100 Years: The Australian Story

This episode looks at Australia's reluctant march to full independence. In 1901 at Federation, Australians created a nation within the British Empire. Australian nationalism and Empire loyalty went hand in hand. Our independence came slowly, often reluctantly and the 1999 rejection of the republic is consistent with this story.

This episode explores Australia's most startling transformation from a racially exclusive identity to a belief in cultural diversity. Australian identity was based on the White Australia policy — white was right. It took over sixty years for this central plank of our nationhood to be replaced.

This episode traces the founding belief of egalitarianism and the 'fair go'. The people of Australia looked to government to safeguard their lot. But when the world changed in the 1980s, Australia had to embrace a pro-market economy and reinvent itself. Today, the challenge is to maintain fairness in a global economy

This episode focuses on the moral vacuum at the heart of Australia's nationhood — the denial of any place or purpose for Aborigines. It was assumed that Australia was unoccupied at European settlement and that the Aboriginal people were doomed. After the 1967 referendum, Aboriginal and non-indigenous Australians have faced a new challenge — the need to find justice, reconciliation and a way of living together.

The final episode details how Australia initially related to the world through its 'great and powerful friends'. Britain was the first such friend — a family bond based on the Empire. The United States was the second such friend with the ANZUS alliance negotiated as a result of the Cold War. But the era of great and powerful friends is over. Australia now accepts responsibility for its own fate and negotiates its own way in Asia and the rest of the world.