When it comes to relations with the animal realm, the Australian nation and its people have a troubled history and a deeply troubled present. Yet, and perhaps because of this, Australia has produced several key thinkers in the field of human/animal relations. Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation (1975) was as important to animal rights as Germaine Greer’s The Female Eunuch was to feminism, and came from and reflected currents of thought already established in this country by Richard Sylvan, Val Plumwood, Judith Wright and numerous others. This issue of Southerly focuses on The Animal in Australian Thought. It contains key essays on contemporary animal rights issues, veganism, and the animal in Australian poetry, fiction and philosophy, as well as an intriguing new interview with Brian Castro, and Southerly’s customary strong range of new Australian poetry and short fiction, and of reviews of recent Australian writing.