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The Men Who Came Out of the Ground: A gripping account of Australia's first commando campaign
by Paul Cleary'This account . . . is breathtaking in its scope and riveting in its research' - Sydney Morning HeraldThe gripping story of a small force of Australian Special Forces commandos that launched relentless hit and run raids on far superior Japanese forces in East Timor for most of 1942.These Australians were the men of the 2/2nd Australian Independent Company - a special commando unit. Initially stranded without radio contact to Australia, the Japanese declared these bearded warriors ‘outlaws’ and warned they would be executed immediately if captured. The Australians drawn mainly from the bush, were chosen for their ability to operate independently and survive in hostile territory. As film-maker Damien Parer said after visiting in Timor in late 1942, ‘these men are writing an epic of guerrilla warfare’.Expertly researched by Paul Cleary, who is fluent in Tetum, the main language of the indigenous group of East Timor, it also contains insightful black and white photos.'A cracker of a read' - The Age'Paul Cleary has brought to life one of the great success stories of World War II' - Daily Telegraph
Prince of Homburg (Oberon Modern Plays)
by Dennis KellyHeroic commander of the Prussian cavalry, the Prince of Homburg dreams of victory, glory and fame. But reckless disobedience during a crucial military operation leads the Prince into his greatest battle yet. The creative team behind the Donmar’s critically acclaimed production of Life Is A Dream present Von Kleist’s poetic masterpiece, which is considered to be one of the most haunting and beautiful plays of the nineteenth century, exploring honour, courage, ambition and love. Adapted for stage by acclaimed British writer Dennis Kelly, this is an exciting new adaptation of a classic of European literature.
The Rest on the Flight: Selected Poems
by Peter PorterSatirist, philosopher, elegist, aphorist, cultural historian – Peter Porter is perhaps too singular a talent to be described as ‘representative’ of the age: an Australian whose easy familiarity with the breadth of European culture puts most Europeans to shame, he has long held the reputation of one of our most intellectually promiscuous and culturally sophisticated writers. Porter uses the poem as a means through which a thought can be pursued; this selection from fifty years’ work allows us the first opportunity to fully survey the quality and breadth of that thought, and the unfailing intensity of its light. In short, his Selected Poems is a one-volume education: Porter’s subtle and profound sense of history permits him to read any event as a point in a dynamic space where the forces of time and culture converge. From these coordinates, he gives perspective, direction and bearing to our contemporary life, and allows us to read the pattern of our ideas, art and loves on the map of an ancient terrain. That he has done all this with such immense good humour and human compassion is one of the literary miracles of our time.
Scottishness and Irishness in New Zealand since 1840 (Studies in Imperialism)
by Angela McCarthyThis book examines the distinctive aspects that insiders and outsiders perceived as characteristic of Irish and Scottish ethnic identities in New Zealand. When, how, and why did Irish and Scots identify themselves and others in ethnic terms? What characteristics did the Irish and the Scots attribute to themselves and what traits did others assign to them? Did these traits change over time and if so how? Contemporary interest surrounding issues of ethnic identities is vibrant. In countries such as New Zealand, descendants of European settlers are seeking their ethnic origins, spurred on in part by factors such as an ongoing interest in indigenous genealogies, the burgeoning appeal of family history societies, and the booming financial benefits of marketing ethnicities abroad. This fascinating book will appeal to scholars and students of the history of empire and the construction of identity in settler communities, as well as those interested in the history of New Zealand.
