Summary |
Emeritus Professor Charles Manning Hope Clark speaks of his mixed family background, his early puzzlement about Christian teachings, his view that humans are inherently flawed and his pessimism that people can be changed for the better, boarding at Melbourne Grammar and the shock of the bullying school culture, the Greek view of life versus the Christian view of life and the need to draw one's own conclusions of the issues in life, how he drank in his youth to cope with his nervous complaint and social inhibitions, his studies at Melbourne University, the historical significance of 1917, the impact of the Spanish War of 1936 on public debate and Clark's study of current history, his talent as a cricketer, university teaching and observations of some academics, his time at Oxford University in 1938-1940 shocked by British class differences, married in 1939, his study of Alexis de Toqueville.
Clark discusses his return to Australia and the ignorance here about the German viewpoint and our inability to discuss issues without stereotyping the opponent or assigning suspicious motives, teaching at Geelong Grammar as history master where he developed his interest in Australian history from 1943, his views on the European viewpoint seen as treason, his cultivation of intellectuals at local meetings, his resistance to leftist radicals who seek subversive solutions, his return in 1944 to university teaching in politics, in 1946 his permanent uni. posting as lecturer in Australian history, Australian history now Australia-centred rather than British policy-centred and the search for an Australian identity, his publications on Australian history and historiography, notable Australian historians, his teaching experiences at University of Melbourne and later at the University of Canberra.
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