The Story of Australia: A New History of People and Place

Description

The Story of Australia provides a fresh, engaging and comprehensive introduction to Australia's history and geography. An island continent with distinct physical features, Australia is home to the most enduring Indigenous cultures on the planet. In the late eighteenth century newcomers from distant worlds brought great change. Since that time, Australia has been shaped by many peoples with competing visions of what the future might hold. This new history of Australia integrates a rich body of scholarship from many disciplines, drawing upon maps, novels, poetry, art, music, diaries and letters, government and scientific reports, newspapers, architecture and the land itself, engaging with Australia in its historical, geographical, national and global contexts. It pays particular attention to women and Indigenous Australians, as well as exploring key themes including invasion/colonisation, land use, urbanisation, war, migration, suburbia and social movements for change. Elegantly written, readers will enjoy Australia's story from its origins to the present as the nation seeks to resolve tensions between Indigenous dispossession, British tradition and multicultural diversity while finding its place in an Asian region and dealing with global challenges like climate change. It is an ideal text for students, academics and general readers with an interest in Australian history, geography, politics and culture.

Louise C. Johnson is an Honorary Professor at Deakin University. A human geographer, she has researched and published on city access and inclusion, manufacturing workplaces, the Indigenous absence in Australian urban planning and the dynamics of Australian regional economies. Her books include Placebound: Australian Feminist Geographies (2000), Cultural Capitals (2009) and, with Sue Jackson and Libby Porter, Planning in Indigenous Australia (2018). In 2011 she received the Institute of Australian Geographers Australia and International Medal for her contribution to urban, social and cultural geography. Tanja Luckins is a historian in the Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Melbourne. She has published on memory and war; material and popular culture; cosmopolitanism; food and drink cultures; and the 1960s. Her books include The Gates of Memory: Australian People's Experiences and Memories of Loss and the Great War (2004) and, with Diane Kirkby and Chris McConville, The Australian Pub (2010). David Walker AM, FASSA, FAHA is Professor Emeritus at Deakin University, holds honorary positions at the University of Melbourne and Western Sydney University and was inaugural BHP Chair of Australian Studies at Peking University. His most recent books are Stranded Nation: White Australia in an Asian Region (2019) and Not Dark Yet: A Personal History (2011).

"How important it is to have a contemporary history of Australia that takes its geography seriously - that grounds Australia's stories and events firmly and explicitly in places, land and environments. This book chronicles Australia's diverse people - their struggles, their achievements and losses, those who took power and those who were marginalised at different times. But it also directs us to the places they shaped and that shaped them, from Indigenous people in country to the residents and workers of present-day cities and suburbs. It is a fine achievement indeed to make these important connections and to insist that they must be made." Ruth Fincher, The University of Melbourne "A new history for a new generation: a highly accessible account of social and political change, skilfully interwoven with cultural references, high and low, and a deep understanding of the land and its peoples." Richard White, University of Sydney