Seeds of Empire: The Environmental Transformation of New Zealand (Environmental History and Global Change)
by Tom Brooking Eric PawsonThe traditional image of New Zealand is one of verdant landscapes with sheep grazing on lush green pastures. Indeed, as far back as the nineteenth century, promotional literature declared its soils to be rich, its weather invariably benign; whilst artists' paintings bathed it in an almost subtropical glow. Such representations, however, were at best partial, at worst unrealistic, for this landscape is almost entirely an artificial creation.The transformation of the New Zealand landscape took place as Britain became increasingly reliant on its overseas territories for supplies of food and raw material. All over the Empire indigenous plants were replaced with 'English grasses', to provide the worked up products of pasture - meat, butter, cheese, wool and hides. These 'seeds of empire' were in the vanguard of colonial development and in New Zealand this process was carried to an extreme as swamps were drained and hundreds of thousands of hectares of rain forest were burnt and re-seeded with imported grasses. Seeds of Empire provides an innovative and challenging look at the impact of this European settlement and development of New Zealand's landscape and environment. In exploring how, why and with what consequences New Zealand was transformed into these 'empires of grass' the authors provide not just an exciting reappraisal of New Zealand's environmental history but a long overdue exploration of the significance of grass in the processes of sowing empire.
Sydney
by Jan MorrisRenowned and much-loved travel writer Jan Morris turns her eye to Sydney: 'not the best of the cities the British Empire created ... but the most hyperbolic, the youngest at heart, the shiniest.' Sydney takes us on the city's journey from penal colony to world-class metropolis, as lively and charming as the city it describes. With characteristic exuberance and sparkling prose, Jan Morris guides us through the history, people and geography of a fascinating and colourful city. Jan Morris's collection of travel writing and reportage spans over five decades and includes such titles as Venice, Hong Kong, Spain, Manhattan '45, A Writer's World and the Pax Britannica Trilogy. Hav, her novel, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Arthur C. Clarke Award. 'Sydney should be flattered. A great portrait painter has chosen it for her recent subject . . . Few writers - a handful of novelists apart - have got so far under the city's skin as Morris . . . Few Sydneysiders could match her knowledge of their city's history and its anecdotes' The Times 'The writing is, at times, like surfing: sentences rise like vast waves above which she rides, never overbalancing into gush . . . Jan Morris convincingly explains modern Sydney through its history' Observer
The Voices of War: Australians tell their stories from World War I to the present
by Michael CaulfieldDrawn from engagements ranging from World War I through to operations in East Timor and Iraq, these stories are taken from the Australians at War Film Archive, a collection of the memories of more than 2000 Australians who have served, both on the front line and at home.Some are unbelievably, unbearably tragic, even after sixty or seventy years; others are the golden memories of happy, albeit unusual, times. And, more often than not, they are stories that have never been shared with others, even family members. There are stories from winners of the Victoria Cross; from the POW camps of Asia and Europe; from the patrols of Vietnam, through to those who served as peacekeepers in Rwanda and Somalia.There are stories from nurses, from those who have volunteered to serve with aid agencies and stories of ordinary Australians caught up by circumstances and by duty, in wartime. These are their words.
Women's Bodies and Medical Science: An Inquiry into Cervical Cancer (Science, Technology and Medicine in Modern History)
by L. BryderAn analysis of a scandal involving a doctor accused of allowing a number of women to develop cervical cancer from carcinoma in situ as part of an experiment he had been conducting since the 1960s into conservative treatment of the disease, to more broadly explore dramatic changes in medical history in the second half of the twentieth century.
