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Beyond the Black Stump: Travels around Australia
by Andrew StevensonA seasoned traveller, travel writer Andrew Stevenson is unafraid of the unconventional. Whilst most people visiting Australia tread the well worn path from the Sydney Opera House to Cairns up the East Coast, Andrew disappeared into the Australian outback in search of the original Australians - the Aboriginal People. "If you want to meet them nowadays, you've got to go beyond the black stump!" He was told. Going where few have gone before, Andrew delves into the Outback without fear. Drinking in bars with people even the locals avoid, asking questions that we all want to hear the answers to. Written with humour and compassion his powers of observation and enquiring mind draw out a frankness that is sometimes shocking but something from which we can all learn. Beyond the Black Stump: Travels around Australia is no ordinary tale of an intrepid traveller, it is an extraordinary account of an Australia that we have not seen before.
Beyond the Black Stump: Travels around Australia
by Andrew StevensonA seasoned traveller, travel writer Andrew Stevenson is unafraid of the unconventional. Whilst most people visiting Australia tread the well worn path from the Sydney Opera House to Cairns up the East Coast, Andrew disappeared into the Australian outback in search of the original Australians - the Aboriginal People."If you want to meet them nowadays, you've got to go beyond the black stump!" He was told. Going where few have gone before, Andrew delves into the Outback without fear. Drinking in bars with people even the locals avoid, asking questions that we all want to hear the answers to.Written with humour and compassion his powers of observation and enquiring mind draw out a frankness that is sometimes shocking but something from which we can all learn. Beyond the Black Stump: Travels around Australia is no ordinary tale of an intrepid traveller, it is an extraordinary account of an Australia that we have not seen before.
Beyond the North-South Culture Wars: Reconciling Northern Australia's Recent Past With Its Future (SpringerBriefs in Geography)
by Allan DaleIncreasingly, Australia's agriculturalists are looking to the nation's north to escape the decline in southern Australia's water and soil resources. Booming mineral and gas development is also helping to drive the nation's economic success. At the same time, the south's conservation sector would like to see much of the north preserved as iconic wilderness. Both conservation and resource development interests alike are often at odds with the interests of the north's traditional owners, many of whom remain trapped in welfare dependency and poverty. Indeed, to the ire of north Australians, the past five decades of north Australian history have indeed been characterized by these national-scale conflicts being played out in regional and local communities. This book explores these conflicts as well as the many emerging opportunities facing the development of the north, suggesting that a strong cultural divide between northern and southern Australia exists; one that needs to be reconciled if the nation as a whole is to benefit from northern development. The author first explores where these historical conflicts could take us without a clear forward agenda. A story-based personal narrative from his long and diverse experience in the north gives life to these themes. Finally, the book then draws on these stories to help shape a cohesive agenda for the north's future.
Beyond the Outback: Gulf Women of Remote North West Queensland
by Bronwyn BlakeTwenty women share their incredible stories of surviving and thriving in the remote Australian 'Gulf Country', near the Gulf of Carpentaria.Gulf women are self-sufficient, generous, and can cope with almost anything that life and the environment throws at them: floods, drought, sickness, emergencies. Whether they are graziers, fisherwomen, ringers, women in tourism, aviation and education, Indigenous women or descendants from early women settlers, this powerful book gives these women a voice to tell their own stories.There are stories of new mothers on properties isolated and inaccessible for months in the wet season; women giving birth at home with only neighbours to assist; reminiscences from last century and World War II, and accounts of fishing in the Gulf in sometimes unimaginable conditions.From the kids wanting a baby croc for a pet to the terror of a snake bite with a flooded airstrip and impassable roads, these women treat the extraordinary events in their lives as just part of their remote way of life.Set in a world of vast landscapes, distance and merciless climate, Beyond the Outback contains riveting tales of the lives of the women who live, work and raise families in one of Australia's most isolated regions. It will be loved by readers of Sara Henderson, Toni Tapp Coutts and Terry Underwood.
Big Mobs: The Story of Australian Cattlemen
by Glen MclarenPreviously overshadowed in the public imagination by notions of American cowboys and the wild west, Australian stockmen are given the place they so richly deserve in pastoral and Australian history in this insightful study. From the lonely months on a long cattle drive to the boots they wore and the places they lived in, the stockmen and their unique way of life is intelligently explored in this comprehensive work.
