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Poems the Size of Photographs
by Les MurrayBrief, that place in the yearwhen a blossoming pear treewith its sweet laundered scentreinhabits wooden roadsthat arch and diverge upinto electronic snow city. --"Brief, That Place in the Year"In Poems The Size of Photographs, Les Murray deftly maneuvers through familiar themes--the local terrain of the Australian people, politics, and landscape, as well as the terrain that is harder to render tangible: history, myth, and symbol. As if trying to find the fissure through which to crack open his subject matter, Murray has sharpened his form to an ideogrammatic brevity. Each snapshot-like poem in this volume develops before the reader's very eyes, as the initially observed object or moment in time changes meaning and grows in complexity and resonance line by line.
Red Sand, Blue Sky (Girls First!)
by Cathy ApplegateAt the center of Australia is a vast red desert known as the Outback. For twelve-year-old Amy from Melbourne who arrives to visit her aunt, it is a world unlike anything she's ever seen before. But then she meets Lana, a local Aboriginal girl who, like Amy, has recently lost her mother, and the two girls overcome differences to form a surprising bond. <p><p> With warmth and humor, Red Sand, Blue Sky charts the encounter between Amy and Lana and their deepening friendship. Through Lana, Amy learns about the harsh treatment suffered by the Aboriginal people at the hands of the white settlers who were her ancestors, while Lana comes to appreciate Amy's and her aunt's commitment to protect the sacredness of the land.
Shaping Nations: Constitutionalism and Society in Australia and Canada
by Linda Cardinal David HeadonShaping Nations brings together the work of Australian and Canadian scholars around five core themes: constitutionalism, colonialism, republicanism, national identity, and governance.
Solomon Time: An Unlikely Quest in the South Pacific
by Will RandallWho hasn't fantasized about dismantling his or her hassled, wired-up life for a simpler existence? Yet who among us has the will and opportunity to do it? The answer, of course, is very few.Will Randall, a young English schoolmaster, had such a chance -- and took it. He uprooted his conventional First World life and let himself be blown to one of the farthest and most beautiful corners of the earth, the Solomon Islands of the South Pacific. In the entertaining tradition of Bill Bryson's In a Sunburned Country, this is the story of Solomon Time.From the first, it's an improbable journey. In a chance encounter on a rugby field, Randall meets a doddering old man known as "the Commander," who has retired to England after running a cocoa plantation in the South Pacific for thirty years. Six months later, the Commander dies and his will is read: he wants someone to travel to his beloved, long-missed island -- where his plantation has fallen into ruin -- and devise a way for the natives to support themselves. If successful, they might avoid poverty, build a new school, and even fend off the greedy developers circling their peaceful waters.It's a mission of noblesse oblige, yet possibly a fool's errand, too. Randall agrees to go.Spread across the Tropic of Capricorn, the Solomon Islands are not so much the Pacific archipelago that time forgot as the one that forgets time. Randall's new home is Mendali, a fishing village so remote it can be reached only by motorized canoe. But the people of the village, some with cheeks engraved with a rising sun, are welcoming, for they remember the Commander kindly, and still practice a pagan Anglicanism in a church he built for them in 1956. They sleep in houses made of leaves and live on fish of every sort, mud crabs, yams, ngali nuts, even the honeycomb of termites.Randall decides that the villagers could raise chickens, and they greet the idea with enthusiasm. But finding live chicken eggs in their watery world proves wildly difficult, and Randall must chase after the eggs over shark-infested seas and through jungles where strange characters reside, including a one-eyed dwarf and a tattooed lady.One couldn't imagine a better man than Will Randall to help the people of Mendali meet the twenty-first century on their own terms. But will he succeed?Solomon Time is a moving and witty account of one man's accidental adventure in paradise and is certain to enchant explorers and armchair travelers alike.
The United Nations and the Indonesian Takeover of West Papua, 1962-1969: The Anatomy of Betrayal
by John SaltfordThis book examines the role of the international community in the handover of the Dutch colony of West Papua/Irian Jaya to Indonesia in the 1960s and questions whether or not the West Papuan people ever genuinely exercised the right to self-determination guaranteed to them in the UN-brokered Dutch/Indonesian agreement of 1962. Indonesian, Dutch, US, Soviet, Australian and British involvement is discussed, but particular emphasis is given to the central part played by the United Nations in the implementation of this agreement. As guarantor, the UN temporarily took over the territory's administration from the Dutch before transferring control to Indonesia in 1963. After five years of Indonesian rule, a UN team returned to West Papua to monitor and endorse a controversial act of self-determination that resulted in a unanimous vote by 1022 Papuan 'representatives' to reject independence. Despite this, the issue is still very much alive today as a crisis-hit Indonesia faces continued armed rebellion and growing calls for freedom in West Papua.
