SOURCE: Serle, Geoffrey. “National Inspiration c. 1885.” In From Deserts the Prophets Come: The Creative Spirit in Australia 1788-1972, pp. 60-88. Melbourne: William Heineman, 1973.

In the following excerpt, Serle stresses the relationship of the Bulletin to the national literary awakening of Australia in the 1890s.

The 80s were the springtime, adolescent period of Australian history. In these boom years, the utopian assumption of Australia's destiny an another United States, peopled by a chosen white race, superior to the Old World and free from its vices, held sway as never since. The native-born were taking over, and in Victoria the Australian Natives' Association was defining their responsibilities, the first of which was the formal creation of a nation by federation. The centennial celebrations provoked intense controversy over future nationhood and the ultimate relationship with Britain. The trade unions, reinforced by new organizations like the Shearers', braced themselves to launch a...