The Biplane Houses
by Les MurrayThis is Les Murray's first new volume of poems since Poems the Size of Photographs in 2002. In it we find Murray at his nearmiraculous best. The collection-named for a kind of house distinctive to Murray's native Australia-exhibits both his unfailing grace as a writer and his ability to write in any voice, style, or genre: there are story poems, puns extended to poem length, history-and myths in miniature, aphoristic fragments, and domestic portraits. As ever, Murray's evocation of the natural world is unparalleled in its inventiveness and virtuosity. The Biplane Houses is ardent, eloquent, enchanting poetry.
Birds of Australia: A Photographic Guide
by Iain Campbell Sam Woods Nick LesebergThe best photographic field guide to Australia's birdsAustralia is home to a spectacular diversity of birdlife, from parrots and penguins to emus and vibrant passerines. Birds of Australia covers all 714 species of resident birds and regularly occurring migrants and features more than 1,100 stunning color photographs, including many photos of subspecies and plumage variations never before seen in a field guide. Detailed facing-page species accounts describe key identification features such as size, plumage, distribution, behavior, and voice. This one-of-a-kind guide also provides extensive habitat descriptions with a large number of accompanying photos. The text relies on the very latest IOC taxonomy and the distribution maps incorporate the most current mapping data, making this the most up-to-date guide to Australian birds.Covers all 714 species of resident birds and regularly occurring migrantsFeatures more than 1,100 stunning color photosIncludes facing-page species accounts, habitat descriptions, and distribution mapsThe ideal photographic guide for beginners and seasoned birders alike
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.
Blabber Mouth
by Morris GleitzmanSet in Australia, this humorous and touching story of the misadventures of a clever girl who cannot speak and her social misfit of a father will delight readers.
Black Convicts: How slavery shaped Australia
by Santilla ChingaipeThe story of Australia&’s Black convicts has been all but erased from our history. In recovering their lives, Santilla Chingaipe offers a fresh understanding of this fatal shore, showing how empire, slavery, race and memory have shaped our nation. On the First Fleet of 1788, at least 15 convicts were of African descent. By 1840 the number had risen to almost 500. Among them were David Stuurman, a revered South African chief transported for anti-colonial insurrection; John Caesar, who became Australia&’s first bushranger; Billy Blue, the stylishly dressed ferryman who gave his name to Sydney&’s Blues Point; and William Cuffay, a prominent London Chartist who led the development of Australia&’s labour movement. Two of the youngest were cousins from Mauritius—girls aged just 9 and 12—sentenced over a failed attempt to poison their mistress. But although some of these lives were documented and their likenesses hang in places like the National Portrait Gallery, even their descendants are often unaware of their existence. By uncovering lives whitewashed out of our history, in stories spanning Africa, the Americas and Europe, Black Convicts also traces Australia&’s hidden links to slavery, which both powered the British Empire and inspired the convict system itself. Situating European settlement in its global context, Chingaipe shows that the injustice of dispossession was driven by the engine of labour exploitation. Black Convicts will change the way we think about who we are.
Black Snake
by Leo Kennedy Mic LoobyAuthor Leo Kennedy is the great-grandson of Sergeant Michael Kennedy. Raised in the shadow of his great-grandfather?s murder, Leo witnessed the deep psychological wounds inflicted on successive generations of his family ? and the families of other victims ? as the Ned Kelly myth grew around them and the sacrifice of their loved ones was forgotten. Leo himself was nicknamed `Red Ned? at school and taunted for being on the wrong side of Australian history. Now, for the first time, and in brilliant prose that brings these historical episodes to life, Black Snake challenges the legend of Ned Kelly. Instead of celebrating an heroic man of the people, it gives voice to the victims of a merciless gang of outlaws. This is a captivating true story, gleaned from meticulous research and family history, of two men from similar backgrounds whose legacies were distorted by history.
Blackout
by Matthew WarrenFor 20 years Australia has been in political denial about the seismic changes occurring in the way we power our country. Successive governments continue to tell people that power prices will fall while the lights stay on. Debate is reduced to two equally preposterous narratives: coal-fired, climate change indifference versus an impossibly utopian renewable energy future. This nonsense swirls around an incredulous public while power prices rise, the grid is stretched, energy becomes political poison and the earth warms. How did it come to this and how can we find our way out of this mess? Matthew Warren has worked for all sides of the energy industry, is regularly attacked for being too pro-coal and too pro-renewables, and writes without fear or favour. He has been lobbying for a national climate and electricity policy for over a decade. With an entertaining and fascinating narrative, Blackout cuts through the waffle to chart the disintegration of Australia?s energy security, call out what is holding us back, and plot the way for a brighter future.
