The Shape of Australian History

Is it possible to write a singular story about Australia? In his Shortest History of Australia (Black Inc., 2025), eminent historian Mark McKenna distils hundreds of years of post-encounter and many thousands of years of First Nations history into a concise but wide-ranging, thoughtful, generous history. As we learn not only from Indigenous storytellers but all those marginalised by conventional histories, we need new ways of understanding who we are and where we have come from. In this exciting new book, Country itself is a historical actor – a leading player in our story rather than its backdrop. This is a bold, creative, and short book that presents Australia in striking new light – history as you have never read it before. ‘Original, eloquent and moving,’ writes Tom Griffiths on the book’s jacket, reading this is ‘a revelatory journey’.

This conversation will be held in-person at St James' King Street and streamed live. Please join us for refreshments in the Crypt after the event.

Professor Mark McKenna is one of Australia’s leading historians, currently based at the Australian National University. He is the author of many prize-winning books, including From the Edge: Australia’s Lost Histories, Looking for Blackfellas’ Point and An Eye for Eternity: The Life of Manning Clark (which won the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for nonfiction and the Victorian, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australian premiers’ awards).