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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Entertainment
Paul Daley

‘How’s this for a beginning?’: the tricky work of writing the story of Australian history

Anna Clark at home
Award-winning historian and author Anna Clark wrote Making Australia History ‘according to the tides so I could go fishing’. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian

Anna Clark took seven years to write her latest book, Making Australian History, but it seems a wonder it didn’t take her twice as long. During her many years of research, the 43-year-old celebrated author and historian wasn’t at all sure what her opening chapter ought to be.

Perhaps that’s not surprising when you consider the almost limitless scope of the ambitious challenge she set herself: to write what is, effectively, a history of Australian history.

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