'The story of La Trobe is … a case study of every major challenge that confronted the world's universities in the past sixty years, including access and inclusion, the fight for talent, the fight for quality, the challenges of funding, the university as a site of protest and political action, the balance between teaching and research, the balance between vocational and non-vocational education, and the ongoing process of defining what a university is, what it is for and who gets to decide.'

Founded in 1967 as Melbourne's third university, La Trobe has seen opportunity and challenge alike across six decades in which the tertiary education sector and Australian society more broadly have changed in fundamental ways. Throughout, the University has maintained its commitment to access, innovation and excellence in teaching and research.

From small beginnings – the first cohort comprised around 500 students – La Trobe is now a multi-campus institution with almost 40,000 enrolments and 3,500 staff. With its initial home in Bundoora, in Melbourne's working-class northern suburbs, the University has long attracted first-in-family students who might otherwise never have received a tertiary education. La Trobe's researchers are world-leading in many important fields of study, including the health sciences, biochemistry, agriculture, the law and international relations. The University has also hosted and nurtured many of Australia's leading public intellectuals.

Above all, La Trobe has for sixty years stayed true to its founding mission of broadening participation in higher education and providing unwavering support to the communities it serves, while extending its reach and impact globally.

In this sweeping and richly detailed history, Stuart Kells explores La Trobe's growth from an idea planted in the paddocks of Bundoora to the flourishing world-class institution it is today.