Many Australians can trace family journeys to new lives in Australia. In this landmark work, Mark Cully tells the full story of immigration to Australia, from pre-colonial origins through colonisation, the gold rush, the post-war immigration boom, the end of the White Australia policy, and the modern policy of temporary migration.

Rigorously researched, the book dismantles persistent myths, gives human faces to statistics, and maps the forces that transformed a distant colony into one of the world's most diverse societies. He traces how immigration has changed Australia, making it bigger, younger, diverse, less provincial and more powerful.

This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand where Australia came from, the fraught politics of immigration, and lessons for the future.