Australian History

Over the many years Jim Haynes has spent exploring and writing about the quirkier events and people in Australia’s history, he has discovered characters who have amazed, surprised and simply baffled him. This is a book about some of those men and women and their remarkable, out-of-the-ordinary and almost unbelievable lives. As he always does, Jim has discovered that there is more to the story than first meets the eye.

In the early twentieth century, it was often said that “Australia rides on the sheep’s back”—a reflection of the nation’s dependence on the wool trade. Accordingly, a vast itinerant army of labourers was required to shear the sheep and prepare fleeces for market. In this essay, Rolf Boldrewood provides a vivid picture of the shearing season on a large property.

Edward "Ned" Kelly (1854 -1880) was the last and most celebrated Australian bushranger (outlaw). After being implicated in the shooting of three policemen at Stringybark Creek in October, 1878, Kelly and his gang were declared by the Victorian government to be outlaws, and were the subjects of an extensive manhunt over the next two years.

The story of the clipper ships, and the tens of thousands of migrants they brought to the Australian colony of the 19th century, is one of the world's great migration stories. For anyone who travelled to Australia before 1850, it was a long and arduous journey that could take as much as four months. With the arrival of the clipper ships, and favourable winds, the journey from England could be done in a little over half this time.

The daughter of Cambodian refugees, Ai grew up in the small Australian town of Whitlam populated by Asian immigrants who once fled war-torn countries to rebuild their shattered lives. It is now the late '90s and despite their parents' harrowing past, Ai and her tightknit group of school friends lead seemingly ordinary lives, far removed from the unimaginable horrors suffered by their parents. But that carefree innocence is shattered in their last year of school when an incident involving Ai and her friends spirals into senseless violence, leaving behind a trail of unresolved trauma.

Mit einer Begrüßung hat er sich gar nicht erst aufgehalten. Schon als dieser scharfe, heiße Fremde behauptete, wir wären verlobt, wurde mir schwindlig. Dann hat er den Tyrannen in die Flucht geschlagen, der uns auf den Fersen war, und mich für die Nacht zu sich nach Hause geschleppt. Der helle Wahnsinn, oder? Falsch gedacht.Wenn du obdachlos und auf der Flucht bist und deinen kranken Vater in einem Truck transportierst, der so alt ist, dass er schon auf der Arche Noah gestanden haben muss, schluckst du deinen Stolz hinunter.

Once there was a wilderness: Australia's frontier, a dangerous and unforgiving place where outlaws ruled the roads and killers were hailed as heroes. It was here, in 1838, that one man's uncompromising sense of justice changed history and shocked the world. Denny Day was a vicar's son from Ireland. A member of the Anglo-Irish ruling class, as a young man Day joined the British army before resigning to seek his fortune in New South Wales. There he accepted the most challenging role in the young colony: keeping the peace on the frontier.

In cemeteries throughout Australia, gravestones hint at our history - tales of true crime, early settlement, mystery, tragedy, health epidemics, unsolved murders, love lost, and sacrifice. The Grave Tales series reveals more than the headstone can ever tell. Written by journalists Helen Goltz and Chris Adams, these stories feature people who willingly or unwillingly were participants in events that made headlines. The series offers individual short stories of heroes, victims, trailblazers, and patriots, encapsulating the journeys that lead to their resting places.

Mike Bellamy's father Barry is as tough as they come. Widely credited as the inspiration for Barry Crump's back-country character Sam Cash, Barry was a roving worker in rural North Island during the 50s, 60s and 70s. Tough Country is a book about a father by a son, about a bygone era of bushmen, scrub-cutters, hunters and shepherds. It's also a book about the author's own life working the land, and the characters of the 80s and 90s, from tradies and digger-drivers to drain-layers and wharfies.

