Bill and Horrie: Australia's Greatest War Horse and War Dog by Roland Perry

$29.99 AUD

Category: Australian History

Two bestselling stories of Australian animals during wartime, now in one volume.

The Last Bushrangers by Mike Munro

$14.99 AUD

Category: Australian History | Reading Level: 4 Non Fiction

The story of Australia's last bushranging gang - the murderous Kenniffs. Easter Sunday, 1902, deep in the Carnarvon Ranges a police constable and station manager are slain then later incinerated, their remains stuffed into saddlebags. Accused of the ghoulish crime are two members of the bushranging Ken niff gang, fast gaining notoriety as Queensland's equivalent of the Kelly gang. Yet the murders are a bold escalation from the petty fraud, horse stealing and cattle duffing the gang is known for. Starving and exhausted after three long months on the run, the brothers are finally captured, and so the wheels of justice start to turn. The story of the Kenniffs has fascinated Mike Munro for decades - ever since he found out these last bushrangers were his family. If not for Mike's grandfather illegally changing his name in shame from Kenniff to Munro, this major figure in Australian television would be known to us as Mike Kenniff. But who were Mike's relatives? What drove them to their life of crime? And were the brothers really responsible for such terrible murders? In answering these questions Mike Munro takes us back to the dawn of Federation, when bush skills and horsemanship could help outlaws escape the police, when remote pastoralists were vulnerable targets for thieves and marauders, when race and class divides were entrenched - but resented - and when brutal, feckless outlaws faced the ultimate punishment. This is a story that is both gripping and personal, and an insight into an Australia just coming of age. PRAISE FOR THE LAST BUSHRANGERS 'All families have a secret ... but Mike's is a doozy! This touching, TRUE story is a terrific read!' Di Morrissey ...Show more

Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe

$22.99 AUD

Category: Australian History

Dark Emu argues for a reconsideration of the 'hunter-gatherer' tag for pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians and attempts to rebut the colonial myths that have worked to justify dispossession. Accomplished author Bruce Pascoe provides compelling evidence from the diaries of early explorers that sugg ests that systems of food production and land management have been blatantly understated in modern retellings of early Aboriginal history, and that a new look at Australia's past is required. ...Show more

Shearers by Evan McHugh

$32.99 AUD

Category: Australian History

The story of Australia, told from the woolsheds. 'For much of its history Australia has been described as riding on the sheep's back . . . but if the country rode on anyone's back, it was on the aching, creaking, flexing spines of Australian shearers.' Armed with their blades, a sense of adventure and a relentless work ethic, shearers have been a fundamental part of Australia's outback for centuries. From legendary figures such as blade shearing record-holder Jack Howe and fearless union man cum poet Julian Stuart, to today's young guns having to adapt to a rapidly changing industry, these rugged, resilient and proud characters have influenced the social landscape and folklore of the country. Shearers contributed to the formation of both the Labor and National parties, while Australia's national song, 'Waltzing Matilda', was written on a Queensland sheep station. Expert outback chronicler Evan McHugh - author of bestselling titles such as The Droversand Outback Heroes- presents the definitive history of these men, bringing to life the toil, tumult and toughness of the shearing life, and the effect it has had on Australia's national character. ...Show more

Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia by Anita Heiss

$29.99 AUD

Category: Australian History

Childhood stories of family, country and belonging What is it like to grow up Aboriginal in Australia? This anthology, compiled by award-winning author Anita Heiss, showcases many diverse voices, experiences and stories in order to answer that question. Accounts from well-known authors and high-profile identities sit alongside those from newly discovered writers of all ages. All of the contributors speak from the heart - sometimes calling for empathy, oftentimes challenging stereotypes, always demanding respect. This groundbreaking collection will enlighten, inspire and educate about the lives of Aboriginal people in Australia today. Contributors include- Tony Birch, Deborah Cheetham, Adam Goodes, Terri Janke, Patrick Johnson, Ambelin Kwaymullina, Jack Latimore, Celeste Liddle, Amy McQuire, Kerry Reed-Gilbert, Miranda Tapsell, Jared Thomas, Aileen Walsh, Alexis West, Tara June Winch, and many, many more. ...Show more

The True Story of Ned Kelly's Last Stand by Paul Terry

$22.99 AUD

Category: Australian History

Using science, history and family lore to unearth a new understanding of how a legend was made this is the full story of the most famous siege in Australian history - the man and the myth; the people great and small.

