Insight Guide to Australia – Review

A Concise and Beautifully Illustrated Introduction to Australia

Aug 15, 2009

It is only on arriving that a visitor realises how vast Australia is. With such a variety to experience, how does one pack all relevant detail into a 400-page guidebook?

In recent years, Australia has undergone more changes than most other countries. Yet its landforms and scenery remain among the oldest in the world. This fifth edition (2007) of a guidebook first published in 1992, has managed to distil both the timelessness of the continent and a feeling of its often frenetic flux in a format that is both attractive and highly readable. In updating the book, the publishers have drawn on the skills of a group of writers who live in and are intimate with the places they describe.

The first quarter is devoted to an overview of this vast country. A short introductory section lists the major highlights, best galleries, islands, National Parks, beaches, walks, colonial towns, festivals, markets and wine regions. With so many of each to choose from, it is inevitable that favourites be excluded, but few who have been there would dispute those on the lists, or even the exclusions, such as, for example among the beaches, the most famous, Bondi.

Australia's Landscape, Wildlife and History

Further chapters deal with the creation of the ancient landscapes and the unique flora and fauna, the marsupials, reptiles and poisonous creatures that have evolved in the different climate zones, which range from temperate to tropical rainforest to desert.

A history section brings us from the Aboriginal Dreamtime of 50 000 years ago through to the coming of the Europeans, the exploration of the interior, the ambiguity of relations with Britain (latent rebelliousness turning to fervent patriotism during wars), the creation of the Federation and the abrupt change from the White Australia of the mid-twentieth century to the liberal immigration policy of recent years.

Urban Australia and Culture

With a nod toward the traditional view of the self-reliant Outback Aussie, the book emphasises the fact that this is one of the most urbanised countries on Earth, with 80% of inhabitants living in cities, and indeed 60% within the State capitals. There has been a rapid transformation from an extremely conservative society to an amazingly permissive one. For example, Gay culture is not only tolerated, but celebrated. The floats of the annual Sydney Mardi Gras attract upward of 300 000 spectators.

Also covered are the all-pervasive influence of sport and the emergence of the Arts onto the international stage. Australian literature and cinema can now stand alongside the best, and the ambience of the Sydney Opera House is the most impressive in the world.

Places to visit in Australia

The bulk of the guidebook, of course, concentrates on where to go and what to experience in Australia. Each State has its own chapter, in which its highlights are described. Only the rival cities of Sydney and Melbourne get similar coverage, with chapters that are almost as large as those of their respective states. The other important cities have to find space within their own state chapters.

The text, which is intelligently written, and broken into conveniently-sized passages, is illustrated on every page by top-quality, and often quite stunning photographs. There are also periodic two-page photo features, single-page information panels and small margin-filler items scattered throughout the book, all of which add to its general usefulness and readability.

The final sixty pages are a more dense collection of travel tips, transport and accommodation details, suggested activities, practical information, useful addresses, a dictionary of Australian expressions and suggestions for further reading.

Inevitably, there are omissions, about which the pedant might complain. For example, little more than a tenth of the 600 National Parks are mentioned, and only a handful of these are given any prominence. But to make this a criticism would be to miss the point.

This is an excellent guide, particularly for a first-time visitor to Australia. It stimulates interest and offers tantalising glimpses of what can be seen, thereby encouraging the traveller to search out lesser-known places for him- or herself. And for a more prolonged visit, it can be supplemented by Insight Guides to New South Wales, Perth and Surroundings, Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef, Sydney and Tasmania.

Price (UK): £16.99 -10% reduction through Insight Guides website; also available through Amazon.

The copyright of the article Insight Guide to Australia – Review in Australia Travel is owned by Anthony Toole. Permission to republish Insight Guide to Australia – Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.