The 99th Koala by Kailas Wild

$32.99 AUD

Category: Australia

In last summer's devastating fires, Kangaroo Island lost half of its koala population, with many more left injured and starving. This is the inspiring and sometimes confronting story of someone who went to help and ended up a koala dad.   When Kailas Wild - arborist by trade and conservationist at heart - heard that there were injured koalas on Kangaroo Island who could only be reached by a tree climber, he drove 1500 kms to volunteer.   Seven weeks later, he had crowd-funded sixty-five thousand dollars, participated in the rescue of over 100 koalas and had formed a special bond with a baby koala - Joey Kai. His social media postings gained tens of thousands of views and press attention around Australia and overseas, including the BBC, The Times (London), The New York Times and The Daily Mail.   The 99th Koala shares that experience, in words and pictures, and introduces us to some of the koalas of Kangaroo Island. Sometimes tragic, sometimes hopeful, Kai's story above all commemorates our unique wildlife, and demonstrates the power of one person trying to make a difference.   'At a time when many people have felt helpless to act against the immensity of the fires or the threat of climate change, Kai's daily descriptions and videos of saving helpless animals have been a welcome dose of personal courage and deep humanity.' ABC   ...Show more

James Cook: The Story Behind the Man who Mapped the World by Peter Fitzsimons

$34.99 AUD

Category: Australia

HE STORY BEHIND THE MAN WHO MAPPED THE WORLD The name Captain James Cook is one of the most recognisable in Australian history - an almost mythic figure who is often discussed, celebrated, reviled and debated. But who was the real James Cook? This Yorkshire farm boy would go on to become the foremost ma riner, navigator and cartographer of his era, and to personally map a third of the globe. His great voyages of discovery were incredible feats of seamanship and navigation. Leading a crew of men into uncharted territories, Cook would face the best and worst of humanity as he took himself and his crew to the edge of the known world - and beyond. With his masterful storytelling talent, Peter FitzSimons brings James Cook to life. Focusing on his most iconic expedition, the voyage of the Endeavour, where Cook first set foot on Australian and New Zealand soil, FitzSimons contrasts Cook against another figure who looms large in Australasian history: Joseph Banks, the aristocratic botanist. As they left England, Banks, a rich, famous playboy, was everything that Cook was not. The voyage tested Cook's character and would help define his legacy. Now, 240 years after James Cook's death, FitzSimons reveals what kind of man James was at heart. His strengths, his weaknesses, his passions and pursuits, failures and successes.   ...Show more

You Shouldn't Have Joined... by Peter Cosgrove

$44.99 AUD

$49.99 (10% off)

Category: Australia

General Sir Peter Cosgrove AK AC (Mil) CVO MC (Retd) is one of Australia's most significant public figures. As a soldier he saw action in Vietnam, winning the Military Cross, and rose to the very top of his profession, becoming Chief of the Defence Force. Soon after his retirement from the Army, he was invited to take charge of the huge relief and rebuilding operation in Queensland after the devastation of Cyclone Larry. In 2014, Cosgrove became Australia's Governor-General. As Governor-General he travelled far and wide, supporting Australians in times of crisis, sadness, joy or celebration, representing us on the world stage with humour, intelligence and a force of personal magnetism that was felt by everyone from prime ministers to presidents. When he retired in July 2019, it was as one of the most beloved and respected governors-general in Australia's history. Cosgrove embodies the traits we truly value: warmth, humanity, toughness and loyalty. His humour and empathy shone through the pomp and ceremony, and his time as Governor-General will be remembered as much for his laughter as for the usual dignities of the office. You Shouldn't Have Joined ... (an expression much used during his days as a soldier) is the story of Cosgrove's extraordinarily full and eventful life. It is also the story of those who have shared it with him, in particular his wife Lynne. His memoir allows us an incredible insight into the role and world of Australia's Governor-General. He was there as two prime ministers were toppled by their own party. He was there through disasters both natural and man-made, such as the destruction of MH17. He was there for world leaders, and for ordinary Australians. You Shouldn't Have Joined ... is a true reflection of the man himself, filled with intelligence, forthrightness, compassion and a brilliant eye for a telling anecdote. ...Show more

