This title is aimed at travellers, or those interested in history, who wish to enjoy the diversity of Australia. It outlines the history of the country from the arrival of the earliest Aborigines some fifty or sixty thousand years ago to the preparations for the Sydney Olympics in the year 2000. The ancient Aboriginal way of life is described; the vast deserts and fertile coastal plains, treacherous climate and peculiar marsupial animals; early European sightings; and the establishment of the British convict colony in 1788 which dragged the continent into the modern world. The dynamic story of Australia in the 20th-century, its role in two world wars, the post-war discoveries of huge mineral deposits, and the influx of Southern European migrants who changed the countries ethnic make-up. Australia"s courting of Asia in recent decades and the return of vast areas of land to the Aborigines are examined in the final chapter. A historical gazetteer discusses the chief place of interest for tourists. The book concludes with the several appendices: the most influential Australians since 1788; why boomerangs return; and the peculiarities of kangaroo physiology.