History

History aims to understand and interpret the past. It is the subject that brings the past into the present. History is a dynamic discipline, since each generation returns to the past with different questions, based on their own experiences and concerns. Historical analysis brings together both facts and moral judgements to analyse the background to contemporary conditions. Perhaps more importantly, History can also help us to imagine the kinds of futures we want to live.

As an interpretive discipline, History helps to sharpen the skills needed in a broad range of occupations. It teaches us to research information, to critically evaluate debates, and to communicate our arguments and beliefs clearly and effectively. It enriches our experience of the world by offering ways to understand the broad scope of human experiences - from our everyday lives, to larger global processes.

Wollongong's History Program focuses upon themes that link Australian and international history. These themes include culture, environment, gender, globalisation, historiography, labour, war and regional development. These themes may be traced in a variety of settings, whether in broad histories of specific Australian, Asian and European societies; in more specific historical examinations of empires, the political and social impacts of wars, and the development of the State; or in themes as diverse as the history of water, commodification history or the history of sickness and death.

Studying History at Wollongong is also about learning what it is to be a historian with each subject containing steps towards developing a sophisticated critical appreciation of contemporary approaches to historical theories, methods, interpretation, argument, and uses of evidence.

Career Opportunities

History graduates follow many employment paths. They work in Federal and State government departments, in private enterprise, as researchers, in the media, in travel, marketing and tourism, as teachers at primary and secondary schools, institutes of technology and universities, as well as finance and service industries.

The History course builds a solid foundation for future study through developing the students' capacity to inquire, analyse and communicate information, ideas, and concepts. This is extremely helpful to the graduate in terms of taking postgraduate courses.

Major Study

The History major is the central core of study in a History student's undergraduate Bachelor of Arts degree. It will consist of 52 credit points out of at least 144 credit points, with 24 credit points being at 300-level. The purpose of a major is to provide a specific and coherent course of study which will allow students to develop skills. Each subject in the major is intended to provide an understanding of a topic, area or theme, which will develop and enhance skills so as progress to other subjects can take place.

100-level subjects require no special knowledge and are best described as survey courses. They will however, provide students with a general introduction to a particular time, place, or theme. Students will learn and be introduced to many valuable basic skills to help them build a strong foundation for their major. In these subjects students will learn how to:

• identify the causes and effects of historical change;

• summarise the main points of a historical work;

• identify the thesis or central argument of a historical work;

• describe the historical context of a work;

• identify different types of historical evidence;

• see how historians produce different accounts of the same of the event; and

• to begin the use of primary source material to produce and defend arguments.

200-level subjects will refine and extend both skills and historical knowledge. They offer study in greater depth than the survey courses, and will take a closer look at events and places. 300-level subjects take a detailed approach to major historical problems, and unlike earlier studies, students will use a wide range of primary sources to investigate topics. These may include film, radio, television, archival manuscript, oral interviews, literature, newspapers, parliamentary records, photographs, diaries and/or company documents.

Students taking a major in History can count up to 16 credit points from the following: INDS150, INDS200, FREN210, STS 112, STS 230, STS238, as well as the Politics subjects and the SMAC subject listed in the table below.

Note: students enrolled in a double major may only cross-count one subject.

Minor Study

A minor in History will consist of at least 28 credit points in subjects from the schedule of the History major. Students may not take more than two subjects at 100-level, and may not cross-count any subjects from the minor in any other minor or major study.

Honours

See Bachelor of Arts (Honours)

Study Program

Subject Code	Subject Name	Credit Points	Session
100 level
INDS150	Introduction to Indigenous Australia	6	Autumn/Spring
AUST101	Australian Studies, Cultures and Identities	6	Autumn
AUST102	Locating Australia	6	Spring
HIST107	Empires, Colonies and the 'Clash' of Civilisations	6	Spring
HIST124	The Cold War and After	6	Autumn
POL141	Change and Debate in Contemporary Australian Politics	6	N/O 2010
STS112	The Scientific Revolution	6	Spring
200 level
FREN210	France in the Twentieth Century	8	Spring
INDS200	Identity, History and Contested Knowledge	8	Autumn
HIST201	An Ocean of History: An Introduction to the Pacific World	8	Spring
HIST202	Slavery in the Asia Pacific	8	Autumn
HIST203	Australians and the Great War	8	Spring
HIST215	National Stories	8	N/O 2010
HIST216	Ancient Greece	8	N/O 2010
HIST217	Ancient History: Rome	8	N/O 2010
HIST220	Living Australia: The Autobiography of Working Class Australia	8	Autumn
HIST232	Russia in War and Revolution	8	N/O 2010
HIST239	Water in Australia: An Environmental History	8	Spring
HIST255	Australia and Asia: Connections and Comparisons	8	Spring
HIST265	Gallipoli Study Tour	8	Winter
HIST270	Western Front Study Tour	8	N/O 2010
HIST291	Film and History	8	Autumn
POL230	Latin America: Conquest and Colonisation	8	N/O 2010
SMAC201	Popular Culture in Japan since 1945	8	Autumn
STS230	Technology in World History: From Prehistory to the Present	8	N/O 2010
STS238	Changing Images of Nature: From the Renaissance to the Present	8	Spring
300 level
HIST300	Reporting War	8	N/O 2010
HIST301	Colonialism: A Global History	8	N/O 2010
HIST310	Europe in World History	8	Autumn
HIST318	The Making of the Modern Australian Woman	8	Autumn
HIST322	Twentieth Century Dictatorships	8	Spring
HIST325	Theory and Method	8	Spring
HIST334	Regional and Environmental History	8	Autumn
HIST339	Australians and War: Kokoda to Iraq	8	Spring
HIST342	Sickness and Death: Social History and Public Health in Australia	8	Spring
HIST343	Special Topics in History	8	Autumn/Spring
HIST350	Debates in Australian Cultural History	8	Autumn/Spring
HIST394	Commodification History	8	Spring
POL368	Protest and Power in America: The Sixties	8	Spring
WAR300	War and Society	8	Spring