On Holidays: A History of Getting Away in Australia

In this lively history of the Australian experience of 'the holiday', historian Richard White traces just what has happened to holidays in Australia. Is the Australian holiday we have known for more than a century in danger of slipping away without anyone noticing?

Once Australia boasted one of the highest standards of living in the world and this was reflected in the quality and quantity of how we spent our holidays. By the beginning of this century Australia had slipped towards the bottom in terms of holidays and the land of the long weekend has been transformed into a nation of timid workaholics too brow beaten, too ambitious or too sycophantic to take the holidays they are owed. So how can we explain the change?

This book places the holiday in the wider context of major changes taking place in Australian society.