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Discover the fascinating details that make Australia the country it is today
Australian History For Dummies is your rough-and-ready tour guide through Australia's whirlwind past. We'll introduce you to the people and events that have shaped this 'Land Down Under' (and why it's called that, anyway). You'll see how Indigenous Australians lived in Australia for over 65,000 years. You'll be there as British colonists explore Australia's harsh terrain. You'll appreciate the impact of the world wars. And you'll delve into the recent past, giving you insight into modern-day Australia and what's next.
Australia is a place unlike any other place, and its wild history, with more ups and downs than you'll care to count, makes for fascinating reading. Bushrangers, the gold rush, the first female prime minister—it's all inside. This new edition fills in the last ten years of history and covers issues faced in the 21st century.
Students, teachers and anyone else who wants to learn more about Australia’s background will love this lively, authoritative book. Relax and be entertained as Australian History For Dummies tells you the stories of the past.
Alex McDermott is an author, historian, and creative producer. His passion is writing histories which tell the pivotal stories that help us understand how we came to be who we are today. He has contributed his expertise to Screen Australia, State Library Victoria, La Trobe University, SBS, ABC and many other organisations.
Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 2
Icons Used in This Book 3
Where to Go from Here 4
Part 1: Let’s Get This Country Started 5
Chapter 1: Aussie, Aussie, Aussie 7
When Oldest Meets Newest 8
Getting ahead in the convict world 8
Leaping into the big time with wool 10
Gold, Gold, Gold for Australia 10
Welcoming in male suffrage 11
Striving for the ‘workingman’s paradise’ 12
Solving the Problems of the World (By Keeping Out the World) 14
Now for War, Division, Depression and More War 15
Joining the Empire in the war 15
Dreaming of ‘Australia Unlimited’ 16
Getting hit by the Great Depression 17
And another war 17
The Postwar Boom Broom 18
Breaking Down the Fortress Australia Mentality 19
Opening up the economy 19
Opening up the borders (mostly) 20
Entering the New Millennium 20
Chapter 2: First Australians: Making a Home, Receiving Visitors 23
Indigenous Australians 24
Settling in early 24
Life in Aboriginal Australia 26
History without books 28
Trading with the neighbours 29
Visitors from Overseas 30
Macassan fishermen 30
Portuguese and Spanish navigators 31
Lost Dutch traders and wandering explorers 31
Chapter 3: Second Arrivals and First Colonials 33
‘Discovering’ the Great Southern Land 34
Finding the right men for the job 34
Setting (British) eyes on New South Wales 36
The Brits are Coming! 37
Quick! New settlement required 37
Pushing for a settlement in NSW 40
Picking a winner: NSW it is! 41
Sailing for Botany Bay 44
Getting there with the First Fleet 44
The human material: Who were these people? 45
Holding Out at Sydney 46
Using convicts as guards 46
Issuing ultimatums (and being ignored) 47
Soldiering on regardless 47
New Colony Blues 48
Second Fleet horrors 48
Courting disaster with the interlopers 49
Bennelong and Phillip 50
Then the rest of the world goes bung 51
Chapter 4: Colony Going Places (With Some Teething Troubles) 53
Rising to the Task: The NSW Corps Steps Up 54
Setting up trading monopolies 56
The ascendancy of the ‘Rum Corps’ 56
Upsetting the reverends 57
Ruling with Goodhearted Incompetence: Governor Hunter 58
Ending the trading monopoly game 59
A government store with empty shelves 60
Handing out land higgledy-piggledy 60
Hunter’s wheels fall off 62
King Came, King Saw, King Conquered — Kind Of 62
Diversifying trade and production 63
Ending the rum trade (well points for trying) 64
Pardoning convicts 65
Fixing up the mess 65
Choosing Bligh for the job 66
Bligh gets down to business 66
Bligh’s end 68
Chapter 5: A Nation of Second Chances 71
