Shorter History of Australia, A

Front Cover
Random House Australia, 2014 - History - 352 pages
Revised and updated, a broad, concise, and inclusive vision of Australia and Australians by one of the country's most renowned historians

After a lifetime of research and debate on Australian and international history, Geoffrey Blainey is well-placed to introduce us to the people who have played a part and to guide us through the events that have created the Australian identity: the mania for spectator sport; the suspicion of the tall poppy; the rivalries of Catholic and Protestant, Sydney and Melbourne, new and old homelands and new and old allies; the conflicts of war abroad and race at home; the importance of technology; defining the outback; the rise and rise of the mining industry; the recognition of our Aboriginal past and Native Title; and the successes and failures of the nation. For this enlarged edition Blainey has rewritten or expanded on various episodes and themes and updated relevant matter. He also describes significant events and trends of the early-20th century. A timeline of major events in Australian history is also included.
 

Contents

When sea was land
3
The coming clash
17
A poor paradise
25
Arabs of the grasslands
39
The fading of the yellow flannel
53
Part Two The Land I Love
69
The first gold rushes
71
The age of the marvellous
88
The war to end war
169
What an unlimited future
183
A tidal wave from Japan
203
A car and a mountain
217
Black and green resurrection
243
A nation on walkabout
258
the Queen and Mr Mabo
271
The vast open spaces
284

Eyes
111
The rise of the sporting hero
122
Riding the disaster
133
The flush of violet
143
Part Three From Gallipoli to Uluru
167
Sails and anchors
298
A short chronicle of Australian history
309
Further reading
315
Index
319
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About the author (2014)

"Professor Geoffrey Blainey's first book was completed when he was in his early twenties. Since then he has written another thirty-five, including Triumph of the Nomads, The Rush That Never Ended,The Tyranny of Distanceand other books on Australia's history. His more recent books on global history, including A Short History of the World, have been translated into many languages and published in places as far apart as Brazil, India, Spain and Turkey. For twenty years he was professor of economic history and then Ernest Scott professor of history at the University of Melbourne, with a term as professor of Australian Studies at Harvard University. He also served the federal government as chairman of the Australia Council, the National Council for the Centenary of Federation, and the Australia-China Council. In New York, in 1988, Blainey received the celebrated Britannica Prize 'for excellence in the dissemination of knowledge for the benefit of mankind'."

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