Australia 1788-1988: The Creation of a Nation

A fascinating and idiosyncratic journey through Australia's history that stops and makes detours to sample the diversity, the richness, the energy, and the zaniness of this distant continent. With a stream of evocative observations. Charles Wilson traces Australia's history in the days of convict settlement, the earliest settlers from Scotland and Ireland, the economy of the sea, the home of the Picaresque, Australian cricket's disproportionate influence, and the wealth of Australian musical and theatrical talent, and finishes his odyssey with the search for an Australian identity. A unique portrait of a new, vigorous, economically and culturally expansive Australia.