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The Battle of Long Tan
by Peter FitzSimonsFrom the bestselling author of Kokoda and Gallipoli comes the epic story of Australia's deadliest Vietnam War battle.4.31 pm: Enemy [on] left flank. Could be serious.5.01 pm: Enemy ... penetrating both flanks and to north and south.5.02: Running short of ammo. Require drop through trees.It was the afternoon of 18 August 1966, hot, humid with grey monsoonal skies. D Company, 6RAR were four kilometres east of their Nui Dat base, on patrol in a rubber plantation not far from the abandoned village of Long Tan. A day after their base had suffered a mortar strike, they were looking for Viet Cong soldiers. Then - just when they were least expecting - they found them. Under withering fire, some Diggers perished, some were grievously wounded, the rest fought on, as they remained under sustained attack.For hours these men fought for their lives against the enemy onslaught. The skies opened and the rain fell as ferocious mortar and automatic fire pinned them down. Snipers shot at close quarters from the trees that surrounded them. The Aussie, Kiwi and Yankee artillery batteries knew it was up to them but, outnumbered and running out of ammunition they fired, loaded, fired as Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army forces just kept coming. And coming.Their only hope was if Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) could reach them before they were wiped out. The APCs did their best but low cloud and thunderstorms meant air support was stalled. A daring helicopter resupply mission was suggested but who would want to fly that? The odds against this small force were monumental...By far the deadliest battle for Australian forces in Vietnam, the Battle of Long Tan has a proud place in the annals of Australian military history - and every ANZAC who fought there could hold his head high.Peter FitzSimons, Australia's greatest storyteller, tells the real story of this classic battle. He reveals the horror, the bravery, the wins and the losses that faced our soldiers. He brings to life the personal stories of the men who fought, the events leading up to that memorable battle and the long war that followed, and the political decisions made in the halls of power that sealed their fates. The Battle of Long Tan is an engrossing and powerful history that shows the costs of war never end.
The Battle of Menin Road 1917 (Australian Army Campaigns #20)
by Roger LeeThe Passchendaele Campaign of 1917 is associated with images of slimy, oozing mud: mud deep enough and glutinous enough to drown men, horses and equipment, mud so pervasive that it, rather than the enemy, defeated the British Army’s only major campaign in Belgium. While these images are certainly true for the opening and final months of the campaign, mud was not he defining experience for the infantry of the Australian First and Second Divisions when, for the first time in history, two Australian Divisions fought a battle side by side in the Battle of Menin Road. For them, the defining experience was a well planned, well-conducted attack that saw all the objectives achieved in very short time. Menin Road was the third of the series of battles that together made up the Passchendaele (Third Ypres) Campaign. Intended to capture the high ground of the Gheluvelt Plateau east of Ypres to protect the right flank of the British Army advancing to its north, it was a difficult assignment. Earlier British attempts to clear the Plateau had been repulsed with heavy losses. With overwhelming artillery and air support, sound preparation and with limited objectives, the attack on 20 September surpassed all expectations. It was a classic example of how well-prepared and well-supported infantry could take and hold ground. However, as is explained in the book, it was also a classic example of why this operational method was too slow and would never win the war on the Western Front.
The Battle of Mont St Quentin Peronne 1918: The Battle of Mont St Quentin-Peronne 1918 (Australian Army Campaigns #11)
by Michele BomfordThe Battle of Mont St Quentin-Peronne 1918 explores the relationship between myth and history and the significance of the Anzac legend. It analyses the forces that drove the diggers forward even when they had reached the limits of their endurance. The Battle of Mont St Quentin-Peronne represents the Australian Corps at its very best, its diggers fighting for peace and satisfied that, `whatever might lie ahead, at least everything was right behind them'.
