Blog Post 5

History of Censorship and Classification in Australia

Throughout history, Australia has maintained a standing on censorship, and there has been many acts and regulations, and types of ways that materials have been classified or banned throughout history. These include but not limited to:

1901 - The Department of Trade and Customs received the rights to prohibit the import of indecent, blasphemous or obscene works. 

1967 - The National Literature Board of review was established, they had the responsibility of reviewing books that they deemed unsuitable for release in Australia. 

1974 - The Commonwealth and all states except for Queensland agreed that the Commonwealth would have the responsibility to classify materials. 

1983 - The Commonwealth developed the Classification of Publications Ordinance 1983 (ACT)

1996 - The National Classification Scheme Commenced and a Classification Review Board was developed.

Banned Books in Australia

Throughout Australian History there have been many books that have succumbed to becoming banned in Australia. These have included:

The Room by Hubert Selby (Novel)

This novel was banned by the National Literature Board of Review on the 3^rd of October, 1972. A particular censor described the book as having scenes that are quite impossible to accept as social realism, it was classed as outright pornography. Another censor also thought that civilisation could not exist if all types of pornography are permitted freely. The book was later released on the 17^th of August, 1973.

The Inheritors by Harold Robbins (Novel)

The novel was banned by the national Literature Board of Review on the 12^th of August, 1970. The censors considered the materials to be unacceptable due to the high sexual content of the United States edition, crudity and coarseness which was considered to be unacceptable. It was based on characters living in luxury, and jump in and out of bed with one another and in unlikely combinations. The book was later released in August, 1973.

The Deal: A Novel by G. William Marshall (Novel)

This novel was banned by the National Literature Board of Review on the 16^th of October, 1968. It was considered that that author has attempted to outdo all others, by focussing on the descriptions of copulation and physical violence. It was thought that these details were unnecessary for a literary or dramatic reasons. This edition as well as others were later released on the 27^th of July, 1973.

Reflection of Research:

I experienced some difficulty on this particular blog post. I was initially searching for history of book burning events, but was unable to find real valuable and reliable information to refer to. There were events that were suggested to have happen, therefore I decided to not use this material as they were not reputible source for my research, I continued looking as began to find information relating to more of the censorship side of Australian history, and found some good and new resources to look at for information. 

I used general search engine techniques to get me started, and then found valuable government sites and a literature database that I accessed through the Swinburne Library databases. For my next blog post I am going to look at and try to determine if possible how some events of book burning or censorship in the past have related to determine rules and regulations in the future.

References:

Classification Website 2012, Australian Government, viewed 29 April 2012, <http://www.classification.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx>.

Banned in Australia 2012, Australian Literature Resource, viewed 29 April 2012, < http://www.austlit.edu.au.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/specialistDatasets/Banned>. 

Lyons, Martyn 2011, Books a living history, Thames & Hudson, London.

History of censorship and classification in Australia 2012, Parliament of Australia, viewed 29 April 2012, < http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate_Committees?url=legcon_ctte/classification_board/report/c02.htm>.

Banned Books Week 2011, Banned Books Week, viewed 3 April 2012, <http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/>.