In Living Memory by Chrissie Goldrick (Editor-In-Chief)

$59.99 AUD

Category: History

The story of Australia in the middle decades of the 20th century – from 1930 to 1980 – is one of dramatic contrast; of dark days and light – of economic struggle, anxiety, war and sacrifice, giving way from the 1950s onwards to prosperity, plenty and confidence.Australian Geographic&rs quo;s In Living Memory surveys these decades with a collection of fascinating, surprising and entertaining photographs of everyday Australian life. Author Alasdair McGregor places the images in their historical context with a thoughtful essay to introduce each of the four chapters – the way we lived, the way we moved, the way we worked and the way we played.This warmly nostalgic collection will appeal to all ages – those who remember the milkman, the dunny man and the ice chest, and those who cheered on Dennis Lillee’s moustache or took part in the ‘bikini wars’ on Bondi Beach. ...Show more

Hell Ship by Michael Veitch

$32.99 AUD

Category: History

For more than a century and a half, a grim tale has passed down through Michael Veitch's family: the story of the Ticonderoga, a clipper ship that sailed from Liverpool in August 1852, crammed with poor but hopeful emigrants - mostly Scottish victims of the Clearances and the potato famine. A better lif e, they believed, awaited them in Australia. Three months later, a ghost ship crept into Port Phillip Bay flying the dreaded yellow flag of contagion. On her horrific three-month voyage, deadly typhus had erupted, killing a quarter of Ticonderoga's passengers and leaving many more desperately ill. Sharks, it was said, had followed her passage as the victims were buried at sea. Panic struck Melbourne. Forbidden to dock at the gold-boom town, the ship was directed to a lonely beach on the far tip of the Mornington Peninsula, a place now called Ticonderoga Bay. James William Henry Veitch was the ship's assistant surgeon, on his first appointment at sea. Among the volunteers who helped him tend to the sick and dying was a young woman from the island of Mull, Annie Morrison. What happened between them on that terrible voyage is a testament to human resilience, and to love. Michael Veitch is their great-great-grandson, and Hell Ship is his brilliantly researched narrative of one of the biggest stories of its day, now all but forgotten. Broader than his own family's story, it brings to life the hardships and horrors endured by those who came by sea to seek a new life in Australia. ...Show more

100 Aussie Things We Know and Love 2nd Ed by Bunny Banyai; Anna Blandford (Illustrator)

$19.99 AUD

Category: History

100 Aussie Things We Know and Love puts the Australian way of life under a forensic lens, vigorously examining the socio-political underpinnings of the Australian character. Nah, just kidding! We'll just take you on a whistle-stop tour through the country's greatest people, places, animals, food, e vents and cultural quirks. Ever wondered why magpies attack, or Chiko rolls were invented, who we have to blame for Ugg boots, and what stuff from New Zealand we can legitimately claim as our own*? Featuring entries on 100 unmistakably Australian things (in no apparent order), from the lovable to the naff, this book is a chock-a-block with entertaining and fascinating facts about the things we all know, love or love to hate. And now it has a new-look cover design. *spoiler alert: everything   ...Show more

Strayan Dictionary: Avo, Arvo, ScoMo, Mabo and All the Essential Strayan Words by Dominic Knight

