The Oxford History of Australia

Late nineteenth-century Australia claimed one of the world's highest standards of living and was seen as one of the most successful examples of the transplantation of British culture. Yet beneath the surface prosperity, there lay a great deal of uncertainty and conflict, including clashes among churches, the crash of the 1890s, pressure for federation, and the challenging of traditional views of education, women's roles, and the family. This volume takes a skeptical look at many of the common perceptions of Australia in the Victorian era, concentrating on human values rather than on the rhetoric of national achievement.