Captain Cook's Epic Voyage by Geoffrey Blainey

$34.99 AUD

Category: Australian History | Reading Level: near fine

In 1768 Captain James Cook and his crew set out on a small British naval vessel in search of a missing continent. 2020 marks the 250th anniversary of that voyage, and Cook's 'discovery' of Australia. Captain Cook's Epic Voyage reveals the hardships and adventure of this remarkable quest, and the euphori a of discovering new lands. Drawing from his previous book, Sea of Dangers, in Captain Cook's Epic Voyage Professor Geoffrey Blainey takes readers once again on a vivid journey through history, challenging accepted views and the intersection of myth, science and exploration. ...Show more

Flood: Stories and Images of Survival, Loss and Courage from the Queensland Floods by Various (selected by the Federation of Children's Book Groups)

$3.99 AUD

Category: Australian History

Kinglake-350 by Adrian Hyland

$23.99 AUD

Category: Australian History

Kinglake-350 to VKC. Urgent, do you read me? The fire’s here now. God help us. Kinglake-350 is a masterpiece of writing about family, community, country life and what happens when a day of ultimate terror arrives. Adrian Hyland takes a dramatic and compelling sequence of events on that day an d weaves them into a picture of universal significance and deep fascination. On 7 February 2009 Roger Wood was the police officer in charge of Kinglake, at the epicentre of the worst bushfire disaster in Australia’s history, Black Saturday. As the firestorm engulfed the community, he risked his life, again and again, to try and save people. With the fire raging all around, he phoned home to warn his wife what was coming. She screamed that the fire had already hit their property. Then the line went dead. Black Saturday was a many-headed monster in whose wake stories of grief, heroism and desolation erupted all over the state of Victoria. This is a book about the monster—and the heroism of those who confronted it. ...Show more

Hell Ship by Michael Veitch

$22.99 AUD

Category: Australian History

The riveting story of one of the most calamitous voyages in Australian history, the plague-stricken sailing ship Ticonderoga that left England for Victoria with 800 doomed emigrants on board.

Ned Kelly by Peter FitzSimons

$24.99 AUD

Category: Australian History

Historians still disagree over virtually every aspect of the eldest Kelly boy?s brushes with the law. Did he or did he not shoot Constable Fitzpatrick at their family home? Was he a lawless thug or a noble Robin Hood, a remorseless killer or a crusader against oppression and discrimination? Was he even a political revolutionary, an Australian republican channelling the spirit of Eureka?Peter FitzSimons, bestselling chronicler of many of the great defining moments and people of this nation?s history, is the perfect person to tell this most iconic of all Australian stories. From Kelly?s early days in Beveridge, Victoria, in the mid-1800s, to the Felons? Apprehension Act, which made it possible for anyone to shoot the Kelly gang, to Ned?s appearance in his now-famous armour, prompting the shocked and bewildered police to exclaim 'He is the devil!? and 'He is the bunyip!?, FitzSimons brings the history of Ned Kelly and his gang exuberantly to life, weighing in on all of the myths, legends and controversies generated by this compelling and divisive Irish-Australian rebel. ...Show more

Kosciuszko by Nick Brodie

$14.99 AUD

Category: Australian History

Australia's highest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko, is a dangerous place. Evan Hayes was an ordinary Australian battler. Hardworking, likable. Laurie Seaman was a world-wise American. Adventurous, affluent. When this athletic pair of cross-country skiers disappeared into the wilds of Kosciuszko they left a mystery, and became a sensation. Following their trail, Kosciuszko reveals the story of a young Australia between wars told by one of Australia's leading historical voices.  When Evan and Laurie went missing in August 1928, Australia's Snowy Mountains were remote. Traversing the globe from New York's Long Island to Siberia to Sydney and beyond Charlotte Pass, with shipboard romance and industrial strife along the way, this is the story of two very different people growing to manhood in a world of change. Accompanied by a diverse cast including motor car enthusiasts and aviators, bushmen and horsemen, trackers and journalists, this is the true story of a meeting of peoples and nations. This is history in a land of legend. From the world-famous to the nearly-forgotten, Kosciuszko is more than a mountain, it is a collective heritage, part of Australia's sense of self. Evan and Laurie are guides to this vantage point, to a time and place that deserves to be better known. At Kosciuszko, Australians came together in peacetime. And they did so simply because two mates vanished.   ...Show more