02355nam 2200349 450 991063395360332120230621141349.01-76046-368-X(CKB)25642765300041(MiAaPQ)EBC6450220(NjHacI)9925642765300041(EXLCZ)992564276530004120230223d2022 uy 0engur|||||||||||txtrdacontentcrdamediacrrdacarrier'Now is the psychological moment' Earle Page and the imagining of Australia /Stephen WilksFirst edition.Canberra, ACT, Australia :Australian National University Press,2022.1 online resource (xx, 391 pages)Earle Christmas Grafton Page (1880-1961) - surgeon, Country Party leader, treasurer and prime minister - was perhaps the most extraordinary visionary to hold high public office in twentieth-century Australia. Over decades, he made determined efforts to seize 'the psychological moment', and thereby realise his vision of a decentralised, regionalised and rationally ordered nation. Page's unique dreaming of a very different Australia encompassed new states, hydroelectricity, economic planning, cooperative federalism and rural universities. His story casts light on the wider place in history of visions of national development. He was Australia's most important advocate of developmentalism, the important yet little-studied stream of thought that assumes that governments can lead the nation to realise its economic potential. His audacious synthesis of ideas delineated and stretched the Australian political imagination. Page's rich career confirms that Australia has long inspired popular ideals of national development, but also suggests that their practical implementation was increasingly challenged during the twentieth century. Effervescent, intelligent and somewhat eccentric, Page was one of Australia's great optimists. Few Australian leaders who stood for so much have since been so neglected.AustraliaSocial conditions306.0994Wilks Stephen120149NjHacINjHaclBOOK9910633953603321Now is the psychological moment3012994UNINA