We’re obsessed with reality television these days yet we so often neglect the greatest reality of all: the reality of our nation, and how it came to be.

In Error Australis, TV columnist, comedian and history buff Ben Pobjie recaps the history of Australia from its humble beginnings as a small patch of rapidly cooling rock, to its modern day status as one of the major powers of the sub Asian super Antarctic next to Africa region. Pobjie recognises that history can be as gripping as any reality show as thrilling as it is to see Delta Goodrem’s chair turn around, there is an argument that the Second World War was even more exciting and like any good recapper, he provides an immediate, visceral sense of what it was like to be there in the moment at our nation’s defining events.

All historians know that it is only by looking at where we have been that we can understand who we are, what we stand for, and why nothing seems to work. Error Australis is a scholastic and side-splittingly funny account of a young nation that has spent many years seeking its place in the world, and almost as many years not liking what it has found. 

About the Author
Ben Pobjie studied history at the University of Western Sydney before his lust for glamour led him to comedy writing. He is known for his TV columns in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, and political satire for New Matilda, Crikey, and the ABC, among others. He is the author of Superchef and The Book of Bloke and has written for the TV shows Reality Check and The Unbelievable Truth. He lives in Melbourne with his wife, three children and a rising sense of panic.