Filled with stories from regular Australians about life since World War Two and woven throughout with William's own anecdotes and observations, THE MAKING OF MODERN AUSTRALIA pieces together the celebrations, sorrows and spirit of the last fifty years to offer a national picture of our past and present. Told through four main themes of romance, religion, family and home, this is our story. From the trepidation of the outbreak of armed conflict to the multicultural melting pot of postwar migration, to falling in and out of love and religion, to the changes in parenting and family relations, THE MAKING OF MODERN AUSTRALIA reveals a very personal view of our country. Inspired by the major ABC TV documentary series of the same name which is narrated by William McInnes and produced by Essential Media and Entertainment.

...Unfolds the hidden story of Australia ... the view from the kitchen, the assembly line, the workbench, the schoolroom and other places; where people spend much of their lives...

Australian history has been revised and reinterpreted by successive generations of historians, writers, governments and public commentators, yet there has been no account of the ways it has changed, who makes history, and how. Making Australian History responds to this critical gap in Australian historical research.A few years ago Anna Clark saw a series of paintings on a sandstone cliff face in the Northern Territory. There were characteristic crosshatched images of fat barramundi and turtles, as well as sprayed handprints and several human figures with spears. Next to them was a long gun, painted with white ochre, an unmistakable image of the colonisers. Was this an Indigenous rendering of contact? A work of history?Each piece of history has a message and context that depends on who wrote it and when. Australian history has swirled and contorted over the years: the history wars have embroiled historians, politicians and public commentators alike, while debates over historical fiction have been as divisive. History isn't just about understanding what happened and why. It also reflects the persuasions, politics and prejudices of its authors. Each iteration of Australia's national story reveals not only the past in question, but also the guiding concerns and perceptions of each generation of history makers.Making Australian History is bold and inclusive: it catalogues and contextualises changing readings of the past, it examines the increasingly problematic role of historians as national storytellers, and it incorporates the stories of people.

In this side-splitting sequel to his best-selling history, David Hunt takes us to the Australian frontier. This was the Wild South, home to hardy pioneers, gun-slinging bushrangers, directionally challenged explorers, nervous indigenous people, Caroline Chisholm and sheep. Lots of sheep. First there was Girt. Now comes . . . True Girt True Girt introduces Thomas Davey, the hard-drinking Tasmanian governor who invented the Blow My Skull cocktail, and Captain Moonlite, Australia's most famous LGBTI bushranger. Meet William Nicholson, the Melbourne hipster who gave Australia the steam-powered coffee roaster and the world the secret ballot. And say hello to Harry, the first camel used in Australian exploration, who shot dead his owner, the explorer John Horrocks. Learn how Truganini's death inspired the Martian invasion of Earth. Discover the role of Hall and Oates in the Myall Creek Massacre. And be reminded why you should never ever smoke with the Wild Colonial Boy and Mad Dan Morgan. If Manning Clark and Bill Bryson were left on a desert island with only one pen, they would write True Girt. 'An engaging, witty and utterly irreverent take on Australian history.' —Graeme Simsion, author of The Rosie Project 'Astounding, gruesome and frequently hilarious, True Girt is riveting from beginning to end.' —Nick Earls

Making Chinese Australia demonstrates how the interpretations and narratives of journalists and editors of Chinese - Australian newspapers played a powerful role in shaping the social identities and historical awareness of Chinese Australians. Mei - fen Kuo is an Australian author.

'The changes we have made will remain - like all great Labor legislation - permanent landmarks in our history.' Gough Whitlam. The Whitlam government propelled Australia out of the presumptions and certainties of twenty-three years of conservative government and changed it irrevocably. It passed a record number of bills into law and became the most successful reformist government in Australia's history. This book brings to light aspects of Whitlam's ambitious reform agenda that have been neglected for too long. The Australian Assistance Plan generated networks of regional and community cooperation that remain today. Plans for energy infrastructure and self-sufficiency that would ensure the use of the nation's resources for the common good, appear more and more visionary. The ground-breaking Royal Commission into Human Relationships is clearly a forerunner of the current royal commissions into institutionalised child abuse and family violence. New research shows the extent to which this reforming agenda continued the post-war reconstruction plans of Curtin and Chifley. Finally, this book reassesses the place of the Whitlam government, and its dismissal, in history, in light of new material that continues to emerge from the personal papers of Sir John Kerr, and new analyses that challenge previous assessments. Edited by Jenny Hocking, with contributors including Stuart Macintyre, Michelle Arrow, Nicholas Brown, Eric Eklund, Murray Goot, Carol Johnson, David Lee, Lyndon Magarrity, Greg Mellueish, and more.

Blackman draws on original material and the work of many earlier researchers to paint a verbal picture of the evolution of a remarkable city. In an easy-to-read style, he highlights some of the conditions, key events, and individuals that have led to the development of Australia’s Gold Coast. The story of the City of Gold Coast is more than just any story. It describes the growth of Australia’s sixth-largest city, the nation’s most populous city that is not a state capital. A city of more than 600,000, it has grown at a rate of four per cent yearly since the 1950s. It sustains a growth rate well ahead of its infrastructure and its economy’s capacity to provide full-time employment to the many new arrivals. A city heavily reliant on tourism and construction, it is regularly subjected to the boom and bust of a fickle world economy. But it continues to expand and evolve. And, like so many coastal towns worldwide, this Gold Coast may soon be threatened by the tides. This book is essential for students, researchers, anyone interested in industry and urban development and those seeking to understand the city where they live, work, and play.