Abby: Into the Dragon's Den (South Seas Adventures #6)
by Pamela June WallsSet in the South Seas during the 1840s, Abby, her family, and her best friend, Luke, find themselves on adventures complete with pirates, volcanoes, and Komodo dragons. Through these adventures they learn that God is faithful, he always keeps his promises, and he is always watching over them.
Australia (Rookie Read-about Geography)
by Allan FowlerAn introduction to the continent of Australia, its geographical features, people, and animals.
Cold Beer and Crocodiles: A Bicycle Journey into Australia
by Roff Martin SmithDrawn directly from the author's extraordinary experiences over the course of a nine-month, 10,000-mile, solitary bicycle trip through Australia, this thoroughly engaging travel memoir offers an uncommonly intimate glimpse into the heart of the land down under. Immersing readers in all the excitement and anticipation of a nation facing the challenges of a new century, "Cold Beer and Crocodiles: A Bicycle Journey into Australia" is a deeply affectionate portrayal of this most alluring continent. <P>In 1996, award-winning American author and expatriate journalist Roff Smith set off, a lone man on his trusty bicycle, seeking to lose himself among the cattle stations, mining towns, Aboriginal communities, rain forests, and desert campsites. Somewhere in those thousands of miles, Smith writes, "I had gained a new home. It was the people I met more than anything else that opened my eyes to what it meant to be an Australian and instilled in me a deep and newfound pride in my adopted country." <P>Smith's genuine passion for his subject is infectious.
Four Corners: A Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea
by Kira SalakFollowing the route taken by British explorer Ivan Champion in 1927, and amid breathtaking landscapes and wildlife, Salak traveled across this remote Pacific island-often called the last frontier of adventure travel-by dugout canoe and on foot. Along the way, she stayed in a village where cannibals m was still practiced behind the backs of the missionaries, met the leader of the OPM-the separatist guerrilla movement opposing the Indonesian occupation of Western New Guinea-and undertook an epic trek through the jungle. The New York Times said "Kira Salak is tough, a real-life Lara Croft. " And Edward Marriott, proclaimed Four Corners to be "A travel book that transcends the genre. It is, like all the best travel narratives, a resonant interior journey, and offers wisdom for our times. "
A History of Guam
by Lawrence J. Cunningham Janice J. BeatyThis textbook covers the lives and legends of the first people of Guam and traces the island's development into present day.
Indonesian New Guinea Adventure Guide
by David Pickell Kal MullerThis is the most complete guide to Indonesian New Guinea ever produced. Hundreds of pages of travel tips and dozens of lively articles cover every aspect of the island's history and geography, taking you to lots of rarely-visited places.Detailed maps of every town and region of Indonesian New Guinea are included, along with personal recommendations from our expert authors on how to get around, where to stay and eat, and how to get the best value for money.
Institutions on the edge?: Capacity for governance
by Michael Keating John Wanna Patrick WellerAustralia faces major challenges to its forms of governance. Changing expectations from its citizens, global pressures on the economy and technological innovation are impacting on government operations. Yet most of its institutions were designed a hundred years ago. Cabinet government was inherited. Parliament was already established in its forms and procedures. The federal structure, the High Court and the federal public service were created as a consequence. The party structure has been effectively frozen since the 1920s and a tradition of handing some responsibilities to arms-length organisations was well established.So how have these institutions changed over the last hundred years and how well will they adapt to the demands of the modern world? Do they have the capacity to adapt appropriately and enable governments to achieve their preferred outcomes? In this book experienced academics and practitioners explore these questions. They examine each of the institutions in terms of their ability to meet new challenges and provide some hope that Australia's institutions, even if at times slow to move and dominated by internal interests, have a capacity to adapt and govern effectively. The book shows our political institutions in a new light, as dynamic, often flexible organisms; it provides important new insights into the way we are governed and how our system of governance might develop in the future.
