Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #158212 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-06
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Synopsis
Australia celebrates one hundred years as a nation in 2001. This book - part history, part travelogue, part memoir - tells the inspiring story of how a one time British colony of convicts turned itself into a prosperous and confident country. Through the eyes of ordinary people, Phillip Knightly describes Australia's journey, from federation and the trauma of the First World War, the desperate poverty of the Depression, with its attendant spectres of secret armies and near civil way, the threat of invasion in the Second World War and the imagination that followed it, and the slow but steady decline of the relationship with Britain, the 'Mother Country' as Australia forged its own unique identity.

Customer Reviews

Brilliant
This book came into my hands after I asked an Australian friend of my mum's generation if he could recommend any good general introductions to Australian history. He said he'd think about it, and then a couple of weeks later this book (and some others) arrived in the post as gifts. Reading Phillip Knightley's fascinatingly informal history of the Australian nation, I wonder if there isn't something characteristically Australian about this act of generosity. Knightley's book is not a solid piece of academic history, and it doesn't pretend to be; it's part memoir, part narrative history, part journalism, part argument. He is exercised by the conflicts that have kept Australian history on the move: the paradox of a self-consciously democratic country that refused for years to recognise the rights of Aboriginals; the difference of outlook between Australians who considered themselves British and those who tried to establish a specifically national identity; the remarkably bitter divisions between left and right. Until I read this book, I had never imagined how close the country had come, during the 1930s, to civil war. According to Knightley, secret right-wing armies lasted well into the 1970s and some may still be lurking in Oz today. His own sympathies are refreshingly evident throughout; against racial discrimination, against corruption, against bigotry, against exploitation, he's an old-school left-liberal, one of the last of a rare breed.

At first the mixture of personal reminiscence and historical narrative seems a bit confusing, as if the author can't make up his mind what sort of book he wants to write, but it comes to seem like a fitting way to talk about a remarkable country. 'Biography of a Nation' is a good title; it's about the development of Australian nationhood, which for better or worse dates back to the prison settlements. A true history of Australia would have to cover the many thousands of years before the white man ever set foot on the country. And it's hard to imagine any one person being qualified to write such a book.

Defining the National Character
Far too many history books are deadly dry, a compilation of facts and dates that often leave out the human element and with little sense of drama. This book does not fall into that trap, being something of a mix of memoir, short vignettes of many, many people, both famous and ordinary, and the more normal recounting of the happenings of history. Often the people stories are insightful, sometimes humorous, and do much to help illustrate Knightley's main thesis of just what an Australian really is.

The downside of this method of narration is that it is easy to lose objectivity, something I'm afraid Knightley is guilty of in at least a few places. His political bias is very much in evidence throughout this book, most glaringly in his depiction of the various Prime Ministers and the battles between the working man and the rich landholders/business executives. At the same time, his depiction of the items that have gone into the making of the essential Australian character is well told, forming a mosaic of events and people that put this character into clear focus. Having lived in Australia myself (a very long time ago, but I don't think there has been any basic change in this item since), I can testify that the traits of wishing everyone to 'have a fair go' and mateship really do seem to be defining items of that character.

One item that would definitely have improved this book would have been the inclusion of some maps of the country. Unless one is intimately aware of the geography of this continent-country, the references to literally hundreds of place names and towns can be daunting without some way to place them spatially. I would have also liked to see a little greater treatment of the early period of its settlement, as the emphasis of this book is very much the twentieth century, and even more so on the last half of that century. Often the narration is told from the strictly political point of view, with little reference to the great resource finds and their development that had quite an influence on how Australia developed.

On the other hand, Knightley does a very good job of portraying and documenting the treatment that the Aborigines have been subjected to, from the earliest settlements to the latest landmark court decisions dealing with their land rights. More than any other item, this one area shows just how much Australia has changed from a blatantly racist and xenophobic nation to one that has at least begun to recognize its past failings and find its place in a truly multi-cultural world.

Superb. A must read
It's hard to describe this book without gushing about how well written it is. What can I say other than "Superb!".

It covers all the topics you'd expect to find in a history of the young country continent and it's clear the author has done his research. Controversial issues and events are explained from both sides of the argument and the author doesn't force an opinion of his own, but he does hint at which explanation he finds most plausible. He also shares stories from his life in Oz and does a fine job of describing his life as a kid during the great depression.

A week before starting this book I'd read "A Concise History of Australia" by Stuart Macintyre, an academic's view of Oz history. With that fresh in my mind I thought there wouldn't be much extra that Phillip Knightley could add. Boy was I wrong. The writing styles are so different that it's as if Macintyre is painting in black and white (not even greyscale), while Knightley creates his own colours. Knightley brings the stories and history to life and keeps your attention. It'd take a man with a heart of stone not to be affected by his description of the policy of removal of Aboriginal children from their parents in the middle part of the 1900s. Others explain it in terms of policy, Knightley brings life to it.

I could go on, but shouldn't.

Read this book. You will not be disappointed.