The 308 page hardback book which accompanies the eponymous exhibition was published March 2015 by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Author and editor Judy Annear contributes five chapters. Focus essays are by Michael Aird, Kathleen Davidson, Martyn Jolly, Jane Lydon, and Daniel Palmer. The postscript is by Geoffrey Batchen.

The chapters cover photography’s impact on our understanding of time, nation, people, place and transmission. A chronology, bibliography, glossary, index are included along with more than 400 illustrations.

The book reflects the exhibition themes and examines the unwavering sense of wonder which the photograph continues to induce through its ability to capture things of the world

and those of the imagination; it investigates how Australia itself has been shaped by photography.

It was described by Luc Sante in The New York Times Book Review December 6, 2015 as ‘a noble attempt to account for the continent’s entire photographic history, little of which is well known to the rest of the world. The collection resembles a visit to a provincial museum: brilliant in some respects and weirdly haphazard in others.’

The book was longlisted for the prestigious UK 2016 Kraszna-Krausz Book Awards. It was one of 10 photobooks selected from the world by judges Anne Lydon, Mark Power and Julian Stallabrass and was exhibited at Somerset House during Photo London, May 2016.