History Guild supports the Australian Historical Association’s Statement in Response to the Trump Administration’s Attempts to Curtail Academic Freedom.
The Australian Historical Association stands in solidarity with our colleagues in the United States of America, where President Donald Trump is attempting far-reaching political interference in the work of historians and museum sector professionals. In his executive order signed on March 27, entitled ‘Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History’, President Trump alleged a ‘concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth’. The order requires Vice President JD Vance (as member of the Smithsonian’s board of regents) to work with Congress and the office of management and budget to block programmes at the Smithsonian that ‘degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with federal law and policy’. The AHA deplores the Trump administration’s attempts to impose a single version of American history. We share the concerns of our American colleagues that the Trump administration represents a threat to American historians’ freedom to produce ethical, excellent, and evidence-based research and to present the results of this research to the public through exhibitions, websites and other materials.
Australian Historical Association
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Reading time: 6 minutes The Native Mounted Police operated in Queensland for 80 years, starting in 1849. It consisted of small groups of between six and 15 Aboriginal troopers under the command of white officers. The troopers were typically recruited from areas far from where they were sent to serve. Detachments of troopers were regularly sent out on patrol, covering large areas along the frontier of the colony in pursuit of Indigenous people who were considered to be “problematic”. Their main job was to protect civilian settlers, the lands they had taken up, and their livelihoods – by whatever means necessary.
