences have moulded humanity across millennia. These include the sorts of crops grown and animals that have been domesticated, the impact of disease, the effects of climate change, the impact of war and the implications of the different types of philosophies and religions that were adopted in different parts of the world.

World history tends to be very general and somewhat abstract. What it lacks is what most people studying history are interested in and that is real people. That comes, for Australians, in the study of Western civilisation and national history. It is one thing to appreciate the way in which climate, economics and other material factors have helped to shape the way in which human beings have lived their lives. It is quite another to consider how individual human beings have lived and acted according to their values.

Of course there is much to be gained from considering great human individuals in all civilisations. But the reality is we must give priority to those who form part of our legacy. A focus on the history of Western civilisation enables us to appreciate that inheritance.

The study of real people is what humanist history provides. It is the great individuals of the past who continue to fascinate students.

To my mind this is part of the reason ancient history is so popular, at least in NSW.

From Pericles to Alexander the Great to Caesar and the early Roman emperors, it provides individuals whose lives can be examined and their strengths and weaknesses explored.

The same is true of the modern world. What drags students in are larger-than-life figures such as Churchill and Hitler and John F. Kennedy. Their lives provide an opportunity for reflection on the meaning of human nature and the values of Western civilisation.

History is an important part of contemporary Australian culture. It is crucial we have a clear idea about the sort of "significant past" that should be taught. It should be a past that puts together national history, world history and, in Australia, the history of Western civilisation. It should be a history that provides us with an understanding of the general factors that have shaped the development of humanity over the millennia.

But it cannot ignore either individuals or the values that we have inherited as the heirs of Western civilisation.

The humanism that comes with exploring individuals, their values, their achievements and their failures is one of the greatest legacies that Western civilisation has bequeathed to us.

Greg Melluish is associate professor of history and politics at the University of Wollongong.