Out Here Down Under

Book excerpt: Out Here Down Under is a collection of documents and papers illuminating the development and character of ancient ‎history as a discipline in the Antipodes. It considers especially the distinctive and extraordinarily ‎popular program, championed by E. A. Judge, of studying classical and biblical corpora together under ‎one discipline, with an emphasis on the interpretation of documentary sources. ‎In twenty chapters, this volume considers such issues as the relationship between British and ‎Antipodean scholarship, the story and legacy of Antipodean scholars of the ancient world, the ‎nature and ideology of ancient history programs at schools and universities (especially in NSW ‎and at Macquarie), the interaction between biblical and classical disciplines, and the function of ‎history in contemporary Australia. These texts, mostly written by Judge himself throughout his career, appear here with new introductory notes outlining their historical significance for the discipline and Judge’s own practice.