AUSTRALIAN STORY by Tania McCartney

Australian Story2 — ISBN 978-0-642-27745-9; 297 x 210mm paperback; b&w and colour illus; $24.95 Category: Children's Non-Fiction Picture Book. Release date: April 2012

The day has arrived where I will be telling you all about Tania McCartney’s brand new book – Australian Story, an illustrated timeline.

Published by the National Library of Australia, Australian Story is an amazing accomplishment. I don’t know about you but when I try to get my head around the fact that the earth was created 180 million years ago – I get a case of the dizzies.

What I love about this timeline is the visual references that are attached to the ridiculously big numbers. It helps to ground you. The timeline is also a reminder that we, modern woman (and man) have only occupied this country for a spit. The indigenous Australians, in comparison, have been around for 65,000 years. It really helps to put things in perspective.

When I received my copy of Australian Story I flipped straight to this page – can you guess why?

That’s right! Because that was the page that I came into the world – actually I’m surprised I’m not mentioned 🙂

Also in that year decimal currency is introduced to Australia, daily television news reports are received via satellite and a seven year battle for land title in the Northern Territory begins with the Gurindji Walk Off.

The timeline takes us from the year dot to 2010. The images, taken from the National Library of Australia’s digital collection are truly amazing.

Here’s another page that took my fancy. The year my first child was born. Twenty-six years later and Mabo recognises native title rights of Indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islanders.

It really is fun to visit the pages of your birth or your children’s births and see what big things happened in those years. It makes you feel a little bit special to see how we all fit into the Australian story.

Well done to Tania and everyone involved in the creation of this truly awesome book. Children and adults alike will cherish their copies as I will mine.

To visit the National Library of Australia’s Bookshop – click the following image…