Synthesized answer
The assertion that only those "who have moved upon the scene" can truly grasp "how men's minds were disturbed" suggests that personal experience and direct involvement are crucial for understanding historical context and the emotional states of individuals during events [1]. This perspective highlights the strength of firsthand observation, implying that such insight provides a deeper, more authentic understanding than mere reports or detached analysis. However, a limitation of this claim is that it may overlook the potential biases and limited perspectives inherent in personal involvement. Those "on the scene" might be too immersed in events to achieve objectivity or to see the broader historical picture.
The passages suggest that official reports and blue-books provide authentic facts, but opinions within them require balancing with knowledge of the writers' characters, which can be gained from confidential letters revealing inner workings [1]. The historian must be studiously analytic to weave conflicting elements into a trustworthy narration, as contemporary writers can color events [2]. The passages advocate for fortifying positions with circumstantial proofs and allowing…
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From the book
disturbed by events which might seem trivial to strangers abroad, is given only to those who have moved upon the scene. As a resident in various rural districts, as a holder of public office, as a magistrate, as mayor of a borough, and in other ways, I have had ample opportunities of becoming acquainted with the course of events. Copious materials in the shape of official reports and blue-books are at the command of all. As to facts they convey authentic information. The opinions they contain require to be balanced with a knowledge of the characters of the writers, and such knowledge is…
pamphlets are like autumn leaves in abundance—and in fate—how much need is there for judgment in prosecuting an inquiry! How strong and yet how contradictory are the assertions made; how studiously analytic must he be who would weave the conflicting elements into a trustworthy narration! How frequently is it found that the audacity of a contemporary writer has so coloured events that the plain tint of truth runs risk of being lost for ever. The historian of Australia has no period of mythical gloom to explore with regard to the British who subdued and replenished the land; but, in selecting…
it is not enough to make mere assertions. It is incumbent to fortify each position by cumulating circumstantial proofs. The world, moreover, exacts, in modern days, details which greatly lengthen books, and such a process has the approval of one of the most sagacious of men. In marshalling the facts which prove how much error has been accepted as truth with regard to the pilgrim fathers of Australia, I have allowed the actors to speak for themselves as much as possible. An author may labour to incorporate as the coinage of his own brain the wit or sense which emanated from those of whom he…
udents, leave room for a history framed to embody the spirit of the time rather than to register every daily occurrence. Amongst the "Historical Records" are numerous papers in the possession of the Hon. P. G. King, M.L.C., in New South Wales. They throw a flood of light upon the time with which they deal. The original MSS, lent to the author many years ago, justified him in the hope that he might present the "age and body of the time, its form and pressure," with the aid of the old Governor's manuscripts, which had been carefully preserved in a chest, until his grandson—their present…
dst whose judgments may be found a clue to the tangled labyrinth into which investigation must often lead the historian. There is danger lest one who has lived within a portion of the time he chronicles should himself fail to preserve a just discrimination; but, if he has not been himself immersed in party quarrels, if his desire be to probe the facts and declare the truth, his personal experiences are so far advantageous that they may restrain him from accepting ignorant or wilful mis-statements made by those who have only a party purpose to serve. How long the aborigines of Australia had…
More questions about this book
- Rusden asserts his aim is to provide a "correct narrative." What specific criteria or methodologies does he present that, in his view, would make his account uniquely "correct," and what challenges might this claim pose to historical objectivity?
- The author highlights his unique access to "confidential letters" and personal experience "on the scene." How do these sources and perspectives, according to Rusden, deepen understanding of historical events beyond official records, and what potential biases might such intimate access introduce?
- Rusden differentiates between the "authentic information" of official reports and the "opinions" requiring knowledge of writers' characters. Explain how this distinction might guide an historian's interpretation, and where the boundary between "fact" and "opinion" could become ambiguous even within "authentic" sources.
- Given that Rusden is writing while the "actors" of colonization are "rapidly passing away," what advantages and disadvantages does this temporal proximity offer his historical account, particularly concerning the judgment of what constitutes a "momentous" event?