The Battle of Polygon Wood 1917 (Australian Army Campaigns #19)
by Jonathan PasslowBuoyed by the success of the 1st and 2nd Australian divisions in the Battle of Menin Road, the men of the 4th and 5th Australian divisions filed into the front line ready for the next phase of the battle. Ahead of them lay the blackened remnants of Polygon Wood, a desolate expanse of splintered stumps shattered by the devastating shellfire. The view across no man’s land revealed lines of German barbed wire and a criss-cross of heavily defended trenches. Here and there the Australians could also see solid concrete pillboxes dotted around the landscape. In the centre of the battlefield sat a huge man-made mound of earth — the Butte. Once the stop-butte for an old artillery range, this dominating feature was fortified with machine-guns, laced with barbed wire and riddled with tunnels and dugouts. The Battle of Polygon Wood was the second phase in the British forces’ advance on Passchendaele. Success at Polygon Wood would place Broodseinde Ridge within the Second Army’s reach. But the entire operation was almost blindsided by a German counter-attack on the eve of the battle. The critical situation on the Anzac Corps right was only saved by Pompey Elliott’s 15th Brigade whose desperate efforts to contain the German attack and seize the Second Army’s objectives turned a ‘fine success’ into a ‘splendid victory’. But, as author Jonathan Passlow describes in Polygon Wood 1917, this was a victory that was by no means assured and in which luck would play its part.
The Battle of Pozieres 1916 (Australian Army Campaigns #22)
by Meleah HamptonThe Battle of Pozières has reverberated throughout Australia’s military history, long regarded as a costly battle that produced little meaningful gain. Pozières was characterised by the most intense artillery bombardment the Australians had experienced in the war thus far and ‘the hell that was Pozières’ became the yardstick by which subsequent bombardments were measured. The 13th Battalion’s Frank Massey described men who became ‘blithering idiots … Crying and weeping and — absolutely useless as a fighting man.’ The object of the battle was Pozières Ridge, a low rise that offered a good view of the German positions. Heavily fortified, the ridge and the pulverised remains of the village were contested bitterly and, during its six-week campaign, 1st Anzac Corps advanced little more than two miles and suffered 23,000 casualties. Charles Bean wrote that ‘Australian troops … fell more thickly on this ridge than on any other battlefield of the war.’ However, the first phase of the campaign was very successful, securing the fortified ruins of Pozières and the German second line. But follow-up operations failed to capitalise and subsequent assaults merely nibbled away at enemy positions without making significant headway. Yet the Battle of Pozières marks a significant achievement not only for 1st Anzac Corps, but for the British Expeditionary Force. In a war in which any advance was hard won, the wresting of the high ground from the Germans was crucial. For the battered Allied forces, the capture of Pozières Ridge provided faint hope of an end to a catastrophic war.
The Battle of the Bismarck Sea
by Michael VeitchIn the thick of World War II, during the first week of March 1943, Japan made a final, desperate lunge for control of the South West Pacific. In the ensuing Battle of the Bismarck Sea, a force of land-based Australian and American planes attacked a massive convoy of Japanese warships. The odds were against them. But a devastating victory was won and Japan's hopes of regaining the initiative in New Guinea destroyed. More importantly for Australians, the victory decisively removed any possibility that Australia might be invaded by Japanese forces. It was, for us, one of the most significant times in our history - a week when our future was profoundly in the balance. Bestselling author Michael Veitch tells the riveting story of this crucial moment in history - how the bravery of young men and experienced fighters, renegades and rule-followers, overcame some of the darkest days of World War II.
The Battles Before: Case Studies of Australian Army Leadership After the Vietnam War (Australian Military History #3)
by David ConneryMuch of Australia’s military history literature focuses on battles and the way generals plan and prosecute an action or campaign. But what do generals do when they are not fighting battles? The Battles Before examines the role of senior leaders in preparing an army for war — fighting bureaucratic battles, mobilising forces for operations, or preparing for a future that is impossible to anticipate. The five cases examined in this book focus on strategic leadership and describe how major organisations grapple with political, strategic, economic and cultural change over time. The first three case studies analyse a series of pivotal moments in the history of the Australian Army: the dramatic downsizing that followed the Vietnam War, the seminal 1985 Dibb Review, and the build-up to the East Timor intervention in 1999. Further cases describe planning within a large organisation, particularly the way senior leaders grapple with the demands of multiple operations while facing significant impetus for force modernisation. The final chapter focuses on the crucial role of the Army&’s leadership in developing the next generation of leaders. The book concludes with a series of insights into the study of command in peacetime and its relevance to wartime command, particularly given the challenges that face peacetime commanders who operate within considerable constraints. The Battles Before uses recently declassified documents and interviews with key participants in a meticulous examination of a 30-year period characterised by profound and far-reaching change. This was a period that would reshape the Australian Army.
