Australia’s Yesterdays

The illustrated story of how we lived, worked and played

Intimate stories and evocative pictures bring 20th-century Australia vividly to life, creating a sweeping picture of our people in a time of unprecedented change.

This is an era when bitumen roads spread out across the continent, refrigerators replaced ‘Coolgardie’ safes and our artists, writers and entertainers celebrated the Aussie character. A century during which we survived wars and economic depression to live in peace and prosperity with electricity, telephones, cars and television.

Beautifully presented with rare photographs, paintings, posters, cartoons and advertisements, this book explores our way of life from the excitement of our nation’s beginnings at Federation to our life today – this is the family history of ordinary Australians, the way we were.

360 pages • 302mm x 230mm • Almost 1000 illustrations, photographs and drawings