How Australia Was Made is an educational research project of the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA).
It consists of series of research essays written specifically for an Australian audience tracing the development of Western Civilisation through successive time periods.
They take us from Ancient Greece to Modern Australia in a manner which is broadly chronological, but in which it is also clearly shown that aspects of Australia today reflect events and ideas given shape in those previous periods.
In each essay “Great Books” of the period will be used to illustrate the key ideas, and the multiple strands and tensions that make up Western Civilisation will be acknowledged and explored.
The classic examination of “Great Lives” will also be used to gain further insights into the era and institutions being researched, including those Australians inspired by them.
This is an ideal introduction for Australian undergraduates to the great themes the history of Western Civilisation, but is suitable for readers of all ages.
The essays are authored by Scott Hargreaves, Executive Director of the IPA, and IPA Adjunct Fellow, Dr Brad Bowden, Dr Bowden was employed continuously by Griffith University from 1995 until 2020, when he retired as a full-time Professor, He also served for a period as Chair of the Management History Division of the (American) Academy of Management.
Below you will find links to where the essays can be purchased on Amazon, either in print or to be read on Kindle or Tablets. (series link here).
Alternatively, you can directly download a PDF of the essays, for upload and/or printing:
Christianity and the Resurrection of Western Civilisation (354-1274)
Between Faith & Reason (1494-1648)
The Enlightenment & the Advance of Liberty (1689-1815)
Democracy, Communism & the Female Experience (1776-1850)
Greece and Rome: the Birth of Western Civilisation: (500BC-AD354)
