Australia is a land of symbols. The Southern Cross. The Sydney Opera House. The kangaroo. Vegemite. But what do they actually mean? Where do national symbols come from and what makes them popular? Why are some symbols so hotly contested? Does Australia have more than its fair share?

Symbols of Australia offers illuminating and unexpected insights into the nation’s culture, as leading historians uncover the stories behind the symbols that surround us in our daily lives: from Uluru to the Australian flag, the rainbow serpent to Holden cars, the democracy sausage to the Great Barrier Reef.

They also challenge some long-held myths — what flag did Anzacs fight under? Who invented the pavlova? Where did the lifesaver come from? How rational is the fear of sharks? How revered was the baggy green?

Entertaining, provocative, informative, and often surprising, Symbols of Australia reveals a great deal about the ways nations are imagined — and how they imagine themselves.