The Land of Dreams: How Australians won their freedom,1788–1860
Miegunyah Press, $59.99 hb, 512 pp, 9780522873337
The Land of Dreams: How Australians won their freedom,1788–1860 by David Kemp
This is the first of a five-volume series, apparently all by David Kemp, with the general title Australian Liberalism. The second volume, A Free Country: Australians’ search for utopia 1861–1901, is planned by Melbourne University Publishing next year. Kemp was senior lecturer and then Professor of Politics at Monash University until 1990, and after that a minister in John Howard’s government. He is a Liberal Party insider – his father was founder of the Institute of Public Affairs – and in this project he has the advantage of a lifetime spent coming to grips with the long trajectory of Australian liberalism.
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