You cannot get people to understand the history of a country unless you have some kind of chronological narrative teaching of history...And this idea that you should move away from sort of knowing when the Battle of Hastings was or knowing when Captain Cook came to Australia or knowing when certain things occurred simply because, 'Oh that's an old-hat, rote way of learning', is ridiculous. - The Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, 2006.

So why should a modern Australian care about when the Battle of Hastings was anyway? Most of the young Australians I have spoken to just don't give a damn.

Mr Howard spoke of the "chronological narrative" of history. In other words, what happened in what order. I suspect that he picked the Battle of Hastings because it is a particularly famous and significant turning point in the history of Europe and its cultural dependents.

In short, if it were not for the Battle of Hastings, we'd all probably be speaking Portuguese.

Before the Norman Invasion, Britain consisted of a gaggle of Saxon and Danish kingdoms, without any central organisation, frequently at war. William's invasion of Britain in 1066 set the stage for the establishment and expansion of the British Empire.

The Normans, whatever else they might have been, were organisers. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states of this period "...and then the Normans came, and built castles." The Normans organised their land and their holdings, and documented everything. The first census of Britain, the Domesday Book, was completed in 1086 at the command of King William. The Normans held what they had taken by building castles, and a feudal infrastructure in which all land was ultimately held by the King. Remnants of this system still exist today. There was the small matter of a document called the Magna Carta which removed a lot of power from the King's hands and placed it in the hands of Parliament, but by and large, it was the influence of the Norman kings that laid the structure for the development of modern Britain. The Normans had taken Britain, and no-one could take it back.

Without the militaristic organisation of the Norman invaders, it is probable that the British Empire would not have been as strong as it was during later centuries. Without the colonial expansion, Australia would have been among the lands granted to the Portuguese by Pope Alexander VI in 1493 - a decree which the British (not being subject to the Pope's authority) summarily ignored. Without the organising foundations of the Normans on which the British Empire was built, England would probably never have colonised Australia.

So why does it matter, anyway? Would things really have been all that different? And what's the point of worrying about how different things might have been when young Australians have much more important things to be worried about?

The question "why study history?" does not really have a good answer that works for everyone. You could come out with tired cliches like "those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it" but that's a pretty trite answer in the end, and not particularly satisfying.

A more appropriate answer to the question "why study history?" is another question: "why study anything?"

Of course, there are the subjects that every person needs to know in order to get by in the modern world. History is not one of them. Neither is science, English literature, music or art. No-one needs to know how to read music. No-one needs to know the rhyming pattern of a sonnet. No-one needs to know when the Battle of Hastings was. After all, they can always look it up on Google, can't they?

Why study history? Apart from any social advantages that come from a wide dissemination of historical knowledge, history is interesting. Want to know why the Irish Protestants hate the Irish Catholics? Look at history. Want to know why Canada and the USA are separate countries? Look at history. Want to know why the British Empire colonised Australia? Look at history.

History provides a backdrop for current events. Practically all world affairs seem random and capricious without an understanding of the history that underlies the events and the region.

The Ancient Arts Fellowship focuses largely on one specific period of history, the so-called Dark Ages (ca. 800 - 1066), and on one region, Britain. There are other groups around the world who cover other periods, but this is our focus. I was quite pleased when the Prime Minister specifically mentioned the Battle of Hastings in his speech, because this particular event had a monumental effect on the development of the British Empire and Commonwealth, and therefore on the history of our own country. A study of the major events in the history of Britain gives us an essential background to, and understanding of, events in Australia.

No, you don't need to know when the Battle of Hastings was. Your life or livelihood will probably never depend on your answer to the question. But it's nice to know it anyway. It's also nice to be able to read music, or write a sonnet.

Translate this article for today's youth...