The Ghosts of Roebuck Bay: The 1942 Bombing of Broome, and its Tragic Aftermath by Ian W. Shaw

$32.99 AUD

Category: Broome History

The Japanese attack on Broome is the second most deadly air raid on Australia soil in our history and yet it's almost entirely overlooked. On 3 March 1942, nine Japanese Zero planes strafed the small town planning to destroy the aerodrome and American planes. With no notice, the townsfolk could only put up minimal opposition and in an attack that lasted only an hour, almost one hundred men, women and children lost their lives. Not a single operational aircraft remained in Broome, but the shocking loss of human life can never be truly calculated. The Ghosts of Roebuck Bay tells the story of this tragedy, shining light on a story that has slipped through the cracks of history. A captivating tale of refugees and soldiers, of reputations made and lost, of survival and spirit that resonates to today. ...Show more

A Pirate of Exquisite Mind : The Life of William Dampier by Diana Preston; Michael Preston

$21.99 AUD

Category: History

"William Dampier, (1651 -1715), was an English adventurer and pirate who preyed on ships on the Spanish Main. Poor and ill-educated and determined to make his fortune, he nonetheless had a passion for exploration and scientific research. mong many extraordinary achievements Dampier mapped the winds and the currents of the world's oceans for the first time; he led the first recorded party of Englishmen to set foot on Australia - 80 years before Cook; he was an enthusiastic naturalist and following his visit to the Galapagos islands he wrote about their wildlife 150 years before Darwin, who drew on Dampier's notes in his own work; he was the first travel writer- A NEW VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD was embraced by the literary world and became an instant bestseller when it was published in 1697 - it was said to have influenced the novels of Swift and Defoe. TIDES OF FORTUNE looks at Dampier the man full of contradictions, and analyses why he who achieved so much 'blew it' later in life, declining into scandal, controversy, failure and ven farce. A unique man ahead of his time, he lived a large part of life among pirates yet managed to preserve what Coleridge called his 'exquisite refinem ...Show more

Mariners Are Warned : John Lort Stokes and H.M.S. Beagle in Australia 1837-1843 by Marsden Hordern

$42.99 AUD

Category: History

" John Lort Stokes was commissioned by the British Hydrographic Office in 1837 to survey and chart unknown parts of the Australian coastline. He was the last Royal Navy surveyor to hold such a roving commission as had Matthew Flinders and Phillip Parker King before him. The voyage lasted six years and his ship was H.M.S. Beagle, of Charles Darwin fame. Stokes circumnavigated Australia twice. In the north he discovered the Fitzroy, Albert and Flinders rivers and Port Darwin, and in the south charted that graveyard of sailing ships, Bass Strait. A century later, twelve of his charts were still in use. The occasional breathtaking foolhardiness of this earnest and conscientious man startles the reader, as it must have done his men. On a whim, Stokes twice risked drowning himself and others with him, and he made several daredevil escapes from crocodiles. The stories are gripping, and Marsden Hordern is a gifted and vigorous storyteller. He is ably assisted by the ship s mate, Helpman a chatty, witty chronicler. Mariners are Warned! is an engrossing biography, written with empathy by a fellow mariner. Winner of the Age Book of the Year; Victori ...Show more

Captain Cook's Epic Voyage by Geoffrey Blainey

$34.99 AUD

Category: History

In 1768 Captain James Cook and his crew set out on a small British naval vessel in search of a missing continent. 2020 marks the 250th anniversary of that voyage, and Cook's 'discovery' of Australia. Captain Cook's Epic Voyage reveals the hardships and adventure of this remarkable quest, and the euphori a of discovering new lands. Drawing from his previous book, Sea of Dangers, in Captain Cook's Epic Voyage Professor Geoffrey Blainey takes readers once again on a vivid journey through history, challenging accepted views and the intersection of myth, science and exploration. ...Show more

Flight to Fame: Victory in the 1919 Great Air Race, England to Australia by Ross Smith; Peter Monteath (Editor)

