Professor John Croucher gives an account of the first and continuing history of the first peoples to live in the region now known as New South Wales, as well as its history from the days of British settlement and its more recent history, of the waves of other immigrants who have made New South Wales their home. Each section in the book focuses on a different cultural or historical aspect which is examined thoroughly from the beginnings of British settlement. The complete development of the state is told, weaving through these various areas of focus, along with the important people and events. Remarkable pioneers have helped shape not only the state but the country as a whole and their voices, some coming to us via oral history, others via historical documents, make fascinating reading.

Contains numerous references to Aborigines; conflict with early settlers.

Australia is the last continent to be settled by Europeans, but it also sustains a people and a culture tens of thousands of years old. For much of the past 200 years the newcomers have sought to replace the old with the new. This book tells how they imposed themselves on the land, and brought technology, institutions and ideas to make it their own. It relates the advance from penal colony to a prosperous free nation and illustrates how, in a nation created by waves of newcomers, the search for binding traditions has long been frustrated by the feeling of rootlessness. This revised edition incorporates the most recent historical research and contemporary historical debates on frontier violence between European settlers and Aborigines and the Stolen Generations. It covers the Sydney Olympics, the refugee crisis and the 'Pacific solution'. More than ever before, Australians draw on the past to understand their future.