The Oceanic Languages (Routledge Language Family Ser.)
by Terry Crowley John Lynch Malcolm RossThis new volume of the Language Family Series presents an overview of the Oceanic subgroup of the Austronesian languages, spread across a region embracing eastern Indonesia, Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia. It provides sufficient phonological and grammatical data to give typologists and comparativists a good idea of the nature of these languag
REEFSCAPE: Reflections on the Great Barrier Reef
by Rosaleen LoveLocated off Australia's eastern coast, the Great Barrier Reef is one of the wonders of the natural world. The diversity of life is simply incredible. It is also the ideal environment for coral, making it a diver's paradise. Indeed, some 200 million tourists visit the reef each year. Looking beyond the sheer beauty of this place, we learn, too, that it is a region rich in history, the setting for fateful shipwrecks and exotic Aboriginal myths. Australian writer Rosaleen Love explores the reef from all these angles, allowing us to see this stunning geography anew.Part travelogue, part eco-history, Reefscape represents multiple views of the reef - through the eyes of mariners, pearl divers, naturalists, filmmakers, pirates, industrialists, and tourists alike- painting a fascinating portrait of a unique locale.Told in a reflectively poetic voice, Love writes evocatively of the ecological, and geological significance of the reef. Woven throughout is the intriguing history of the area. This twofold approach provides a rich perspective on the reef an ecosystem as well as a natural resource for its inhabitants. By recounting both tales, Reefscape provides a window on the past and foreshadows the future of this extraordinary environment.Reefscape will illuminate the meaning of the human encounter with nature. It will inspire delight in the imagination and spirit of all who yearn for the transcendence of turquoise waters.
Surviving Australia: A Practical Guide to Staying Alive
by Sorrel WilbyVisiting the Australian outback can be a wonderful experience, but it isn't all about boomerangs and koalas, kangaroos and didgeridoos. It can be a wild and dangerous place if you're not prepared. Here is the essential travel companion for enduring the toughest stuff this rugged continent can offer -- a veritable survivor's guide to managing the unexpected when you're Down Under. Renowned Australian adventurer and bestselling author Sorrel Wilby provides you with the basic lessons on negotiating your way through the bush, across the outback, over the top end, and into the surf and sea. You'll get important lifesaving information on: where you should and shouldn't be driving your Range Rover dealing with natural hazards like river crossings, bush fires, storms, and rips warding off snakes, scorpions, crocs, and sharks encountering Aboriginal people, Bushies, Eccentrics, and Surfers finding food and water treating heatstroke, hypothermia, and tropical infections identifying proper emergency radio frequencies and much more!
Australia: Four Inspirational Love Stories from the Land Down Under
by Mary HawkinsGo down under with a contemporary collection of four complete novels and one novella. Starting in Search for Tomorrow, readers will follow Gail as she rebuilds her life after a tragedy takes the ones she loves. In Search for Yesterday, they will sympathize with Hilda when she learns she has a father she never knew and strength that had never been tested before. They will root for Beth and Art when they attempt to rebuild a broken body and marriage in Search for Today. Then, in the novella, Search for the Star, the readers will explore Jean's second chance with an old love.
Australian Spas and Retreats
by Amanda Jane ClarkLife down under has long held an allure to North Americans. And while more and more of us are making visits to the continent, the Australian spa industry is still one of the world's best kept secrets. This book contains everything readers need to know about spas in Australia, focusing on spas attached to hotels, guesthouses or retreats. The spas covered in this book are all devoted to mind, body and soul rejuvenation, and this book -- lavishly illustrated with full color photographs -- details the means and methods these spas use for relaxation and healing. Included are recipes for beauty treatments and descriptions of various massage and meditation techniques, as well as mouth-watering recipes for low-fat yet delicious spa snacks and meals. An essential book for anyone planning a health-oriented visit to Australia, Australian Spas and Retreats also has a wealth of fresh information about how to pamper the body, mind and soul anywhere you are.
The Birth of Sydney
by Tim FlannerySydney, Australia is one of the world's most beautiful and fascinating cities, home to over three and a half million people and site of the 2000 Summer Olympic Games. In The Birth of Sydney, scientist and historian Tim Flannery blends the writings of Australian explorers, settlers, leaders, journalists, and visitors to construct a compelling narrative history of the great metropolis—-from its founding as a remote penal colony of the British Empire in 1788 to its emergence as a vital trading power in the nineteenth century. Together, their voices and experiences create an unforgettable panoramic portrait of the early life of the majestic harbor city.
