Introduction

The present book may well be regarded by the reader, whether New Englander or a curious researcher into Australian society and its modes of higher education, as a form of celebratory chronicle of distinctive times and of a unique regional place - one already highly significant in the great twentieth century expansion, evolution and devolution of tertiary education, well away from the state capitals of Australia. The essays now included contain material which, to a degree, seeks to answer some aspects of "What is New England?", the core question posed by Professor Alan Atkinson in the recent collection, 'High, Lean Country: Land, People and Memory in New England' (2006).