Just Money: Misadventures in the Great Australian Debt Trap by Royce Kurmelovs

$32.99 AUD

Category: Australia

The debt business is booming. Millions of Australians grapple with credit cards, mortgages and student debt repayments each day. As the result of a car crash without insurance, investigative journalist Royce Kurmelovs finds himself among them. When a debt collector knocks on his door, he embarks on a j ourney through the underbelly of the Australian financial system. Though friends tell him not to worry, that it's 'just money', he learns the opposite is true- our relationship with debt is a convergence of class and power, making it an urgent social justice issue for a growing number of people. Just Money is a timely and important book that reveals how years of political opportunism and rapacious business practices in the 'Lucky Country' have forged a nation that is leaving the next generation to pick up the tab. ...Show more

Summertime: Reflections on a Fractured Future by Danielle Celermajer

$24.99 AUD

Category: Australia

I went and sat alone where Jimmy has been lying. It is way down in the bush. The light is soft, the air and the earth are cool, and the smell is of leaves and the river. I cannot presume to know what he is doing when he lies here, but it seems that he is taking himself back to an ecology not wrought by the terror of the fires, not fuelled by our violence on the earth. He is letting another earth heal him. Philosopher Danielle Celermajer's story of Jimmy the pig caught the world's attention during the Black Summer of 2019-20. Gathered here is that story and others written in the shadow of the bushfires that ravaged Australia. In the midst of the death and grief of animals, humans, trees and ecologies Celermajer asks us to look around - really look around - to become present to all beings who are living and dying through the loss of our shared home. At once a howl in the forest and an elegy for a country's soul, these reflections are lyrical, profound and heartbreaking. ...Show more

Defiant Voices: How Australia’s Female Convicts Challenged Authority 1788–1853 by Babette Smith

$44.99 AUD

$49.99 (10% off)

Category: Australia

Between 1788 and 1868, approximately 25,000 women were transported to Australia. For nearly 200 years, there has been a chorus of outrage at their vulgarity, their depravity and their promiscuity. Babette Smith takes the reader beyond this traditional casting of convict women, looking for evidence of th eir humanity and individuality. Certainly some were desperate, overwhelmed by a relentless chain of criminal convictions, drunkenness and despair. But others were heroic, defiant. Smith offers fresh insights: the women's use of sound and voice to harass officials, for example; the extent of their deliberate resistance against authority. This resistance, she argues, has contributed significantly to broader Australian culture. The women's stories begin when their fates are decided by the British Crown. We are introduced to women who stole, set fires, rioted, committed insurance fraud, murdered; mothers of six and 12-year-old girls; women who refused to show deference to the Court, instead giving mock curtsies, 'jumping and capering about'.'A sailor', wrote ship's surgeon Peter Cunningham, was 'more an object of pity than wrath. To see twenty wicked fingers beckoning to him, and twenty wicked eyes winking at him, at one and the same time, no wonder his virtue should sometimes experience a fall!'. Among the hysterical accounts of bad behaviour aboard female convict ships written by concerned reverends, surgeons and others are scenes that show female camaraderie, fun and intrepid spirit. Washing clothes became 'a grand water party'; caught in a storm, women came up on deck to help their fellow convicts haul water; women sang and danced before bed, putting on concerts for each other, 'dressed out in their gayest plumage'. This camaraderie continued in Australia. In Tasmania's overcrowded Cascades factory, the superintendent complained about women 'corrupting each other' in nightly conversation laced with 'obscenity'. Another interpretation is that women sought the comfort of sharing their woes with one another, telling 'war stories' of life on assignment and generally enjoying each other's company in language that was everyday for them.Defiant Voices tells the story of the Crown trying and failing to make its prisoners subservient to a harsh penal system. Convict women challenged the authorities by living in perpetual disobedience, which was often flagrant, sometimes sexual and always loud. They were not all 'the most abandoned prostitutes', but their sexual mores were certainly different from the observers who labelled them. From factory rioters to individuals like Ann Wilson, whose response-'That will not hurt me'-provoked a magistrate to pile punishment after punishment onto her, the women of Defiant Voices fought like tigers and drove men to breaking point with their collective voices, the lewd songs and 'disorderly shouting' resounding from the page. ...Show more

