Australia is a land of symbols. The Southern Cross. The Sydney Opera House. The kangaroo. Vegemite. But what do they actually mean? Where do they come from? Why are some symbols so hotly contested? Does Australia have more than its fair share? Symbols of Australia offers illuminating and unexpected insights into the symbols that surround us: from Uluru to the Australian flag, the rainbow serpent to Holden cars, the democracy sausage to the Great Barrier Reef. Entertaining, provocative, informative, and often surprising, Symbols of Australia reveals a great deal about the ways nations are imagined—and how they imagine themselves.