Author(s): Frank Welsh

Non-Fiction

The most comprehensive single-volume history of Australia, Frank Welsh's major new book - the first to be written by a non-Australian - draws on sources from Britain, the USA, South Africa and Canada as well as those in Australia to place the country's history fully in a world context, and expose many national myths, in a compelling narrative. From the earliest, largely speculative, Aboriginal societies, through the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 and the hesitant and haphazard development of the original colonies, the book traces the history of the land from scattered convict settlements to the formation of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901 and on to today's independent nation. Original, provocative and witty, Frank Welsh's Great Southern Land will take its place along with his previous much-praised books on Hong Kong and South Africa as a standard history.