Flames of Extinction: The race to save Australia’s threatened wildlife by John Pickrell

$29.99 AUD

Category: Australia

Over Australia's 2019–20 Black Summer bushfire season, scientists estimate that more than three billion native animals were killed or displaced. Many species — koalas, the regent honeyeater, glossy black cockatoo, the platypus — are inching towards extinction at the hands of mega-blazes and the changing climate behind them. In Flames of Extinction, award-winning science writer John Pickrell investigates the effects of the 2019–2020 bushfires on Australian wildlife and ecosystems. Journeying across the firegrounds, Pickrell explores the stories of creatures that escaped the flames, the wildlife workers who rescued them, and the conservationists, land managers, Aboriginal rangers, ecologists and firefighters on the front line of the climate catastrophe. He also reveals the radical new conservation methods being trialled to save as many species as possible from the very precipice of extinction. ...Show more

Wild at Heart by Alienor le Gouvello

$35.00 AUD

Category: Australia

From the moment French-born Alienor encountered a pair of wild horses in the Australian outback, she was transfixed. Fiercely loved by some and considered a scourge by others, brumbies have a complicated place in Australian culture and history. Inspired to celebrate their character, Alienor tamed thre e brumbies and teamed up with them to conquer Australia's longest trek. Wild At Heart follows Alienor and her horses on a three-year journey stretching an extraordinary 5330 kilometres from Healesville in Victoria to Cooktown in tropical Far North Queensland. Through her travels across some of Australia's most spectacular terrain, battling isolation and the elements, she built a profound bond with her horses and made life-changing discoveries where she least expected. Featuring stunning photography from world-renowned adventure photographer Cat Vinton, Wild at Heart is a quintessentially Australian story of breathtaking beauty and indomitable spirit.   ...Show more

Rooted: An Australian History of Bad Language by Amanda Laugesen

$32.99 AUD

Category: Australia

Bugger, rooted, bloody oath...What is it about Australians and swearing? We've got an international reputation for using bad language (Where the bloody hell are ya?) and letting rip with a choice swear word or two has long been a very Aussie thing to do. From the defiant curses of the convicts and bullo ck drivers to the humour of Kath and Kim, Amanda Laugesen, director of the Australian National Dictionary Centre, takes us on a fascinating journey through the history of Australia's bad language to reveal our preoccupations and our concerns.Bad language has been used in all sort of ways in our history: to defy authority, as a form of liberation and subversion, and as a source of humour and creativity. Bad language has also been used to oppress and punish those who have been denied a claim to using it, notably Indigenous Australians and women. It has also long been subject to various forms of censorship. 'If you've ever wondered why to use bad language in Australia is to 'swear like a bullocky', Amanda Laugesen's Rooted will give you the answer. Taking us on a colourful tour of more than two centuries of bad language that extends from the mildly offensive to the completely filthy, Laugesen tells the story of Australia through those words and phrases that have often been seen as unfit to print. This is an engrossing social history – a bloody beauty – from one of our leading experts on Australian English.' — Frank Bongiorno, Professor of History, The Australian National University ...Show more

What’s it Like to be Chased by a Cassowary? Fascinating Answers to Perplexing Questions by Felicity Lewis