The Battles of Bullecourt: 1917 (Australian Army Campaigns #17)
by Dr David CoombesIn April-May 1917 the sleepy hamlet of Bullecourt in northern France became the focus of two battles involving Australian and British troops. Given the unique place in this nation’s military history that both battles occupy, surprisingly little has been written on the AIF’s achievements at Bullecourt. The First Battle of Bullecourt marked the Australians’ introduction to the latest battlefield weapon — the tank. This much-lauded weapon failed dismally amid enormous casualties. Despite this, two infantry brigades from the 4th Australian Division captured parts of the formidable Hindenburg Line with minimal artillery and tank support, repulsing German counter-attacks until forced to withdraw. In the second battle, launched with a preliminary artillery barrage, more Australian divisions were forced into the Bullecourt ‘meat-grinder’ and casualties soared to over 7000. Again Australian soldiers fought hard to capture parts of the enemy line and hold them against savage counter-attacks. Bullecourt became a charnel-house for the AIF. Many who had endured the nightmare of Pozières considered Bullecourt far worse. And for what? While Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig considered its capture ‘among the great achievements of the war’, the village that cost so many lives held no strategic value whatsoever.
Beach Sports Car
by Darlene OxenhamWhen Annie’s dad promises her a beach sports car, she imagines a bright red hotrod with racing stripes. All her school friends will be so jealous! But when her gift turns out to be Dad’s battered old bomb car instead, Anne realizes it will take a lot of effort to turn it into the automobile of her dreams. Highlighting the power of imagination in making things new again, this entertaining story also shows how hard work can sometimes make the final reward that much sweeter.
Beatle Meets Destiny
by Gabrielle WilliamsImagine your name is John Lennon, but everyone calls you Beatle. And then you meet your dream girl, and her name is Destiny McCartney. But you meet her on the world's most unlucky day--Friday the 13th--and you're very superstitious. Not to mention that you're already dating the perfect girl, who happens to be your twin sister's best friend. ... Beatle can't imagine ever leaving Cilla, who supported him after the stroke that changed his life and left him with a limp. Still, he knows that the only thing worse than staying with the wrong person is missing the chance to be with the right one.
Beautiful Chaos: On Motherhood, Finding Yourself and Overwhelming Love
by Jessica UrlichsThe Instant Sunday Times Bestseller'The words awaken the magic of life by celebrating the ordinary' - Giovanna Fletcher'Beautifully heartfelt, inspiringly poignant and therapeutically validating' - Anna Mathur Motherhood is messy and beautiful, and hard and humbling. We adore our children, and sometimes we miss ourselves. Beautiful Chaos is a collection of raw, honest poems about motherhood - capturing everything from pregnancy to school age. Upon becoming a mother, poet Jessica Urlichs was reminded that the everyday ordinary is extraordinary. Beautiful Chaos is a collection that chronicles it all - the highs, the lows, the confusion, the loss of identity, the becoming, and the brutal but beautiful ways our children hold up a mirrors to ourselves. This collection inspires vulnerability and will be a cathartic, healing read for anyone who needs it. These poems will remind you of a time gone by or ground you in the current moment. Either way, they will make you feel seen and comforted amid the beautiful chaos that is motherhood.