$29.99 AUD

Category: History | Reading Level: 4 Non Fiction

Following up on the success of Strayapedia, Dom has put together a dictionary of all things 'Strayan. This is a funny, topical stocking stuffer for the Christmas market, and the perfect gift for anyone who loves The Chaser or The Betoota Advocate. See the attached sample definitions for a sense of the w hole book. Avo - avocado, because 'cado' is just so onerous to say. Increasingly Australians 'smash' their avocado as opposed to slicing it, also for laziness reasons. It was suggested by the social researcher Bernard Salt that young Australians couldn't afford to buy property because they blow their disposable income on 'smashed avocado' at fancy cafe. As one of the baby boomers who profited enormously from the massive increases in real estate value, pricing millennials out of the market, Salt was fortunate that the understandable backlash to his article didn't lead to him getting smashed himself. Bathers - swimmers Battler - 1. Someone of limited financial means. 2. Someone of comfortable financial means who views themselves as hard done by because most of their disposable income goes on their foolishly large mortgage. ?Howard's battlers - People who voted for John Howard because they shared his belief in ordinary enterprising Australians doing it for themselves without the interfering government getting in the way, and who were subsequently lavishly rewarded by his middle-class welfare programmes. BHP - Broken Hill Proprietary, a major mining company that was once known as "the big Australian". Its merger with the UK-based Billiton saw it follow the Australian tradition of hanging out in London, doing a little bar work, and ultimately coming back home when things didn't work out - consequently, the company is now known just as BHP. Its namesake hill in Western NSW is now considerably more broken, thanks to BHP mining it until it no longer exists. Nevertheless, as one of Australia's largest companies, it has a proud record of job creation both at home and in Papua New Guinea, where its Ok Tedi mine created many jobs fixing the 1300 square kilometres of countryside it polluted and helping the 50,000 people affected. Billy - a bush teapot, originally made from an empty tin of 'bully beef', and generally stoked in a campfire. Later usage commemorates the prime minister Billy McMahon, whom most Australians wanted to throw in a fire. Bogan - a derogatory term for lower-class Australians. Bogans may be identified by their flannelette markings and mullet plumage, and are found mostly in Maccas car parks, sitting on the bonnets of the highly polished V8s they collect as trophies. Bogans undertake an annual migration to Canberra for a ritual known as the 'Summernats', and are considered an endangered species thanks to their prodigious consumption of Winnie Blue cigarettes. ...Show more

Woolsheds (Volume #2 HB) by Andrew Chapman (Photographer); Tim Lee

$49.95 AUD

Category: Pictorial

A photographic documentary of the wool industry across Australia and New Zealand, featuring the work of renowned photographer Andrew Chapman.

Convict Colony: The Remarkable Story of the Fledgling Settlement That Survived Against the Odds by David Hill

$32.99 AUD

Category: History

The author of the magnificent bestselling account of the First Fleet returns to early Sydney to tell the story of the years that followed as it's never been told before.

Dancing Under the Southern Skies by Valerie Lawson

$59.95 AUD

Category: Music Film & Television

With its vivid narrative, Valerie Lawson's Dancing Under the Southern Skies goes far beyond what audiences see on stage to reveal what has been behind the red velvet curtain. The lives of the dancers who toured to Australia, among them Anna Pavlova and Margot Fonteyn, and of those who stayed and of thos e who created companies in Australia are presented in a fascinating mosaic of interviews, letters and personal stories from dancers, directors, producers, impresarios and critics. She also paints portraits of those who influenced Australia culture over nine decades, among them Laurence Olivier, Edouard Borovansky, Peggy van Praagh, Paul Keating and Graeme Murphy, and tells how the nation escaped from cultural dependence on Britain, fell in love with ballet troupes from the Soviet Union, and then watched the birth of the Australian Ballet, the Sydney Dance Company, Bangarra Dance Theatre and many other dance companies. ...Show more

Convicts in the Colonies - Transportation Tales from Britain to Australia by Lucy Williams

$34.99 AUD

Category: History

In the eighty years between 1787 and 1868 more than 160,000 men, women and children convicted of everything from picking pockets to murder were sentenced to be transported 'beyond the seas'. These convicts were destined to serve out their sentences in the empire's most remote colony: Australia. Through vivid real-life case studies and famous tales of the exceptional and extraordinary, Convicts in the Colonies narrates the history of convict transportation to Australia - from the first to the final fleet.Using the latest original research, Lucy Williams reveals a fascinating century-long history of British convicts unlike any other. Covering everything from crime and sentencing in Britain and the perilous voyage to Australia, to life in each of the three main penal colonies - New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land, and Western Australia - this book charts the lives and experiences of the men and women who crossed the world and underwent one of the most extraordinary punishment in history. ...Show more

