I have been trying to find a book or similar devoted to Australian 20th century history. While there seem to be sources for specific events, I haven't been able to locate any broad overviews of the century. While covering a recent century of a nation's history could be too large and undertaking and perhaps too recent to be considered in its entirety; it seems like historical reporting and analysis of 20th century Australia is virtually nonexistent except for events that have international connections, such as world wars. Certainly the vast majority of Australian history books focus on the colonial era. Are there any books or podcasts people can refer me to that cover 20th century history, including any that provide a good overview as a starting point to learn more? If anyone has any experiences or insights relating to the dearth (or otherwise) of 20th century Australian history in books, school lessons, etc. I would also be interested in hearing your comments.
This is a good question and one I am happy to make a recommendation for.
Stuart MacIntyre's A Concise History of Australia is the best starting point to be honest. It's not just 20th century history, it alos covers pre-European contact, the establishment of the penal colonies, transition to colonies and the road to Federation but third edition covers Australian history all the way up to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's Apology to Australia's indigenous population in 2008 so despite its conciseness, it covers a very large period of time and its only about 370 pages long.
I studied under MacIntyre two years ago and he is viewed as one of Australia's greatest historians. He also helped shape the national history curriculum for schools. As historians go, he does tend to lean more to the left in regards to focus but that's not that surprising in Australian history due to the significance of the Australian labour movement in the shaping of the country.
Australian history is fraught with revisionism unfortunately thanks to the ongoing History Wars, a term used to describe the combative discourse between those historians that downplay the impact of European settlement in Australia and those who actively pursue examinations of European settlement and its impact on indigenous Australians. It has become a political football in a lot of ways with politicians accusing historians that publish works critical of European settlement as attempting to shame Australians into feeling guilty for their country's past. It's something to be aware of when exploring Australian history and also a very in depth topic in itself. There is a very detailed Wikipedia article dedicatyed to the History Wars.
Pretty niche but if you're interested in Australian art history from the 1930s onwards and how indigenous art came to be regarded as fine art suitable for galleries as opposed to collective curiosities in museums you may enjoy: How Aborigines Invented the Idea of Contemporary Art: writings on Aboriginal contemporary art by Ian McLean
A History of Australia by Mark Peel and Christina Twomey. They are somewhat left leaning, and cover all of Australia's history, from Indigenous pre-history to 2010. They also talk about social movements like unions and feminism, political shakeups, famous art and fashion of the period, giving fairly good snapshots of change throughout the decades. I use this all the time, and seems exactly what you're looking for.
Another book you might like, if you're after something more comprehensive, more conservative and by someone more renowned would be The Story of Australia's People: The Rise and Rise of A New Australia. It covers from the 1850s to the present day, the second in a 2-part series. Geoffrey Blainey is one of Australia's most respected historians, if a little conservative, and I read the first (The Rise and Fall of Ancient Australia) and found it thick as, comprehensive.
I've not read this one, since my interests lie in Indigenous and colonial studies; also, as a West Aussie, he kinda neglects everywhere not on the east coast somewhat, and as a leftie, I disagreed with some of his observations. Maybe once I'm rich I'll fork out money to hear him rubbish all I hold dear (like Whitlam or Keating).
You could also try reading the histories of specific cities and states - these tend to focus on modern events, like companies, politicians, waves of immigration. For example, Land of Vision and Mirage by Geoffrey Bolton, a respected WA historian, is about WA and spends the first four chapters talking about the 1800s, but is largely geared towards exploring WAs constant boom-bust cycle and relationship with mining. It spends no time at all talking about the Indigenous or the common man, nearly always looking at powerful elites and capitalist ventures, so I didn't like it.
You might have to order these kind of books online, as most bookshops don't stock anything except military history or convicts.
I also recommend McIntyre's Concise History Of Australia for your purposes.
Additionally, it's also a little older (from the 80s/90s), but there's a five volume series called The Oxford History of Australia, which has two volumes dedicated to the 20th century: 1901-1942: The Succeeding Age by Stuart McIntyre again, and 1942-1995: The Middle Way by Geoffrey Bolton (the hardback edition, released earlier, only goes to 1988). I do agree with the implied idea in those books that the second half of the 20th century in Australia was a very different time to the first half, with the Australia that basically instituted a 'White Australia Policy' almost immediately after Federation in 1901 then ending up becoming - after World War II - a country that attempted to welcome immigrants with non-Northern European cultural backgrounds (for this particular part of Australia's 20th century story, Migrant Hands In A Distant Land by Jock Collins is the classic). In terms of 20th century Australia political history, perhaps you'll get a sense of the broad swathe of things by the edited collection of briefish autobiographies of Australian Prime Ministers (edited by Michelle Grattan), while Paul Kelly's The End Of Certainty portrays well the end of the protectionist consensus across the 1980s and 1990s, and the uptake by both major parties of 'globalisation'; the Australian dollar being floated on the global market, and the gradual removal of tariffs to protect Australian industries, etc.
Thanks to everyone who replied to my question. Evidently 20th century Australian history has not been as neglected as I thought.