A History of Australia

Organized primarily around a chronological framework, this book traces Australia’s historical development and social transformation. It explores the inheritance and end of Indigenous civilization; the formation and evolution of society in British penal colonies; social change during the era of self-governing British colonies; the emergence of the Australian people; the formation of the Australian nation; the construction of a nation-state; the country’s growing autonomy and independence; and social reform and progress. Together, these subjects illustrate Australia’s stable, harmonious, and gradual path of development, distinct from that of other Western nations.