'The distribution of wealth is far more equal. To begin with, there is no poor class in the colonies. Comfortable incomes are in the majority, millionaires few and far between.'This opinion, voiced a century ago by a British journalist on a tour of the colonies, sums up the widely-held and long-lived view that Australia was a working man's paradise, an egalitarian society free of the poverty afflicting other countries.Such a view could only persist if the poor were ignored ...

A history of sexuality runs the risk of confirming popular fears that academics are capable of ruining even the most simple of pleasures. This book, however, is written in the hope that histories of sexuality (although not necessarily this one) can enlighten and, occasionally, even delight. At their best such histories offer a means of investigating the clash of instinct and culture — how seemingly timeless and natural behaviours shape and are in turn shaped by history. Sexual practices ma...

The Dawkins reforms of the late 1980s and the creation of the Unified National System roused passions at many universities across the nation over fears for the academic enterprise and Australia's system of free, public university education. With much at stake, the Dawkins reforms became a hot topic of discussion across university campuses, and even between Vice-Chancellors and state education ministers. Vice-Chancellors were threatened with motions of no-confidence, staff argued furiously ...

The achievements of Australian servicemen and women have played a central role in shaping Australia's national identity. While we rightly commemorate the sacrifices of Australians in war, we have ignored those who returned to Australia and their struggles to reintegrate into society. The Cost of War: War, Return and the Re-Shaping of Australian Culture focuses on the Anzacs who returned from the two world wars, the Korean War and Vietnam. Many of the challenges outlined in the boo...

This revised and updated second edition of Best New Horror showcases some of the very best short stories and novellas published in 1990, the year when the horror boom finally went bust. In this vilifying volume you will rediscover terrifying tales by, amongst many others, Poppy Z. Brite, Jonathan Carroll, Harlan Ellison, Elizabeth Hand, Michael Marshall Smith, Peter Straub, F. Paul Wilson, Gahan Wilson and Gene Wolfe, along with an overview of the year in horror by the editors and a nightm...