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Australia: Great Southern Land
A comprehensive history of Australia places the "Land Down Under" in a global context that draws on sources from numerous other countries, in a narrative account that covers such topics as its role as a convict settlement, the formation of the Commonwealth of Australia, and its troubled official relationship with the Aboriginal people.
768 pages, Hardcover
First published November 24, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 10, 2020
3.75⭐️ an interesting introduction to Australian history.
Overall, a worthwhile read but I have brought a book written by an aborigine about aboriginal history as I felt I was seriously missing their point of view.
Overall, a worthwhile read but I have brought a book written by an aborigine about aboriginal history as I felt I was seriously missing their point of view.
September 9, 2009
“Australia: A New History of the Great Southern Land” by Frank Welsh is a very good attempt at providing a complete and concise history of Australia from a perspective of Europeans, and from the point where Europeans became aware of it and decided to colonize it. Of course, it isn’t possible to provide much in the way of history from the aboriginal people who have lived there for 40,000 years or so, and that will forever be our loss.
The first chapter covers the growing awareness of the Southern land by the different countries of Europe. This is followed by several chapters detailing the colonization, first of New South Wales and the proceeding to other parts of the continent and Tasmania. Welsh does a good job of discussing the formation of each of the colonies and how they developed, and their need to be joined, but as well the resistance to joining which had to be overcome. The next significant period is that of Federation and its development as a nation as it moved from relying almost exclusively on Great Britain to more reliance on the United States.
Mr. Welsh does a thorough job covering events, politics, social attitudes, international relations, and key figures throughout the history. It is interesting to see Australia develop from a continent which nobody was very interested in initially, to a penal colony, to a group of colonies, to a commonwealth, and finally to a significant Western power which is physically closer to Asia and Eastern cultures than it is the West. This provides a unique and unusual dynamic to the country. On the cultural front, there is also significant development from one thought of as criminal, to one which was very racist for the majority of its history, but has in the last half-century become amazingly diverse and open to different cultures, ideas, and people.
From a personal perspective, I can add that it is interesting that, while there is still evidence of the prior racism here, it seems to have left far fewer scars than have been left in the U.S., though I must admit that there is still a lot of the country which I have left to experience. Nevertheless, the progress in diversity and attitude is amazing to see, as both Melbourne and Sydney are very international cities, and even the often thought of as backward Tasmania does a good job of promoting the positive aspects of different cultures and being open to them.
Welsh’s history of Australia was published in 2004, so it is missing the last five years, and the transition from John Howard and the Liberal party to Kevin Rudd and the Labor party. However, other than that, the only problem I found was a rather minor statement that Reagan had been elected President in 1979 (it was in fact 1980), and the error is hardly significant to the point being made. The writing is a bit dry in places, but it does have excellent notes and a good bibliography as well. I can’t rate this as high as Hughes “The Fatal Shore” or Keneally’s “A Commonwealth of Thieves”, but then again neither of them provides a complete history of the country, and so they do a better job in their area of focus.
The first chapter covers the growing awareness of the Southern land by the different countries of Europe. This is followed by several chapters detailing the colonization, first of New South Wales and the proceeding to other parts of the continent and Tasmania. Welsh does a good job of discussing the formation of each of the colonies and how they developed, and their need to be joined, but as well the resistance to joining which had to be overcome. The next significant period is that of Federation and its development as a nation as it moved from relying almost exclusively on Great Britain to more reliance on the United States.
Mr. Welsh does a thorough job covering events, politics, social attitudes, international relations, and key figures throughout the history. It is interesting to see Australia develop from a continent which nobody was very interested in initially, to a penal colony, to a group of colonies, to a commonwealth, and finally to a significant Western power which is physically closer to Asia and Eastern cultures than it is the West. This provides a unique and unusual dynamic to the country. On the cultural front, there is also significant development from one thought of as criminal, to one which was very racist for the majority of its history, but has in the last half-century become amazingly diverse and open to different cultures, ideas, and people.
From a personal perspective, I can add that it is interesting that, while there is still evidence of the prior racism here, it seems to have left far fewer scars than have been left in the U.S., though I must admit that there is still a lot of the country which I have left to experience. Nevertheless, the progress in diversity and attitude is amazing to see, as both Melbourne and Sydney are very international cities, and even the often thought of as backward Tasmania does a good job of promoting the positive aspects of different cultures and being open to them.
