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Study masters degree online with Macquarie University through Open Universities Australia. Explore all degrees, subjects and short courses now.

Archaeology of Ancient Civilisations

Classical Mythology

Themes in World History 1300-1800

The Human Journey: Archaeology and Evolution

Studying the Past: An Introduction to Ancient History in the 21st Century

Introduction to Ancient Rome

A History of War

The Family Saga

Introduction to Family History

History of Intelligence

This subject was previously known as MHIX365 From the Beats to Big Brother: Popular Culture Since the 1950s.What can we learn about the past when we examine it through the lens of popular culture? This subject traces a history of popular culture in the United States of America and Australia from the 1950s to the present, exploring the ways that popular culture can magnify and reflect changing ideas about race, class, gender, and ideology. We will examine the impact of new technologies, moral panics over popular culture, and whether popular culture constituted a form of cultural citizenship. Film, television, music and other media are used in this unit to evoke seminal moments in the history of popular culture and students are encouraged to explore these non-discursive forms as primary sources. Students are also encouraged to consider the reception of popular culture by audiences and to think about their own experience of popular culture historically. This subject will be of particular interest to students in media, education, and cultural studies, as well as history.

Be there for the emergence of sixties counterculture. Immerse yourself in the eighties and hip hop. Tune into the rise of reality television. Look for the influence of gender, race and politics on pop culture across the past seven decades.

From the Beats to the Bachelorette: Popular Culture Since the 1950s

Ideas about Australian identity have always been expressed and contested in popular culture. These stories of ‘us’ have also meant that some people are seen to belong, and others are excluded from the full exercise of citizenship. This unit will examine Australian history through an examination of 10 key moments when the nation and its citizens were re-imagined in films, songs, novels, poetry, advertisements, sporting contests and plays. Each week we will examine a key turning point in Australian history and the popular culture that was produced to grapple with its consequences. When and why did the bushman become a central figure in the Australian imagination? How did ‘Muriel’s Wedding’ reimagine mateship in the wake of feminist protest? In what ways did advertisements featuring Rhonda and Ketut envisage the relationship between Australia and Asia? Students who complete this unit will develop a critical understanding of the relationship between storytelling and citizenship, master a chronology of the struggles over citizenship that shaped twentieth century Australian political history, and engage widely with the cultural institutions and archives in which our national memory is stored. They will also engage in a wide variety of historical research, classroom debate, and develop an original research topic to investigate. If you have already studied some Australian history, the unit offers a fresh perspective. It will be particularly useful for students who are intending to teach Australian history in schools.

Who the Bloody Hell Are We? Story and Citizenship in Australian History

How do historians and heritage professionals uncover the stories behind everyday places? In Research in Public History and Heritage, you’ll learn how to investigate the past using a wide range of primary historical datasets used by many cultural heritage sector organisations and heritage consultancies — developing the skills to research the history of a house, a street, or a neighbourhood. You’ll explore tools like Trove, the Sands Directory, NSW Land and Property Records, Heritage Registers, State Records, Archives in State and National Libraries, as well as local council archives. You’ll learn how to interpret and cross-reference sources to build rich, evidence-based narratives. Whether you&#39;re tracing ownership through land titles or uncovering forgotten lives through electoral rolls and newspaper ads, this unit equips you with the practical skills and critical thinking needed to bring the past to life in public contexts, revealing the relationship between past and present. This hands-on unit introduces you to the core research methods of public history and cultural heritage, from archival digging to digital source management.

Research in Public History and Heritage

Everyone has a story—and in this unit, you’ll learn how to uncover, research, and tell those stories with care, creativity, and historical insight. This unit introduces you to the tools and techniques of genealogical and biographical research, helping you trace family histories and bring individual lives into historical focus. Whether you&#39;re interested in your own ancestry or the lives of others, this unit will help you become a thoughtful and skilled life historian.