Blood Narrative: Indigenous Identity in American Indian and Maori
by Chadwick AllenBlood Narrative is a comparative literary and cultural study of post-World War II literary and activist texts by New Zealand Maori and American Indians--groups who share much in their responses to European settler colonialism. Chadwick Allen reveals the complex narrative tactics employed by writers and activists in these societies that enabled them to realize unprecedented practical power in making both their voices and their own sense of indigeneity heard. Allen shows how both Maori and Native Americans resisted the assimilationist tide rising out of World War II and how, in the 1960s and 1970s, they each experienced a renaissance of political and cultural activism and literary production that culminated in the formation of the first general assembly of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples. He focuses his comparison on two fronts: first, the blood/land/memory complex that refers to these groups' struggles to define indigeneity and to be freed from the definitions of authenticity imposed by dominant settler cultures. Allen's second focus is on the discourse of treaties between American Indians and the U. S. government and between Maori and Great Britain, which he contends offers strong legal and moral bases from which these indigenous minorities can argue land and resource rights as well as cultural and identity politics. With its implicit critique of multiculturalism and of postcolonial studies that have tended to neglect the colonized status of indigenous First World minorities, Blood Narrative will appeal to students and scholars of literature, American and European history, multiculturalism, postcolonialism, and comparative cultural studies.
Blue Moon Over Moorea
by Sally GauntIn Blue Moon over Moorea, an anthology of poems by Australian lawyer and poet Sally Gaunt, the author mines some of her favourite themes to remarkable effect. Water in all its forms proves a constant inspiration, from ‘Swimming with Seahorses’ to the rapt, almost hallucinatory images of the title poem. Gaunt breathes new life into verse written for the reading community and brings a sharp eye and wry humour to the perennial subjects of love, sex and death. Many of the poems are boldly imaginative recreations of historical events, typically centred on the sea, while the cycle of feather poems that opens the book considers the concept of manhood versus mayhem in a social setting.
The Blue Plateau: An Australian Pastoral
by Mark TredinnickThe author of The Land’s Wild Music depicts Australia’s Blue Mountains through stories of the land and the lives within it.At the farthest extent of Australia’s Blue Mountains, on the threshold of the country’s arid interior, the Blue Plateau reveals the vagaries of a hanging climate: the droughts last longer, the seasons change less, and the wildfires burn hotter and more often. In The Blue Plateau, Mark Tredinnick tries to learn what it means to fall in love with a home that is falling away.A landscape memoir in the richest sense, Tredinnick’s story reveals as much about this contrary collection of canyons and ancient rivers, cow paddocks and wild eucalyptus forests as it does about the myriad generations who struggled to remain in the valley they loved. It captures the essence of a wilderness beyond subjugation, the spirit of a people just barely beyond defeat. Charting a lithology of indigenous presence, faltering settlers, failing ranches, floods, tragedy, and joy that the place constantly warps and erodes, The Blue Plateau reminds us that, though we may change the landscape around us, it works at us inexorably, with wind and water, heat and cold, altering who and what we are.The result is an intimate and illuminating portrayal of tenacity, love, grief, and belonging. In the tradition of James Galvin, William Least Heat-Moon, and Annie Dillard, Tredinnick plumbs the depths of people’s relationship to a world in transition.Praise for The Blue Plateau“One of the wisest, most gifted and ingenious writers you could hope to find.” —Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food and The Omnivore’s Dilemma“I’ve never been to Australia, but now—after this book—it comes up in my dreams. The landscape in the language of this work is alive and conscious, and Tredinnick channels it in prose both wild and inspired. . . . Part nonfiction novel, part classic pastoral, part nature elegy, part natural history, the whole of The Blue Plateau conveys a deep sense, rooted in the very syntax of a lush prose about an austere land, that there can be no meaningful division between nature and culture, between humans and all the other life that interdepends with us, not in the backcountry of southeastern Australia, nor anywhere else.” —Orion“Absorbed slowly, as a pastoral landscape of loss and experiment in seeing and listening, the book richly rewards that patience.” —Publishers Weekly
The Body in the Anglosphere, 1880–1920: "Well Sexed Womanhood," "Finer Natives," and "Very White Men" (Routledge Studies in Modern History)
by Robert W. ThurstonFocusing on the body in every chapter, this book examines the changing meanings and profound significance of the physical form among the Anglo-Saxons from 1880 to 1920. They formed an imaginary—but, in many ways, quite real—community that ruled much of the world. Among them, racism became more virulent. To probe the importance of the body, this book brings together for the first time the many areas in which the physical form was newly or more extensively featured, from photography through literature, frontier wars, violent sports, and the global circus. Sex, sexuality, concepts of gender including women’s possibilities in all areas of life, and the meanings of race and of civilization figured regularly in Anglo discussions. Black people challenged racism by presenting their own photos of respectable folk. As all this unfolded, Anglo men and women faced the problem of maintaining civilized control vs. the need to express uninhibited feeling. With these issues in mind, it is evident that the origins of today’s debates about race and gender lie in the late nineteenth century.
