Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents:
Terra Nullius of the mind -- Slightly better than average, again -- From somewhere -- Stories we tell ourselves -- Architecture of silence -- Hidden in plain sight -- A fair go -- Lucky, not so smart -- Utopian dreaming -- Gliding forward -- The incurable flaw -- Making the nation -- Small brown bird -- The more things change... -- Personal becomes political -- Soul destroying -- Remaking the nation -- People like us -- Power players -- From little things.

"What is the idea of Australia? What defines the soul of our nation? Are we an egalitarian, generous, outward-looking country? Or is Australia a nation that has retreated into silence and denial about the past and become selfish, greedy, and insular? A lifetime of watching the country as a journalist, editor, academic and writer has given Julianne Schultz a unique platform from which to ask and answer these big urgent questions. The global pandemic gave her a time to study the X-ray of our country and the opportunity for perspective and analysis. Schultz came to realise that the idea of Australia is a contest between those who are imaginative, hopeful, altruistic and ambitious and those who are defensive and inward-looking. She tells us revealing stories that we rarely hear from our media or leaders. This book explains us to ourselves and suggests ways Australia can realise her true potential. Urgent, inspiring, and optimistic, The Idea of Australia presents the vision we need to fully appreciate our great strengths and crucial challenges." -- Back cover.