Armour
by John KinsellaWith Armour, the great Australian poet John Kinsella has written his most spiritual work to date – and his most politically engaged. The world in which these poems unfold is strangely poised between the material and the immaterial, and everything which enters it – kestrel and fox, moth and almond – does so illuminated by its own vivid presence: the impression is less a poet honouring his subjects than uncannily inhabiting them. Elsewhere we find a poetry of lyric protest, as Kinsella scrutinizes the equivocal place of the human within this natural landscape, both as tenant and self-appointed steward. Armour is a beautifully various work, one of sharp ecological and social critique – but also one of meticulous invocation and quiet astonishment, whose atmosphere will haunt the reader long after they close the book. Praise for John Kinsella: ‘Kinsella’s poems are a very rare feat: they are narratives of feeling. Vivid sight – of landscapes, of animals, of human forms in distant light – becomes insight. There is, often, the shock of the new. But somehow awaited, even familiar. Which is the homecoming of a true poet’ George Steiner
Australia and Appeasement: Imperial Foreign Policy and the Origins of World War II (International Library of Twentieth Century History)
by Christopher WatersOn 3 September 1939, Robert Menzies, the Australian Prime Minister, broadcast to the Australian people the news that their country was at war with Germany. He went on to outline how Britain and France, supported by the British Dominions, had made every effort to maintain the peace by keeping the door open to a negotiated settlement. However, as these efforts had failed, Menzies declared that the British Empire was now 'involved in a struggle which we must at all costs win, and which we believe in our hearts we will win'.Christopher Waters here examines Australia's role in Britain's policy of appeasement from the time Hitler came to power in 1933 through to the declaration of war in September 1939. Focusing on the five leading figures in the Australian governments of the 1930s - Joe Lyons, Stanley Bruce, Robert Menzies, Billy Hughes and Richard Casey - Waters examines their responses to the rise of Hitler and the growing threat of fascism in Europe. Australian governments accepted the principle that the Empire must speak with one voice on foreign policy and Australian political leaders were therefore intimately involved in the decisions taken by successive governments in London. As such, this book not only describes the Australian role in these events, but also provides new insights into the Chamberlain government's reactions to the developments in Europe. Australia and Appeasement provides an important and original study of the making of imperial foreign policy in the inter-war era and will be invaluable reading for anyone interested in Australian and imperial history and the origins of World War II.
Australian History for Dummies (For Dummies Ser.)
by Alex McDermottCreated especially for the Australian customer! Exciting and informative history of the land down under Australian History For Dummies is your tour guide through the important events of Australia's past, introducing you to the people and events that have shaped modern Australia. Be there as British colonists explore Australia's harsh terrain with varying degrees of success. In this informative guide you'll Find out about Australia's infamous bushrangers Learn how the discovery of gold caused a tidal wave of immigration from all over the world Understand how Australia took two steps forward to become a nation in its own right in 1901, and two steps back when the government was dismissed by the Crown in 1975 Discover the fascinating details that made Australia the country it is today!
Australian History for Dummies
by Alex McDermottCreated especially for the Australian customer! Exciting and informative history of the land down under Australian History For Dummies is your tour guide through the important events of Australia's past, introducing you to the people and events that have shaped modern Australia. Be there as British colonists explore Australia's harsh terrain with varying degrees of success. In this informative guide you'll Find out about Australia's infamous bushrangers Learn how the discovery of gold caused a tidal wave of immigration from all over the world Understand how Australia took two steps forward to become a nation in its own right in 1901, and two steps back when the government was dismissed by the Crown in 1975 Discover the fascinating details that made Australia the country it is today!
City of Evil: The shocking real story of Adelaide's strange and violent underbelly - As seen on TV
by Sean FewsterNOW A MAJOR TELEVISION SERIESThey call Adelaide the city of churches. What they forget is that every church has a graveyard - and every graveyard is full of skeletons.Adelaide, an elegantly designed, civilised city, where the inhabitants are known for their love of the arts, good food and fine wine, is also the place where many of Australia's most bizarre and macabre crimes have taken place.The cases in this book show that Adelaide truly does have another side: from the murder of a pro-wrestling truck driver by his two lesbian lodgers during an argument over a camera; to the case of a wronged wife who only wanted to burn the penis of her unfaithful husband, not burn him to death...This book is more than a collection of some of the most attention-grabbing, shocking and puzzling cases from the past ten years: it also looks at why it might be that so many have happened in this sunny, conservative, unassuming state capital.Praise for City of Evil:'Sean Fewster discovers that a dark truth lurks behind Adelaide's murder capital myth' - Adelaide Advertiser'a collection of macabre murders, rapes, torture and robbery, all occurring in Adelaide, the "City of Churches"...sensational and gruesome' - Courier Mail'This book is not for the squeamish, but if you love true crime stories then this is right up there with the best of them' - Toowoomba Chronicle
Daughters of Erebus
by Paul HolmesHow 287 people died in the air crash on Mt Erebus. What caused the crash and who covered it up
Empire and Environmental Anxiety: Health, Science, Art and Conservation in South Asia and Australasia, 1800-1920 (Palgrave Studies in World Environmental History)
by J. BeattieA new interpretation of imperialism and environmental change, and the anxieties imperialism generated through environmental transformation and interaction with unknown landscapes. Tying together South Asia and Australasia, this book demonstrates how environmental anxieties led to increasing state resource management, conservation, and urban reform.
