History is a discipline that looks back at the past and tries to understand where we have come from, as individuals, societies and national groups. In part therefore, history may be said to be the study and representation of past events, lives, places, ideas and institutions. This means history is full of fascinating and exciting stories that connect and resonate with - but also counterpoint - our own. But history also looks to the past for understandings about the origin of things. How did the notion of democracy arise? Why do most of us live in cities? When was the expression 'teenager' first used? Why are certain nation's implacable enemies? What made the United States the most powerful country in the world? Investigating the past, we learn more about ourselves.
Students may construct a sequence, minor or major in history by selecting units spread geographically across the fields of Asian, European and Australian history or by following a more specialised sequence based upon a particular field or theme. Students are advised to seek further information from school's course advisers.
Students are also encouraged to study foreign languages in fields relevant to their historical interests. The School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics offers a number of units for beginners.
First-year level
Students studying a sequence in history must complete two units (12 points) from the following:
- AAH1010 Ancient civilisation 1
- AAH1020 Ancient civilisation 2
- HSY1010 Medieval Europe
- HSY1020 Renaissance Europe
- HSY1050 Understanding Asia I: Foundations (previously Asian civilisations: The cycle of empires)
- HSY1060 Understanding Asia 2: Transformations (previously Asian civilisations: Crisis and transformation)
- HSY1111 Nations at War I: From Napoleon to Gallipoli
- HSY1112 Nations at War II: Revolutions in the twentieth century
- HSY1120 Conflict and coexistence: Jews, Christians, Muslims (previously Jews and non-Jews in the middle ages)
- HSY1190 The Bible as history (previously Jews, God and history)
- HSY1200 Histories of God
- INT1010 Contemporary worlds 1
- INT1020 Contemporary worlds 2
Suggested first-year sequences in history are:
Second/Third-year level
Students studying a minor or major in history must have completed the first-year sequence. In addition:
- a minor requires completion of a further two units (12 points) from the units listed below
- a major requires completion of a further six units (36 points) from the units listed below. A minimum of three units must be taken at third year level.
Available units include:
- AAH2230/AAH3230 Imperial Egypt and the Mediterranean world
- AAH2800/AAH3800 The golden age of Athens
- AAH2950/AAH3950 Kleopatra's Egypt (previously Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt)
- AAH2970/AAH3970 The Early dynastic period and old kingdom in Egypt, 3050 - 2150 BCE
- AAS2010/AAS3010 Social justice and indigenous Australians
- AAS2020/AAS3020 Interrogating racism: Indigenous Australians and the state
- AAS2070/AAS3070 Australian Aboriginal women
- AUS2001/AUS3001 Broken earth: Journeys through the Australian landscape
- AUS2002/AUS3002 Beyond Gallipoli: Australians in two world wars (Prato)
- HSY2015/HSY3015 History, film and TV in 20th century Australia
- HSY2045/HSY3045 Relics and legends: deciphering popular Christianity (previously Decoding 'The Da Vinci Code': Histories behind the story)
- HSY2145/HSY3145 The history of the Arab-Israeli conflict
- HSY2260/HSY3260 Australian Aboriginal history
- HSY2275/HSY3275 Islam: Principles, civilization, influence
- HSY2300/HSY3300 Twentieth-century Australia
- HSY2335/HSY3335 Twentieth-century Britain: Rule Britannia to cool Britannia
- HSY2410/HSY3410 History of sexuality 1800 to the present
- HSY2570/HSY3570 Modern Israel: History, politics and society (previously Modern Israel: Vision and reality)
- HSY2580/HSY3580 The Holocaust in an age of genocide
- HSY2630/HSY3630 Renaissance Florence
- HSY2640/HSY3640 The age of crusades: Cultures and societies (previously Christians, Jews and Muslims in the age of crusades)
- HSY2645/HSY3645 Arthur: History and myth
- HSY2655/HSY3655 Troubadours and street singers: Music and popular culture 1100-1600
- HSY2725/HSY3725 Nationalism and revolution in Southeast Asia
- HSY2735/HSY3735 Myth and meaning in ancient worlds (previously SHS2735/SHS3735 and RLT2190/RLT3190)
- HSY2745/HSY3745 Jesus and the Jews (previously SHS2020/SHS3020)
- HSY2755/HSY3755 Ancient religions (previously SHS2010/SHS3010)
- HSY2765/ HSY3765 Mystics, authority and society (previously SHS2470/SHS3470 Spiritual journeys: mysticism, Sufism and Kabbalah)
- HSY2920/HSY3920 Death and disease: Healers and quacks in history
