The Enlightenment & the Advance of Liberty is an instalment to the How Australia Was Made series published by the Institute of Public Affairs. Presented by Executive Director, Scott Hargreaves, and Adjunct Fellow Bradley Bowden, this essay outlines the intellectual and political heritage of the systems and values that characterise the Australian way of life. In presenting this “bygone epoch”, the transformative context rooted in the pillars of Western Civilization can contribute to and enhance an understanding of what Australia owes its success to and need to preserve these ideas.