A History of Australia, Vol. 3: The Beginning of an Australian Civilization 1824-1851

Broadly speaking, I care less for Volume III of Manning Clark's sprawling progressive Australian history. Whereas the first two volumes had so much to tell us about the literal creation of the white construct of colonial Australia, this is a story of a coming-together, a series of vignettes describing a particular historical moment, and not one I find as interesting as either what came before, or what will come after (in arguably the masterpiece of the series, Volume IV, when Australians really start agitating as an entity - despite still being individual colonies).

I understand some people are frustrated by Clark's flights of fancy, his determination to not just place people in their era but then subtly by sharply judge them for it, or show more for his languid writing style that takes in quotes in the voice of the day and lengthy lists of facts. I for one adore all of the aforementioned. But what separates me from Clark is his "Great Man" tendency, focusing here on the lives of those at the top. At the same time, the reality is that he has to. Historical records are much stronger in the letters, proclamations, and minutes that exist for life in the military and aristocracy of the young country. Still, the first half of this book is very much about a series of Great Men, as Clark wraps up his individual narratives of each colony, that I became exhausted.

Luckily, things pick up in the second half, after a spellbinding chapter about the state of the colony in 1841, when Clark brings the country's narrative together into a more focused story. By virtue of the events of the 1840s, the book shifts into discussions of rural life, of the "squattocracy", and less on matters of state. And it's all the better for it. show less