‘The most pleasing aspect of the book is the wide range of topics covered. It could have emerged as a heavily academically accented text but instead has been skilfully compiled, making it accessible and appealing to most people with an interest in Australian Indian relations.’ Reshmi Lahiri-Roy, Transnational Literature (275kb PDF)
‘This is an important, thought-provoking book whose impact goes far beyond its whimsical title.’ Heather Goodall, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies
vol. 37 no.2, 2014. Read the full review
Wanderings in India: Australian Perceptions, sharing its title with a curious and entertaining travel book written by the first Australian-born writer John Lang, is a collection of essays about diverse encounters between Australians and Indians in both South Asia and the Antipodes. The chapters — creative, reflective and academic — meet the objectives of a volume that provide snapshots of the wide range of interests and issues that Australians have shown towards India. Taken as a whole, the chapters represent a range of responses, reactions and experiences that chart the course of the ongoing engagement between Australia and India, between Australians and Indians. While there is something of an emphasis on literary responses, charting the ebb and flow of writers’ reactions to India from the 1850s onwards, this volume also includes historical, political, sporting and other writings about the complex “magnetic amalgams” that link Australia and India.
