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Duncan Waterson: A lapidary historian
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Duncan Waterson: A lapidary historian

G. Bolton
Journal of Australian Studies, Vol.25(69), pp.9-16
2001
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Abstract

It is a consolation in the historian's profession that, confronted by pomposity, stupidity, or abuse of power in high places, we know that we shall have the last word. As Nikita Khrushchev observed in another context: 'We shall bury you'. But although the similarities between the historian's trade and the undertaker's may seem obvious, in real life there has been little commerce between the two professions. Many historians in Australia have been former clergy, the children of clergy, or otherwise shaped by clerical influences, but to my knowledge only one has sprung from a family of undertakers: Duncan Waterson.

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