From the world’s oldest continuing cultures to one of the modern Asia-Pacific’s most distinctive nations, *The History of Australia* tells the remarkable story of a continent shaped across tens of thousands of years.

Beginning with the First Peoples and their enduring relationships with Country, this sweeping history follows Australia through early maritime encounters, European exploration, the arrival of the First Fleet, the convict colonies and the often-violent expansion of the colonial frontier.

It explores the gold rushes, Eureka, immigration, democratic government and Federation before tracing Australia through the First and Second World Wars, the decline of the White Australia policy, post-war migration, multiculturalism, Indigenous rights, the 1967 referendum, Mabo, reconciliation and the political and social transformations of the modern era.

Moving from ancient Australia to the Commonwealth of the twenty-first century, Murat Smith brings together the people, conflicts, ideas and turning points that created modern Australia while recognising the many different histories contained within the Australian story.

*The History of Australia* is an accessible and wide-ranging account for readers who want to understand not simply what happened, but how Australia became the nation it is today.