The Europeans in Australia by Alan Atkinson

JUDGES' COMMENTS

In this third and final volume of his ambitious history of Australia, told from the point of view of European settlers, Alan Atkinson writes about the period from 1870 to the end of the First World War. His focus is on the formation of the nation with the eventual federation of its separate colonies in 1901. He brings a breadth of imagination and extensive research to this story to make it a gripping read that challenges the reader to look at their world anew.

Atkinson’s story is guided by a profound concern with the ideals he identifies as guiding moves to establish a nation. He traces the strengths of these ideals in the form that they were articulated and imagined, while at the same time confronting their dangerous limitations in conceptualising who would be legitimate members of this community. While it is a history of ideas about nationhood at one level, Atkinson also shows us how new communication technologies, cultural institutions such as the Bulletin, and the democratisation of knowledge in fields such as meteorology and water management were fundamental to enabling people to think about Australia as a place they all shared in common and needed to build together.

Alan Atkinson’s command of a vast wealth of knowledge about Australia’s history is made even more impressive by his ability to incorporate insights into what was happening in other countries and other nations emerging from colonial histories. Tracing the concerns of people in their everyday lives and local communities, he reminds us of the importance of small places and daily lives in attempts to recapture and rethink the ideals of commonwealth or moral community for a modern Australia. This is a book to think with, to read a number of times, and to inspire us.