Fatherland (Oberon Modern Plays)
by Tom HollowayTogether we have something and share a passion that other people will never understand' Mark and Angela are a father and daughter grappling with a painful past and fragile future. Tonight, an innocent evening of ice cream and DVDs derails quickly into dangerous territory in this chilling new story about a father who loved too deeply.
In the Land of Oz
by Howard JacobsonOn what he calls 'the adventure of his life', Howard Jacobson travels around Australia, never entirely sure where he is heading next or whether he has the courage to tackle the wild life of the bush, the wild men of the outback, or the even wilder women of the seaboard cities. In pursuit of the best of Australian good times, he joins revelers at Uluru, argues with racists in the Kimberleys, parties with wine-growers in the Barossa and falls for ballet dancers in Perth. And even as vexed questions of national identity and Aboriginal land rights present themselves, his love for Australia and Australians never falters.
In the Land of Oz
by Howard JacobsonThe Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Finkler Question went Down Under, and this is what he hilariously found. On what he calls “the adventure of his life,” Howard Jacobson travels around Australia, never entirely sure where he is heading next or whether he has the courage to tackle the wild life of the bush, the wild men of the outback, or the even wilder women of the seaboard cities. In pursuit of the best of Australian good times, he joins revelers at Uluru, argues with racists in the Kimberleys, parties with winegrowers in the Barossa, and falls for ballet dancers in Perth. And even as vexed questions of national identity and Aboriginal land rights present themselves, his love for Australia and Australians never falters.
Is that Bike Diesel, Mate?: One Man, One Bike, and the First Lap Around Australia on Used Cooking Oil
by Paul CarterOi, mate, is that monstrosity diesel? From the author of the bestsellers Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, She Thinks I'm a Piano Player in a Whorehouse and This Is Not a Drill, this is the eagerly awaited next installment of Paul Carter's rollicking life.Take one mad adventurer and a motorbike that runs on bio fuel (cooking oil i.e. chip fat to you and me) and send them with one filmmaker on a road trip around Australia just to see what happens. What you get is a story full of outback characters, implausible (but true) situations, unlikely events and unfortunate breakdowns, all at a break neck pace. Never one to sit still for long, this is what Paul Carter did next.Whether you've been shocked, delighted, entertained, horrified - or all of the above - by Paul's stories whether from oil rigs or the road one thing is for sure, they are always high octane adventures.
Kiwi Battlefields
by Dr Ron PalenskiThe history behind the major battlefields in which New Zealand soldiers fought
The Malays (The Peoples of South-East Asia and the Pacific #4)
by Anthony MilnerJust who are ‘the Malays’? This provocative study poses the question and considers how and why the answers have changed over time, and from one region to another. Anthony Milner develops a sustained argument about ethnicity and identity in an historical, ‘Malay’ context. The Malays is a comprehensive examination of the origins and development of Malay identity, ethnicity, and consciousness over the past five centuries. Covers the political, economic, and cultural development of the Malays Explores the Malay presence in Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, and South Africa, as well as the modern Malay show-state of Malaysia Offers diplomatic speculation about ways Malay ethnicity will develop and be challenged in the future
Wellington's Men in Australia: Peninsular War Veterans and the Making of Empire c.1820-40 (War, Culture and Society, 1750 –1850)
by C. WrightAn exploration of the little-known yet historically important emigration of British army officers to the Australian colonies in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars. The book looks at the significant impact they made at a time of great colonial expansion, particularly in new south Wales with its transition from a convict colony to a free society.
