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The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific
by J. Maarten TroostFantasized about quitting the 9-5? Walking away from credit card debt and student loans? Think living in the South Pacific for two years sounds like a perfect solution and perhaps even a winning idea for your first novel? Maarten Troost does just that, setting up as a devil-may-care islander while his girlfriend, Sylvia, gets to work on saving the planet, or at least a little part of it on an end-of-the-world atoll, Tarawa. Life on Tarawa resembles not so much paradise as a theatre of the absurd where planes fly with the aid of masking tape, Coconut Stalinism prevails as national government and Sylvia is co-opted by the CIA to spy on the Chinese. But abandoning continental hang-ups like barbequeing the local dogs and watching on as international industrial fishing trawlers plunder the world's richest tuna supply aren't so easy.
The Sidekicks
by Will KostakisRyan, Harley and Miles are very different people-the swimmer, the rebel and the nerd. All they've ever had in common is Isaac, their shared best friend. When Isaac dies unexpectedly, the three boys must come to terms with their grief and the impact Isaac had on each of their lives. In his absence, Ryan, Harley and Miles discover things about one another they never saw before, and realize there may be more tying them together than just Isaac. In this intricately woven story told in three parts, award-winning Australian author Will Kostakis makes his American debut with a heartwarming, masterfully written novel about grief, self-discovery and the connections that tie us all together.
The Silver Horse Switch (Horse Crazy #1)
by Alison Lester&“Harvey&’s ink and watercolor pictures cheerily depict life in the bush and capture the personalities of the heroines and their equine friends.&” —Publishers Weekly Bonnie and Sam are best friends who love horses. They befriend the ponies and horses in their Australian town except for one, Drover, who used to be wild. All she dreams about is getting back to the mountains to be free. One evening, when a wild, mountain horse who could be Drover&’s twin comes face to face with the cantankerous, corralled Drover, both horses get their chance at a new life. Illustrated with lively watercolor throughout, this endearing tale is a sure hit. &“Lighthearted easy readers with Harvey&’s appealing watercolor illustrations, these books have instant charm . . . The horses are as vivid and complex as the deftly drawn human characters.&” —Kirkus Reviews
The Slow Evolution of Foster Care in Australia: Just Like A Family? (Palgrave Studies in the History of Childhood)
by Nell Musgrove Deidre MichellThis book draws on archival, oral history and public policy sources to tell a history of foster care in Australia from the nineteenth century to the present day. It is, primarily, a social history which places the voices of people directly touched by foster care at the centre of the story, but also within the wider social and political debates which have shaped foster care across more than a century. The book confronts foster care’s difficult past—death and abuse of foster children, family separation, and a general public apathy towards these issues—but it also acknowledges the resilience of people who have survived a childhood in foster care, and the challenges faced by those who have worked hard to provide good foster homes and to make child welfare systems better. These are themes which the book examines from an Australian perspective, but which often resonate with foster care globally.
The Soft Touch
by Tony CavanaughA gripping short crime story featuring Darian Richards by Australia's bestselling debut crime writer Tony Cavanaugh. Includes previews of his first two full-length novels.[Cavanaugh's debut is] 'as good as Harlan Coben' - Weekend Australian.Darian Richards is a retired homicide investigator. He was one of the best. But chasing monsters eventually took its toll and he quit the force to sit on a jetty on the Noosa River. Or so he planned.After years of service, witnessing the best and the worst of policing, Darian has made up his own mind about justice. Whenever a horrific crime is committed debate rages about the nature of punishment. As far as the law is concerned justice doesn't condone revenge, but tell that to the family of a murder victim or to the woman you can't protect. Darian Richards knows that in the real world, when your hands are tied, sometimes revenge is the only justice.The Soft Touch takes you deep into Darian's past, to the life lessons that made him who he is. He is a man you want looking out for you not looking for you.The Darian Richards SeriesPromiseDead Girl SingThe Soft Touch (Short Story)The Train RiderKingdom of the Strong
The Songlines (Picador Bks.)
