Stories of Hope: Finding Inspiration in Everyday Lives by Heather Morris

$29.99 AUD

Category: History

Heather Morris, author of the internationally bestselling novels The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Cilka's Journey, grew up on a farm in rural New Zealand. On her way back across the paddocks from school, Heather would visit her great-grandfather and listen to his experiences of war - stories he told only Heather. From a young age Heather discovered that people would tell her their stories if she stopped and listened. In Stories of Hope, Heather Morris will explore the art of listening - a skill she employed when she met Lale Sokolov, the Tattooist of Auschwitz. It was her ability to listen that led him to entrust her with his story. Stories of Hope will examine Heather's extraordinary journey, in the form of a series of beautifully rendered tales of the people she has met, the remarkable stories they have shared with her, and the lessons they hold for us all.   ...Show more

The Golden Maze: A Biography of Prague (HB) by Richard Fidler

$39.99 AUD

Category: History

ABC broadcaster and bestselling author of Ghost Empire and Saga Land, Richard Fidler is back with a personally curated history of the magical city that is Prague. In 1989, Richard Fidler was living in London as part of the provocative Australian comedy trio The Doug Anthony All Stars when revolution bro ke out across Europe. Excited by this galvanising historic, human, moment, he travelled to Prague, where a decrepit police state was being overthrown by crowds of ecstatic citizens. His experience of the Velvet Revolution never let go of him. Thirty years later Fidler returns to Prague to uncover the glorious and grotesque history of Europe's most instagrammed and uncanny city: a jumble of gothic towers, baroque palaces and zig-zag lanes that has survived plagues, pogroms, Nazi terror and Soviet tanks. Founded in the ninth Century, Prague gave the world the golem, the robot, and the world's biggest statue of Stalin, a behemoth that killed almost everyone who touched it. Fidler tells the story of the reclusive emperor who brought the world's most brilliant minds to Prague Castle to uncover the occult secrets of the universe. He explores the Black Palace, the wartime headquarters of the Nazi SS, and he meets victims of the communist secret police. Reaching back into Prague's mythic past, he finds the city's founder, the pagan priestess Libussa who prophesised: I see a city whose glory will touch the stars. Following the story of Prague from its origins in medieval darkness to its uncertain present, Fidler does what he does so well - curates an absolutely engaging and compelling history of a place. You will learn things you never knew, with a tour guide who is erudite, inquisitive, and the best storyteller you could have as your companion.  ...Show more

Great Gippsland Mysteries by ROBINSON GRANT

$26.99 AUD

Category: History

This book is the culmination of two years extensive research into some of the most intriguing mysteries from the Gippsland region in Victoria. Startling new evidence on the disappearance of Frederick Valentich in Bass Strait in 1978 is revealed through an exclusive interview with an eyewitness from Sale and the author offers up evidence to cast further light on who John Frederich really was. Featuring eight chapters of some of the most facinating accounts from Gippslanders, stretching back to the 1700's. ...Show more

The Prom: Wilsons Promontory National Park, Victoria by Travis Easton

$20.00 AUD

Category: History

Affectionately known as ‘The Prom’ by its innumerable devotees, Wilsons Promontory National Park is one of the oldest and most popular national parks in Australia. Its mixture of quartz sand beaches, impossibly blue seas, granite peaks and picturesque islands combine to create a stunning coastline of ra re beauty. Magnificently captured by Travis Easton over the course of many years, The Prom photographs the popular spots all those familiar with the promontory know and love, but also explores many of the hidden gems that abound in its less travelled corners. ...Show more

Breaker Morant by Peter FitzSimons

$44.99 AUD

$49.99 (10% off)

Category: History

The epic story of the Boer War and Harry 'Breaker' Morant: drover, horseman, bush poet - murderer or hero? Most Australians have heard of the Boer War of 1899 to 1902 and of Harry 'Breaker' Morant, a figure who rivals Ned Kelly as an archetypal Australian folk hero. Born in England and emigrating to Qu eensland in 1883 in his early twenties, Morant was a charming but reckless man who established a reputation as a rider, polo player and writer. He submitted ballads to The Bulletin that were published under the name 'The Breaker' and counted Banjo Paterson as a friend. When appeals were made for horsemen to serve in the war in South Africa, Morant joined up, first with the South Australian Mounted Rifles and then with a South African irregular unit, the Bushveldt Carbineers. In September 1901 Morant and two other Australians, Lieutenants Peter Handcock and George Witton, were arrested for the murder of Boer prisoners. Morant and Handcock were court-martialled and executed in February 1902 as the Boer War was in its closing stages, but the debate over their convictions continues to this day. Does Breaker Morant deserve his iconic status? Who was Harry Morant? What events and passions led him to a conflict that was essentially an Imperial war, played out on a distant continent under a foreign flag? Was he a scapegoat for British war crimes or a criminal himself? With his trademark brilliant command of story, Peter FitzSimons unravels the many myths and fictions that surround the life of Harry Morant. The truths FitzSimons uncovers about 'The Breaker' and the part he played in the Boer War are astonishing - and, in the hands of this master storyteller, make compelling reading.           ...Show more

