This chapter examines the history of the Australian novel from the 1950s, focusing on the socio-cultural context in which the Australian novel has become heterogeneous in size, outlook, and ethnic composition. It first considers developments in the 1950s–1970s, when Patrick White emerged as a powerful canonical agent in the modernization of Australian literary culture by challenging white Australian conservatism. It then turns to the period 1972–1988, which saw the emergence of novels that reflected progressive nationalism, multicultural diversity reflecting Australia’s changing demographic, the appearance of Indigenous writing, and the new perspectives brought by feminist and revisionist history. It also discusses publishing in the 1990s and beyond, when Australian fiction contested the deep silences brought by colonization and made a shift to transnationalism. The chapter concludes with an assessment of recipients of the Miles Franklin Literary Award and an analysis of the ways in which the novel in Australia has affirmed the interconnectedness of Australian literature with its region and the world.