Pynes for the days when it was safe for schools to teach Australian history
Child molester! ABC News, June 14:
Defence Minister Christopher Pyne: I would be very surprised if the Labor Party in Canberra endorsed keeping the name Wakefield when Edward Gibbon Wakefield was jailed for statutory rape … It’s time to consign the name of Wakefield to the dustbin of history, especially since at the moment we’re right in the middle of a debate about a redress scheme for the victims of sexual abuse. And of course, a person who is jailed for statutory rape is a child molester.
B ring on the socialist! Michael Owen, The Australian, yesterday:
Labor MP Nick Champion has backed calls by … Christopher Pyne to rename the seat of Wakefield … (and) said he would be … happier to represent a seat named after a socialist …
Statutory rape or misdemeanour? Australian Dictionary of Biography:
Edward Gibbon Wakefield … abducted a 15-year-old heiress, Ellen Turner … They were married at Gretna Green … She was induced to return to her parents and Wakefield … (was) convicted of a statutory misdemeanour …
Rape or spotless virgin? Lynette Morrissey, Lancaster Castle.com:
Ellen (Turner)’s paternal uncle … set sail for Calais and immediately upon landing saw Ellen and Edward (Gibbon Wakefield) walking on the pier. Ellen was overjoyed … Edward did the honourable thing and handed Ellen over to her uncle, stating “… you receive her at my hands as a pure and spotless virgin”.
Guess they don’t learn this in schools. Britain’s The Spectator, January 21, 1899:
(Edward) Gibbon Wakefield … came of old Quaker stock … Elizabeth Fry (the great British prison reformer) was a cousin … (so,) brought up “in an atmosphere of aggressive philanthropy”, and finding himself in jail, (he) naturally set to work to consider the welfare of criminals. His book on The Punishment of Death was one of the most potent forces in humanising our laws, and … (and) led him to consider transportation … (and) answer the question — it seems now scarcely conceivable that there should have been a need to ask it — why Australia was useless to England … he observed … (wryly, that the problem with prosperity based on convict labour was that) … “such prosperity could not rest upon a solid basis; since, however earnestly we may desire it, we cannot expect that the increase of crime will keep pace with the spread of colonisation” … Wakefield … when there was really need of a thinker, produced a generative idea which played its part in the formation of communities that can now afford to despise it … He opposed the plague of convict labour, he advocated responsible government for the Colonies; … (and introduced) into a new country the complex fabric of civilisation … fully matured.
What you can safely learn in schools. John Ballantyne, newsweekly.com.au, July 5, 2014:
A controversial $8 million Safe Schools initiative, which aims to ensure that “gender and sexual diversity are supported and celebrated in all areas of the school community” across Australia, was launched in Melbourne on Friday, June 13 … federal education minister Christopher Pyne … has been warmly supportive of it …
No danger of being put in the dustbin of history. Samantha Hutchinson, The Australian, May 17:
Victoria’s … Safe Schools LGBTI awareness and sex education program is now operating in 98 per cent of the state’s public high schools … on track to achieve … 100 per cent coverage … Bill Shorten (has) left the door open for a revival of federal funding …