a need for Australians to define a place, have in their unique ways, endeavored to break down this barrier between the individual and the land 'coloured with rotten sunlight.' It is through the literary works that have emerged in the last century that the deeply rooted problems of a transplanted culture has shown itself and indeed the very focus in Australian literature on debating the inability to define nor recognize a holistically Australian identity has prevented one from actually being expressed; writers are caught up in the dilemma of defining an Australian national culture rather than conveying an impression of one.
             Writing in Australia has moved from regressing over the hardships presented by the landscape to a more universal theme which is in some part a reflection the internationalization of the social sphere. This has meant that the local customs and habits of Australia have often been ignored in Australian writing and thus defining a place within an environment that is still very much alien to new and old Australians is necessary so that this writing may accept its 'Australian-ness;' its preoccupation thereby moving away from defining this relationship between self and place to actually reflecting upon the existence of one.
             The post-colonial identity crisis in Australia has moved through three broad phases in her short history; yet all phases have been concerned with the foregrounding of landscape and disjunction within the new colony, endeavoring to find a voice where one has not existed in order to 'settle' in this land of 'trees without shade...flowers without perfume...and birds who cannot fly.' In analyzing the works of poets from these phases it can be seen that whilst the preoccupation with finding an Australian voices undergoes change, the message of the artist in Australia is a consistent one: in order to find ourselves we must discover a past which is Australian ...