Congratulations to Shirleene Robinson and Simon Sleight on the publication of this edited collection. The volume shows how age was a critical factor in shaping imperial experience. It locates children, childhood and youth in broader social contexts and acknowledges young people as historical agents, rarely operating within situations of their choosing, but nonetheless shaping their own lives. Their experiences and the ways in which they were represented exemplify the processes through which ‘Britishness’ was expressed and contested across the globe. See ‘Events’ for details of the book’s Australian book launch on Monday 19 December 2016.