The Changing World of Australia [antikvár]

Introduction In wrh ing this book I have not attempted to follow the lines of a formal history. Rather this is a documentary in which I have tried to pick up the threads of the story and gather together the main events and the trends that have shaped the nation. It deals with the events which time has shown to have been significant in shaping Australia's story — the story of a quiet land set apart, remote from the main thrusts and pressures. This land has remained sparsely populated throughout human existence, escaping all the main movements of population in prehistoric times and remaining beyond the range of mariners' knowledge long after all other habitable continents were reached by Europeans. The insulation has remained into recent times and, hidden behind a veil of mystery or obscured by a screen of fable, Australia has had little serious attention from the world at large. The factors that have conferred upon Australia its unique character go beyond the details of its history; they are to be found partly in geographical remoteness, the dryness of so much of the land, and the resultant population pattern. It is still a land of surprises, intriguing in the rocket age just as it has been ever since Europeans first set foot upon its shores. The building of Australia into a modern nation has been a great adventure. It has been made possible by capable, enterprising, and courageous people. In the process of unlocking the secrets of the continent, Australians have learned to look upon their country, even in its harsher moods, with affection and increasingly with perception of its beauty. Its people, still only a generation or two away from the frontier, have a freewheehng way with them. They have not hardened into the sophisticated North Atlantic groups to whom they belong. Rather they are still malleable, spontaneous, and ever ready to help, personally capable and adept, less formal, serious in many things and with a sense of humor that is often cynical and sometimes sardonic. A dominating factor in Australia's story is that the community is essentially British. The country was settled almost exclusively by people from the British Isles and even in the 1960's cultural links seem still to be predominantly with London. In political affairs, the approach has been the typically