Beautiful Waste: Poems by David McComb
by David McComb John KinsellaPublished for the first time, this collection gathers the poetry of David McComb, the gifted and enigmatic songwriter and lead singer of the Triffids. Written during his 20s and 30s, when the band's output peaked, these perceptive pieces explore and confront topics such as addiction, pop culture, and the colloquial and metaphysical. Illuminating a hitherto neglected aspect of the artist's creative brilliance, this collection will strike a chord with anyone with an interest in contemporary poetry or the music of David McComb.
A Beginner's Guide to Paradise
by Alex SheshunoffSo You Too Can: - Move to a South Pacific Island - Wear a Loincloth - Read a Hundred Books - Diaper a Baby Monkey - Build a Bungalow And Maybe, Just Maybe, Fall in Love! * * Individual results may vary.The true story of how a quarter-life crisis led to adventure, freedom, and love on a tiny island in the Pacific. From the author of a lot of emails and several Facebook posts comes A Beginner's Guide to Paradise, a laugh-out-loud, true story that will answer your most pressing escape-from-it-all questions, including: 1. How much, per pound, should you expect to pay a priest to fly you to the outer islands of Yap? 2. Classic slumber party stumper: If you could have just one movie on a remote Pacific island, what would it definitely not be? 3. How do you blend fruity drinks without a blender? 4. Is a free, one-hour class from Home Depot on "Flowerbox Construction" sufficient training to build a house? From Robinson Crusoe to Survivor, Gilligan's Island to The Beach, people have fantasized about living on a remote tropical island. But when facing a quarter-life crisis, plucky desk slave Alex Sheshunoff actually did it. While out in Paradise, he learned a lot. About how to make big choices and big changes. About the less-than-idyllic parts of paradise. About tying a loincloth without exposing the tender bits. Now, Alex shares his incredible story and pretty-hard-won wisdom in a book that will surprise you, make you laugh, take you to such unforgettable islands as Yap and Pig, and perhaps inspire your own move to an island with only two letters in its name. Answers: 1) $1.14 2) Gas Attack Training Made Simple 3) Crimp a fork in half and insert middle into power drill 4) No.From the Hardcover edition.
A Beginner's Guide to Paradise: 9 Steps to Giving Up Everything
by Alex SheshunoffSo You Too Can: - Move to a South Pacific Island - Wear a Loincloth - Read a Hundred Books - Diaper a Baby Monkey - Build a Bungalow And Maybe, Just Maybe, Fall in Love! * * Individual results may vary.The true story of how a quarter-life crisis led to adventure, freedom, and love on a tiny island in the Pacific. From the author of a lot of emails and several Facebook posts comes A Beginner's Guide to Paradise, a laugh-out-loud, true story that will answer your most pressing escape-from-it-all questions, including: 1. How much, per pound, should you expect to pay a priest to fly you to the outer islands of Yap? 2. Classic slumber party stumper: If you could have just one movie on a remote Pacific island, what would it definitely not be? 3. How do you blend fruity drinks without a blender? 4. Is a free, one-hour class from Home Depot on "Flowerbox Construction" sufficient training to build a house? From Robinson Crusoe to Survivor, Gilligan's Island to The Beach, people have fantasized about living on a remote tropical island. But when facing a quarter-life crisis, plucky desk slave Alex Sheshunoff actually did it. While out in Paradise, he learned a lot. About how to make big choices and big changes. About the less-than-idyllic parts of paradise. About tying a loincloth without exposing the tender bits. Now, Alex shares his incredible story and pretty-hard-won wisdom in a book that will surprise you, make you laugh, take you to such unforgettable islands as Yap and Pig, and perhaps inspire your own move to an island with only two letters in its name. Answers: 1) $1.14 2) Gas Attack Training Made Simple 3) Crimp a fork in half and insert middle into power drill 4) No.From the Hardcover edition.
