Description

WHY did men and women in Sydney once have to wear skirts to swim in?

WHAT did famous writers such as Mark Twain and Anthony Trollope have to say about Australia?

HOW did the miracle known as the Sydney Opera House ever see the light of day?

WHAT is the point of family history?

These and other random stories arose out of the writer's researches into her family history in early colonial Australia. 'Australia And How To Find It' is a mixture of odds and sods about that weird, eccentric country that didn't make it into the author's previous books. It explains the background to some of the more bizarre rules and regulations that popped up in the country's development, and how the country looked to overseas visitors. How border disagreements led to passengers having to change trains because of the different railway gauges, and why murder defendants had to be tried twice. How Admiral Nelson was able to joke about only having one arm (and why he warrants inclusion in a book about Australia); the struggle of the Aboriginal people to wrest their artefacts back from the clutches of the British Museum; how Australian culture is a lot more diverse and innovative than given credit for by the rest of the world.

Aimed at readers interested in the idiosyncrasies of this unique country and its inhabitants, old and new, as seen through the eyes of a Londoner and Australophile.