Looking from the North

This is a new book. Condition: Brand New.

**Shortlisted, Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2026, Non-Fiction**

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

'What we call history is a thing greatly influenced by perspective. In his extraordinary career, historian Henry Reynolds has done more than most to change the perspectives that have led to accepted accounts of post-colonial Australia that have ignored the true and often violent nature of colonial occupation and dispossession in this country. With this new book, Looking from the North, he flips the map to show just how much of the story of Australian colonialism and Indigenous post-colonial history is told from the vantage point of south eastern Australia. Looked at from north of the Tropic of Capricorn a new, revelatory and profoundly significant perspective emerges. That is the story of this remarkable book.' VPLA judges' report

Book details and technical specifications

Format: Paperback / softback
ISBN13: 9781761170119
Published: November 2025

Number of pages: 224
Width: 135 mm
Height: 210 mm
Depth: not specified

Publisher: NewSouth Publishing