The Story of Australia provides a fresh, engaging and comprehensive introduction to Australia's history and geography. An island continent with distinct physical features, Australia is home to the most enduring Indigenous cultures on the planet. In the late eighteenth century newcomers from distant worlds brought great change. Since that time, Australia has been shaped by many peoples with competing visions of what the future might hold.

This new history of Australia integrates a rich body of scholarship from many disciplines, drawing upon maps, novels, poetry, art, music, diaries and letters, government and scientific reports, newspapers, architecture and the land itself, engaging with Australia in its historical, geographical, national and global contexts. It pays particular attention to women and Indigenous Australians, as well as exploring key themes including invasion/colonisation, land use, urbanisation, war, migration, suburbia and social movements for change. Elegantly written, readers will enjoy Australia's story from its origins to the present as the nation seeks to resolve tensions between Indigenous dispossession, British tradition and multicultural diversity while finding its place in an Asian region and dealing with global challenges like climate change.

It is an ideal text for students, academics and general readers with an interest in Australian history, geography, politics and culture.

Provides a fresh, engaging and comprehensive introduction to Australia's history and geography. In the late eighteenth century newcomers from distant worlds brought great change. Since that time Australia has been shaped by many peoples with competing visions of what the future might hold.

"How important it is to have a contemporary history of Australia that takes its geography seriously - that grounds Australia's stories and events firmly and explicitly in places, land and environments. This book chronicles Australia's diverse people - their struggles, their achievements and losses, those who took power and those who were marginalised at different times. But it also directs us to the places they shaped and that shaped them, from Indigenous people in country to the residents and workers of present-day cities and suburbs. It is a fine achievement indeed to make these important connections and to insist that they must be made." Ruth Fincher, The University of Melbourne "A new history for a new generation: a highly accessible account of social and political change, skilfully interwoven with cultural references, high and low, and a deep understanding of the land and its peoples." Richard White, University of Sydney