The yellow lady

The Yellow Lady is the first major critique of Australian impressions of Asia. Alison Broinowski argues that Australians have been backward in developing an appropriate image of themselves because of their ignorance of and ambivalence towards Asians. She traces the history of Australian ideas about Asia and the Pacific from pre-colonial time to the present, and concludes that some of these perceptions, no matter how irrational or archaic, continue to underlie the political and economic decisions Australians make about the Asia-Pacific region. No one has ever looked so exhaustively at Australian images of Asia. Alison Broinowski, a longtime diplomat and writer about Asian issues, identifies these images, where they come from, and how they have changed or not changed. She investigates artists who took an interest in Asia and why they did so. They include visual artists, novelists, film-makers, composers, architects, poets, potters, playwrights, photographers, puppeteers and choreographers. Japan receives the greatest attention as a continuing source of both modernity and tradition. Beginning with early Aboriginal contact with Indonesians, The Yellow Lady shows how chances for harmoni