Explains just how vital the seaside is to Australian life.
The hard memory of Australia's grim beginnings as a European penal colony is still very close to the surface of the national consciousness.
Australia's evolution from penal colony to suburban utopia has produced political and economic power struggles.
Australia's other contemporary struggle is the battle for Aboriginal identity among its native people.
Extensive immigration has reshaped Australia over the past few decades, and the nation prides itself on being successfully multicultural.
Australia's attachment to the British Empire has often been a source of trouble.