Changing faith chronicled in new work

A book on past and present meanings of faith in and around Bendigo will be launched next week at La Trobe Art Institute.

According to co-author Timothy Jones, Professor in History at La Trobe University, the upcoming release called Believing on Upside Down Country – The Changing Faith-scape of Bendigo, looks at how people have lived together on the goldfields since colonisation.

“What was really surprising at the time we were starting this project, the controversy over building a mosque in Bendigo was still fresh,” he noted.

“The local communities were really struggling to deal with religious difference.

“But, when we looked back to the gold rush, there was much more religious difference in the region, with people coming from all over the world with different faiths and cultural traditions.

“So, we found there was a history of social cohesion and understanding of difference that fell away when Bendigo became more monocultural with the decline of the gold industry in the early 20th century.”

Jones said the book begins by charting the influx of diversity in the mid-19th century and the corresponding displacement of Indigenous people.

“Then, mid-20th century, you see population and diversity declining until into the late 20th century, where it was the communities who had multiple generations of limited diversity struggling to deal with difference,” he said.

Jones said the book is purposely not a standard academic text as it was designed to be “pretty accessible”.

“It’s got full-length chapters, but then pop-up sections with vignettes or small stories that illustrate that bigger history of diversity and shrinking diversity, and the different ways that people lived with difference,” he said.

“We’re hoping that any interested local people will find it useful.”

The book will be launched at La Trobe Art Institute in View Street next Thursday 25 June from 3.45pm to 4.45pm.

Register via Humanitix.