History in Sight and Sound

We are thrilled to present our second issue of Australian Historical Studies for 2019. Here we bring together a series of methodologically innovative and interdisciplinary pieces that explore seeing and hearing in history. The first article, by Andrew Hurley, explores the nexus between hearing and emotion in the history of Australian exploration. Where scholars have hitherto posited silence and emptiness as key parts of explorer narratives (parts that did clear colonial work), Hurley tells a more complicated story about one very keen listener’s multivalent engagement with the Australian outback. Ludwig Leichhardt’s detailed diaries suggest an only partly recorded, but very rich engagement with soundscapes in Australia.