Australian Modern offers a unique pictorial overview of the work of Stephenson and Turner. Their buildings signified the vanguard of Australian modernism and represented the results of the most up-to-date research into building designs for health, commerce and industry. The firm's expertise in hospital architecture, for example, earned them an international reputation, and for Arthur Stephenson, a knighthood and the prestigious RIBA Gold Medal. The sheer quantity and ubiquitous nature of the firm's output, from the 1920s to the 1970s, has affected the lives of countless numbers of everyday Australians. Landmark buildings in Melbourne include the MCG's Members' Stand and Long Room, Jessie McPherson Community Hospital, Mercy Hospital, Freemasons Hospital, St Vincent's Hospital, Royal Banking Chambers of the E. S. and A. Bank, Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Building, and the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

Their Sydney buildings are equally impressive, with the United Dental Hospital and the IBM Centre redefining the city's architecture. Stephenson and Turner also worked on several prominent projects as far afield as France, United States, New Zealand, Taiwan, Indonesia, Iraq and South Africa. Australian Modern features drawings and photographs taken from the architectural collections of the State Library of Victoria. Complemented by essays that explore the ideas and innovations behind the firm's success, Australian Modern is an invaluable record of the modernisation of a nation through design.