$29.99 AUD

Category: History

 'Flight to Fame', a classic adventure story, tells the hair-raising tale of the world-first flight from England to Australia, in the words of the pilot, (Sir) Ross Smith. In March 1919, Australia's prime minister announced a prize of £10,000 for the first successful flight from Great Britain to Australia in under 30 days. Late that same year, the victorious pilots, Ross and Keith Smith, landed in Darwin to international acclaim. The 'New York Times' gushed: 'Captain Ross Smith has done a wonderful thing for the prestige of the British Empire. He must be hailed as the foremost living aviator.' Their achievement was the forerunner to the age of international air travel. During the race, Ross and his brother Keith (his co-pilot and navigator) wrote in their diaries daily, recording the journey of their four-man crew in their Vickers Vimy G-EAOU twin-engine plane, its open cockpit exposing them to snow, sleet, hail and unbearable heat. Originally published as '14,000 Miles Through the Air' (1922), Ross Smith's book recounts their danger-ridden, record-breaking journey - a mere 16 years after the Wright brothers first defied gravity for just a few seconds. This richly illustrated edition, published to coincide with the flight's centenary, is introduced and edited by historian Peter Monteath ...Show more

The Ghost and the Bounty Hunter: William Buckley, John Batman and the Theft of Bunjil Country by Adam Courtenay

$29.99 AUD

Category: History

By the bestselling author of The Ship That Never WasJust after Christmas 1803, convict William Buckley fled an embryonic settlement in the land of the Kulin nation (now the Port Phillip area), to take his chances in the wilderness. A few months later, the local Aboriginal people found the six-foot- five former soldier near death. Believing he was a lost kinsman returned from the dead, they took him in, and for thirty-two years Buckley lived as a Wadawurrung man, learning his adopted tribe's language, skills and methods to survive.The outside world finally caught up with Buckley in 1835, after John Batman, a bounty hunter from Van Diemen's Land, arrived in the area, seeking to acquire and control the perfect pastureland around the bay. What happened next saw the Wadawurrung betrayed and Buckley eventually broken. The theft of Kulin country would end in the birth of a city. The frontier wars had begun.By the bestselling author of The Ship That Never Was, The Ghost and the Bounty Hunter is a fascinating and poignant true story from Australian colonial history. ...Show more

Dead Men's Silver: The Story of Australia's Greatest Shipwreck Hunter by Hugh Edwards

$35.99 AUD

Category: History

This is a romantic story of shipwreck hunting, with pieces-of-eight, Dutch ducatons, German talers, Burgundian crowns, and Spanish silver dollars lost and recovered from the sea floor. Edwards has been recognised as the 'primary finder' of the wreck of the Batavia, upon which his best-selling book Islan d of Angry Ghosts is based (and upon which Peter FitzSimons's new book is based). Along with a close look at the Batavia and other Dutch East India Company wrecks found off the WA coast, the chapters of this memoir include shipwreck adventures in the Mediterranean, Cambodia (where he was ambushed by Pol Pot) and expeditions to the Falklands and Ascension Islands in the Atlantic, where Edwards recovered the ship's bell from William Dampier's 1701 Roebuck. An expedition to the shell-battered wreck of the 1914 German cruiser Emden in the Indian Ocean makes an interesting contrast with the sunken Greco-Roman city of Apollonia in North Africa with a Cambridge University expedition. Another exotic venue lay in the South China Sea where the great Chinese junk Tek Sing had 2000 people aboard when she struck a reef off Sumatra in 1822. Only 250 people were saved in the Tek Sing tragedy, and the death toll of 1750 unfortunates was higher than the losses from the more famous Titanic in the Atlantic in 1912. When they dived on the Tek Sing in 1998, Hugh's team raised 350,000 pieces of Chinese porcelain, the world's greatest porcelain salvage. Edwards says: 'A man may be considered lucky to be associated with one treasure in a lifetime. I have been fortunate enough to have been involved with four treasure ships with perhaps another one to go. Somewhere behind an Abrolhos reef off the WA coast are three tons of silver coin in iron-bound chests. Fingers crossed there!' ...Show more