Macquarie’s Brave New World 72
Converting Macquarie 73
Living under the Macquarie regime 74
Macquarie’s Main Points of Attack 75
Pushing expansion 76
Conciliating (and pursuing) Indigenous Australians 78
Re-ordering a town, re-ordering convict behaviour 79
Becoming a Governor Ahead of His Time 81
Stirring up trouble with the free folk 81
Creating outrage back home 82
Big World Changes for Little NSW 83
Coping with the deluge following Waterloo 83
Britain starts paying attention again (unfortunately!) 83
Bringing back terror 84
Big Country? Big Ambitions? Bigge the Inspector? Big Problem! 85
Recognising Macquarie’s Legacy 86
Part 2: 1820s to 1900: Wool, Gold, Bust and then Federation 89
Chapter 6: Getting Tough, Making Money and Taking Country 91
Revamping the Convict System 92
Putting the terror back into the system and the system back into the terror 93
Bringing in the settlers 93
Bringing in the enforcers 94
Getting Tough Love from Darling 95
Running into staffing issues 95
Going head-to-head with the press 96
Coming up against calls for representation 96
Putting it all down to a personality clash 98
Enduring Tough Times from Arthur 99
Concentrating on punishment and reform 99
Recording punishments in the system 100
Fighting bushrangers and Tasmanian Aboriginals 101
Hitting the Big Time with Wool and Grabbing Land 104
Opening up Australia’s fertile land 106
Adding sheep, making money 107
Clashing with the locals: white pioneers, black pioneers 109
Fighting the land grab 110
Chapter 7: Economic Collapse and the Beginnings of Nationalism 115
Bubble Times: From Speculative Mania to a Big Collapse 116
Working the market into a frenzy 116
Investing in land with easy credit 117
Ducking for cover as the economy collapses 119
Picking up the pieces after the implosion 120
Moving On from Convictism 121
British calls to end convict ‘slavery’ 121
Ending transportation to NSW 122
Feeling the effects of ending transportation 123
Van Diemen’s Land hits saturation point 123
Feeling the First Stirrings of Nationalism 124
Britain tries turning the convict tap back on 124
Britain offers exiles instead 125
Protecting Indigenous Australians — British Colonial Style 128
Attempting to protect Aboriginal peoples 128
New possibility on Merri Creek 131
Same old tragedy on Myall Creek 132
Chapter 8: The Discovery of Gold and an Immigration Avalanche 133
You want gold? We got gold! 134
Discovering gold (and going a little crazy) 134
Introducing order and hoping for calm 136
Adding a gambling mentality to the mix 137
Working Towards the Workingman’s Paradise 138
That Eureka Moment 140
Rumblings of discontent 141
Tensions boil over 141
The Arrival of Self-Government 144
Votes for a few men 144
Votes for many men 144
Suffrage goes rogue 147
Unlocking the Arable Lands 149
Moving the squatters 149
Making new laws for new farmers 151
Dealing with squatter problems 151
Facing up to non-squatter problems 152
Chapter 9: Explorers, Selectors, Bushrangers and Trains 155
Explorer Superstars 156
Seeking thrills in the ‘great unknown’ 156
Then making the unknown known 157
Sturt and Leichhardt Go Looking 158
Sturt — have boat, will walk 159
Leichhardt also walks right off the map 160
The Great Race — Stuart versus Burke and Wills 161
Seeing the back of Burke, losing Wills 161
Super Stuart — just a pity he’s drunk 163
Selectors and Bushrangers 165
Moving on from the selectors’ dust heap 166
Bushranging nation 167
Ned Kelly: Oppressed Selector’s Son? Larrikin Wild Child? Stone-cold killer? 171
Kelly’s key events 172
The man in the iron mask 174
Growing Towards Nationhood Maybe 175
A telegraph to the world 175
It’s raining trains 176
Chapter 10: Work, Play and Politics during the Long Boom 179
The ‘Workingman’s Paradise’ Continues 180
Growth brings jobs 180
Workingwomen’s paradise too 181
Workers’ Playtime 182
Beating the English at cricket 183
New codes of football 183
The Big Myth of the Bush: Not So Rural Australia 185
Rearranging the Political Furniture 186
Charting new colonial directions 187
Intervening in the economy 192
