Editorial Statement

Welcome to CLIO, named in honour of the ancient Greek muse of history, one of the nine muses mentioned in the works of Hesiod. The purpose of our journal is to stimulate interest in the study of the pre-industrial past, and in particular the classical and medieval inheritance of our modern world.

This inheritance envelops our daily life, though we are often unaware of its extent. It is all too easy to be overwhelmed by the frenetic pace of change in this Computer Age, to become imprisoned by technology rather than liberated by it, and to lose touch with the achievements and experiences of countless generations of humans who lived before us. CLIO aims to show the relevance of their experience to us.

CLIO is not merely about the past, however. Our journal is also dedicated to a particular notion of history, to the idea that history is not a mere catalogue of facts about the past but a distinctive mode of thought.

Malcolm Skilbeck, a former Director of the Curriculum Development Centre in the ACT, described history as both an instinctive and distinctive mode of human thought. It is instinctive because all human societies reflect upon the past, generally through myths and Dreamtime stories. Learning about the past is intellectually satisfying in itself, without the need for further purpose. However, it is also a distinctive mode of thought, a form of enquiry which can only be pursued in the mind and is limited by the random and subjective nature of its data. Historical writing is a distinctive form of literature, which seeks to establish a true account of events, motives and beliefs through the application of personal experience and the exercise of the imagination.

The great American scholar and writer Carl Becker also drew attention to the nature of historical information in an essay on the events at Lexington Green in 1776, arguing that historical "facts" are in reality merely affirmations of a fact. Written in 1955, his view formed part of an important dialogue on the methods of teaching history which was to culminate in the British Schools Council project What is History ? The emphasis was now being placed on active interpretation by the student, rather than passive acceptance of received information. Underscoring this new approach was a view of historical evidence as essentially hypothetical in nature. This meant that no textbook, no reference book, could by definition contain factual information. It was considered essential that the student exercise critical judgement in all their learning. This view of history as a process of inquiry leads us to a profound re-definition: Just as each generation seeks to express itself through art and philosophy, through new visions and fashions, so too does each generation seek to form its own view of the past. History is not a body of knowledge existing in books, but an ever shifting dynamic interpretation of the past by the present.

CLIO is a journal of research. It is based on the view that history is a process rather than a body of knowledge, and, furthermore, that it is a process of thinking. It is a unique form of thought because it speculates on the past, and because it seeks to discover the truth. It is the opposite to myth and legend, which explain the past through assertion and an uncritical acceptance of narrative. The historian, even the student historian, must search for answers and must search for true answers. The mere learning of facts about the past cannot be history, for it denies the need to exercise critical investigation and, without this, the learning cannot be history learning.

Student historians are limited, however, by access to sources and by their experience. Is there any point to their research and investigation? Are they likely to discover some new piece of information and set the academic world ablaze? Perhaps. However, this is not the purpose of research. At all levels of history, the purpose of historical research is to satisfy curiosity. This is the true purpose in teaching and learning history - to satisfy an innate human need to speculate on and investigate the past. Myths and legends seek to do this without the discipline of logical thought. History satisfies our curiosity by applying a distinctive method of research to our natural speculation.

We hope you enjoy reading the student essays contained in CLIO. Most of the contributors have progressed to tertiary studies now, but these essays, their earliest attempts at academic history writing, may help to inspire new generations of students. Many of the essays will be interesting to a wider audience as well.