Football Solution: The How Richmond's Premiership Can Save Australia by George Megalogenis

$22.99 AUD

Category: History

A sport unlike any other in the world, football has always been Australia's bellwether. But at a time when politics is increasingly conducted like sports - full of one-eyed tribalism, captain's calls and policy dictated by the Newspoll scoreboard - football is the one institution that's more relevant th an ever. And it's Richmond that's out in front of the pack. Before it could win the 2017 premiership, the club had to change how it thought about good leadership. By weaving together the game's conflicted history, a sharp-eyed analysis of Richmond's off-field turbulence and his own love of the Tigers, Megalogenis reveals just how Richmond found a new way to win - and how Australia might do the same. 'Megalogenis has done it again, but with an unexpected twist.' HUGH MACKAY 'A public intellectual who barracks for Richmond argues that the Tigers' 2017 flag contains the seeds of our national resurgence. That's some footy argument . . .' MARTIN FLANAGAN 'Richmond are not yet ahead in the premiership wars, but through inspired leadership, they're streets ahead in the culture wars.' BARRIE CASSIDY 'Manages the incredible feat of igniting hope again for something called Australia. Whatever football code you follow, or even if you don't follow sport at all, I urge you to read this book. It's bracingly sane and beautifully told.' CHRISTOS TSIOLKAS ...Show more

James Hardy Vaux's 1819 Dictionary of Criminal Slang and Other Impolite terms as Used by the Convicts of the British Colonies of Australia by Simon Barnard

$29.99 AUD

Category: History

In the early 1800s magistrates in the Australian colonies were often frustrated by the language used by reoffending convicts to disguise their criminal activities and intensions. Convict clerk James Hardy Vaux came up with a useful idea: a dictionary of slang and other terms used by convicts. And so, in 1819, he compiled what was to be Australia's first published dictionary. With words such as fence (a receiver of stolen goods), flesh-bag (a shirt), flip (to shoot); galloot (a soldier), kid (a child thief), knuckle (to pickpocket), ramp (to rob out in the open), ruffles (handcuffs), screw (a skeleton key), serve (to rob), stamps (shoes) and wrinkle (a lie), Vaux's dictionary is a fascinating account of convict language, including the origins and early usage of several words that have evolved to become part of Australian English today. And Simon Barnard's illustrations and supporting accounts of individual convicts and their criminal antics complements this lively picture of Australia's convict history. ...Show more

Granville Stapylton - Australia Felix 1836: Second in Command to Major Mitchell by Gregory C. Eccleston

$145.00 AUD

Category: History

The Catalpa Rescue: The Most Dramatic & Successful Prison Break in Australian History by Peter FitzSimons

$34.99 AUD

Category: History | Reading Level: near fine

The incredible true story of one of the most extraordinary and inspirational prison breaks in Australian history. New York, 1874. Members of the Clan-na-Gael - agitators for Irish freedom from the English yoke - hatch a daring plan to free six Irish political prisoners from the most remote prison in the Britsh Empire, Fremantle Prison in Western Australia. Under the guise of a whale hunt, Captain Anthony sets sail on the Catalpa to rescue the men from the stone walls of this hell on Earth known to the inmates as a 'living tomb'. What follows is one of history's most stirring sagas that splices Irish, American, British and Australian history together in its climatic moment. For Ireland, who had suffered English occupation for 700 years, a successful escape was an inspirational call to arms. For America, it was a chance to slap back at Britain for their support of the South in the Civil War; for England, a humiliation. And for a young Australia, still not sure if it was Great Britain in the South Seas or worthy of being an independent country in its own right, it was proof that Great Britain was not unbeatable. Told with FitzSimons' trademark combination of arresting history and storytelling verve, The Catalpa Rescue is a tale of courage and cunning, the fight for independence and the triumph of good men, against all odds. ...Show more