Pacific Lives, Pacific Places: Bursting boundaries in Pacific history

Abstract

The Pacific History Association held its millennial conference in Canberra from 26-30 June, 2000. It was a memorable occasion for several reasons. In the depth of Canberra' s winter, it was the coldest PHA conference ever. But that did not deter participants, who converged on Australia' s capital city in unprecedented numbers. Equally impressive was the range of papers presented under the conference' s overarching theme of 'Bursting Boundaries: Places, Persons, Gender and Disciplines' . Gender and Identity, Globalism and Regionalism, History Beyond the Bounds, Outside the (Photo) Frame, Beyond Missionaries, Participants as Historians, Burdens of Citizenship, Multimedia and the Net, Unsettled Communities, all had their share of time and space. Those who could not be accommodated in any of the above sessions were put in one simply called 'Beyond the Program' . And Greg Dening and Marshall Sahlins entertained and enlightened us with their wit and wisdom. We could be forgiven for saying, after Olympics President Juan Antonio Samaranch, that this was the best gathering of Pacific historians ever. Until the next one in Apia in December 2002 !