A Concise History of AustraliaAustralia is the last continent to be settled by Europeans, but it also sustains a people and a culture tens of thousands years old. For much of the past 225 years the newcomers have sought to replace the old with the new. This book tells how they imposed themselves on the land and describes how they brought technology, institutions and ideas to make it their own. The fourth edition incorporates the far-reaching effects of an export and investment boom in the early years of the twenty-first century that lifted Australia to unprecedented prosperity. The sale of minerals and energy enabled the economy to withstand the global financial crisis of 2007–08 but there was no agreement on how the wealth was to be managed and its benefits distributed. The book describes a continuing search for solutions to climate change, the unauthorised arrival of refugees, Indigenous disadvantage and generational change. |
Contents
List of illustrations Acknowledgements | |
Beginnings | |
Newcomers c 16001792 | |
Coercion 17931821 | |
Conquest 18221850 | |
Progress 18511888 | |
Reconstruction 18891913 | |
Sacrifice 19141945 | |
Golden age 19461975 | |
Rectification 19761996 | |
Outcomes 19972015 | |
Sources of quotations Guide to further reading | |
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Common terms and phrases
Aboriginal Alfred Deakin Allen & Unwin Anzac Australian history became Brisbane Britain British brought Cambridge University Press campaign Canberra cent century coalition colonial colonists Commonwealth communist convicts country’s culture decade Diemen’s Land domestic early economy election Empire European federal force foreign Fraser Gough Whitlam government’s governor History of Australia Howard Hughes immigration imperial increased Indigenous Indigenous Australians industry Island John Keating Kevin Rudd Labor Party leader Liberal London Macquarie Marilyn Lake Melbourne University Press Menzies migrants military movement numbers organisation Oxford University Press Pacific parliament pastoral Paul Keating political population postwar prime minister prime minister’s protection Queensland quoted Robert Menzies Rudd settlement settlers shearers social society South Australia South Wales Stuart Macintyre Sydney Territory took trade unions United UNSW UNSW Press Van Diemen’s Land Victoria wage Western Australia Whitlam women workers Zealand