Geoffrey Bolton was the most versatile and widely travelled of his generation of Australian historians. As a scholar, teacher and commentator he enriched understanding of the country's regional mosaic, some of its notable figures and others who were just as revealing, the natural environment, social patterns and political life. He was also unflagging in his encouragement of others. The contributors to this volume take his work as a departure point for original essays on a variety of themes in Australian history. Contributors include Stuart Macintyre, Jenny Gregory, Lenore Layman, Carol Bolton, Mark McKenna, Graeme Davison, Carl Bridge, Alan Atkinson, Andrea Gaynor, Tom Griffiths, Tim Rowse, Lizzy Watt, Mary Anne Jebb and Pat Jalland.
Stuart Macintyre was recruited to Murdoch University by Geoffrey Bolton in 1976 and worked with him on the Oxford History of Australia. His most recent publication is Australia's Boldest Experiment: War and Reconstruction in the 1940s and he has currently exchanged chocolates for boiled lollies with a study of what has happened to Australia's universities.
Jenny Gregory co-authored Claremont: a History with Geoff and remains grateful for his generosity towards a junior colleague who had criticised his view of Western Australia's interwar years. Her research focuses on urban history and heritage, but her most recent book is Seeking Wisdom: A Centenary History of the University of Western Australia.
Lenore Layman (co-editor) is an Australian historian, currently Adjunct Associate Professor of History at Murdoch University. Her research and publication on Australian asbestos history began in 1983. She was a Chief Investigator on the NHMRC-funded Consequences of asbestos exposure in WA and Dust-related Health Issues in Western Australians projects. She has recently co-authored and co-edited Powering Perth: A History of the East Perth Power Station and the Electrification of Perth; 110° in the Waterbag: A History of Life, Work and Leisure in Leonora, Gwalia and the Northern Goldfields; Blood Nose Politics: A Centenary History of the WA National Party; and Radical Perth, Militant Fremantle.