Chaplains of ANZAC: New Zealand's Fallen Chaplains of the Great War tells the story of seven New Zealand Expeditionary Force chaplains who served and died during the Great War. The beautiful collection of stories in this book tell the oft-overlooked tales of the chaplains who left New Zealand and served their god, king and country on foreign fields of battle. In all, over 140 chaplains served as part of the NZEF. This book contains the stories of seven of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Was ist das für ein Land, in dem sich fliegende Füchse tummeln und Schweinefußnasenbeutler einst ihr Unwesen trieben? In seinem ebenso amüsanten wie informativen Streifzug durch ein unbekanntes Australien erzählt Bill Bryson von den historischen Hintergründen der Entdeckung dieses faszinierenden Kontinents...

Enid Lindeman stood almost six feet tall, with silver hair and flashing turquoise eyes. The girl from Strathfield in Sydney stopped traffic in Manhattan, silenced gamblers in Monte Carlo and dared walk a pet cheetah on a diamond collar through Hyde Park in London. In early twentieth-century society, when women were expected to be demure and obedient, the granddaughter of Hunter Valley wine pioneer Henry Lindeman waltzed through life to the beat of her own drum.

It is summer; the hay and silage have not yet been made on John Connell’s farm, so he has time to indulge his other great passion: running. John sets off on a marathon run of 42.2 kilometres through his native Longford, the scene of his award-winning The Cow Book. As he runs across woodlands, fields and tiny roads, he tells the story of his life and contemplates Ireland’s history, old and new. He also remembers other great runs he has done, from Australia to Canada, and tells the stories of some of his running heroes, such as Haile Gebrselassie.

In these 65 original stories, we hear of the explosive introduction of World Series Cricket in 1977, which turned a genteel endeavour into a high-octane contest, and the clash of the titans as Packer and Murdoch squared off over the Super League war. We see Rugby Union become a battleground for race and the Olympics an arena for sublime acts of courage and achievement.

On 3 February 1967, despite public outrage and vocal protests from wide-ranging community groups, Ronald Ryan became the last person to be legally executed in Australia. Last Words is the human story behind this historical event that aims to answer some of the remaining unanswered questions, 50 years after his death. Ryan was found guilty of murdering prison officer George Hodson during an escape from Pentridge Prison with fellow inmate Peter Walker. But did Ryan really fire the bullet?

Cheryl flies sick patients from rural areas to emergency medical treatment in cities; Sue is often the only one between life and death for her patients in the Kimberley; Ricky trades city comforts to connect with kids through sport in remote communities while Eileen overcomes great challenges to protect remote land for generations to come - these are some of the characters who embody the spirit of the Outback.Inspiring, stirring and touching by turn, these people draw on enormous personal reserves to preserve Outback values for the future of all Australians.

In the relatively short history of colonial Australia, one event stands apart, both for its revolutionary spirit and its impact: The Eureka Rebellion of December 3, 1854. This was the only time in Australian history when a government was resisted by free subjects of the Crown in a violent conflict. It only took place in one colony, Victoria, but it was an important event in the evolution of the democratic government in Australia as a whole. The Eureka Rebellion analyzes the chain of events that led to the fighting and its lasting impact.

Though many Australians know lines from Dorothea Mackellar’s classic poem ‘My Country’ by heart, very little has been written about the poet’s extraordinary life. From her childhood and youth in Sydney’s Point Piper, to discovering her love for the Australian landscape on the family farm in Gunnedah, Dorothea engaged with the intellectual elite of Sydney and abroad as she embarked on a decades-long literary career that saw her linked to some of the leading lights of her day.

At the age of ten, and just short of four feet tall, a boy from Ballarat named Johnny Day became Australia's first international sporting hero. Against adult competition he wooed crowds across continents as the World Champion in pedestrianism, the sporting craze of the day. A few years later, in 1870, he won the Melbourne Cup on a horse aptly called Nimblefoot, this time impressing British royalty and Melbourne's high society. And then, still aged only fourteen, this already-famous athlete and jockey disappeared without a trace. Robert Drewe picks up where history leaves off.

Psychiatrist Dr Mark Cross has spent most of his adult life working in the mental health system. He also suffers from anxiety, as do three out of four Australians at some point in their lives, so he knows first-hand the challenges, successes and failures facing consumers, patients and professionals. What he has discovered is that while Australia’s physical health system is world-renowned, its mental health system falls miserably short.