$32.99 AUD

Category: Australia

Ever wondered what happens to us as we die? Or how the Esky became an Aussie cultural icon? Or why we have leap years? Then look no further - and even if you haven't wondered, you'll want to find out. This anthology is a diverse collection of explainers by some of the finest writers from The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. It tackles quintessentially Australian topics (where does the term 'mate' come from?) as well as questions being grappled with around the world (what will our homes be powered by in the future?). Inquisitive readers love the explainer columns for their strong and surprising storytelling, deeply researched reporting and inventive illustrations. They have become some of the most popular content articles in The Age and Herald, and reader requests have inspired explainers about exploring everything from think tanks to tennis racquets, from quantitative easing to why cicadas sing at dusk. Explainers offer a rich understanding of how and why - rather than just who, what, when and where. Within these pages you will find an absorbing and illuminating selection of some of the most popular explainers, as well as never before published pieces especially written for this book. There are surprising facts about all aspects of life and information about all kinds of investigations from throughout history and around the world. Prepare to be enlightened, enthralled and educated - you'll never ponder how to evade that rampaging cassowary again!   ...Show more

The Trials of Portnoy by Patrick Mullins

$35.00 AUD

Category: Australia

Fifty years after the event, here is the first full account of an audacious publishing decision that — with the help of booksellers and readers around the country — forced the end of literary censorship in Australia. For more than seventy years, a succession of politicians, judges, and government offic ials in Australia worked in the shadows to enforce one of the most pervasive and conservative regimes of censorship in the world. The goal was simple: to keep Australia free of the moral contamination of impure literature. Under the censorship regime, books that might damage the morals of the Australian public were banned, seized, and burned; bookstores were raided; publishers were fined; and writers were charged and even jailed. But in the 1970s, that all changed. In 1970, in great secrecy and at considerable risk, Penguin Books Australia resolved to publish Portnoy’s Complaint — Philip Roth’s frank, funny, and profane bestseller about a boy hung up about his mother and his penis. In doing so, Penguin spurred a direct confrontation with the censorship authorities, which culminated in criminal charges, police raids, and an unprecedented series of court trials across the country. Sweeping from the cabinet room to the courtroom, The Trials of Portnoy draws on archival records and new interviews to show how Penguin and a band of writers, booksellers, academics, and lawyers determinedly sought for Australians the freedom to read what they wished — and how, in defeating the forces arrayed before them, they reshaped Australian literature and culture forever. Praise for Tiberius with a Telephone: ‘This is, as others have remarked, biography at its best: diligently researched, with detail nowhere else examined, and a demonstration of fine judgement concerning the crucial interplay between personal disposition, role demands, and historical context.’ —James Walter, Australian Book Review ‘A welcome addition to prime ministerial biography … An engaging and informative read.’ —Troy Bramston, The Australian ‘This is the most detailed investigation and explanation of what happened … Completing a biography of this scope is an enormous undertaking, and Patrick Mullins does it with considerable skill … Mullins conveys the turmoil, the atmosphere of crisis, the bickering and the bloodletting that marked this extraordinary period of Australian political history.’ —David Solomon, Inside Story ...Show more

A Trip to the Dominions - The Scientific Event That Changed Australia by Lynette Russell (Editor)

$29.95 AUD

Category: Australia | Series: Australian Studies

On the eve of the Great War, in 1914 the Australian Federal Government sponsored the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) to?travel to Australia for their annual conference. Over 150 scientists were fully funded by the Australian Commonwealth government and they travelled on three s hips especially commanded for this purpose. Across five major cities, public talks, demonstrations and excursions familiarised the visiting scientists with Australian natural and hard sciences, geology, botany as well as anthropology. In terms of anthropology, ?the congress presented a unique opportunity to showcase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. The Association, deeply impressed by this, urged the Federal Government to support a chair in anthropology to be based at an Australian university. Other outcomes included the Association's recommendations to establish a Commonwealth Scientific Institute (later CSIRO) and to develop a national telescope at Mt Stromlo. Although these were delayed by the outbreak of WWI, it is clear that this Trip to the Dominions was no mere singular event, but rather left a legacy we are still beneficiaries of today. ...Show more