History of Australia

Front Cover
Melbourne University Publish, 1993 - History - 572 pages
In 1962, the first volume of Manning Clark's "A History of Australia" appeared. For the next two-and-a-half decades Clark unfolded his tragic celebration of white Australian history. Today, the six-volume history is one of the masterpieces of Australian literature. It is also one of the most passionately debated visions of Australian history. Clark's Australians are men and women of lively goodwill and deep sinfulness, of generous idealism and unthinking brutality. He dramatizes the motivating forces of Australian life - cowardice and vision, cruelty and defiance, greatness of spirit and the spiritual vacuity of the suburbs - all of them locked in the unceasing struggle which builds a nation. Michael Cathcart has re-orchestrated Clark's epic narrative in this single volume. Every page of this abridgement rings with Manning Clark's voice. Here, at last, the general reader can encounter the deep resonances, pessimism and passion of Manning Clark - Australian historian and prophet. Michael Cathcart is co-author of "Mission to the South Seas: the Voyage of the Duff" and author of "Defending the National Tuckshop", a study of conservative responses to the Great Depression.
 

Contents

BOOK ONE From the First Fleet to the Age of Macquarie 17881823
1
The Foundation
3
Hunger
12
The Battles Begin
21
Rebellion
30
Prosperity
35
Mutiny
42
The Convict System in New South Wales in 1810
48
A Colonial Bourgeoisie
269
The Barbarians of Lambing Flat
278
Glory Folly and Chance
283
The Bush Barbarians
298
The CalmDown Begins
315
Colonial Democrats
323
The Kingdom of Nothingness
331
Uproar in the Bush
345

Macquarie
52
A Question of Virtues
61
Macquarie and Mr Commissioner Bigge
73
BOOK TWO New South Wales and Van Diemens Land 18221838
83
Darkness
85
The Setting in New South Wales
91
The Return of the Native Son
100
The Native Son Offends Grossly
109
Towards a Colonial Gentry
115
A HighMinded Governor in Van Diemens Land
122
The World of Betsey Bandicoot and Bold Jack Donahoe
129
A Whig Governor amidst High Tory Counsellors
137
Botany Bay Whigs and Botany Bay Tories
143
The Saint of Hobart Town
151
BOOK THREE The Beginning of an Australian Civilization 18241851
161
Another Province for Britains Gentry
163
The Moral Improvers Arrive in South Australia
174
Overstraiters Overlanders and Others Descend on Port Phillip
187
Englands Echo in the Antipodes
195
Governor Gipps and the Massacre at Myall Creek
202
But Colonials Do Not Make Their Own History
206
SelfGovernment
216
BOOK FOUR The Earth Abideth For Ever 18511888
223
The Possessed
225
One Step Forward for the White Man
236
Who Would Want to be a Digger?
245
That Bloody Licence Tax
252
The Earth Abideth For Ever
357
BOOK FIVE The People Make Laws 18881915
385
The Birth of Labor
387
A Time of Tumult
395
Federation or Revolution?
404
The Tablets of the Law
414
Embourgeoisement
424
The Cooking of Mr Deakin
429
The Era of the Common Man
438
On the Rim of a Maelstrom
447
Ideals Cast to the Winds
456
BOOK SIX The Old Dead Tree and the Young Tree Green 19161935
471
Two Australias
473
Patriots
483
What Shall We Believe?
488
A Divided Australia
496
Cant We Do Anything Ourselves?
503
The Great Imperial Firm of Wealth Progress and Opportunities Unlimited
512
The Imperial Firm Goes Bung
519
An Australian in the Palace of the KingEmperor
522
An Irish Catholic to the Rescue
532
Tune in with Britain
539
The Old Dead Tree or The Young Tree Green??
552
Epilogue
562
Index
569
Copyright

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About the author (1993)

\Manning Clark was a senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne, and later, professor of history in the School of General Studies, Australian National University. In 1972 he became the first professor of Australian history. In June 1975 Clark was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, in recognition of his writing of the monumental A History of Australia. He was named Australian of the Year for 1980. Professor Clark died in May 1991.

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