This book reflects an expansion of interest in cultural approaches to rural communities and to the economic and social situation of rurality. This collection is framed by a large interdisciplinary research project, particularly focused on what the idea of 'cultural sustainability' might mean for understanding experiences of growth, decline, change and heritage in small Australian country towns. While this book offers a uniquely diverse account of life in Australia, in its emphasis on the simultaneous specificity and cross-cultural recognisability of rural communities it also outlines a set of critical strategies that are more broadly applicable to thinking about the 'rural'.