Paul Battersby is senior lecturer in globalisation and cultural diversity at RMIT University.

Australia's historical interactions with Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific are something of a blind spot, onto which Paul Battersby's book turns a much needed searchlight. Setting out to write Australia into regional affairs, it puts today's events in the context of past modes of transportation, investment, security, and travel, as well as economic and territorial rivalries. To the Islands covers two centuries of Australian engagement informatively, entertainingly, and accessibly. It offers a wider perspective and a disincentive to any who might want to write the region off.

• Chapter 1 IntroductionChapter 2 Empress of the Southern WaveChapter 3 Across Jewelled SeasChapter 4 "The Whole Thing is Very Motley Oriental"Chapter 5 A Share in the PlaceChapter 6 Arc of InstabilityChapter 7 Culture, Region and EconomyChapter 8 Conclusion

Paul Battersby is senior lecturer in globalisation and cultural diversity at RMIT University.

Australia's historical interactions with Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific are something of a blind spot, onto which Paul Battersby's book turns a much needed searchlight. Setting out to write Australia into regional affairs, it puts today's events in the context of past modes of transportation, investment, security, and travel, as well as economic and territorial rivalries. To the Islands covers two centuries of Australian engagement informatively, entertainingly, and accessibly. It offers a wider perspective and a disincentive to any who might want to write the region off.

• Chapter 1 IntroductionChapter 2 Empress of the Southern WaveChapter 3 Across Jewelled SeasChapter 4 "The Whole Thing is Very Motley Oriental"Chapter 5 A Share in the PlaceChapter 6 Arc of InstabilityChapter 7 Culture, Region and EconomyChapter 8 Conclusion

Paul Battersby is senior lecturer in globalisation and cultural diversity at RMIT University.

Australia's historical interactions with Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific are something of a blind spot, onto which Paul Battersby's book turns a much needed searchlight. Setting out to write Australia into regional affairs, it puts today's events in the context of past modes of transportation, investment, security, and travel, as well as economic and territorial rivalries. To the Islands covers two centuries of Australian engagement informatively, entertainingly, and accessibly. It offers a wider perspective and a disincentive to any who might want to write the region off.

• Chapter 1 IntroductionChapter 2 Empress of the Southern WaveChapter 3 Across Jewelled SeasChapter 4 "The Whole Thing is Very Motley Oriental"Chapter 5 A Share in the PlaceChapter 6 Arc of InstabilityChapter 7 Culture, Region and EconomyChapter 8 Conclusion