AustLit

Two broad forces contribute to the shaping of the problematic category, 'Australian travel writing'. First the ambiguities of Australia's 'post-colonial' status can be seen as leading to the development of three distinct traditions of travel writing: Australians writing about the outside world, the outside world writing about Australia, and Australians writing about Australia. But travel writing produced in and about Australia also responds to the pressures of the land itself, where cultures of mobility - 'travelling cultures' - compete with cultures of settlement. (Author abstract)