Includes the Society's Annual report and statement of accounts.

This exciting and stimulating book looks back at turning points and crucial moments in Australian history. Rather than arguing that there have been forks on a pre-determined road, the book challenges us to think about other paths or better paths that might have led to different outcomes.

Examines the rising numbers of free settlers from the 1820s to the 1860s, their dependence on Aboriginal, immigrant, and convict under-paid laborers, and the slow development of representative government.

The Real Matilda book investigates the Australian experience of women in colonial times, and asks how far Australians have moved beyond formative influences - elites, convicts, the Irish - which have led to discriminatory attitudes towards women.