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Recent Publications 

BOOK REVIEWS 

Australians: A Guide to Sources. Ed. by D. 
H. Borchardt. Broadway: Fairfax, Syme 
& Weldon Assoc. 1987. 473p. (dist. out-
side Australia by Cambridge Univ. Pr. 
Available only as part of Australians: A 
Historical Library (11v., $498). 
While Paul Hogan, the America's Cup, 

and the Australian bicentennial have 
sparked general interest in things Austra-
lian, there has been a corresponding inter-
est among American academics. Four 
years ago the American Association of 
Australian Literary Studies was formed; 
in 1987 the Australian Studies Discussion 
Group was established within ACRL. . 
And last year Robert Hawke, the Austra-
lian prime minister, visited the University 
of Texas-Austin, to announce the estab-
lishment of an Australian studies center. 

This eleven-volume set was published 
to commemorate Australia's bicentennial 
and to provide an easy source of informa-
tion on the country. Five of the volumes 
are historical, five reference, and one a 
general index. (Six of the volumes are re-
viewed in the Times Literary Supplement, 
November 27/December 3, 1987.) 

Australians: A Guide to Sources provides 
essays and annotated bibliographies to 
fifty-five diverse subjects from aborigines 
to welfare. Major subjects covered are: re-
sources for Australian studies, general ref-
erence works and statistics, environment, 
aborigines, general history, European dis-
covery and colonization, politics, the 
economy, society, and culture. There is a 

name and a subject index. Each essay, av-
eraging four pages and written by a noted 
Australian scholar, gives a good descrip-
tion and history of the topic. Some impor-
tant books/journals are mentioned in the 
essays; each essay is then followed by an 
annotated bibliography. 

This volume is most useful for those 
needing a general survey of a particular 
aspect of Australian society and/or a list of 
major works on the subject for further re-
search or for information about aspects of 
Australian life and culture (religion, sport 
and leisure, telecommunications, for ex-
ample) not readily ayailable in other 
sources. 

While a useful volume, the book suffers 
(at least from an American perspective) 
from some major omissions. The diversity 
of Australian society is not well repre-
sen\ed in this book. The article on aborigi-
nal studies is much too brief; there is no 
separate chapter on women. Ethnic writ-
ers receive little mention. Important jour-
nals are cited in some essays and bibliog-
raphies but not in others. The indexing is 
inconsistent-some titles are indexed, 
others are not. No works published after 
1984 are cited, making this volume less 
valuable for current reference. 

Although an attractive book, the failure 
of the publisher to use acid-free paper 
means that it will not be available when 
Australia celebrates its tricentennial.-
William Schenck, Library of Congress. 

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