Overview

Editors:

Lyn Gorman
Charles Sturt University, NSW

Don Boadle
CSU Regional Archives, Charles Sturt University, NSW

Historical analyses of rural issues are the focus of this Special Issue of Rural Society adding dimensions to our understanding of rural and regional Australia, including sectarianism, religion, intellectual networks, regional politics, American agrarianism, European-Chinese economic interaction, the role of media, health and education.

None of the articles is narrowly confined to a colonial perspective of rural history. The articles embrace a history that is critical and analytical. They concentrate not only on a particular locality or region or on a specific period, but also examine the particular within a more general context, be it national or international.

This Special Issue is a very fruitful collaboration between historians and archivists and demonstrates how historical research, based on detailed work on localities or regions, can enrich our understanding of our national heritage and extend historical writing in areas embracing social, cultural, religious and intellectual history from a national and regional perspective.

Table of Contents

RURAL AND REGIONAL HISTORY

Editorial
Lyn Gorman, Don Boadle

Sectarianism in Ganmain: A local study, 1912-21
James Logan

A 'New Deal' for Australia: The National Catholic Rural Movement and American agrarianism, 1931-49
Richard Doig

Activists, experts and intellectuals: A 1950s rural network
Don Boadle

Science and education: The beginnings of agricultural extension in 1890s New South Wales
Dirk HR Spennemann

From red to white: Wagga Wagga, 1890-1990
Warwick Eather

In the interests of rural society: The Riverina press and the provision of health and education
Nancy Blacklow

European-Chinese economic interaction in a pre-federation rural Australian setting
Rod Lancashire

RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Sectarianism and sisterhood: Research in progress
Nancy Blacklow, Elizabeth West

San Isidore: A working paper
Zita Denholm

Local newspapers, local identities?
Ross Harvey

Wheat Technology Project
Lyn Gorman, Thomas Graham

The reception of the Rural Reconstruction Commission's Reports and their impact on policy
Troy Whitford

The Murray Valley Development League: A research communication
Madeline Denholm, Nancy Blacklow

BOOK REVIEWS

Colonial Armidale
John Ferry
Reviewed by Don Boadle

New England Lives
JS Ryan (ed)
Reviewed by Zita Denholm

Wagga Wagga: A History
Sherry Morris
Reviewed by John Ferry

A History of the Wagga Wagga Sub-Branch of the Returned and Services League of Australia, 1918-1998
S Morris and H Fife
Reviewed by Joanna Seczkowski

Beside the Seaside: Victorian Resorts in the Nineteenth Century
Andrea Inglis
Reviewed by Lyn Gorman

Charlie's Book: The Life and Times of a Country Town
Lynn Sunderland
Reviewed by Sherry Morris

Listen to the People, Listen to the Land
James Sinatra and Phin Murphy
Reviewed by Elizabeth West

Australian Cultural Geographies
Elaine Stratford (ed)
Reviewed by James Logan

Getting Equal: The History of Australian Feminism
Marilyn Lake
Reviewed by Elizabeth West

We're Not Ladies, We're Women!: A Herstory of the Wagga Wagga Women's Health Centre
J Roberts and B Stewart
Reviewed by Thérèse Taylor