eBook Listing

Accompanied by Turkey, his little 'hunting' dog, Derek Pugh founded several outstation schools in the most remote parts of Arnhem Land and gained a rare insight into a traditional way of life which has been witnessed by only a few outsiders.

By turns reflective, tragic and hilarious, Turn Left at the Devil Tree is a memoir of a visiting teacher among the Indigenous people and wildlife of the Top End of Australia. It is also a history - revealing some little known and disturbing events that were sanctioned from the highest levels of government.

Life there was "frustrating at times, but always a challenge and Derek has recorded his experiences beautifully in this delightful book". Ted Egan AO

It is 1941, and the German High Command has sent General Irwin Rommel and the Afrika Korps to bolster the faltering Italian ground forces in North Africa and take over the beleaguered fortress of Tobruk. The defenders hang on grimly, but prisoners are taken on both sides in the ebb and flow of battle.

In Greece and Crete, the reverse occurs; Commonwealth forces are overwhelmed by the might of the Wermacht, and many fall into the hands of the Germans. Many of the Australian and New Zealand prisoners eventually find themselves incarcerated in Campo 57, Gruppignano in north east Italy, under the iron fist of the notorious Colonel Calcaterra of the Caribinieri.

Unbroken is the true story of Australian POWs, their capture, their attempted escapes and their ultimate liberation.

This is the compelling story of Lieutenant Joseph 'Darkie' Maxwell DCM, MC and Bar, VC - the second highest decorated Australian soldier of the First World War. Meticulously researched by historian John Ramsland, Maxwell's colourful life is traced from his childhood on the Hunter coalfields until his death at age 71 in a soldier's settlement home in Matraville Sydney. Maxwell was a vivid storyteller who wrote Hells Bells and Mademoiselles, telling of his experiences in the war. In telling Maxwell's story, Ramsland has uncovered many forgotten documents to piece together an extraordinary life of an extraordinary man.

Millions of years in the making, sustaining human voyagers and societies for millennia, a couple of centuries of that by Europeans - the Great Barrier Reef - in maybe five or six decades the largest living structure visible from space will have become the largest dead one.

 

Vicarious Dreaming documents a series of personal voyages between Cooktown and the Torres Strait that are interwoven with accounts of exploration, exploitation and escape. The travels and tales coalesce around the works of Ion Idriess and the lives of solitary men at the edge of the world, drawn to the wild by folly and obsession, and to an island in the Howick Group that Idriess knew well and which was the site of his first book - Madman's Island. And as with the slow-motion ecological catastrophe that is the Reef's agonal decline there are players - and bystanders; stories of people and places, of life and death, of arrivals and departures, and of journeys that involve even the most remote, uninhabited spaces - the necklace of islands scattered along more than two thousand kilometres of Queensland's Coral Sea coast.

 

At once a journey into the far north of Australia and into the furthest depths of the human mind. A tale of Cape York's past and a new chapter in the exploration of its present. A dream narrative - maybe; a case study - perhaps; literary art, yes, absolutely, in its purest and most ambitious form. - Nicholas Rothwell

Arthur Upfield is known internationally for his crime novels featuring Bony, the Aboriginal Detective. In these thirteen stories written for Walkabout magazine between 1934 and 1949 and published in book form for the first time, readers will travel well beyond the cities, aided by maps and original photographs - through Cooper's Creek, visiting Lake Frome in South Australia, patrol the rabbit-proof fence in the West, pearling in Broome or go angling for Swordfish at Bermagui. Many of these stories give colour and detail to his more celebrated novels using the same settings as his crime novels. Another describes the Australian Geographical Society's 5000 mile venture from Perth to the Kimberleys and back, which was led by Upfield in 1948.

Truly a book to remind us of the "walkabout" - a journey (originally on foot) undertaken by the Australian Aboriginal in order to live in the traditional manner.

'There is a history with this gentleman of, shall we say, a reluctance to stay in custody.' - Detective Inspector Aldo Lorenzutta

On a sunny Thursday morning, in a helicopter near Silverwater Prison Complex, a woman pulled a gun from a shopping bag and said 'This is a hijack.'

The pilot, options running out, dropped into the prison and lifted John Reginald Killick, armed robber and escapee, to freedom.

This book charts the pathway to that extraordinary act, and its devastating consequenced for those charged. It unfolded in prison visits, correspondence, police stations, pubs and cafes, parks, private homes, courtrooms, libraries and legal offices for the most part. The author's journey has been a revelation to him. Much of what he found was grim by any standard. Hideous things.

But he also found there was a lot of love and friendship abroad in the world as well. Heaps.

Over 100 Australians who served in Afghanistan have committed suicide since returning to civilian life. Partners and family members also suffer, in their shared lives with emotionally scarred war veterans. Ex-service personnel and affected relatives provided author Ian Ferguson with fascinating first-hand information for the research of Wars That Never End. Their confronting recollections surfaced in personal interviews, and sometimes in Diggers' letters and diary entries from front line battle fields, dating back to the Boer War. Few publications candidly tackle the contentious issue of mental health among combat veterans, so this book is a must read for all discerning lovers of Australian war history.

People often say 'You don't deserve this' but, when it comes to cancer, who does?

So, when a devastating diagnosis tips the Falkiner-Rose family on its head, it takes medicos, bloody-mindedness and imagination to survive their version of medical whack-a-mole.

At the time they kept up a stream of Pete Updates for friends and family. Using those and intimate reflections, Leslie Falkiner-Rose tells a tale that's messy, moving, mind-blowing and, at times, very amusing.

This book tells the story of cyclists who were overcome by the need to venture into the wild on two wheels; the courageous men and women who undertook some of the most epic bicycle journeys of all time.

 

Wild Ride reminds us of a thrilling period of exploration all but forgotten in the age of the motorcar. Daniel Oakman takes us on a rich ride through 130 years of Australian cycling; from the overlanding heroes of Arthur Richardson and Francis Birtles, to the lesser known but no less amazing feats of Jerome Murif, Ted Ryko and Joe Pearson, through to modern-day bikepacking trailblazers such as Kate Leeming, Tegan Streeter and Tom Richards. Celebrity riders are here too; from the historic icons of Hubert ‘Oppy’ Opperman, Wendy Duncan and Shirley Law, to the more recent triumphs of actor Sam Johnson and his audacious quest to ride a unicycle 15,000 kilometres around the country.

 

You will be astounded by their journeys, retold here with sparkling clarity. Be inspired for your next pedal powered adventure.

Since childhood, Mark Carr wanted to fly, and fly he did ... firstly as a naval aviator, a jet instructor and later, pilot with Cathay Pacific Airways.

 

This ‘techno-biography’ is written for those who, like him, seemingly have hydraulic oil flowing through their veins. The book also gives readers of a non-flying background an insight into military and civil aviation.

 

Sit in the cockpit with Mark and gain a rare insight into how these amazing machines work, and how the men and women in the cockpits and flight decks operate them safely and efficiently.

 

His story is also entwined with historical context including his first-hand account of the infamous Australian Pilots’ Dispute of 1989 and life as an expatriate in Hong Kong.