Manning Clark's A Short History of Australia is an accessible and informative general history.Robert Hughes' bestseller The Fatal Shore is a harrowing account of the convict era. For a sympathetic historical account of what happened to Australia's Aboriginals since European settlement, read Aboriginal Australia by Richard Broome.Kings in Grass Castles by Dame Mary Durack gives an idea of the pioneering days on a cattle station in the Kimberleys.Sean & David's Long Drive by Sean Condon is a tale of two ill-equipped urban Australians who face the vastness of their country with nothing but Neil Young and beer for guidance. The book is part of Lonely Planet's series of travel writing, JourneysThere is plenty of highly regarded Australian fiction, including the work of Nobel Prize winner Patrick White, and Booker Prize winners Peter Carey and Thomas Keneally. Other well known Australian writers include Thea Astley, Robert Drewe, Helen Garner, Rodney Hall, Christina Stead, Elizabeth Jolley, David Malouf, Frank Moorhouse and Tim Winton.