This volume offers a selection of twenty papers given by European and Australian scholars at the first conference of the "European Association of Studies on Australia" held in Berne (Switzerland), 25-27 September 1991. About half of these contributions address problems of the perception and representation of pluralism in Australian literature and drama, especially in the work of such writers as Brian Castro, Robert Drewe, David Malouf, and Mudrooroo Narogin. Others investigate the impact of pluralism on the cultural awareness and self-representation of Aborigines and of various groups of migrants, and on the changing perspectives and self-assessment of Australians themselves. The evidence and problematics of pluralism are also traced in immigration policy, environment planning, television drama, the formation of literary canons, and other cultural practices.