'Are we there yet?' Cultural transmission and cultural maintenance in Australia

Abstract

This paper discusses cultural transmission from Britain to Australia by demonstrating its importance in music. As in other art forms, it was not simply a matter of replication. English cultural forms themselves took on different meanings in Australia, while British hegemony was in no way uncontested. An example of full indigenisation is given in a discussion of Deborah Cheetham's opera, Pecan Summer. Discussion then shifts to the cultural challenges facing classical music in Australia today, the argument being that whereas once cultural transmission was horizontaloutward from Englandnow it could be said to be vertical, within Australia, from one generation to the next. The role of institutio..