PART ONE

Observations: Australia and the Australians

1 Australia’s Story
Drifters claim island continent
City citizenry
Suburban deviance
This generation’s Australia
Next generation’s Australia
Empty-island syndrome
Australians with ‘attitude’

2 City and Beach
Melbourne’s nature strips
And the winner is . . . Syd-a-ney
Chic-house city living
City ascendancy
Downtown turnaround
The Jeff factor
The beach as third Australian culture

3 Rural and Regional
Sponge cities and conduit cities
Where’s young Warren?
Rich town. Poor town
A tale of two cities
The new cultural cringe
Lifestyle towns and the ‘Sigrid factor’
The fashionable bush

4 Generations and Cultural Groups
Hippies, punks, dinks and yuppies
Boomers, Xers, Ys and Dotcoms
Xer enclaves and boomer bunkers
Rise of the third Australian culture
Future culture
‘Greedy boomers bleed Xers’
Really really rich people
Unemployment

5 Quirky Australia
Place names
What’s wrong with Wagga’
El Ni’o
Thick and thin Australia
SYDTV - Friday 2 May 2065
Shhh . . . secret Australia
Onyer bike
Occupation #831927
Demographic centre of Australia

6 Region and Beyond
Auckland bugger than Adelaide
Orienting to South-East Asia
Earthlings

PART TWO

Analysis: Quarter-Century and Recent Trends

7 Winners and Losers
We’re goin’ a surf city, gonna have some fun
Coast rules
Pacey Casey crystallises suburbia
Logan and Joondalup
Sydney suburbia
Brisbane outer suburbia
Marvellous Maroochy
New name required - call for nominations
Short-term winners are hot hot hot
Loser! Loser!
One nation: two planets
Wincity
Shrinkcity
Recent placings
Bleeding heartland
City heartbeat
Demographic logies
Don’t call me baby
New Zealand

8 The Australian Imperative

9 New Trends for the New Century
That’s a more
Four suburbs
The shifting of America
All cities … got rhythm

Glossary

Appendix - Tables

Select Bibliography

Index