The Sorrento Writers Festival on 23 April had Sally Warhaft talking to Mark McKenna and Tony Abbott about their recently published (both 2025) books, The Shortest History of Australia, and Australia: a History. ABC Big Ideas with Natasha Mitchell ran highlights on 15 June (50 or so minutes).
Main points below. No broadcast of question time, unfortunately (if indeed there was question time).
The overall tone of the encounter (at least the broadcast bits) was friendly enough. The binary Big Ideas title was rather a fizzer as both authors had a bit both ways. Perhaps sitting together on a small stage in front of a middle-aged writers' festival audience is not conducive to continuing combative tropes from the printed page. (Warhaft said at the end that she found herself agreeing with 99 per cent of both books, which seemed to me nonsense and impossible but perhaps that's how literary festivals roll.)
Abbott said many times during the show that the three pillars upon which modern Australia rests are its Indigenous heritage, its British foundation and its immigrant character (a formulation attributed to First Nations guru, Noel Pearson) and that this had turned out all right for us. As the cover of his book says, 'How an ancient land became a great democracy'.
Abbott claimed he was a 'glass half-full' kind of bloke and there was no point getting hung up on the bad bits of the story, including what had happened to Indigenous people since 1788. We couldn't have a history that was more bad than good and still believe - as 99 per cent of Australians do, he said - that this is the best country in the world.
McKenna was more wary of broad generalisations and characterisation of trends or events or situations as 'bad' or 'good'. He found it difficult to come up with a set of words in which we could all see ourselves. We needed to face up squarely to all that had happened in our history.
Since 1980, McKenna said, there had been a revolution in how we saw our history, as we recognised 65,000 years of First Nations history, heard more oral history, and considered 'new' issues like climate change and the environment. Different histories could co-exist, provided they were supported by evidence.
Pride was not a useful concept if it was not supported by the evidence. Histories change: in considering the taking of Indigenous land since 1788, settler Australia has moved on from denial some decades ago to indifference today.
Abbott denied there was indifference. The vast majority of Australians today have a better appreciation of the Indigenous story. He had lots of Indigenous art in his home, as did the Australian Embassy in Washington.
The recent defeat of the Voice referendum - which Abbott welcomed - did not produce rancour. Australians tended to have an easygoing acceptance of things.
McKenna said he had detected disappointment after the Voice. There was a disconnect between symbolism, like displays of Indigenous art, and reality.
We are a class-based society beneath an egalitarian myth, McKenna added. Unlike Abbott, however, he downplayed the relative importance of the British stream in Australian history compared with 65,000 years of First Nations Australia. Even today, while British structures persist (as in our Parliaments) 'Britishness' as a style has faded.
Encouraged by Warhaft, the two authors discussed tropes like The Tyranny of Distance, The Fatal Shore, The Lucky Country and the importance of luck in history (could John Monash have been gazumped as top Australian general in World War I, Abbott asked, if William Holmes had not been taken out by a stray German shell?)
Abbott ruminated about larrikins and conformists without coming down personally as one or the other. He was sure, though, that Australia in 100 years time will be recognisable as British. There was at that point a hint of an harrumph from McKenna.
Mark McKenna is one of Defending Country's distinguished Supporters. We noted his book here and Tony Abbott's here, along with a conversation Abbott had with former deputy Prime Minister, John Anderson.
Picture credits: detail of book covers
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