The Commonwealth of Australia is one of the world’s greatest nations. And great nations have great literature. Australian literature is concerned with the life and times of the Australian People — the race of men that created this Commonwealth and established their homeland on the Australasian continent.
They are a people as unique as any other, with a cultural world that marks them apart from the family of nations for reasons too numerous here to name, but which become abundantly clear from the reading of their writings.
Literature is the single greatest means that mankind has for transmitting thoughts and feelings. Literature can take us across vast distances and down through the ages. Literature can put us in the mind of another man, even one long-dead. A proper knowledge of Australian literature is essential to the advancement and cultivation of the Australian nationality.
Australian culture may not be the world’s oldest, nor its most famous, nor count its adherents as the most numerous, but it is nonetheless a rich culture that deserves its fair share of attention.
The Books of Australia series seeks to make great Australian books more widely available and more widely known.
I hope this series will be of good use to many, and bring pleasure to many more.