The Oxford History of Australia:

The history of Australia from the 1770s to the 1860s is seen as tightly linked to events and ideologies in an age of revolution and in particular to the social problems of industrialising Britain. Australia was colonized by believers in political equality and economic liberty, and this volume traces the development of the colonies into a stable society where organised sport prevented idleness and unrest among the lower orders and sectarianism and intercolonial rivalries absorbed the political energies of the middle classes.