The construction of the figure of the ‘Un-Australian’ in Australian newspaper coverage of two natural disasters

Submission note: A thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Arts, Social Sciences and Commerce, La Trobe University, Bundoora.

This thesis seeks to answer the research question of what kinds of values have been constructed as ‘un-Australian’ in newspaper coverage of natural disasters, and determine how these values fit in with historical media-constructed representations of ‘Australian’ qualities. A literature review, of historical Australian texts, was conducted to ascertain some of the values that have been historically discussed as ‘Australian’. Following this, discourse analysis was applied across a sample of 36 newspaper articles in order to ascertain the sorts of values that are being constructed, by the media, as ‘Australian’ during times of national crisis. The research discovered that modern constructions of ‘Australian’ values are both dynamic and contested, with the findings indicating that, in contrast to the egalitarian values historically constructed as ‘Australian’, neo-liberal values such as self-reliance and sufficiency are often discussed by newspapers as ‘Australian’ during times of national crisis. The crucial discovery of this research is that during contemporary newspaper coverage of natural disasters ‘Australian’ values are often assigned and constructed in the negative, through in- depth descriptions of the values seen as ‘un-Australian’.