Includes bibliographical references (p. 568-584) and index.

From European imaginings of Australia to the end of the colonial period -- Britain's Australia -- Beginnings of literature in colonial Australia -- Early writings by indigenous Australians -- Australian colonial poetry, 1788-1888: claiming the future, restoring the past -- No place for a book? Fiction in Australia to 1890 -- Romantic aftermaths -- From the late nineteenth century to 1950 -- Australia's Australia -- Short story, 1890's to 1950 -- Australian drama, 1850-1950 -- Poetry, popular culture and modernity, 1890-1950 -- Australian fiction and the world republic of letters, 1890-1950 -- Australia's England, 1880-1950 -- Traverses -- Australian children's literature -- Representations of Asia -- Autobiography -- Intersections of history and fiction -- From 1950 to nearly now -- Publishing, patronage and cultural politics, institutional changes in the field of Australian literature from 1950's -- Theatre from 1950 -- Short story since 1950 -- Post - 1950 Australian poetry -- Groups and mavericks -- Challenge of the novel: Australian fiction since 1950 -- Novel, the implicated reader and Australian literature cultures, 1950-2008 -- Nation, literature, location.

Draws on scholarship from leading figures in the field and spans Australian literary history from colonial origins, indigenous and migrant literatures, as well as representations of Asia and the Pacific and the role of literary culture in modern Australian society.