Historians have had little to say about the lands that stretch 'beyond the black stump'. These essays from around the country build inland Australia into our national history, crisscrossing both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Contributors are Lorina Barker, Amanda Barry, Badger Bates, Peter Bishop, Nici Cumpston, Jean Duruz, Charles Fahey, Lionel Frost, Heather Goodall, Jenny Gregory, Patricia Grimshaw, Rodney Harrison, Rick Hosking, Darrell Lewis, Alan Mayne, Chrissiejoy Marshall, Margaret Somerville and Richard Waterhouse.