Lion and Kangaroo is one of Australia's great works of history, an extraordinary rich chronicle of the nation's coming-of-age. In this brilliantly detailed narrative Gavin Souter captures with sparkling wit all the milestones of Australia's first decades, from the constitutional conventions of the nineteenth century to the turbulent years that followed the Great War. Souter paints unforgettable portraits not only of Australia's first prime ministers and governors general, but of Tom Roberts labouring over his epic painting of the first parliament, Ross and Keith Simon on their remarkable flight from London to Melbourne in 1919, and scores of other memorable characters.