The Pocketbook of Aussie History

By Brendan Gullifer

When was the first Melbourne cup, and which horse won?
Who was the first woman to stand for federal parliament?
What’s the second verse of ‘Advance Australia Fair’?
And why was Vegemite renamed Parwill in 1928?

Here, in one handy reference, are the dates and deeds, the heroes and villains, the icons and famous words that have shaped our country and its place in the world. Full of useful facts – and a healthy dose of irreverence – The Pocketbook of Aussie History is an entertaining guide to Australia’s curious past.

‘A useful reference for anyone who tuned out of Australian history in high school.’ The Age

‘A terrific idea’ David Koch, Sunrise, Network Seven

‘You can dip into it anywhere and have all sorts of dinner-table conversations based on it’ Jon Faine, ABC Radio Melbourne

• Language: English
• Publisher: Black Inc. Books
• Release date: Jan 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781921870200

Brendan Gullifer

Brendan Gullifer is has been a reporter, investigative journalist and sub-editor in Australia and overseas and is the author of Sold, a novel.

Book preview

The POCKETBOOK of

AUSSIE HISTORY

The POCKETBOOK of

AUSSIE HISTORY

BRENDAN GULLIFER

Published by Black Inc.,

an imprint of Schwartz Media Pty Ltd

37–39 Langridge Street

Collingwood VIC 3066 Australia

email: [e-mail]

http://www.blackincbooks.com

Copyright © Brendan Gullifer 2010

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

or transmitted in any form by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying,

recording or otherwise with out the prior consent of the publishers.

‘My Country’ is reproduced by arrangement with the Estate of

Dorothea Mackellar c/- Curtis Brown (Aust) Pty Ltd.

e-ISBN: 9781921870200

Cover design: Thomas Deverall

For Robyn, Sunday, Honor and Lawrence

CONTENTS

Introduction

PART I:

TIMELINE OF AUSTRALIAN & WORLD HISTORY

PART II:

1. TERRA AUSTRALIS

2. EUROPEAN DISCOVERY & SETTLEMENT

3. NATION BUILDING

4. PRIME MINISTERS

5. HEROES & VILLAINS

6. AUSTRALIANS OF THE YEAR

7. BUSINESS & WORK

8. SCIENCE & THE ENVIRONMENT

9. THE NUMBERS GAME

10. THE ARTS

11. SPORT

12. RELIGION

13. WORDS THAT MATTER

Further Reading

INTRODUCTION

The newspaper reading room at the State Library of Victoria is one of my favourite places.

In the microfilm section, lamp-lit faces peer at screens and the only noise is the quiet swoosh of spinning spools. The place has a church-like quality. There’s an air of sepulchral calm, a studious world away from the rattling trams and pedestrians outside on busy Swanston Street.

The library’s collection comprises nearly 4000 separate newspaper titles, which add up to over 100,000 volumes or boxes of newspapers. For someone who has spent most of his working life in the media, visiting always feels like a rare privilege – an opportunity to metaphorically peer through a telescope pointed at our past. As the newspaper industry struggles to survive and reinvent itself, collections like the State Library’s are vivid reminders that journalism continues to be our first rough draft of history.

I spent many hours again in the newspaper reading room updating this second edition of The Pocketbook of Aussie History. As I said in the first edition, I am perhaps the least likely person to write a history book. The subject bored me at school. I couldn’t see the point.

In my late teens and early twenties, I absconded from university, escaping into the daily excitement of rural and then city journalism, both in Australia and overseas. And now, twenty-five years later, I return to newspapers in a different way, to bring this small book up to date.

From this perspective, the importance of history is starkly clear. Hindsight puts things into place. With distance, patterns emerge. With the passing of time, the seemingly random and unfathomable becomes one more piece in a jigsaw.

Since the last edition, we’ve seen a strengthening of the role of women in public life in Australia. We now have our first female governor-general, our first female prime minister and our first female premiers in Queensland and New South Wales.

Natural disasters, always a part of the Australian story, seem to be more frequent and more violent, and certainly more unpredictable. Overseas, acts of terrorism happen regularly. And hung parliaments have occurred federally in Australia, as well as in Tasmania and Western Australia, the UK and Sweden. (South Australia had a minority government after the 2002 election while Victoria and Queensland also had minority governments in recent decades.)

Over the past decade, Australian history has become a more mainstream subject of public discussion and interpretation. This is healthy. But this pocketbook is something else: a volume of facts and dates, and a handy reference guide to Australia’s history. You can read it cover to cover, dip in and out of it for inspiration or information, or use it to solve an argument. It’s a scaffold for understanding, and hopefully a springboard to encourage further investigation.

Brendan Gullifer

TIMELINE of AUSTRALIAN

& WORLD HISTORY