Chapter 11: The Economy’s Collapsed — Anyone for Nationhood? 197
From Boom to Bust 198
The bubble before the pop 198
And now for a big collapse 199
Three strikes and we’re out — industrial turmoil 203
Birthing the Australian Labor Party 205
From little things 206
Two Australian halves of a Labor story 206
Labor politicos and Labor unionists — the struggle begins! 207
New Nation? Maybe Maybe Not 209
Why Federation happened 209
How Federation happened 212
Three men who made Federation happen 217
Part 3: The 20th Century: New Nation, New Trajectories 221
Chapter 12: Nation Just Born Yesterday 223
Advancing Australia: A Social Laboratory 224
Defining the Commonwealth 225
What the judges said 226
What the politicians did 226
What everyday people thought 227
Passing Innovative Legislation 228
Franchising Australian women 229
Establishing bold new protection 231
Deciding on a fair and reasonable wage 232
Voting in Labor 233
That Whole White Australia Thing 234
Passing the Immigration Restriction Act 235
Promising ‘protection’ — and delivering the absolute opposite 236
Excluding Chinese Australians 238
Dealing with the ‘piebald north’ 239
Deporting the ‘Kanakas’ 240
Pushing ‘purity’ 241
Chapter 13: World War I: International and Local Ruptures 243
Gearing Up for Global War 244
Building up Australian forces 245
Choosing the best party to lead the wartime government 245
Why get involved? 246
Australia at War 246
Proving ourselves to the world, part I: Gallipoli 247
Proving ourselves to the world, part II: The Western Front 249
General John Monash engineers some victory 251
Home Front Hassles 253
Getting on the war footing 254
Irish troubles 254
Conscription controversy 257
When Billy goes rogue — aftermath of the Labor split 260
Moving the Pieces around the Global Table: Australia at Versailles 262
Chapter 14: Australia Unlimited 263
Expanding Australia 264
Postwar Australia — from sour to unlimited 264
Postwar blues? Take the ‘Men, Money and Markets’ cure 266
Australia Not-So-Unlimited 272
Borrowing unlimited for little Australia 272
Land disasters 273
Schizoid Nation 274
Sport, the beach and picture shows 275
Cars, radios and Californian bungalows 275
Returned soldiers — elite, but angry 276
The race bogey 280
The Workers of Australia 280
Labor turns hard left 281
Labor in state governments 282
An attack of the Wobblies 282
Bruce arbitrates his own destruction 283
Part 4: 1930 to 1949: Going So Wrong, So Soon? 287
Chapter 15: A Not So Great Depression 289
Crash and Depression 290
Borrowing like there’s no tomorrow 290
Here comes tomorrow 291
The man from the Bank (of England) 291
The Melbourne Agreement 292
A(nother) Labor Split 293
Two different solutions for the Great Depression problems 293
A party shoots itself in both feet 295
Lang sacked and Labor in tatters 297
Threats to Democracy from Best Friends and Enemies 300
Seeing the virtues of communism 300
Forming secret armies 301
Mistakes and Resilience through the Crisis 304
The politicians fail 304
The people endure 306
Celebrating 26 January 1938? Yes Mourning and Protesting? Also yes 307
Chapter 16: World War II Battles 311
Building Up to War 312
Defences through the Great Depression 312
Embracing the Singapore Strategy 313
Belatedly prodded into action 314
Dealing with Early War Problems 315
Problems with tactics and technology 316
Problems with officer training and promotions 316
Problems with weapons 317
Overseas Again 317
War in northern Africa 317
War in the Mediterranean 319
This Time It’s Personal: War in the Pacific 319
Britain can’t do everything: The fall of Singapore 320
Attacks on Australia 321
Um, America — can we be friends? 323
Turning the tide in the Coral Sea and on the Kokoda Trail 323
Jungle victories 327
Petering into significance 328
Tackling Issues on the Home Front 329
Industrialisation and business expansion 329
Rationing and control 330
Women in war times 331
Taxing everyone and building a welfare system 332
Chapter 17: Making Australia New Again 335
Restarting the Social Laboratory Under Chifley 336
Chifley’s Postwar Reconstruction 337
