An Immigrant Nation Seeks Cohesion' is based on years of studying and teaching Australian politics and an active interest and involvement in immigration and settlement policies since the 1950s. This was a period of mass immigration from Britain and Europe, organised and mainly subsidised by the British and Australian governments.

An Immigrant Nation Seeks Cohesion presents Australian traditions, myths and legends in an understanding but often critical light in the belief that such devices have often been used by interested parties and even governments to maintain social solidarity and to mould a very complex people into a coherent and obedient whole.

Australia is not and never has been an equal society. It has not always been a peaceful and tolerant society but it is more so than most other states and especially many of those sending immigrants. It is not a perfect democracy. Many have been mistreated and even persecuted but that most of those suffering at present are either indigenous or refugees should not be a cause of indifference. Australians may be suspicious of foreigners and social and political deviants. But they have passed a whole series of reforming laws since the Federation in 1901, not all of which have been as racist as the White Australia policy. An Immigrant Nation Seeks Cohesion attempts to get a little bit closer to the truth of two hundred years of creating a liveable society in what was a remote and unknown part of the world.

Preface; List of Abbreviations; Introduction; Part I; 1. Prisons in the Pacific, 1788–1850; 2. The British Inheritance; 3. White Australia and the Golden Age; 4. Peace, Order and Good Government; 5. Indigenous Australia and the South Pacific; 6. Rural Settlers, the Irish and the Chinese; 7. Radicals and Rebels; 8. Communists and their Allies; 9. The Australian Security Intelligence Organization; 10. Refugees before the UN Convention and Enemy Aliens; 11. Crime, Corruption and Terrorism; 12. The Multicultural Era; 13. Islam as the New Threat; Part II; 14. The Post-War Promise Ends; 15. Refugees and War; 16. The United Nations and Refugees; 17. Mandatory Detention; 18. ‘Stop the Boats’; 19. Finding a Decent Dumping Ground; 20. History as Tragedy and Farce; 21. Facing the Real World; 22. Cohesion and Humanity; 23. From Nation-Building to Border Protection; 24. An Unstable World; Chronology; References; Index.