Okinawans Reaching Australia by John Lamb

$49.99 AUD

Category: History

Red Dust in Her Veins : Women of the Pilbara - SIGNED by LISA HOLLAND-MCNAIR

$26.99 AUD

Category: History

Beyond the Outback - Gulf Women of Remote North West Queensland by Bronwyn Blake

$32.99 AUD

Category: History

Twenty women share their incredible stories of surviving and thriving in the remote Australian 'Gulf Country', near the Gulf of Carpentaria. Gulf women are self-sufficient, generous, and can cope with almost anything that life and the environment throws at them: floods, drought, sickness, emergencies. W hether they are graziers, fisherwomen, ringers, women in tourism, aviation and education, Indigenous women or descendants from early women settlers, this powerful book gives these women a voice to tell their own stories. There are stories of new mothers on properties isolated and inaccessible for months in the wet season; women giving birth at home with only neighbours to assist; reminiscences from last century and World War II, and accounts of fishing in the Gulf in sometimes unimaginable conditions. From the kids wanting a baby croc for a pet to the terror of a snake bite with a flooded airstrip and impassable roads, these women treat the extraordinary events in their lives as just part of their remote way of life. Set in a world of vast landscapes, distance and merciless climate, Beyond the Outback contains riveting tales of the lives of the women who live, work and raise families in one of Australia's most isolated regions. It will be loved by readers of Sara Henderson, Toni Tapp Coutts and Terry Underwood. ...Show more

Kosciuszko by Nick Brodie

$29.99 AUD

Category: History

Australia's highest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko, is a dangerous place. Evan Hayes was an ordinary Australian battler. Hardworking, likable. Laurie Seaman was a world-wise American. Adventurous, affluent. When this athletic pair of cross-country skiers disappeared into the wilds of Kosciuszko they left a mystery, and became a sensation. Following their trail, Kosciuszko reveals the story of a young Australia between wars told by one of Australia's leading historical voices.  When Evan and Laurie went missing in August 1928, Australia's Snowy Mountains were remote. Traversing the globe from New York's Long Island to Siberia to Sydney and beyond Charlotte Pass, with shipboard romance and industrial strife along the way, this is the story of two very different people growing to manhood in a world of change. Accompanied by a diverse cast including motor car enthusiasts and aviators, bushmen and horsemen, trackers and journalists, this is the true story of a meeting of peoples and nations. This is history in a land of legend. From the world-famous to the nearly-forgotten, Kosciuszko is more than a mountain, it is a collective heritage, part of Australia's sense of self. Evan and Laurie are guides to this vantage point, to a time and place that deserves to be better known. At Kosciuszko, Australians came together in peacetime. And they did so simply because two mates vanished.   ...Show more

Through Ice and Fire by Sarah Laverick

$34.99 AUD

Category: History

The wild and desolate expanses of Antarctica have been the setting for many famous exploits and misadventures: a place where every decision has life-or-death consequences. The legendary tales of tragedy and triumph experienced by explorers such as Shackleton, Mawson and Scott continue to inspire to thi s day, and their faithful ships, the Endurance, Aurora and Tera Nova are vivid characters in their fateful voyages of discovery. Australia's first Antarctic flagship, Aurora Australis, and her crews have likewise secured a place in Antarctic history. This is the 30-year story of Aurora Australis and of her various human cargoes - crew, technicians, scientists, explorers, writers and artists. It's the tale of a problem-plagued construction, two devastating fires, a crippling besetment in ice and a blizzard-induced grounding in Antarctica. It tells of brave rescue missions of other ships and their near-frozen crews, and of the heroic administering of medical help while battling life-threatening temperatures and hurricane-force winds. Aurora, and those who sail within her, has always triumphed over adversity, even when the odds seemed insurmountably stacked against success. This is a tale of engineering brilliance, team tenacity and human resilience. It brings to life perilous journeys and stunning scientific discoveries, while pausing to wonder at the richness of the wildlife and the sparse mythic beauty of the barren landscapes. It transforms the Aurora Australis into a compelling character in Australia's chapter of Antarctic history and makes heroes of the men and women who have guided her through the most inhospitable seascapes on earth. ...Show more