Business Institutions and Behaviour in Australia
by David MerrettThis study of Australian business institutions and practices places the rise of big business in Australia in a comparative context through a study of its 100 largest firms in the first six and a half decades of the 20th century.Unlike many of the wealthy economies of the northern hemisphere, Australia's lists of the 100 largest firms were dominated up to World War II by those from the resource and service industries. The high levels of foreign direct investment in the resources and manufacturing industries is also highlighted. Other chapters employ 21st-century theories of the firm to explore business behaviour in more depth.
The Cambridge Companion to Australian Literature
by Elizabeth WebbyThis book introduces in a lively and succinct way the major writers, literary movements, styles and genres that, at the beginning of a new century, are seen as constituting the field of Australian literature. The book consciously takes a perspective that sees literary works not as aesthetic objects created in isolation by unique individuals, but as cultural products influenced and constrained by the social, political and economic circumstances of their times. It will be an indispensable reference for both national and international readers. It covers Indigenous texts, colonial writing and reading, poetry, fiction and theater throughout two centuries, biography and autobiography, and literary criticism in Australia.
Dingoes at Dinnertime (Magic Tree House #20)
by Mary Pope OsborneWildfire! That's what Jack and Annie are up against when they are whisked away to the land of Australia. And they're not alone! Jack and Annie must help a baby kangaroo and a koala escape from a fire-filled forest. Will they be able to rescue the animals in time? To find out, you'll have to read...
Eliza Down Under
by Virginia BernardTravel down under to Australia with Eliza Lomax, whose TV-reporter mom just got the biggest assignment of her life, covering the Summer Olympics in Sydney and Eliza gets to go along. Once she gets there, Eliza finds Sydney fascinating as she travels to its famous and little-known attractions. She experiences adventure and romance amid the excitement and spectacle of the Olympic Games. Go with her to the Australian Museum and the Royal Botanic Gardens and see a panorama of the harbor and the city from a lookout in the south pylon of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. She also finds a new friend and gets into the excitement of the Olympics.
The Explorers: Stories of Discovery and Adventure from the Australian Frontier
by Tim FlanneryIn this lively collection of stories of adventure and discovery, "The Explorers" tells the epic saga of the conquest and settlement of Australia. Flannery presents 67 accounts that convey the sense of wonder along with the dimensions of struggle.
Governing Savages: Commonwealth And Aboriginies, 1911-39
by Andrew MarkusIn 1928, after a white man was killed, a punitive party mounted a series of attacks on Aborigines northwest of Alice Springs. The party's leader admitted that 31 Aborigines were killed. One missionary in the area put the toll at 70; another at as many as 100.Since 1911, the administration of the Northern Territory had been the direct responsibility of the Commonwealth. In placing this event and others within the context of policies pursued by the national government, Governing Savages reveals how policies of brutality and calculated neglect bequeathed a bitter legacy to subsequent generations.
In a Sunburned Country
by Bill BrysonA CLASSIC FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF ONE SUMMER Every time Bill Bryson walks out the door, memorable travel literature threatens to break out. His previous excursion along the Appalachian Trail resulted in the sublime national bestseller A Walk in the Woods. In A Sunburned Country is his report on what he found in an entirely different place: Australia, the country that doubles as a continent, and a place with the friendliest inhabitants, the hottest, driest weather, and the most peculiar and lethal wildlife to be found on the planet. The result is a deliciously funny, fact-filled, and adventurous performance by a writer who combines humor, wonder, and unflagging curiousity.Despite the fact that Australia harbors more things that can kill you in extremely nasty ways than anywhere else, including sharks, crocodiles, snakes, even riptides and deserts, Bill Bryson adores the place, and he takes his readers on a rollicking ride far beyond that beaten tourist path. Wherever he goes he finds Australians who are cheerful, extroverted, and unfailingly obliging, and these beaming products of land with clean, safe cities, cold beer, and constant sunshine fill the pages of this wonderful book. Australia is an immense and fortunate land, and it has found in Bill Bryson its perfect guide.From the Trade Paperback edition.