Mornington Peninsula to Wilsons Promontory by Kornelia Freeman

$39.99 AUD

Category: History

The charm of the Mornington Peninsula, Bass Coast and Wilsons Promontory, with picturesque beaches and a myriad of attractions, continues to attract crowds of daytrippers and holiday-makers. We hope this book will inspire you to enjoy the beauty of these areas. The Mornington Peninsula's pristine sandy beaches and magnificent coastal views, spectacular golf courses, foreshore camping, surfing, sailing and some of the best art galleries, restaurants and wineries in Victoria, leave visitors with cherished and unforgettable memories. The world-renowned Penguin Parade at Phillip Island, the intriguing rock formations at Cape Liptrap, strawberry and cherry farms, hedge mazes, hot springs, seal and dolphin tours, and historic homesteads, all are waiting to be discovered! ...Show more

Truganini: Journey Through Apocalypse by Cassandra Pybus

$32.99 AUD

Category: History

The haunting story of the extraordinary Aboriginal woman behind the myth of 'the last Tasmanian Aborigine'. 'A compelling story, beautifully told' - JULIA BAIRD, author and broadcaster 'At last, a book to give Truganini the proper attention she deserves.' - GAYE SCULTHORPE, Curator of Oceania, The Briti sh Museum Cassandra Pybus's ancestors told a story of an old Aboriginal woman who would wander across their farm on Bruny Island, in south-east Tasmania, in the 1850s and 1860s. As a child, Cassandra didn't know this woman was Truganini, and that Truganini was walking over the country of her clan, the Nuenonne. For nearly seven decades, Truganini lived through a psychological and cultural shift more extreme than we can imagine. But her life was much more than a regrettable tragedy. Now Cassandra has examined the original eyewitness accounts to write Truganini's extraordinary story in full. Hardly more than a child, Truganini managed to survive the devastation of the 1820s, when the clans of south-eastern Tasmania were all but extinguished. She spent five years on a journey around Tasmania, across rugged highlands and through barely penetrable forests, with George Augustus Robinson, the self-styled missionary who was collecting the survivors to send them into exile on Flinders Island. She has become an international icon for a monumental tragedy - the so-called extinction of the original people of Tasmania. Truganini's story is inspiring and haunting - a journey through the apocalypse. 'For the first time a biographer who treats her with the insight and empathy she deserves. The result is a book of unquestionable national importance.' - PROFESSOR HENRY REYNOLDS, University of Tasmania ...Show more

Treasures of Beachcombing by Ken Martin

$24.99 AUD

$34.99 (28% off)

Category: History

Serious beachcombing requires time, fitness and agility, a keen eye and a minimum amount of hiking gear to make the expedition enjoyable. For an all-day hike, a large backpack with the requisite lunch, first aid kit, map, water, mobile, rain coat, pocket knife, etc. will all ensure that your efforts are made easier and that there is ample room to carry any booty which is found en route. For the serious and technically minded semi-professional beachcomber add a hacksaw, a very sharp knife and even some cable ties to strap on your booty. A PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) can add a measure of safety and even a PFD lightweight yoke is not beyond reason. The more gear I take the more confident I am at going it alone and into remote places. Herein lies a beachcomber's collection, amassed over many years, of some of the better examples of what the oceans have spat forth on many a desolate shoreline along the coastline of south eastern Australia. With five buoys in my collection having originated from Argentina, I can truly claim to have an international collection courtesy of the mighty Southern Ocean. ...Show more

Mad Dogs and Thunderbolts by Ben Pobjie

$32.99 AUD

Category: History

Ned Kelly’s tin helmet looms large over Australia’s bushranging past, but what about all the unsung outlaws of the Australian bush? What about Black Caesar, who escaped his tyrannous British overlords four times and indeed invented the great Australian tradition of bushranging? Or Mad Dog Morgan who set out to write his name in blood on history’s ledger, the dynamic Captain Thunderbolt and his loyal wife Mary Ann Bugg, bushranging’s greatest queen, and Matthew Brady, the gentleman bushranger, who showed us all the cilivised side of armed robbery? In Mad Dogs and Thunderbolts Ben Pobjie celebrates the derring-do and revolutionary passion of all the wild colonial boys and girls who raided our towns and stole our hearts, all while wearing sensible headgear. ...Show more

