Stuart Macintyre - A Concise History of Australia

477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia

Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.

It furthers the Universitys mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

Stuart Macintyre 2016

This publication is copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library

A Cataloguing-in-Publication entry is available from the catalogue of the National Library of Australia at www.nla.gov.au

ISBN 978-1-107-56243-1 Paperback

Reproduction and communication for educational purposes

The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10% of the pages of this work, whichever is the greater, to be reproduced and/or communicated by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or the body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.

For details of the CAL licence for educational institutions contact:

Reproduction and communication for other purposes

Except as permitted under the Act (for example a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review) no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above.

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are respectfully advised that images of deceased persons appear in this book and may cause distress .

For my daughters

Mary And Jessie

this is also their history

This book is part of a series of national histories published for an international readership, and successive editions have been translated into a number of foreign languages. The opportunity to explain Australia and its history to non-Australians was compelling, though when the book first appeared I became aware of the contrasting expectations of Australian readers. They look for familiar events and actors for both orientation and reassurance that this is indeed an account of their past. The overseas reader, on the other hand, has little familiarity with such local lore, and a narrative composed of it is unlikely to assist those who do not hold any prior knowledge. In subsequent revisions I have therefore provided more of these signposts while endeavouring to paint a broadbrush picture in which the detail is subordinated to the distinctive features.

A similar quandary arises from the different uses of this book. Those using it as textbook to teach Australian history expect it to encompass the principal fields of research, while other readers who feel strongly about particular causes take the amount of attention accorded them as an index of sympathies. Such weighing of proportions is inevitable, and I am aware that my emphases are indeed indicative of my own understanding and inclinations. My purpose, however, has been to present a narrative that explains why its component parts have a place in the national story and how they continue to generate discussion. I have tried to set Australian history in the context of global and regional history and to draw out comparisons with other parts of the world. This approach is intended to serve the overseas reader who perhaps has a mental image of the Australian landscape, its flora and fauna, but is dependent on a media coverage that sheds little light on the patterns of national life. I also have in mind the visitor who encounters the local practices but finds their logic difficult to follow. I hope the book assists these readers to understand what they see and hear by providing an account of how it came to be.

My predecessor as professor of history at the University of Melbourne wrote 100 years ago in his Short History of Australia that historical events, like mountain ranges, can best be surveyed as a whole by an observer who is placed at a good distance from them. In preparing this edition I have taken the opportunity to look again at events that have now receded from the foreground and bring more clarity into the account of contemporary developments.