The Golden Country (Paperback)

Tim Watts

ISBN 10: 1925603989 / ISBN 13: 9781925603989

Published by Text Publishing, Melbourne, 2019

About this Item

Paperback. A topical and provocative exploration of Australian identity by Federal MP and author Tim Watts.John Howard was the unlikely reformer of Australian society. He loosened migration laws, massively boosting the population and making it less white. Simultaneously, his divisive rhetoric about national identity-a legacy of White Australia-hamstrung discussion of these huge changes.As the MP for a diverse electorate, the partner of a Hong-Kong-Chinese-Australian and father of Eurasian-Australians, and the descendant of a proponent of laws stopping Chinese people from coming here, Tim Watts asks- Why don't we remember Billy Sing, the Chinese-Australian sharpshooter at Gallipoli, or that Ararat was founded by Chinese miners? Why is Australia's imagined community so far behind our lived community?Golden Country challenges us to reckon with the dark heart of Federation, the racial core of the Australian Legend, and to confront outdated notions of Australianness. It crunches the numbers on the economic and social effects of migration, and looks to a more inclusive future. A topical and provocative exploration of Australian identity by Federal MP and author Tim Watts. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781925603989

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Golden Country (Paperback)
• Publisher: Text Publishing, Melbourne
• Publication Date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1925603989
• ISBN 13: 9781925603989
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

In The Lucky Country, Donald Horne wanted to capture ‘what the huge continent was like…before it was peopled from all over Asia’. Sixty years later, we need to ask what Australia is like today, as it is being ‘peopled from all over Asia’, and what a century of nation building in the image of White Australia has meant for our country.

John Howard was the unlikely reformer of contemporary Australia. He transformed the migration system, creating the first immigration boom since the White Australia policy ended and dramatically diversifying the population. Yet his divisive rhetoric about national identity has hamstrung discussion about what these changes mean. As a result, Australia is a successful multicultural society with monocultural institutions and symbols.

Tim Watts’ family personifies this contradiction. His children are descendants of Hong-Kong—Chinese migrants and of pre-Federation politicians who sought to build a nation that excluded anyone who wasn’t white. As the representative of a diverse federal electorate, Watts asks: why is Australia’s imagined community so far behind its lived community, and what can we do about it?