by Bruce ChatwinInternational Bestseller: The famed travel writer and author of In Patagonia traverses Australia, exploring Aboriginal culture and song—and humanity&’s origins. Long ago, the creators wandered Australia and sang the landscape into being, naming every rock, tree, and watering hole in the great desert. Those songs were passed down to the Aboriginals, and for centuries they have served not only as a shared heritage but as a living map. Sing the right song, and it can guide you across the desert. Lose the words, and you will die. Into this landscape steps Bruce Chatwin, the greatest travel writer of his generation, who comes to Australia to learn these songs. A born wanderer, whose lust for adventure has carried him to the farthest reaches of the globe, Chatwin is entranced by the cultural heritage of the Aboriginals. As he struggles to find the deepest meaning of these ancient, living songs, he is forced to embark on a much more difficult journey—through his own history—to reckon with the nature of language itself. Part travelogue, part memoir, part novel, The Songlines is one of Bruce Chatwin&’s final—and most ambitious—works. From the author of the bestselling In Patagonia and On the Black Hill, a sweeping exploration of a landscape, a people, and one man&’s history, it is the sort of book that changes the reader forever. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Bruce Chatwin including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author&’s estate.
The South China Sea and Asian Regionalism
by Thanh-Dam Truong Karim KnioThis book offers an innovative approach to the analysis of the current crisis in the South China Sea. Moving beyond the spirit of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the mechanisms of which are limited to physical geography, it demonstrates how epistemological insights from the field of critical realist philosophy can reveal the importance of cultural and structural conditioning processes in social interactions, processes which shape the conditions for the emergence of crisis points along a spectrum of conflict and cooperation. The potential for conflict resolution and the emergence of new regions in Pacific Asia much depends on the nature of such interactions at many levels (political-economic, semiotic and cultural) based on perceptions of what constitutes the "common" versus a Sinicised version of "Lebensraum".
The Southern Frontier: Australia, Antarctica and Empire in the Southern Ocean World
by Rohan HowittAntarctica looms large in the Australian psyche – as a place of science, adventure and peril. Our romantic entanglement with this unique environment is deep and enduring.The Southern Frontier traces Australia&’s Antarctic obsession from its origins in the nineteenth century to the creation of the Australian Antarctic Territory and a permanent national Antarctic program in the 1930s and 1940s. It reconstructs Australian ideas, beliefs and anxieties about the Antarctic and shows how Australians came to imagine their nation as having a natural right – perhaps even a destiny – to explore, exploit and control the world to their south. By examining how and why Australia relentlessly pursued the acquisition of its Antarctic Territory, Rohan Howitt recovers a forgotten way of thinking about this region: as one frontier of an Australian empire stretching from the equator to the South Pole. At a time when the Australian Government is ramping up its investment in Antarctica and geopolitical tensions are on the rise, The Southern Frontier provides the historical explanation for how Australians came to see the world to their south as a natural extension of the nation&’s territory.
The Steps
by Rachel CohnOver Christmas vacation, Annabel goes from her home in Manhattan to visit her father, his new wife, and her half and step-siblings in Sydney, Australia.
The Story of Danny Dunn
by Bryce CourtenayThe Story of Danny Dunn is an Australian family saga centring on a working-class family of publicans who make their first mark in Balmain in the 1930s. In the 1930s, two opportunities existed for boys of Balmain, a working-class Sydney suburb: to be selected into Fort Street Boys School or to excel as a sportsman. At just sixteen years Danny Dunn has everything going for him: brains, looks, sporting aptitude - and luck with the ladies. His parents run The Hero of Mafeking ('Maffos'), the favourite local watering hole, and the whole of Balmain is proud of Danny’s sporting prowess. His mother, though, steers Danny towards a university education; but with just six months of his degree to go he signs up for the AIF, driven by a desire to serve his country and plain wanderlust. Danny serves in south-east Asia, spends three and a half years as a POW, and returns a broken man, embittered and facially disfigured. He has told no one of his return, and as he sails towards the Balmain ferry terminal he knows his life in beloved Balmain will have nothing to do with the life he led before the war, and he is scared and overwhelmed by the need to sort himself out, find out who the hell he is...