The Bone Sparrow
by Zana Fraillon<p>Born in a refugee camp, all Subhi knows of the world is that he's at least 19 fence diamonds high, the nice Jackets never stay long, and at night he dreams that the sea finds its way to his tent, bringing with it unusual treasures. And one day it brings him Jimmie. <p>Carrying a notebook that she's unable to read and wearing a sparrow made out of bone around her neck - both talismans of her family's past and the mother she's lost - Jimmie strikes up an unlikely friendship with Subhi beyond the fence. <p>As he reads aloud the tale of how Jimmie's family came to be, both children discover the importance of their own stories in writing their futures.</p>
The Bone Sparrow
by Zana FraillonWinner of the CILIP Amnesty Honour 2017.Shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2017.Perfect for fans of THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS. This is a beautiful, vivid and deeply moving story about a refugee boy who has spent his entire life living in a detention centre. This novel reminds us all of the importance of freedom, hope, and the power of a story to speak for anyone who's ever struggled to find a safe home.'...a special book' - Morris Gleitzman, author of the acclaimed ONCE seriesBorn in a refugee camp, all Subhi knows of the world is that he's at least 19 fence diamonds high, the nice Jackets never stay long, and at night he dreams that the sea finds its way to his tent, bringing with it unusual treasures. And one day it brings him Jimmie.Carrying a notebook that she's unable to read and wearing a sparrow made out of bone around her neck - both talismans of her family's past and the mother she's lost - Jimmie strikes up an unlikely friendship with Subhi beyond the fence. As he reads aloud the tale of how Jimmie's family came to be, both children discover the importance of their own stories in writing their futures.
The Bone Sparrow
by Zana FraillonWinner of the CILIP Amnesty Honour 2017.Shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2017.Perfect for fans of THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS. This is a beautiful, vivid and deeply moving story about a refugee boy who has spent his entire life living in a detention centre. This novel reminds us all of the importance of freedom, hope, and the power of a story to speak for anyone who's ever struggled to find a safe home.'...a special book' - Morris Gleitzman, author of the acclaimed ONCE seriesBorn in a refugee camp, all Subhi knows of the world is that he's at least 19 fence diamonds high, the nice Jackets never stay long, and at night he dreams that the sea finds its way to his tent, bringing with it unusual treasures. And one day it brings him Jimmie.Carrying a notebook that she's unable to read and wearing a sparrow made out of bone around her neck - both talismans of her family's past and the mother she's lost - Jimmie strikes up an unlikely friendship with Subhi beyond the fence. As he reads aloud the tale of how Jimmie's family came to be, both children discover the importance of their own stories in writing their futures.
The Bone Sparrow
by Zana FraillonSometimes, at night, the dirt outside turns into a beautiful ocean. As red as the sun and as deep as the sky. I lie in my bed, Queeny's feet pushing up against my cheek, and listen to the waves lapping at the tent. Subhi is a refugee. Born in an Australian permanent detention centre after his mother fled the violence of a distant homeland, life behind the fences is all he has ever known. But as he grows, his imagination gets bigger too, until it is bursting at the limits of his world. The Night Sea brings him gifts, the faraway whales sing to him, and the birds tell their stories. The most vivid story of all, however, is the one that arrives one night in the form of Jimmie, a scruffy, impatient girl who appears from the other side of the wires, and brings a notebook written by the mother she lost. Unable to read it, she relies on Subhi to unravel her own family's love songs and tragedies. Subhi and Jimmie might both find a way to freedom, as their tales unfold. But not until each of them has been braver than ever before.
