Australian History

History of Australia Australia is one of those countries that are known for the fauna – but not always for their remarkable past. Starting with the history of the aboriginal roots and going for its evolution into the present day, Australia was not an easy continent to live in. There used to be bloodshed, conflict, and a lot of negativity at every step. However, while it may feature a dark past marked by battles, massacres, and conflicts between the aboriginal folk and the people, it is these events that turned Australia into what it is today. Each event brought with it a lesson – one ...

Dark Emu argues for a reconsideration of the 'hunter-gatherer' tag for pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians and attempts to rebut the colonial myths that have worked to justify dispossession. Accomplished author Bruce Pascoe provides compelling evidence from the diaries of early explorers that suggests that systems of food production and land management have been understated in modern retellings of Aboriginal history, and that a new look at Australia's past is required.

Geologists have amassed data that indicate that islands have disappeared in the Pacific, a phenomenon that oral traditions of many groups of Pacific Islanders also highlight. This book explores the issue of vanished islands in the Pacific by bringing together the geology and the myths.

A mid-career American Emergency Doc goes off the deep end and relocates with his bewildered wife and five school-aged kids from Upstate New York to exotic Australia. Chaos, hilarity and wild Oz adventures ensue. Briskly paced; informative, insightful and entertaining in equal measure, "Doc Down Under" covers a wide array of timely topics including Australian/ New Zealand family adventure travel and natural history; contemporary Aussie lifestyle and culture, as well as US/ Australian comparative healthcare systems. Doc's philosophical musings focus on the realities of expat family life; the ...

Crime is rampant as the Gold Rush sweeps through the vast Australian colony. Highways are threatened by roving gangs of bandits known as BUSHRANGERS. For two years from 1878, the northeast of Victoria crawled with policemen looking for the Kelly Gang led by Edward “Ned” Kelly. During this period Kelly told his story via several long letters penned during his chase.

The mysterious disappearance of Michael Rockefeller in remote New Guinea in 1961 has kept the world, and even Michael's powerful, influential family, guessing for years. Now, Carl Hoffman uncovers startling new evidence that finally tells the full, astonishing story.

The Dogs That Made Australia pays tribute to the dogs that gave their all for our prosperity: the fearless hounds that saved fledgling colonies from famine; the courageous heelers and tireless collies that powered the rise of beef and wool; the tough little home-grown terriers that protected the homestead and garden; and the extraordinary police dogs, ahead of their time, loved by the nation. The selfless exploits of our heroic dogs are writ indelibly in our nation's heritage and identity.

Featuring sword-happy heroes, badly-behaved Gods, a monstrous minotaur, a narcoleptic dragon and more nymphs than you can poke a stick at! Master storyteller R.A. Spratt (bestselling author of Friday Barnes and the Bedtime Stories with R.A. Spratt podcast) weaves her comedic magic through this captivating collection of epic tales, perfect for fans of Roald Dahl, David Walliams and Paul Jennings.

From the author of Pacific Payback comes the gripping true story of the Cactus Air Force and how this rugged crew of dive bombers helped save Guadalcanal and won the war. November 1942: Japanese and American forces have been fighting for control of Guadalcanal, a small but pivotal island in Japan's expansion through the South Pacific.

Soon after Billy Griffiths joins his first archaeological dig as camp manager and cook, he is hooked. Equipped with a historian’s inquiring mind, he embarks on a journey through time, seeking to understand the extraordinary deep history of the Australian continent. Deep Time Dreaming is the passionate product of that journey. It investigates a twin revolution: the reassertion of Aboriginal identity in the second half of the 20th century and the uncovering of the traces of ancient Australia.

Dive into the captivating realm of The Legends and Myths of Hawaii, where the mystical allure of the Pacific islands comes alive through the mesmerizing fables and folk-lore shared by none other than the esteemed King David Kalakaua. Prepare to be transported to a time when oral traditions were the heart of Hawaiian culture, as the illustrious monarch weaves a tapestry of enchanting stories that have been cherished for generations.

Celebrated historian Diana Preston presents betrayals, escapes, and survival at sea in her account of the mutiny of the Bounty and the flight of convicts from the Australian penal colony. The story of the mutiny of the Bounty and William Bligh and his men's survival on the open ocean for 48 days and 3,618 miles has become the stuff of legend. But few realize that Bligh's escape across the seas was not the only open-boat journey in that era of British exploration and colonization.

In 1858, a ship destined for the goldfields of Australia is wrecked on a reef on the outer quarter of the Solomon Islands. What happens next is a tale of courage, resilience, and adventure that will have one man questioning all that he thought he knew. A bold decision to change the route of the Elizabeth May ends in tragedy when the ship is wrecked near Heron Island. Many of the crew and the 300 Chinese laborers onboard perish and for the stricken survivors, the future looks dire. After a series of calamitous events, a longboat carrying the captain, a few crew members, and young Matt Jones ...

Spanning several centuries of history in the Pacific, The Legends and Myths of Hawaiʻi: Fables and Folk-Lore of a Strange People is a collection of Hawaiian stories that were preserved through the ages by oral tradition and documented for posterity by King David Kalākaua in 1887. This massive tome recalls the tales of chiefs and kings, explorers and pirates, prophets, sorceresses, and renegades. This is the first in a series of 22 parts.

Never Let Me Go meets Zone of Interest.
A creepy, compelling novel that takes place in a version of our world where some lives are valued less than others. It will shock you with each new revelation.

When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, the British asked Australia for help. With some misgivings, the Australian government sent five destroyers to beef up the British Royal Navy in the Mediterranean. HMAS Vendetta, Vampire, Voyager, Stuart and Waterhen were old ships, small with worn-out engines. Their crews used to joke they were held together by string and chewing gum; when the Nazi propaganda minister Josef Goebbels heard of them, he sneered that they were a load of scrap iron.

In 1808, an American merchant ship happened upon an uncharted island in the South Pacific and unwittingly solved the biggest nautical mystery of the era: the whereabouts of a band of fugitives who, after seizing their vessel, had disappeared into the night with their Tahitian companions. Pitcairn Island was the perfect hideaway from British authorities, but after nearly two decades of isolation, its secret society had devolved into a tribalistic hellscape; a real-life Lord of the Flies, rife with depravity and deception.

In 1893 a small group of white planters and missionary descendants backed by the United States overthrew the Kingdom of Hawai'i and established a government modeled on the Jim Crow South. In Nation Within Tom Coffman tells the complex history of the unsuccessful efforts of deposed Hawaiian queen Lili'uokalani and her subjects to resist annexation, which eventually came in 1898.

The film Rabbit-Proof Fence is based on this true account of Doris Pilkington's mother Molly, who as a young girl led her two sisters on an extraordinary 1,600 kilometer walk home. Under Western Australia's invidious removal policy of the 1930s, the girls were taken from their Aboriginal families at Jigalong on the edge of the Little Sandy Desert, and transported halfway across the state to the Native Settlement at Moore River, north of Perth. Here Aboriginal children were instructed in the ways of white society and forbidden to speak their native tongue.

The epic World War II story of Australia's 75 Squadron - and the 44 days when these brave and barely-trained pilots fought alone against the Japanese. In March and April 1942, RAAF 75 Squadron bravely defended Port Moresby for 44 days when Australia truly stood alone against the Japanese. This group of raw young recruits scrambled ceaselessly in their Kittyhawk fighters to an extraordinary and heroic battle, the story of which has been left largely untold.