Fault Lines: Australia’s Unequal Past (ed by Seumas Spark & Christina Twomey, Monash University Publishing)
Fault Lines: Australia’s Unequal Past is a powerful essay collection that invites readers to engage with past and ongoing injustices embedded in Australia’s national story. Edited by Seumas Spark and Christina Twomey, the collection brings together diverse historical case studies that challenge both global and local understandings of diversity, justice and state power. Across the essays, a unifying thread emerges: policies once seen as pragmatic or necessary when applied en masse are revealed to be indefensible and unjust. From ‘enemy aliens’ and refugees to cultural groups, families and repressed and colonised peoples, the book asks us to reconsider the legality of political actions that inflicted real human suffering. The personal stories are particularly affecting, including Holocaust refugees transported by the British government to Australian internment camps, and an Austrian couple who fled Europe and recreated their Viennese apartment in suburban Melbourne. In contrast, a mother who ‘abducted’ her children from state care reveals the ongoing trauma and injustices inflicted under child welfare legislation. Other chapters shine a light on lesser-known or underexamined histories, such as the hanging of 34 Papuan men for treason, and ASIO’s extensive surveillance of post-war Greek immigrants. The collection also interrogates shifts in citizenship rights, queer activism and public versus private life, framing these movements within broader legal and social reckonings. Fault Lines is an essential read for anyone interested in how the past continues to shape the uneven ground we stand on today, and would be a useful text for undergraduate students.
Books+Publishing reviewer: Merril Darling is a freelance book reviewer based in Melbourne. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.
Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.
Category: Friday Unlocked reviews Reviews
