From the Ruins of Colonialism throws new light on history, social memory and colonialism. The book charts how films, books and storytelling, public commemoration and instruction have, in a strange ensemble, created something we call Australian history. It considers key moments of historical imagination, including Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal histories of Captain Cook, school-histories and museum exhibitions, and the gendering of events such as the Eureka Stockade and the shipwreck of Eliza Fraser.

Chris Healy argues that the way in which the past is constructed in the public imagination raises pressing questions. He describes the predicament of European Australians who imagined a continent 'without history' while themselves being obsessed with history. He asks: what can history mean in a postcolonial society?