The Story of Laulii, Daughter of Samoa: Daughter Of Samoa ... Also A Sketch Of The Life Of Alexander A. Willis
by Laulii WillisThis autobiography of a 19th-century Samoan woman, with a description of the domestic customs, habits, amusements and legends of her native land, is one of the earliest native Samoan narratives.
The Story of Rosy Dock
by Jeannie BakerThe plant rosy dock is not native to Australia. A newcomer who settled in the desert area of central Australia planted it in her garden. After each rare period of rain the desert blossoms, and over the years the seeds of this plant have blown their way across south, central and western Australia. Full-color collage illustrations.
The Struggle for Aboriginal Rights: A documentary history
by Bain Attwood Andrew MarkusThe Struggle for Aboriginal Rights is the first book of its kind. Not only does it tell the history of the political struggle for Aboriginal rights in all parts of Australia; it does so almost entirely through a selection of historical documents created by the Aboriginal campaigners themselves, many of which have never been published. It presents Aboriginal perspectives of their dispossession and their long and continuing fight to overcome this. In charting the story of Aboriginal political activity from its beginnings on Flinders Island in the 1830s to the fight over native title today, this book aims to help Australians better understand both the continuities and the changes in Aboriginal politics over the last 150 years: in the leadership of the Aboriginal political struggle, the objectives of these campaigners for rights for Aborigines, their aspirations, the sources of their programmes for change, their methods of protest, and the outcomes of their protest. Through the words of Aboriginal activists, across 150 years, The Struggle for Aboriginal Rights charts the relationship between political involvement and Aboriginal identity.
The Sydney Opera House
by Peter FitzSimonsIf only these walls and this land could talk . . . The Sydney Opera House is a breathtaking building, recognised around the world as a symbol of modern Australia. Along with the Taj Mahal and other World Heritage sites, it is celebrated for its architectural grandeur and the daring and innovation of its design. It showcases the incomparable talents involved in its conception, construction and performance history. But this stunning house on Bennelong Point also holds many secrets and scandals. In his gripping biography, Peter FitzSimons marvels at how this magnificent building came to be, details its enthralling history and reveals the dramatic stories and hidden secrets about the people whose lives have been affected, both negatively and positively, by its presence. He shares how a conservative 1950s state government had the incredible vision and courage to embark on this nation-defining structure; how an architect from Denmark and construction workers from Australia and abroad invented new techniques to bring it to completion; how ambition, betrayal, professional rivalry, sexual intrigue, murder, bullying and breakdowns are woven into its creation; and how it is now acknowledged as one of the wonders and masterpieces of human ingenuity.
