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Michael J Murphy
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The Australian 'bush' and national identity
From the nineteenth century Australian writers and artists looked towards the Australian bush to help create a national identity.

Michael Murphy
Nov 6, 202412 min read
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Exile and Punishment: A Brief History of the Moreton Bay Penal Colony
Moreton Bay penal colony (1824-1939) was designed to alienate and punish convicts.

Georgia Murphy
Jan 4, 20248 min read
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Executed for the most heinous of crimes: Myall Creek Murderers hanged 18 December, 1838.
(Warning this blog may contain names and voices of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders). On 18 December 1838, seven men were...

Michael Murphy
Dec 17, 20235 min read
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Eureka Stockade: beginning of Australian democracy, or localised riot?
At dawn on 3 December 1854 government soldiers stormed a barricade erected at Ballarat by miners of the Victorian goldfields. In a very...

Michael Murphy
Dec 2, 20235 min read
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A Living Hell: Surgeon Superintendents Changed Convict Transportation to Australia.
The decision by the British Government in 1786 to establish a convict settlement in New South Wales initiated a series of voyages that...

Michael Murphy
Nov 19, 20237 min read
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