Life Stories: Biography and Family History

From Olympic stadiums to local footy fields, sport is more than just a game, it is a powerful lens through which we can understand identity, politics, and culture. In this exciting second-year unit, you&#39;ll explore how sport has shaped, and been shaped by, global histories and public memory.We’ll dive into the heritage of iconic sports and events—from AFL and swimming in Australia to football in South America and Africa, yoga in India and across the British empire, as well as the ancient and modern Olympic movement. Along the way, we’ll examine how sport is remembered, celebrated, and contested in public spaces and the media. You’ll develop your research and communication skills while exploring the cultural significance of sport in diverse contexts.

Global Sport: Heritage and Public Histories

Step behind the glass case and discover how museums shape the stories we tell about ourselves. From ancient cabinets of curiosities to cutting-edge digital galleries, these institutions wield extraordinary power to construct narratives about history and culture. But whose voices get heard, and whose stay silent? This unit explores how museums evolved from elite collections to public institutions, examining how &quot;new museology&quot; has challenged traditional approaches to displaying the past. You&#39;ll put theory into practice by developing your own exhibition proposal with peers, crafting curatorial statements and making the difficult choices that museum professionals face daily. You&#39;ll discover how every display decision carries profound implications for how we understand history and culture. By the end, you&#39;ll view museums as dynamic spaces where culture, politics, and power intersect—not neutral repositories of facts or objects. Whether pursuing a heritage career or simply becoming a more critical museum visitor, this unit will transform how you experience these complex cultural institutions.

Museums and Museology: Curating Culture, Questioning Power

How do films and television shows shape our understanding of the past? Can a historical drama be both entertaining and accurate? In this dynamic first-year unit, you&#39;ll explore the power and pitfalls of representing history on screen. From ancient worlds to modern revolutions, we’ll examine how filmmakers interpret, dramatize, and sometimes distort historical events. This unit introduces you to the critical tools needed to analyse screen histories and to think like a historian. You’ll learn how to evaluate sources, construct evidence-based arguments, and engage with debates about historical truth and storytelling.Through a mix of reflective writing, creative media work, and critical film review, you’ll develop both your academic and communication skills. Whether you&#39;re passionate about history, film, or both, this unit will challenge you to see the past—and the screen—in new ways.

Screening the Past: History on Film and Television

This unit explores the dynamic and often turbulent relationship between autocracy and democratic governance across the 19th and 20th centuries. From the rise of nationalist despots and imperial rulers to the emergence and evolution of modern democratic states, students will examine how different regimes consolidated power, legitimized authority, and responded to social and political movements challenging their rule. Through comparative and thematic Through comparative and thematic approaches, students will analyze the role of ideology, violence, propaganda, revolution, and resistance in shaping political life. The unit will also investigate the global forces—industrialization, imperialism, war, decolonization, and globalization—that influenced transitions between despotism and democracy.

Despots and Democracy

Globalisation is older than we think. In the European Middle Ages, a network of trade routes connected the Afro-Eurasian landmass, which made possible the extensive travels of Italian merchant Marco Polo and Moroccan scholar Ibn Battuta. In the sixteenth century, these networks expanded to include the Americas, creating the first global economy. This unit traces the long history of global capitalism from its medieval origins to the data-driven on-line commerce of the twenty-first century. It explores how commerce and exchange have developed over the past millennium, considering the ideas, commodities, and political forces that have facilitated and impeded trade. It examines the social, cultural, and environmental impacts of global capitalism. This unit explains how the world economy we live today took shape and why it operates the way that it does.

Merchants, Markets, and Globalisation

This unit will explore the culture, politics and religion of the medieval period. It considers Byzantium, the establishment of Islam and the Islamic world, and the emergence of Latin Christendom in western Europe. Each of these ‘new’ societies established novel forms of political organisation and social structure, embedded in their religious culture. This unit will explore these changes by consideration of a diversity of visual and written sources. Students will also be exposed to scholarly debates relevant to these fields. Some historians argue that the medieval period provides the foundation for modernity, while others suggest that we should encounter the Middle Ages as other to the present. Students will engage with these debates to develop advanced skills in historiography, as well as to build capacity in their knowledge of the pre-modern past.

Encountering the Middle Ages

Macquarie University Masters Degree History Courses & Degrees | Open Universities Australia

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