Henri Kowalski (1841–1916): A French Musician in Colonial Australia

French virtuoso pianist and composer Henri Kowalski visited Australia in 1880 and then returned in 1885 when he settled in Sydney for twelve years. This article explores his introduction of French repertoire, institutional practices and musical instruments to colonial Sydney. It demonstrates that for a short period at the end of the nineteenth century, there was a much stronger French presence in musical life in Australia than has previously been acknowledged.     

Negotiations of Irish identity in the wake of terrorism: the case of the Irish in Birmingham 1973–74

This article explores the Irish migrant experience in Birmingham during and in the wake of terrorist campaigns carried out in Britain between 1969 and 1975 and attributed to the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Beginning with a discussion of the competencies with which Irishness was associated at the close of the 1960s in England, many of which were hinged on a notion of the Irish predisposition towards violence, the article continues on to take the political, cultural and religious “temperature” of the Irish community in Birmingham between 1969 and 1975, and follows on with a discussion of the specific strategies sought out by Irish immigrants to come to terms with the effect of events such as the “Birmingham Bombings” on their daily lives. Principle findings that emerge from the study indicate that IRA terrorism forced the Irish in Birmingham to engage with and adopt a number of distinct linguistic and cultural strategies in the post-1974 period, the cultivation of which indefinitely altered their relationship with Ireland as “home”, their visibility in the public British sphere and their associational patterns and practices within the migrant enclave.     

Visionary experience and social protest in Polynesia: A note on ‘Ofa Mele Longosai

The Making of Modern Samoa: Traditional Authority and Colonial Administration in the Modern History of Western Samoa. By Malama Meleisea. Suva, Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, 1987. xiv, 280 pp, illus., notes, bibliog., index.

Oceania: The Native Cultures of Australia and the Pacific Islands. By Douglas L. Oliver. Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 1989. 2 vols, xii, 1275 pp, figs, plates, maps, notes, bibliog., indexes.

The Pacific Islands. 3rd ed. By Douglas L. Oliver. Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 1989. xi, 304 pp, maps, illus., bibliog., index. US$14.95.

Ples Blong Iumi, Solomon Islands: The Past Four Thousand Years. Edited by Hugh Laracy. Suva, Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, 1989. xiv, 176 pp, maps, illus., bibliog., index.

Pacific Prelude: A journey to Samoa and Australasia, 1929. By Margery Perham. Edited and with an introduction by A. H. M. Kirk‐Greene. London, Peter Owen, 1988. 272 pp, appendix, notes, bibliog., index.

Torres Strait Islanders: Custom and Colonialism. By Jeremy Beckett. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1987. xii, 251 pp, plates, maps, bibliog., index. Hardcover, $A45.00. Paper, $A19.35.

Tangan Music. By Richard Moyle. Auckland, Auckland University Press, 1987. xiv, 256 pp, plates, figures, bibliog., index. $NZ75.

Atlas des Iles et Etats du Pacifique Sud. By Benoit Antheaume and Joel Bonnemaison. Montpellier &; Paris, GIP RECLUS/PUBLISUD, 1988. 126 pp.

History's Anthropology: The Death of William Gooch. By Greg Dening. ASAO Special Publications. No. 2. Lanham, University Press of America, 1988. xix + 122 pp, bibliog.     

‘A Tiny Little Footnote in History’: Conservative Centre Forward

In May 1985, two years after he had returned to the back benches, Francis Pym launched the first organised display of dissent within the parliamentary Conservative Party against Margaret Thatcher's leadership: Conservative Centre Forward. Those Conservative MPs who joined the group were very much believers in One Nation Conservatism. Conservative Centre Forward survived for barely a week after going public; it rapidly collapsed amid accusations of disloyalty and inept leadership. The group proved to be a short-lived experiment which achieved little of note and exposed those who were involved to widespread ridicule. Yet, it was precisely because Conservative Centre Forward collapsed so quickly and achieved so little that it was significant. In its own way, the short life of the group provided a revealing commentary upon the character of the mid-1980s Conservative Party. It was a party which, on the one hand, was moving inexorably to the right and therefore ever further away from the values of One Nation Conservatism which Conservative Centre Forward espoused. On the other hand, it was a party which was still traditional enough to view open displays of dissent, of whatever magnitude, as a threat to the unity upon which its continued electoral success depended.     

Social Hierarchy of the Policemen in the French Concession of Shanghai, 1911–37

The policemen in the French Concession of Shanghai were mainly composed of French, Russian, Chinese, and Vietnamese. Through a comparative study of recruiting conditions, training courses, salaries, welfare, and job turnover, I establish that the police were a hierarchical institution based on a differentiated treatment according to race and nationality. The French policemen stood at the top of the pyramid, with the lowest number but the most influence. The Russians were cheap white labor forces and constituted the second highest class of the police. The Vietnamese and Chinese policemen were at the bottom of the pyramid and constituted the majority of the policemen in the Concession.