Australia in the Russian Mirror Changing Perceptions, 1770-1919

Australia in the Russian Mirror is a study of Russian images of Australia from 1770 to 1919. Elena Govor, a recent emigrant from the former Soviet Union and leading authority on Russian writings on Australia, has drawn on over 1700 sources to present a revealing study of Russians' perceptions of Australia from its earliest settlement to its development and emergence as a nation. Voices of Russian visitors, armchair writers and emigres weave together both to create and to refute 'the Australian legend'. The naval officers who visited Port Jackson in the early 1800s came from the well-educated Russian nobility. They praised the transportation of convicts to Australia and the efforts of the authorities to reform them. But Russian emigrant labourers arrested and deported for participating in the Red Flag Riots in Brisbane in 1919 painted a very different picture of Australia's hostile judicial system. How and why such diversity of perceptions has evolved makes Australia in the Russian Mirror compelling reading.