Aboriginal Dreaming Paths and Trading Routes: The Colonisation of the Australian Economic Landscape (First Nations and the Colonial Encounter)
by Dr Dale KerwinThe dreaming paths of Aboriginal nations across Australia formed major ceremonial routes along which goods and knowledge flowed. These became the trade routes that criss-crossed Australia and transported religion and cultural values. This book highlights the valuable contribution Aboriginal people made in assisting European explorers, surveyors and stockmen to open the country for colonisation, and explores the interface between Aboriginal possession of the Australian continent and European colonisation and appropriation. Instead of positing a radical disjunction between cultural competencies, Dale Kerwin considers how European colonisation of Australia appropriated Aboriginal competence in terms of the landscape: by tapping into culinary and medicinal knowledge, water and resource knowledge, hunting, food collecting and path-finding. As a consequence of this assistance, Aboriginal dreaming paths and trading routes also became the routes and roads of colonisers. Indeed, the European colonisation of Australia owes much of its success to the deliberate process of Aboriginal land management practices. Dale Kerwin provides a social science context for the broader study of Aboriginal trading routes by setting out an historic interpretation of the Aboriginal/European contact period. His book scrutinises arguments about nomadic and primitive societies, as well as Romantic views of culture and affluence. These circumstances and outcomes are juxtaposed with evidence that indicates that Aboriginal societies are substantially sedentary and highly developed, capable of functional differentiation and foresight -- attributes previously only granted to the European settlers. The hunter-gatherer image of Aboriginal society is rejected by providing evidence of crop cultivation and land management, as well as social arrangements that made best use of a hostile environment. This book is essential reading for all those who seek to have a better knowledge of Australia and its first people: it inscribes Aboriginal people firmly in the body of Australian history.
The Australian Army in World War I (Men-at-Arms #478)
by Robert Fleming Mike ChappellThe importance of the Australian contribution to the Allied war effort during World War I should never be underestimated. Some 400,000 Australians volunteered for active duty, an astonishing 13 per cent of the entire (white) male population, a number so great that the Australian government was never forced to rely on conscription. Casualties were an astonishing 52 per cent of all those who served, ensuring that the effects of the war would be felt long after the armistice. In particular, their epic endeavour at Gallipoli in 1915 was the nation's founding legend, and the ANZACs went on to distinguish themselves both on the Western Front and in General Allenby's great cavalry campaign against the Turks in the Middle East. Their uniforms and insignia were also significantly different from those of the British Army and provide the basis for a unique set of artwork plates.
Child of the Sea
by Doina CornellA Child of the Sea is the true story of Jimmy Cornell's daughter sailing around the world on the family's small yacht from the age of 7 to 14, based on Doina's diaries, letters and memories. From 1975 to 1981 the Cornell family visited 54 countries, sailed more than 68,000 miles, and travelled about the same distance overland. The story is told from Doina's point of view, although the main part of the book focuses on the family's three-year stay in the Pacific when she is aged between 10 and 13.Child of the Sea is unusual in that it gives a glimpse into a life that most young children couldn't imagine, swimming, diving and playing the days away in deserted anchorages; visiting some of the most beautiful islands in the world; falling in love with the sea in all its ever-changing moods, from balmy trade wind ocean passages to the treacherous breakers that crash onto tropical reefs, and taking a full part in sailing and handling the yacht on passage. The book also tells the story of a girl's coming of age in the South Pacific, understanding different cultures and values, and experiencing at first-hand how people judge each other depending on the colour of their skin - from the time on Easter Island when tourists mistake Doina for a Polynesian girl, to her and her brother's hostile prejudiced reception back in an English school at the end of their journey.What do children need to grow up happy and healthy? Security with their family; an element of risk; freedom to explore the world; openness to other peoples and cultures; closeness with nature and the elements and an appreciation of the environment and our finite resources. The sailing life offers all this and more, and this book captures it all.