Maps on endpapers.

The first installment of a two-part work, this title covers Australia's early history, from the arrival of Indigenous Australians, to the arrival of Europeans, up to the early part of the 1800s.

Preface -- Part one. The sway of sea and fire -- 1. Fire by the lake -- 2. The discoverers -- 3. Vanishing giants -- 4. A burning continent -- 5. Tasmania : outline of a puzzle -- 6. The rising of the seas -- 7. Death and birth -- 8. Duel and battle -- Part two. The triumph of the nomads -- 9. The day's hunt -- 10. Women of the plains and mountains -- 11. Medicines and drugs, liquids and cosmetics -- 12. To travel lightly -- 13. Trade routes and rituals -- 14. Rich or poor -- 15. Sails of doom -- Part three. To the grasslands -- 16. Strangers from Europe -- 17. A little squadron sails -- 18. Colonising with thieves -- 19. The quick march of the sheep -- 20. White ghosts ride by -- 21. War on the grasslands -- 22. The new three : west, south and New Zealand -- 23. Cities rise and chains break -- 24. Mysteries of an odd country.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 393-423) and index.

Winner of Prime Minister's Literary Award: Australian History 2016