Clash of Ideologies

Cultural institutions such as The National Museum in Canberra are intrinsically linked to the prevailing governing ideology. The Museum was conceived in order to portray an Australian identity through the creation of a national past. Dawn Casey was the Director of The National Museum for four years (1999 - 2003) and played a pivotal role in the creation of the Museum.
Casey questioned the prevailing authoritarian legitimation of the nation, in particular the way our history had been previously constructed by a colonial, white, framework.

Casey did not just rely on the white written history of the colonial majority but through a long and involved process of consultation with academics and people of different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds provided a history and identity which was more inclusive and representative of the Australian Post-Colonial nation-state. Casey included the oral histories of Aboriginal people and a history which was inclusive of the frontier violence and general black and white colonial interactions. Casey also represented the voices and stories of The Stolen Generation, the Aboriginal people who were and are still affected by various racist policies perpetuated by the Australian Government. Casey was also inclusive of aspects of The Australian Immigration Policy which discriminated against potential immigrants - the White Australia Policy - and thus represented a more truthful account of immigrant's experiences and their cultural backgrounds.

This democratic construction of our nation's history did not reflect the ideological agenda of the conservative Howard Government. The social control and oppression of Howard's ideology became apparant as the battle of contested histories was waged. The Howard Government instigated a review into Casey's management of The Museum and although accusations of political and cultural bias were shown to be unfounded, Casey's position as Director was not renewed by the Government.

The forming of the national cultural identity and the construction of histories in a Cultural Institution needs to be legitimized by a democratic framework not subject to the political mandate of the prevailing governing body. If we are ideally living in a democratic society in which we are all included then our Cultural Institutions need to reflect this reality.