SBS World Guide

This was an amazing and annually updated compendium of every country in the world with information on geography, population, constitution & government, economy, communications, education & welfare, international relations, and history.

For ten years between 1999 and 2008 I researched and wrote the annual history updates for Australia and twenty-eight other South Pacific and Oceania nations. These years saw a huge increase in online resources and I was surprised to remember how much time I had spent in libraries to do this research in the first years. It was also a fascinating education in the almost constant political upheavals many of these countries endure, the encroaching influence of stronger nations, and the salutary and relentless effects of climate change on small low-lying islands.