The Tiger Man of Vietnam (Hachette Military Collection)
by Frank WalkerThe Vietnamese hilltribes made him a demi-god. The CIA wanted to kill him. This is the remarkable true story of Australian war hero Barry Petersen.As he flew over South East Asia towards Vietnam, Captain Barry Petersen struggled to keep an aura of calm. Inwardly he was incredibly excited. Aged 28, highly trained, with experience in anti-communist guerilla warfare, he was about to embark on the biggest and most important mission of his life.In 1963, Australian Army Captain Barry Petersen was sent to Vietnam. It was one of the most tightly held secrets of the Vietnam War: long before combat troops set foot there and under the command of the CIA, Petersen was ordered to train and lead guerilla squads of Montagnard tribesmen against the Viet Cong in the remote Central Highlands.Petersen successfully formed a fearsome militia, named 'Tiger Men'. A canny leader, he was courageous in battle, and his bravery saw him awarded the coveted Military Cross, and worshipped by the hill tribes.But his success created enemies, not just within the Viet Cong. Like Marlon Brando's character in 'Apocolyse Now', some in the CIA saw Petersen as having gone native. His refusal, when asked, to turn his Tiger Men into assassins as part of the notorious CIA Phoenix Program only strengthened that belief. The CIA strongly resented anyone who stood in their way. Some in the US intelligence were determined Petersen had to go and he was lucky to make it out of the mountains alive. The Tiger Man of Vietnam reveals the compelling true story of little-known Australian war hero Barry Petersen.'One of those great untold stories and Walker tells it with verve and excitement and, with meticulous attention to detail' - Sydney Morning Herald'Drips with adventure and intrigue and has at its centre a personality boys of all ages will identify with' - The Age'Walker's finely researched book goes beyond the biographical account of an Australian war hero' - Sun Herald'Walker's book about Petersen, The Tiger Man Of Vietnam, is well-crafted and racily written' - Weekend Australian
The Transnational Voices of Australia’s Migrant and Minority Press (Palgrave Studies in the History of the Media)
by Richard Scully Catherine DewhirstThis edited collection invites the reader to enter the diverse worlds of Australia’s migrant and minority communities through the latest research on the contemporary printed press, spanning the mid-nineteenth century to our current day. With a focus on the rare, radical and foreign-language print culture of multiple and frequently concurrent minority groups’ newspaper ventures, this volume has two overarching aims: firstly to demonstrate how the local experiences and narratives of such communities are always forged and negotiated within a context of globalising forces – the global within the local; and secondly to enrich an understanding of the complexity of Australian ‘voices’ through this medium not only as a means for appreciating how the cultural heritage of such communities were sustained, but also for exploring their contributions to the wider society.
The Treasure of Mad Doc Magee
by Elinor TeeleA rip-roaring puzzle box of an adventure about grit, guts, and gold, from Elinor Teele, the acclaimed author of The Mechanical Mind of John Coggin.The small, run-down town of Eden is the only place Jenny Burns has ever called home. The roots of the trees are in her bones, the air of the mountains is in her breath, the lakes and rivers are in her blood. And that’s why, when her father loses his job and tells Jenny that they may have to move on from Eden, she knows she can’t let that happen.The fever of New Zealand’s gold rush still runs in the veins of Eden, and everyone knows the legend of Doc Magee: how he found the largest gold nugget anyone had ever seen and hid it somewhere in the hills before he disappeared.Jenny and her best friend, Pandora, know that if they can find the gold, it’ll solve all their problems. But the way is fraught with mysteries, riddles, and danger—and those are just the threats they know about. Before her quest is over, Jenny will have to face challenges from within as well as from without.
The United Nations and the Indonesian Takeover of West Papua, 1962-1969: The Anatomy of Betrayal
by John SaltfordThis book examines the role of the international community in the handover of the Dutch colony of West Papua/Irian Jaya to Indonesia in the 1960s and questions whether or not the West Papuan people ever genuinely exercised the right to self-determination guaranteed to them in the UN-brokered Dutch/Indonesian agreement of 1962. Indonesian, Dutch, US, Soviet, Australian and British involvement is discussed, but particular emphasis is given to the central part played by the United Nations in the implementation of this agreement. As guarantor, the UN temporarily took over the territory's administration from the Dutch before transferring control to Indonesia in 1963. After five years of Indonesian rule, a UN team returned to West Papua to monitor and endorse a controversial act of self-determination that resulted in a unanimous vote by 1022 Papuan 'representatives' to reject independence. Despite this, the issue is still very much alive today as a crisis-hit Indonesia faces continued armed rebellion and growing calls for freedom in West Papua.