Red Lead: The Legendary Australian Ship's Cat Who Survived the Sinking of HMAS Perth and the Thai-Burma Railway by Roland Perry

$29.99 AUD

Category: History

The legendary Australian ship's cat who survived the sinking of HMAS Perth and the Thai-Burma Railway. Just after midnight on the 1st March 1942, Australia's most celebrated cruiser, HMAS Perth, was sunk by Japanese naval forces in the Sunda Strait off the coast of Java. Of the 681 men aboard, 328 survi ved the sinking and made it to shore - and one cat. Her name was Red Lead, and she was the ship's cat, beloved by the crew and by HMAS Perth's legendary captain Hec Waller. But surviving shell fire, torpedoes and the fierce currents of the Sunda Strait was only the start of the terrible trials Red Lead and the surviving crew were to face over the next three and a half years. From Java to Changi and then on the Thai-Burma Railway, Red Lead was to act as a companion, mascot and occasional hunter of food for a small group of sailors who made it their mission to keep her alive in some of the most hellish prison camps on earth.Red Lead's extraordinary story is one of courage, loyalty and love amidst battle, imprisonment and death, brought vividly to life by bestselling author Roland Perry.         ...Show more

Banks by Grantlee Kieza

$36.99 AUD

$39.99 (7% off)

Category: History

 Lust, science, adventure - Joseph Banks and his voyages of discovery - the extraordinary life of one of the world's most famous and notorious adventurers. Sir Joseph Banks was a man of passion whose influence spanned the globe. A fearless adventurer, his fascination with beautiful women was only trump ed by his obsession with the natural world and his lust for scientific knowledge. Fabulously wealthy, Banks was the driving force behind monumental voyages and scientific discoveries in Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific, Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and the Arctic. In 1768, as a galivanting young playboy, he joined Captain James Cook's Endeavour expedition to the South Pacific. Financing his own team of scientists and artists, Banks battled high seas, hailstorms, treacherous coral reefs and hostile locals to expand the world's knowledge of life on distant shores. He returned with thousands of specimens of plants and animals, generating enormous interest in Europe, while the racy accounts of his amorous adventures in Tahiti made him one of the most famous and notorious men in England. As the longest-serving president of Britain's Royal Society, Banks was perhaps the most important man in the scientific world for more than half a century. It was Banks, one of the first Europeans to set foot on Australia's east coast, who advised Britain to establish a remote penal settlement and strategic base at Botany Bay, and he eventually became the foremost expert on everything Australian. Early governors in the colony answered to him as he set about unleashing Australia's vast potential in agriculture and minerals. For decades, major British voyages of exploration around the globe only sailed with his backing. By award-winning bestselling writer Grantlee Kieza, Banks is a rich and rollicking biography of one of the most colourful and intriguing characters in the history of exploration. ...Show more

Reprehensible: Polite Histories of Bad Behaviour by Mikey Robins

$29.99 AUD

Category: History | Reading Level: 4 Non Fiction

Rollicking and informative, Reprehensible: Polite Histories of Bad Behaviour is your guide through some of the most shameful behaviour indulged in by humanity's most celebrated figures, as told by Mikey Robins, one of Australia's most beloved comedians. It is often said that we live in era of constant o utrage, but we are definitely not the inventors of outrageousness. Let's be honest, human beings have always been appalling. Not everyone and not all the time, but our history is littered with those whose work and deeds have rendered them . . . reprehensible. Sometimes it's our most esteemed luminaries who behave the worst. In Reprehensible: Polite Histories of Bad Behaviour, Mikey Robins holds the mirror up to everyone, from Popes to politicians, from certified artistic geniuses to scientific and mathematical minds without peer - few emerge without blush or blemish. For instance, what are we to make of Catherine the Great's extensive collection of pornographic furniture, Hans Christian Anderson's too-much-information diary and Karl Marx's epic pub crawls? Or hall-of-fame huckster William McCloundy, who in 1901 actually 'sold' the Brooklyn Bridge to an unsuspecting tourist, and the Pharaoh who covered his slaves in honey to keep flies off his meal? Did you know about the royal ticklers of the Romanov court, and the bizarre coronation rituals of early Welsh kings? (Let's just say that eating a white horse wasn't the weirdest part of the ceremony.) And who else but Mikey could uncover the story of Chrysippus, the Stoic philosopher who laughed himself to death at the sight of a drunk donkey? So sit back and rest your conscience: there will be a host of scoundrels, bounders and reprobates, tales of lust and power aplenty, as we indulge in that sweet spot where history meets outrage, with just a bit of old-school TMZ thrown in for good measure.   ...Show more