A Beginner's Guide to Paradise: A True Story for Dreamers, Drifters, and Other Fugitives from the Ordinary
by Alex SheshunoffSo You Too Can: - Move to a South Pacific Island - Wear a Loincloth - Read a Hundred Books - Diaper a Baby Monkey - Build a Bungalow And Maybe, Just Maybe, Fall in Love! * * Individual results may vary.The true story of how a quarter-life crisis led to adventure, freedom, and love on a tiny island in the Pacific. From the author of a lot of emails and several Facebook posts comes A Beginner's Guide to Paradise, a laugh-out-loud, true story that will answer your most pressing escape-from-it-all questions, including: 1. How much, per pound, should you expect to pay a priest to fly you to the outer islands of Yap? 2. Classic slumber party stumper: If you could have just one movie on a remote Pacific island, what would it definitely not be? 3. How do you blend fruity drinks without a blender? 4. Is a free, one-hour class from Home Depot on "Flowerbox Construction" sufficient training to build a house? From Robinson Crusoe to Survivor, Gilligan's Island to The Beach, people have fantasized about living on a remote tropical island. But when facing a quarter-life crisis, plucky desk slave Alex Sheshunoff actually did it. While out in Paradise, he learned a lot. About how to make big choices and big changes. About the less-than-idyllic parts of paradise. About tying a loincloth without exposing the tender bits. Now, Alex shares his incredible story and pretty-hard-won wisdom in a book that will surprise you, make you laugh, take you to such unforgettable islands as Yap and Pig, and perhaps inspire your own move to an island with only two letters in its name. Answers: 1) $1.14 2) Gas Attack Training Made Simple 3) Crimp a fork in half and insert middle into power drill 4) No.From the Hardcover edition.
Behavioural Public Policy in Australia: How an Idea Became Practice (Public Administration and Public Policy)
by Sarah BallUsing rich ethnographic data and first-hand experience, Ball presents a detailed account of Australia’s attempts to incorporate behavioural insights into its public policy. Ball identifies three competing interpretations of behavioural public policy, and how these interpretations have influenced the use of this approach in practice. The first sees the process as an opportunity to introduce more rigorous evidence. The second interpretation focuses on increasing compliance, cost savings and cutting red tape. The last focuses on the opportunity to better involve citizens in policy design. These interpretations demonstrate different ‘solutions’ to a series of dilemmas that the Australian Public Service, and others, have confronted in the last 50 years, including growing politicisation, technocracy and a disconnect from the needs of citizens. Ball offers a detailed account of how these priorities have shaped how behavioural insights have been implemented in policy-making, as well as reflecting on the challenges facing policy work more broadly. An essential read for practitioners and scholars of policy-making, especially in Australia.
Behind the Silver Fern: Playing Rugby for New Zealand (Behind the Jersey Series)
by Tony Johnson Lynn McConnellA complete history of rugby&’s most famous yet enigmatic team, the New Zealand All Blacks, told by the men who have worn the iconic black jersey. Go behind the scenes with the world&’s most successful sports team. From the legendary 1905 &“Originals&” all the way through to Richie McCaw&’s record-breaking back-to-back World Cup champions of 2015, this is a history of the All Blacks like you have never experienced it before. Thanks to exhaustive archival research and exclusive new material garnered from a vast array of interviews with players and coaches from across the decades, Behind the Silver Fern unveils the compelling truth of what it means to play for the team that has dominated Test match rugby for over a century—all the trials and tribulations behind the scenes, the glory, the drama and the honor on the field, and the passionate friendships and bonds of a brotherhood off it. Absorbing and illuminating, this is the ultimate history of New Zealand rugby—told, definitively, by the men who have been there and done it.&“A treat for anybody who enjoys a little inside track into the great and controversial moments. There is little as revealing in sport as thoughts delivered straight from the horse&’s mouth.&” —The Rugby Paper
Being Australian: Narratives of national identity
