Australia is the last continent to be settled by Europeans, but it also
sustains a people and a culture tens of thousands of years old. For much
of the past 200 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. It relates the advance from penal colony to a prosperous free
nation and illustrates how, in a nation created by waves of newcomers,
the search for binding traditions has long been frustrated by the
feeling of rootlessness. Now, with the realisation that colonisation
began with invasion, present-day Australians are - more than ever
before - coming to terms with their past and recognising the need to
redefine and reposition Australia in a changing world. This is the most
up-to-date single-volume Australian history available.