The Bone Sparrow
by Zana FraillonWinner of the CILIP Amnesty Honour 2017.Shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction prize 2016.Perfect for fans of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. This is a beautiful, vivid and deeply moving story about a refugee boy who has spent his entire life living in a detention centre. This novel reminds us all of the importance of freedom, hope, and the power of a story to speak for anyone who's ever struggled to find a safe home.'...a special book' - Morris Gleitzman, author of the acclaimed ONCE seriesBorn in a refugee camp, all Subhi knows of the world is that he's at least 19 fence diamonds high, the nice Jackets never stay long, and at night he dreams that the sea finds its way to his tent, bringing with it unusual treasures. And one day it brings him Jimmie.Carrying a notebook that she's unable to read and wearing a sparrow made out of bone around her neck - both talismans of her family's past and the mother she's lost - Jimmie strikes up an unlikely friendship with Subhi beyond the fence. As he reads aloud the tale of how Jimmie's family came to be, both children discover the importance of their own stories in writing their futures.(P) Orion Children's Group 2016
The Bone Sparrow
by Zana Fraillon"Indispensable."-Booklist (starred review) CARNEGIE MEDAL 2017 FINALISTSubhi is a refugee. He was born in an Australian permanent detention center after his mother and sister fled the violence of a distant homeland, and the center is the only world he knows. But every night, the faraway whales sing to him, the birds tell him their stories, and the magical Night Sea from his mother's stories brings him gifts. As Subhi grows, his imagination threatens to burst beyond the limits of the fences that contain him. Until one night, it seems to do just that. Subhi sees a scruffy girl on the other side of the wire mesh, a girl named Jimmie, who appears with a notebook written by the mother she lost. Unable to read it herself, Jimmie asks Subhi to unravel her family's love songs and tragedies that are penned there. Subhi and Jimmie might both find comfort-and maybe even freedom-as their tales unfold. But not until each has been braver than ever before and made choices that could change everything.
The Book of Science and Antiquities
by Thomas KeneallyA novel of breath-taking reach and inspired imagination, drawing on the discovery of Australia's oldest known human inhabitant. Shade lives peaceably with his second wife on the shores of a bountiful lake. Conscious of ageing but still vigorous, when called on by the spirit ancestors to sacrifice himself for the sake of his clan, he knows he must obey. Over 40,000 years later, Shade's skeleton is unearthed near the now dry Lake Learned in New South Wales. The sensational discovery of so-called 'Learned Man' rewrites the history of Australia and fuels the Aboriginal people's claim to be the land's rightful owners - and has a lasting impact on a young documentary maker, Shelby Apple, who gets caught up in the fate of Learned's remains. When Shelby, too, faces mortality and looks back on his life, Learned stands as an enduring spirit, a fellow player in the long, ever-evolving story of humankind.
The Book of Science and Antiquities
by Thomas KeneallyIn a novel of breathtaking reach and inspired imagination, the Booker Prize-winning author of Schindler's Ark tells the stories of two men who have much in common. What separates them is 42,000 years.Shade lives with his second wife amid their clan on the shores of a bountiful lake. A peaceable man, he knows that when danger threatens, the Hero ancestors will call on him to kill, or sacrifice himself, to save his people.Over 40,000 years later, Shade's remains are unearthed near the now dry Lake Learned in New South Wales. The sensational discovery fascinates Shelby Apple, a documentary film maker who tracks the controversies it provokes about who the continent's first inhabitants were and where Shade's bones belong.Shelby goes on to follow his own heroes to the battlefields of Eritrea and the Rift Valley where Homo sapiens sprang from. When he, too, faces mortality and looks back on his passions, ideals and sorely tested marriage, Learned Man stands as an enduring spirit, a fellow player in the long, ever-evolving story of humankind.
Boom and Bust: The rise and fall of the mining industry, greed and the impact on everyday Australians
by Royce KurmelovsThis is a cautionary tale. About greed, irresponsibility and failing to learn from the past.Australia's mining boom is still talked about with a sense of awe. This once-in-a-lifetime event capped off 25 straight years of economic growth. Thanks to mining we sidestepped the worst of the Global Financial Crisis. To the rest of the world Australia was an economic miracle. And then the boom ended.Now Australia is grappling with what that means at a time of rising economic inequality and political upheaval. The end of the boom isn't about money - it's about people. Boom and Bust looks at what happens to those who came into vast wealth only to watch it dry up. To those who thought they had a good job for life, but didn't. The bust didn't just happen on stock-market screens - it was lived, and is still being lived right now, in dusty towns and cities all around the country.As he did in his bestselling book The Death of Holden, Royce Kurmelovs reveals the reality behind the headlines. Boom and Bust is a dirt-under-the-nails look at the winners, the losers and the impact of the boom that wasn't meant to end. This is a book all Australians should read.'Brilliant and powerful' Nick Xenophon on Royce Kurmelovs' THE DEATH OF HOLDEN