In a compelling narrative, acclaimed historian Frank Welsh traces the history of the land from scattered convict settlements today's thriving independent nation. A probing and engaging history of Australia--the most comprehensive and up-to-date account of one the world's most rapidly developing countries.
Australia
List of Illustrations and Maps Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Terra Australis Nondum Cognita
Terra Nullius?
The Land and the People
'Matter of advantageous Return'
2. The New Australians
'The Finest Harbour in the Universe'
'The Dread of Perishing by Famine'
'The Disordered and Helpless' An Irish Parenthesis
Mr. Boston's Sow
Pure Bred Merinos
'A long era of opulence and peace'
'Kind ruler, husband, father, friendWhat more can human nature blend?'
3. Whigs and Tories
'A body of really respectable Settlers'
'A perfect martinet'
A Letter from Sydney
'People whose proprietary title to the soil we have not the slightest grounds for disputing'
4. Occupied Notices
'The moral Governor of the world will hold us accountable'
The Black War
'Persons of violent uncontrollable passions'
Batman's Colony
Real Black Gentlemen
'The whole of New Holland'
A Nonconformist Eden
Moreton Bay and Places North
5. Representative Government
'Extravagant and absurd pretensions'
'If you wouldn't become a kangaroo'
A Convenient Change of Nomenclature
'Extreme inconvenience and loss'
The Systematic Violation of the Law
6. The Capacity to Govern Themselves
'The freedom and the institutions of the mother country'
Victoria Victorious
Gold
Eureka
| 7. The Transition to Responsible Government
New South Wales
Cocky Farmers
'Constitution-tinkering is here continual'
South Australia
Tasmania
Queensland
8. Exploration and Expansion
Waiting 'for something to turn up'
South Australia's Delusions of Grandeur
'They must act in the matter as they please'
'A happy application of good sense'
9. Federation
Colonial Quarrels
'The magnitude of their ideas is appalling'
The Federal Council
The Great Depression
A Second Commonwealth
Republicans and Nationalists
The True History of the Kelly Gang
Sport
'What will it cost us to join?'
'To assist and explain'
War
10. The Commonwealth Feels its Way
'That's the Empire . . . And that's what I'm painting'
'A working man's paradise'
Votes for Women
A Two-Party System
Defence
11. War and Peace
'The liberties of the smaller nations'
What, it might be asked, was it all for?
'That's about the size of it, Mr. President'
Setting the Mould
Labor's Death Wish
Bridges and Bowlers
Recovery
The Far East is our Near North
Ambling Along
12. The Second World War and its Aftermath
A Public Lynching
The Home Front
Foreign Affairs
Menzies is Back
Australia in Asia
13. The Shadows of Vietnam
A Third Force
New Alliances
'Konfrontasi'
Menzies' Big Mistake
The Second Eleven
'Smoothing the pillow of a dying race'
14. It's Time
Crashing Through and Out
Was the Ref. Fixed?
Britain Declares Independence
The Liberals Return
New Labor
At Last
15. The Coalition Strikes Back
Appendix: Australian and British rulers
Notes
Bibliography
Index