'If there are genuine questions about Australian history, there is something to puzzle over. The history ceases to be predictable - and dull.' From the author of The Shortest History of Europe, acclaimed historian John Hirst, comes this fresh and stimulating approach to understanding Australia's past and present. Hirst asks and answers questions that get to the heart of Australia's history- Why did Aborigines not become farmers? How did a penal colony change peacefully to a democracy? Why was Australia so prosperous so early? Why did the Australian colonies federate? What effect did convict origins have on national character? Why was the postwar migration programme a success? Why is Australia not a republic? Engaging and enjoyable, and written for the novice and the expert alike, Australian History in 7 Questions explains how we became the nation we are today.

With Subjects For The Christian In His Retirement.

With Subjects For The Christian In His Retirement.

Sense and Nonsense in Australian History represents a lifetime's original reflection by Australia's most innovative and penetrating historian. Included here are classic essays on the pioneer legend, Australian egalitarianism and colonial culture. There are celebrated critiques of The Tyranny of Distance, multiculturalism and nationalistic history, as well as a substantial essay on Aboriginal dispossession and the history wars. In Sense and Nonsense in Australian History, John Hirst overturns familiar conceptions and deepens our sense of Australia's development from convict society to distinctive democracy. "one of the nation's most independent and original historians" - Geoffrey Blainey "John Hirst is the gadfly of Australian history, stinging and provocative" - Stuart Macintyre "essential reading for those who want to ponder, let alone write and teach about, Australian history" - Robert Murray, The Weekend Australian

The Family Court was a progressive reform of the 1970s. Now it is perhaps the most hated institution in Australia. In the first Quarterly Essay of 2005, John Hirst investigates what went wrong. This is a measured yet unsparing appraisal which interleaves individual cases with compelling legal and moral argument. Hirst takes us deep into the workings of the Court and the domestic apocalypses it sees every day. He explores the Court's fervour to uphold the best interests of the child no matter what and traces its chilling consequence- a court where malicious allegations regularly go unpunished. He notes the Court's enormous power over individual lives, as well as its self-proclaimed status as a 'caring court', and wonders at its ability to overlook the defiance of its own authority. In closing, he considers how to reform an institution that has bred antagonism and extremism and too often entrenched paranoia and despair. Lucid and urgent, 'Kangaroo Court' is a cautionary tale about the perils of high-mindedness when it comes to dealing with the breakdown of families. 'When Family Court judges talk piously of the 'caring court', I wish they could hear the roar of pain that their piety has caused.' - John Hirst, 'Kangaroo Court'