Australasia

Arnold Whitridge describes how, in April 1768, Bougainville reached ‘an enchanting island’ in the South Pacific.

No memorials of the past are more fantastic than the series of great statues—some of them as tall as a four-storey building—that greet the visitor to this lonely and storm-swept Pacific island. By C.A. Burland.

Patricia Wright profiles Falconer Larkworthy, a man who served in the banks of both Australia and New Zealand during the great Gold Rush of the 1850s.

By tradition the Tongan kingdom has been established for over 13,000 years; but one of its contemporary faces is distinctly Victorian, as discussed here by George Woodcock.

Canberra was born on March 12th, 1913.

Roderick Cameron explains how, during the 50 years that followed Governor Phillip’s landing at Botany Bay in 1788, convicts and free settlers turned New South Wales into a flourishing colony.

From Captain Cook to playboy Prince Bertie, Tessa Dunlop examines the appeal of the tattoo among high society.

Who discovered Australia? Most people think of the First Fleet that went to Botany Bay 1788, but our ideas may require rethinking, following recent research on DNA analysis, and epidemiological studies of a rare disease. 

Daryl Best on use and abuse in Australia's environmental history.

Christopher Innocent on ancient Australian burial sites.