This thoroughly revised edition of The Oxford Companion to Australian History (first published in 1998) includes several new entries, such as the Olympic Games and Reconciliation. Many of the existing entries on people, institutions, and society have been revised to take into account recent advancements in scholarship and developments. This edition brings the bibliographical citations, a key feature of the book, completely up to date.

This edition maintains all the features that make the Companion a superb reference for all Australians and for all those interested in Australian history. The editors, three of Australia's finest historians, have together with their team of over 300 scholars provided here a comprehensive and authoritative reference work on all aspects of Australian history.

The Companion contains approximately 1,600 entries, ranging from essays of up to 2,000 words in length to factual entries of about 100 words in length. There are entries on politicians, colonizers, visionaries, newspaper barons, industrialists, explorers, artists, and scientists. Entries on the states, key institutions, prominent families, and famous events have been revised as necessary. Reader will find incisive entries on matters such as art, capital punishment, gambling, literature, language, and republicanism.

The Companion is immensely readable and entertaining with a range of curious and unexpected entries such as those on duels, two-up, Vegemite, and the six o'clock swill. The text is thoroughly cross-referenced, to allow for easy access to all the information, and there is a very useful subject index providing readers with an alternative means of access to the material.