- HSY2950/HSY3950 Slavery, freedom and revolution: The enlightenment and the French revolution
- HSY2985/HSY3985 Twentieth-century America: Race, rights and power
- HSY2990/HSY3990 The American civil war
- HSY3005 Special reading unit (previously Adjunct research subject)
- HSY3125 Dante's medieval world: Politics, religion and the city (Prato)
- HSY3165 Final journey: The life and death of European Jews, 1900-1945 (overseas)
- HSY3195 Israelis and Palestinians between war and peace (overseas)
- HSY3200 Advanced history workshop
- INT2030/INT3030 Nationality, ethnicity and conflict
- INT2095/INT3095 Travel and global encounters
- INT2120/INT3120 Post-conflict: Justice, memory, reconciliation (previously After war: justice, memory, reconciliation)
- INT2170/INT3170 Sacred and profane: Religion, the secular and the state
- INT3140 After atrocity: The Holocaust, South Africa, Rwanda
Units not available in 2010
- AAH2220/AAH3220 Alexander the Great and his world
- AAH2260/AAH3260 Imperial Rome: A study in power and perversion in the early Empire
- AAH2580/AAH3580 The Middle Kingdom in Egypt: From collapse to recovery and foreign rule
- AAH2990/AAH3990 Egypt's golden age and its aftermath
- AUS2000/AUS3000 ANZAC legends: Australians at war
- EUR2140/EUR3140 Modern Eastern and Central Europe: Culture and society
- HSY2025/HSY3025 Beyond Machiavelli: Crisis and renewal in early modern Italy
- HSY2050/HSY3050 Fears and fantasies: Deviance and criminality in the modern world
- HSY2055/HSY3055 Murderous cities: Killers, slums and social reform (previously Murder and mayhem: The London underworld from the 18th to the 20th Centuries)
- HSY2060/HSY3060 History wars: The uses of the past
- HSY2065/HST3065 Suspicious minds: A history of distrust
- HSY2075/HSY3075 Soldiers of fortune: Mercenaries, states and violence
- HSY2085/HSY3085 Witches and depravity in the medieval and early modern world
- HSY2095/HSY3095 The modern Middle East
- HSY2105/HSY3105 Religion and genocide in 20th century India
- HSY2130/HSY3130 The Ottoman empire: From Gazi to Gallipoli (summer unit jointly offered with La Trobe University)
- HSY2140/HSY3140 Faith and power: Islam in history and society
- HSY2190/HSY3190 Modern Indonesia: Nation and state
- HSY2225/HSY3225 History and film: Nazi Germany and the Jewish holocaust
- HSY2265/HSY3265 The world of the bible: Text and context (previously SHS2265/SHS3265)
- HSY2325/HSY3325 From convict colony to white Australia
- HSY2330/HSY3330 Tudor and Stuart England: Crisis, conquest and creativity, 1485-1660
- HSY2345/HSY3345 Facing history: Israeli and Palestainian literature and film (previously HSY3135)
- HSY2400/HSY3400 Sexuality, decadence and modernity in Europe c1880-1918
- HSY2415/HSY3415 Twentieth century news media: The prerogative of the harlot
- HSY2440/HSY3440 The rise and fall of Nazi Germany
- HSY2460/HSY3460 The Vietnam war)
- HSY2495/HSY3495 History of Australian feminism
- HSY2555/HSY3555 Australian Jewry: History and society
- HSY2560/HSY3560 Jews in the modern world (previously Challenge and response: The course of modern Jewish history)
- HSY2595/HSY3595 Alexandria - Jerusalem - Rome
- HSY2600/HSY3600 Cults and the end of time: A history of millenarian discourse (previously Cults and the end of time: Millennial belief, prophecy, progress and dissent through the ages)
- HSY2710/HSY3710 The island world of Southeast Asia
- HSY2850/HSY3850 The Australian city: Contemporary problems in historical perspective
- HSY2860/HSY3860 The Renaissance in Florence (taught in November to December in Italy)
- HSY2910/HSY3910 The 'Great War': Reconsiderations and representations
- HSY2955/HSY3955 Searching for the American dream (overseas)
- HSY2995/HSY3995 Dissent, revolution and freedom: Inventing the United States to 1850
- HSY3080 Reading history
- HSY3135 Facing history: Representing the Arab-Israeli conflict
- HSY3690 Angels and demons: Rome, the papacy and the world (previously Pageant and power: The Renaissance papacy
- HSY3805 Teaching history
- INT2055/INT3055 Global disasters: Impact, inquiry and change
- INT2130/INT3130 Global cities
- JWC2425/JWC3425 The life and death of European Jews, 1900-1945 (previously On the edge of destruction: Polish Jewry between the two world war)
- JWC2540/JWC3540 Israeli culture through cinema and literature
- RLT2210/RLT3210 Starring God: Religion, myth and film
- RLT2480/RLT3480 The religious quest: Eastern faith and illumination
- RLT3145 Interpreting the source of Islam: The Qur'an and Hadith
- SHS2470/SHS3470 Spiritual journeys: mysticism, sufism and kabbalah (previously RLT2470/RLT3470)
- SHS2735/SHS3735 Myth and meaning in ancient worlds (previously HSY2735/HSY3735 and RLT2190/RLT3190)