The Venice Biennale and the Asia-Pacific in the Global Art World (Routledge Research in Art Museums and Exhibitions)
by Stephen NaylorThis monograph uses the national pavilions of the Venice Biennale as a vehicle to examine the development of international contemporary art trends within the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia, Japan and Korea and 16 additional national entities who have had less continuous participation in this global art event. Analysing both the spatial and visual representation of contemporary art presented at the Venice Biennale and incorporating the politics behind national selections, this monograph provides insights into a range of important elements of the global art industry. Areas analysed include national cultural trends and strategies, the inversion of the peripheral to the centre stage of the Biennale, geopolitics in gaining exhibition space at the Venice Biennale, curatorial practices for contemporary art presentation and artistic trends that seek to deal with major economic, cultural, religious and environmental issues emerging from non-European art centres. This monograph will be of interest to scholars in art history, museum studies and Asia-Pacific cultural history.
The Victorian Colonial Romance with the Antipodes
by H. BlytheThis study treats the Victorian Antipodes as a compelling site of romance and satire for middle-class writers who went to New Zealand between 1840 and 1872. Blythe's research fits with the rising study of settler colonialism and highlights the intersection of late-Victorian ideas and post-colonial theories.
The Vietnam Years: From the Jungle to the Australian Suburbs
by Michael CaulfieldThe Vietnam War was the longest and most divisive war in our history. Almost 60,000 Australians served and more than 500 were killed. At home, thousands protested against the war and conscription and hundreds were sent to jail. THE VIETNAM YEARS is the story of both sides of that war, from the vicious fighting of the jungle patroles and the bravery shown by so many Australians at the famous Battle of Long Tan, to families back home, ripped apart by confusion and anger. From Vung Tau to Nui Dat, from Bankstown to Broadmeadows, this is a book about Australians and for Australians.
The Vintage and the Gleaning
by Jeremy ChambersSmithy is a retired shearer turned vineyard worker in his autumn years. It is hard graft, but Smithy has always worked with his hands. Physically all but destroyed after a lifetime of hard liquor, but now sober, he begins to see the world with new eyes, a meditative, singular figure in the town's bar on rowdy Friday nights. But clarity can be a curse. Finally confronting his past, overwhelmed by long-buried feelings of regret, nostalgia and loss, Smithy steps in to help a young woman in a desperate situation. A cautious friendship develops, but Charlotte's husband is widely suspected of murder, and Smithy begins to fear that he will pay a high price for his gallantry. Written with an authentic music, and infused with beauty, brutality and sadness The Vintage and the Gleaning is a compelling observation of men, women and country. A remarkably accomplished debut novel.
The Vintage and the Gleaning
by Jeremy ChambersSmithy is a retired shearer turned vineyard worker in his autumn years. It is hard graft, but Smithy has always worked with his hands. Physically all but destroyed after a lifetime of hard liquor, but now sober, he begins to see the world with new eyes, a meditative, singular figure in the town's bar on rowdy Friday nights. But clarity can be a curse. Finally confronting his past, overwhelmed by long-buried feelings of regret, nostalgia and loss, Smithy steps in to help a young woman in a desperate situation. A cautious friendship develops, but Charlotte's husband is widely suspected of murder, and Smithy begins to fear that he will pay a high price for his gallantry. Written with an authentic music, and infused with beauty, brutality and sadness The Vintage and the Gleaning is a compelling observation of men, women and country. A remarkably accomplished debut novel.
The Voice of the Spirits: A Commandant Michel de Palma Investigation
by Xavier-Marie BonnotCommandant Michel de Palma follows an anonymous tip-off to a gated mansion by the coast and finds a body whose face is obscured by a fearsome tribal mask. Beneath it is a mysterious wound that could not have been caused by a bullet. Surrounded by scores of masks and painted skulls, de Palma hears the haunting strains of a primal flute from the floors above. With few leads to go on, de Palma delves into an account of the murdered doctor's voyage to Papua New Guinea seventy years earlier. But when his chief suspect is found dead, killed by the same method as Delorme, he begins to wonder whether the bodies on his hands are not the victims of spirits intent on revenge.