Preface -- Literature, history and literary history: perspectives on the nineteenth century in Australia -- Cultural transmission and Australian literature: 1788-1998 -- 'From Mudgee hills to London Town': a critical biography of Henry Lawson -- Sydney or the Bush: some literary images -- A.A. Phillips as critic -- Patrick White: Twyborn moments of grace -- Frank Moorhouse: a retrospective -- 'The ways we live now': David Williamson -- The advancing wave: Australian literary biography since 1980