Focusing on public works and welfare 337
Developing the public service 338
Increasing legislative interventions 340
Coming up against High Court troubles 340
Calwell and the Postwar Migration Revolution 341
Looking beyond Britain to meet migration needs 342
Breaking the mould of mainstream Australia 342
Shifting Balances with Foreign Policy 345
Giving a voice to all nations in the UN 345
Choosing between America and Britain 346
Treading On an Ants’ Nest — of Angry Banks 347
Taking a tentative step 347
Going full-steam down the nationalisation road 348
Part 5: 1950 to 2000: Prosperity and Social Turmoil 351
Chapter 18: Ambushed — by Prosperity! 353
Economics of the Postwar Dreamtime 354
Developing industry and manufacturing 354
Accepting ‘new’ Australian workers 355
Indigenous Australians push back against new policies 356
Suburbia! The Final Frontier 359
White goods make good friends 359
New neighbourhoods and isolation 360
The Rise and Rise of Bob Menzies 361
Appealing to ‘the forgotten people’ 361
Appealing to women 362
Appealing to everyday freedoms 363
Tackling the Communist Threat 365
Menzies tries to ban the Communist Party 365
A man called Petrov and another Labor split 367
Chapter 19: Taking Things Apart in the 1960s and 1970s 371
Moving On from Empire 372
Still loving Britain 372
Losing Britain all the same 373
Looking to Japan and America 374
Defending Australia with America 375
Attack of the Baby Boomers! 377
Ending White Australia 377
Gaining rights for Indigenous Australians 381
Fighting for women’s rights 383
Crashing — or Crashing Through — With Gough 383
It’s (finally Labor’s) Time! 384
The Whitlam typhoon 385
When the wheels fall off 387
Chapter 20: When Old Australia Dies Is New Australia Ready? 389
The Coming of Malcolm Fraser 390
Launching the good ship Multi-Culti 391
Fraser foiled! By shifting economic sands 392
Deregulation Nation 394
Welcoming in ‘Hawke’s World’ 394
Feeling the effects of short-term excess 397
Deregulating the labour market 399
Fighting the Culture Wars 400
Keating fires the starting gun 401
Bumps on the multi-culti road 402
Howard versus the ‘brain class’ 403
Pauline Hanson enters the debate (and turns Howard’s head) 405
Battling Over Native Title 406
Acting on the Mabo judgement 406
Panicking after the Wik judgement 407
Part 6: 2000 and Beyond: Seeking Solutions to Global and Local Problems 411
Chapter 21: Into the New Millennium 413
Still Dealing with the Outside World 414
Protecting the borders 414
Flashpoint Tampa 416
Dealing with the Bali bombings 417
Facing Up to Challenges at Home 418
Apologising to the Stolen Generations 418
Creating more wealth for more people 419
New political directions 421
Chapter 22: Facing Off Between Two Australias 425
A Dozen Years with a Changing Beat 426
The Australian Cavalcade of Events 428
Revolving the door for prime ministers 428
Turnbull’s time 431
Turnbull undone 435
Believing in election miracles 436
Tackling Three Seriously Significant Issues 437
That big China question 437
The People versus Big Tech 439
The People versus COVID 440
Leaders, Politics, Culture and Two Australias 444
From tribe to brand 444
Politics? Downstream of culture 446
Culture? Downwind of politics 446
Part 7: The Part of Tens 451
Chapter 23: Ten Things Australia Gave the World 453
The Boomerang 453
The Ticket of Leave System 454
The Secret Ballot 454
The Eight-Hour Day 454
Feature Films 455
The Artificial Pacemaker 455
The Practical Application of Penicillin 455
Airline Safety Devices 455
Permaculture 456
Spray-on Skin 456
Chapter 24: Ten Game-Changing Moments 457
Cook Claims the East Coast of Australia 457
Henry Kable Claims a Suitcase — and Rights for Convicts 458
Gold Discovered 458
Women Get the Vote in South Australia and Federally 459
Building a Fortress out of Australia — the White Australia Policy 459
Australia splits over Conscription 460
Australia on the Western Front 461
The Post–World War II Migration Program 461
Lake Mungo Woman 461
Mabo 462
Index 463
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