Welsh’s history of Australia was published in 2004, so it is missing the last five years, and the transition from John Howard and the Liberal party to Kevin Rudd and the Labor party. However, other than that, the only problem I found was a rather minor statement that Reagan had been elected President in 1979 (it was in fact 1980), and the error is hardly significant to the point being made. The writing is a bit dry in places, but it does have excellent notes and a good bibliography as well. I can’t rate this as high as Hughes “The Fatal Shore” or Keneally’s “A Commonwealth of Thieves”, but then again neither of them provides a complete history of the country, and so they do a better job in their area of focus.
August 20, 2015
Provided you understand what you're getting, this is a solid history of Australia. What are you getting?
i) a book written by a Brit, not an Australian. This is very good, insofar as he doesn't feel obliged to take sides in Australia's extraordinarily vitriolic historiographical polemics. It's bad in that he doesn't necessarily give you an understanding of what it's like to actually grow up in Australia, i.e., he hates Ned Kelly. Bloody poms. This makes the book particularly useless for those looking to understand the country's culture and society.
ii) in other words, it's a political history. That's good, since you get an understanding of the political history; it's bad, because Australia's political history is pretty dull, particularly if you're not taking part in the vitriolic *political* polemics, which are great entertainment.
But I suspect this makes it a good place to start, for Australians or others. If you feel the urge to skim over pre-Menzies political stuff, you won't be losing anything. But beware Welsh's free and loose ways with footnotes and references--he sometimes refers to nonexistent books. Tut tut.
i) a book written by a Brit, not an Australian. This is very good, insofar as he doesn't feel obliged to take sides in Australia's extraordinarily vitriolic historiographical polemics. It's bad in that he doesn't necessarily give you an understanding of what it's like to actually grow up in Australia, i.e., he hates Ned Kelly. Bloody poms. This makes the book particularly useless for those looking to understand the country's culture and society.
ii) in other words, it's a political history. That's good, since you get an understanding of the political history; it's bad, because Australia's political history is pretty dull, particularly if you're not taking part in the vitriolic *political* polemics, which are great entertainment.
But I suspect this makes it a good place to start, for Australians or others. If you feel the urge to skim over pre-Menzies political stuff, you won't be losing anything. But beware Welsh's free and loose ways with footnotes and references--he sometimes refers to nonexistent books. Tut tut.
January 27, 2017
Everyone who is about to read this book should know that it is completely descriptive. Therefore, if you are expecting any kind of fiction you will be disappointed. However, for everyone else out there who, like me, likes to read pure history without any unnecessary deliberations, then the book is right there waiting for you.
The reason I am giving it a lower rating is that the author has incorporated so many names of people in the book that it is actually hard to keep track of who is who. I would love it if there was like an annex with the names of every person mentioned and the role they've been taking. It is good to know what all of the parties were thinking and doing but it just gets too confusing. Anyways, with some slow reading you get used to it.
Moreover, another thing I did not like was that there was very little information on how the first settlers were actually living. The information is rather based on politics. Again, if that's what you are looking for, you will like it.
What I liked a lot about the book was that the author described every event with specific years. And I am someone who likes to know what happened when and where.
The book can very easily serve as a history book of Australia without letting the reader fall for any assumptions.
The reason I am giving it a lower rating is that the author has incorporated so many names of people in the book that it is actually hard to keep track of who is who. I would love it if there was like an annex with the names of every person mentioned and the role they've been taking. It is good to know what all of the parties were thinking and doing but it just gets too confusing. Anyways, with some slow reading you get used to it.
Moreover, another thing I did not like was that there was very little information on how the first settlers were actually living. The information is rather based on politics. Again, if that's what you are looking for, you will like it.
What I liked a lot about the book was that the author described every event with specific years. And I am someone who likes to know what happened when and where.
The book can very easily serve as a history book of Australia without letting the reader fall for any assumptions.
September 23, 2024
Broad history of Australia from European discovery to early 21st century. Covers broad history well, but very little on Aboriginal (or Torres Straights) people beyond discussion of Tasmanian experiences.
March 27, 2025
Must admit I did a lot of skimming and ultimately just skipping a lot, but good heavens, the amount of work the gentleman put into this was amazing. His research and analysis was truly amazing and can't imagine that there was anything that he missed as far as subject matter.
June 30, 2009
Perhaps one reason I seldom read histories is that the authors don't try to tell a story; this book is no exception. It is a competently written chronological history of a wonderful land. After about 150 pages, I decided that, because there was no thread other than time, I would start bouncing around and read about topics of interest. What were the Australians up to at Gallipoli? How did the Australian Gold Rush look? What's this stuff about "White Australia?" This last bit is the only truly ignoble part of the country's history; well, maybe I should say that I found it the hardest to 'excuse' by comparing the people to their contemporaries elsewhere. Indeed, it's remarkable how decent and humane (generally speaking) a people the Australians are given that the white ones are descended from criminals.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews