Publisher's Synopsis
Facing North: A Century of Australian Engagement with Asia is the first book to assess the whole history of Australia's relations with Asia since Federation. This first volume presents a detailed account of Australian-Asian relations from Federation to the 1970s. The second volume will review new dimensions of Australian engagement with Asia in the last part of the century. The story told in Facing North is a complex account of the challenges that Australia has faced since Federation in relating to Asian realities. This history explains major changes in official Australian policies towards Asia, and also broader cultural challenges. It will interest all those concerned with Asia today, who need to know what was done in the past, and why, as a basis for a better understanding of Australia's present relations with Asia and the choices in Asian policy that Australia will face in the future.