by Catriona ElderAfter a century of speculation by writers, filmmakers, travelers and scholars, being Australian' has become a recognisable shorthand for a group of national characteristics. Now, in an era of international terrorism, being seen as un-Australian' has become a potent rhetorical weapon for some, and a badge of honour for others.Catriona Elder explores the origins, meaning and effects of the many stories we tell about ourselves, and how they have changed over time. She outlines some of the traditional stories and their role in Australian nationalism, and she shows how concepts of egalitarianism, peaceful settlement and sporting prowess have been used to create a national identity. Elder also investigates the cultural and social perspectives that have been used to critique dominant accounts of Australian identity, including ideas of class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity and race. She shows how these critiques have been, in turn, queried in recent years. Being Australian is an ideal introduction to studying Australia for anyone interested in understanding Australian society, culture and history. A clever work: incisive and original. At a time when Australian identities have never been more debated, Elder finds an open way through the closed doors which often restrict cultural representations of Australian-ness.'Professor Adam Shoemaker, Dean of Arts, ANU This is a timely and significant new analysis essential reading on issues of identity and our own anxieties about national belonging and what it means to be Australian' in a globalising world.'Kate Darian-Smith, Professor of Australian Studies and History, University of Melbourne
Being Bindy
by Alyssa BrugmanEighth grade is torture-at least it is for Bindy! (1) Her best friend since kindergarten becomes her worst enemy. (2) She's stuck taking yoga in sports ed, where she unleashes the Very Bad Thing that gets the whole school talking. (3) She suffers total humiliation when certain unmentionables are tossed around at assembly. What's more, Bindy's divorced parents are behaving badly. (1) Her laid-back father looks like he's falling for-could it be?- none other than her ex-best friend's mother. Which means that . . . (2) . . . Bindy's worst enemy might just end up as her sister! (3) Her domineering mom always wants Bindy to do things her way. Enough is enough! To survive the drama in her life, Bindy must make some tough decisions in this funny, searching novel about being true to yourself.
Belly Flop
by Morris GleitzmanMitch Weber believes there's only one way to stop everyone in town hating him. Become a champion diver. It's a risky plan, but Mitch also believes in a guardian angel called Doug. He hopes Doug is listening...
Benevolent Colonizers in Nineteenth-Century Australia: Quaker Lives and Ideals (Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series)
by Eva BischoffThis book reconstructs the history of a group of British Quaker families and their involvement in the process of settler colonialism in early nineteenth-century Australia. Their everyday actions contributed to the multiplicity of practices that displaced and annihilated Aboriginal communities. Simultaneously, early nineteenth-century Friends were members of a translocal, transatlantic community characterized by pacifism and an involvement in transnational humanitarian efforts, such as the abolitionist and the prison reform movements as well as the Aborigines Protection Society. Considering these ideals, how did Quakers negotiate the violence of the frontier? To answer this question, the book looks at Tasmanian and South Australian Quakers’ lives and experiences, their journeys and their writings. Building on recent scholarship on the entanglement between the local and the global, each chapter adopts a different historical perspective in terms of breadth and focused time period. The study combines these different takes to capture the complexities of this topic and era.
Bennelong and Phillip: A History Unravelled
by Kate FullagarThe first joint biography of Bennelong and Governor Arthur Phillip, two pivotal figures in Australian history – the colonised and coloniser – and a bold and innovative new portrait of both.Australian Book Review Books of the Year 2023Sydney Morning Herald Best Reads of the Year for 2023 Bennelong and Phillip were leaders of their two sides in the first encounters between Britain and Indigenous Australians, Phillip the colony&’s first governor, and Bennelong the Yiyura leader. The pair have come to represent the conflict that flared and has never settled. Fullagar&’s account is also the first full biography of Bennelong of any kind and it challenges many misconceptions, among them that he became alienated from his people and that Phillip was a paragon of Enlightenment benevolence. It tells the story of the men&’s marriages, including Bennelong&’s best-known wife, Barangaroo, and Phillip&’s unusual domestic arrangements, and places the period in the context of the Aboriginal world and the demands of empire. To present this history afresh, Bennelong & Phillip relates events in reverse, moving beyond the limitations of typical Western ways of writing about the past, which have long privileged the coloniser over the colonised. Bennelong&’s world was hardly linear at all, and in Fullagar&’s approach his and Phillip&’s histories now share an equally unfamiliar framing.
