Australian History

Our heroes can come from the most ordinary of places. As a shy lad growing up in country Victoria, no one in the district had any idea the man Albert Jacka would become. Albert 'Bert' Jacka was 21 when Britain declared war on Germany in August 1914. Bert soon enlisted in the Australian Imperial...

Have you ever wondered how the world got to where it is today? Get ready to discover the rich history of our planet. You will be astonished to learn about some of the events that have occurred! Subjects include: Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, The Roman Empire, Constantine and Christianity, India, Ancient Korea, Chinese Dynasties, Napoleonic Europe, Foundation of USA, The 1812 War, Australia and Wars, World War I, World War II, The Ottoman Empire, Greece and North Africa, The Diem Regime, Pearl Harbor, and much more!

The “king of hardcore action” (Brad Thor, New York Times bestselling author) and New York Times and #1 international bestselling author weaves a breathless thriller starring Jack West, Jr. that’s “a clever mix of history, mythology, and geography” (Associated Press). A shadow world...

The greatest escape story of Australian colonial history by the son of Australia's best-loved storyteller. In 1823, cockney sailor and chancer James Porter was convicted of stealing a stack of beaver furs and transported halfway around the world to Van Diemen's Land, before being sent to Sarah Island. Many had tried to escape Sarah Island; few had succeeded. But when Governor George Arthur announced that the place would be closed and its prisoners moved to the new penal station of Port Arthur, Porter, along with a motley crew of other prisoners, pulled off an audacious escape.

Great Australian Aviation Stories is a collection of dramatic true stories and colourful accounts of our fascinating aviation history. These stories also show the "human" side of aviation...how it changed the lives of ordinary people, workers, and travellers. Included are amazing stories of history-making flights by Kingsford Smith and Ross and Keith Smith, and accounts of the exploits of Bert Hinkler, Amy Johnson, Nancy Bird, and our early outback aviation pioneers.

Mark Webber was at the centre of one of the most captivating chapters in the history of Formula One. In 2010, while racing for Red Bull, he and his teammate, Sebastian Vettel, went head to head for the World Championship. There could be only one winner. Since retiring from Formula One, Mark has concentrated on endurance racing, including the legendary Le Mans 24-hour race.

For the 10 years after 1902, when Australia’s suffrage campaigners won the vote for white women, the world looked to this trailblazing young democracy for inspiration. Clare Wright’s epic new history tells the story of that victory - and of Australia’s role at the forefront of the subsequent international struggle - through the eyes of five remarkable players: the redoubtable Vida Goldstein, flamboyant Nellie Martel, indomitable Dora Montefiore, daring Muriel Matters and self-effacing artist Dora Meeson Coates....

From beyond the black stump to the Australian Alps; in schools on stations, missions, mines and over the air, it takes a special kind of person to be an outback teacher. Master storyteller Bill 'Swampy' Marsh has travelled the width and breadth of Australia to bring together yet another memorable collection of stories. This time he has met with many of our extraordinary outback teachers and their students whose recollections so perfectly capture those special days of growing up in the bush.

Criminality, some say, is part of Australia's national identity, and in Great Australian Rascals, Rogues and Ratbags Jim Haynes profiles 15 larger-than-life Aussie rogues. These stories uncover the truth and expose the myths about characters ranging from the most despicable examples of humanity, to those whose courage has to be admired and whose so-called 'crimes' were unjustly punished. Told with Haynes's inimitable combination of history and humour, Great Australian Rascals, Rogues and Ratbags is packed with murders, mystery and miscreants.

The story of Australia's last bushranging gang - the murderous Kenniffs. Easter Sunday, 1902, deep in the Carnarvon Ranges a police constable and station manager are slain then later incinerated, their remains stuffed into saddlebags. Accused of the ghoulish crime are two members of the...

Forget the bunny trail. E. Aster Bunnymund is on a warpath. In this second chapter book in Academy Award winner William Joyce’s The Guardians series, sometimes you have to crack a few eggs. Pitch, the Nightmare King, and his Fearlings had been soundly driven back by Nicholas St. North and...

Winner of the 2020 Miles Franklin Literary Award and 2021 Kate Challis RAKA Award! ""A beautifully written novel that puts language at the heart of remembering the past and understanding the present.""—Kate Morton “A groundbreaking novel for black and white Australia.”—Richard Flanagan...

Given their stellar legacy, it is little surprise that ANZAC soldiers were used by the British Empire for the several decades, most notably in World War II, ensuring that even after the British Empire declined, the Australian and New Zealand troops’ contributions to the Commonwealth remain a source of pride.

From the bravery of Australia's sailors to the great age of rail, the resilience of the truckers crossing the Nullarbor to the daring aviation pioneers who turned the skies into a new frontier, Great Australian Odysseys is a rich tapestry of adventure and ingenuity, with a good dose of Aussie laughs. Journey through tales of hardy truckers braving isolation, mechanical mishaps and political battles. Navigate the high seas with our first submariners' record-breaking journeys and daring rescues...

The little boat with a big past: the fight to save one of the most important artefacts of Australian military history. For many years, thousands of people have walked past an unassuming black timber fishing boat bobbing in the water down at the wharves of Sydney's Darling Harbour. But...

A land of almost 3 million square miles has lain since time immemorial on the southern flank of the planet, so isolated that it remained almost entirely outside of European knowledge until 1770. From there, however, the subjugation of Australia would take place rapidly. Within 20 years of the first British settlements being established, the British presence in Terra Australis was secure, and no other major power was likely to mount a challenge. In 1815, Napoleon would be defeated at Waterloo, and soon afterwards would be standing on the barren cliffs of Saint Helena.

A land of almost 3 million square miles has lain since time immemorial on the southern flank of the planet, so isolated that it remained entirely outside of European knowledge until 1770. However, the first human footprints on this vast territory were felt 70,000 years earlier. The history of the indigenous inhabitants of Australia is a complex. For generations after the arrival of whites in Australia, the Aboriginal people were disregarded and marginalized, largely because they offered little in the way of a labor resource, and they occupied land required for European settlement.

2022 LA TIMES BOOK PRIZE FINALIST AND INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER A Phenomenal Book Club Pick! For fans of Everything I Never Told You and The Mothers, a deeply moving and unflinching debut following a young Vietnamese-Australian woman who returns home to her family in the wake of her brother’s...

With a Foreword by Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe Available once again for a new generation, the first volume in Arthur Ashe’s epic trilogy that chronicles the remarkable legacy of Black athletes in the United States—a major addition to our understanding of American history and the fulfillment of...

The award-winning author of modern classics such as Schindler’s List and Napoleon’s Last Island is at his triumphant best with this “engrossing and transporting” (Financial Times) novel about the adventures of Charles Dickens’s son in the Australian Outback during the 1860s. Edward...