Looking from the North

Henry Reynolds’ ground-breaking re-examination of Australian colonisation from the north down.

When acclaimed historian Henry Reynolds moved from Hobart to Townsville to teach Australian history in the 1960s, he discovered the books of the period covered very little about northern Australia and First Nations peoples. He set out to help remedy the situation and ended up transforming Australian history in ways he could never have imagined.

In Looking from the North, Reynolds again turns Australian history on its axis with an exploration of colonisation north of the Tropic of Capricorn. Reynolds tells the stories of the European, Chinese, Japanese and Pacific Islander people who were vital to the settlement of the north. Along with the experience of First Nations peoples, from employment on stations and as native police to the land rights and homelands movements, Reynolds shows how the colonisation of the north, officially beginning in 1861, was a very different venture to settlement in the south. He argues that it provides profoundly important lessons for the world we live in today.

‘This book is another masterpiece by Henry Reynolds. It combines the personal with the professional historiography that trademarks his work. The skilful and meticulous detail of his writing will once again inform Australians that truth can heal this nation.’ – Jackie Huggins

‘Henry Reynolds was at the vanguard of young historians who burst onto the scene in the 1970s to shake the foundations of Australian history. Looking from the North explores “national history from the north down”, yet again challenging Australia’s past. Meticulously researched and written, this latest work by Reynolds deserves its place alongside his other groundbreaking histories.’ – John Maynard

‘Henry Reynolds’ map-flipping, mind-bending, gravity-defying book turns our colonial and national history on its stubborn head. By geolocating the axis of Australia’s imperial enterprise in the continent’s north, Reynolds challenges conventional assumptions of centre and margin; the value-laden hierarchy of proximate and remote. In doing so, the master storyteller changes the status of the people, power and perspectives that have shaped the nation’s political trajectory. A radical revision of the past and a timely cartographic and conceptual blueprint for repositioning future relationships to law, sovereignty and country.’ – Clare Wright