Between Indigenous and Settler Governance
by Lisa Ford Tim RowseBetween Indigenous and Settler Governance addresses the history, current development and future of Indigenous self-governance in four settler-colonial nations: Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. Bringing together emerging scholars and leaders in the field of indigenous law and legal history, this collection offers a long-term view of the legal, political and administrative relationships between Indigenous collectivities and nation-states. Placing historical contingency and complexity at the center of analysis, the papers collected here examine in detail the process by which settler states both dissolved indigenous jurisdictions and left spaces – often unwittingly – for indigenous survival and corporate recovery. They emphasise the promise and the limits of modern opportunities for indigenous self-governance; whilst showing how all the players in modern settler colonialism build on a shared and multifaceted past. Indigenous tradition is not the only source of the principles and practices of indigenous self-determination; the essays in this book explore some ways that the legal, philosophical and economic structures of settler colonial liberalism have shaped opportunities for indigenous autonomy. Between Indigenous and Settler Governance will interest all those concerned with Indigenous peoples in settler-colonial nations.
Between the Dances
by Jacqueline DinanThe start of World War 2 changed women's lives and their place in Australian society forever. Thousands of women ventured where few had gone before - into the services and workplaces previously considered the sole preserve of men. In preparation for her book Between the Dances, Jacqueline Dinan, interviewed over three hundred women around Australia to collect the last first hand stories from World War 2. Revealing poignant and personal conversations, photographs and letters, Between the Dances is a testament to real life during World War 2. From Malta to Australia, New Zealand to the UK, the challenges and adventures faced by these women were unprecedented. Their passion, courage, resilience and commitment during wartime were all a precursor to the astonishing changes brought about by this incredible generation. For the first time, women were doing their bit as nurses in war zones, members of the services, farmhands, factory workers or volunteers in community service. The last tradition left was the weekly dance, which ceremoniously brought these courageous women and men together for a quickstep, fox trot and brief respite from the rigours of wartime. The accounts are enhanced by poignant, amusing and insightful anecdotes along with scores of previously unpublished and unique photographs from personal albums. Jacqueline's former experience was in corporate and art communications and events, before she embarked on her own public relations and events business. Now a regular speaker with the Country Women's Association, Australian Rotary Clubs, Legacy, Red Cross and Memorial groups, Jacqueline has become a well-known figure amongst The Returned & Services League of Australia.
Beyond Hostile Islands: The Pacific War in American and New Zealand Fiction Writing (World War II: The Global, Human, and Ethical Dimension)
by Daniel McKayOffers a fascinating window into how the fraught politics of apology in the East Asian region have been figured in anglophone literary fiction.The Pacific War, 1941-1945, was fought across the world’s largest ocean and left a lasting imprint on anglophone literary history. However, studies of that imprint or of individual authors have focused on American literature without drawing connections to parallel traditions elsewhere. Beyond Hostile Islands contributes to ongoing efforts by Australasian scholars to place their national cultures in conversation with those of the United States, particularly regarding studies of the ideologies that legitimize warfare. Consecutively, the book examines five of the most significant historical and thematic areas associated with the war: island combat, economic competition, internment, imprisonment, and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.Throughout, the central issue pivots around the question of how or whether at all New Zealand fiction writing differs from that of the United States. Can a sense of islandness, the ‘tyranny of distance,’ Māori cultural heritage, or the political legacies of the nuclear-free movement provide grounds for distinctive authorial insights? As an opening gambit, Beyond Hostile Islands puts forward the term ‘ideological coproduction’ to describe how a territorially and demographically more minor national culture may accede to the essentials of a given ideology while differing in aspects that reflect historical and provincial dimensions that are important to it. Appropriately, the literary texts under examination are set in various locales, including Japan, the Solomon Islands, New Zealand, New Mexico, Ontario, and the Marshall Islands. The book concludes in a deliberately open-ended pose, with the full expectation that literary writing on the Pacific War will grow in range and richness, aided by the growth of Pacific Studies as a research area.