Australia as a nation and people has an appalling record in its relations with the animal realm. The widespread practice of mulesing, and its barbarous live export trade, for example, have seen it consistently condemned internationally, and its species extinction rate is amongst the highest in the world. And yet, paradoxically, Australia has produced or found itself host to numerous 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 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 its customary strong range of new Australian poetry and short fiction, and of reviews of recent Australian writing.