Back Roads: The Scenic Route by Heather Ewart

$39.99 AUD

Category: Australiana

 From the ABC Back Roads team, Australia's inspiring rural communities in splendid, vivid colour During the five years it has been appearing on our screens, ABC TV's Back Roads has taken us across Australia, through scorched deserts, along sapphire coasts, up breathtaking mountains and over gentle, rolling plains. It has shown us the rugged landscapes, the resilient communities and the extraordinary individuals who make a life in those areas outside the big cities. In this book, we capture in vivid colour some of our favourite people and places. Full of glorious photos that show us the spirit, purpose, difficulties and humour of outback life, this book is a tribute to the surprising characters, the rarely told stories and the sometimes beautiful, sometimes strange places that exist along the back roads of our extraordinary country. ...Show more

Western Australia As You've Never Seen It by Jim Ward (Illustrator)

$19.99 AUD

Category: Australiana

Naive illustrations and verses describing well-known tourist attractions in Western Australia

The Beach by Brian Simmonds

$35.00 AUD

Category: Australiana

For many Australians, the beach is the place where summer weekends begin and end, where meditative winter walks provide sanctuary from the hustle and bustle, and where families, friends and lovers gather to picnic, watch the sunset or walk the dog. In The Beach, award-winning artist Brian Simmonds explo res the beauty and diversity of our coastline, and its role in Australian life. Simmonds's evocative pastel and pencil illustrations, accompanied by poetry and prose from well-known Australian writers, makes for the perfect gift book for locals and tourists alike. ...Show more

Many Maps - Charting Two Cultures: First Nations Australians and European Settlers in Western Australia by Bill Bunbury; Jenny Bunbury

$29.99 AUD

Category: Australiana

The title Many Maps, Charting Two Cultures, looks at the way two contrasting societies often misunderstood each other in the western third of Australia. Maps can be drawn and interpreted in different ways. It is possible to map a path through life, find a way through a forest, traverse a desert or chart a sense of self and guide one's relationship to the natural world. Australia's First Nations mapped their world in terms of a spiritual and environmental relationship to country and an animate sense of being. The maps in European heads often explored ways to obtain wealth from the Australian earth.  Many Maps traces both misunderstandings, and sometimes sensitive understandings of land and culture in a continent that we both inhabit. ...Show more

Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe

$22.99 AUD

Category: Australiana

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 sugg ests that systems of food production and land management have been blatantly understated in modern retellings of early Aboriginal history, and that a new look at Australia's past is required. ...Show more

Aussie Anecdotes by TUCKER TREVOR

$32.99 AUD

Category: Australiana

Golden Daze (Australian Surfing Then to Now) by Sean Doherty

$45.00 AUD

Category: Australiana

Australia's best surf writer brings to life the wild, bold, brave story of Australian surfing from the 60s to the present through the stories of Surfing Australia's Hall of Fame surfers and contemporary surfing legends. Golden Daze is a compelling memoir of Australian surfing through a year in the life of Australia's top surfers. Starting in 1963, renowned surfing journalist Sean Doherty charts the history of surfing through the stories of Surfing Australia's Hall of Fame inductees. Taking a year and a surfer at a time, he will reveal what they did, where they surfed and their life events in fascinating depth and detail. Illustrated with unpublished images from the surfers' private collections, these stories also give a vivid sense of the shifting world around them, particularly in the ever-changing realm of surfing. Golden Daze opens in 1963 with Peter Troy jumping ship in Melbourne with a surfboard under his arm, embarking on his fabled surfing odyssey that saw him introducing surfing to Brazil, being crowned European champion, hitching alone across the Kalahari Desert and watching an unknown band from Liverpool called the Beatles. 1964 is Midget Farrelly's story of winning the first world title on home sand at Manly Beach. In 1969 Wayne Lynch goes down the coast, avoiding the Vietnam draft. And in 1971, Alby Falzon stumbles upon the island of Bali while shooting his humble surf movie Morning of the Earth. The book brings to life the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and noughties through the eyes of the Australian surfers who defined them best, ending today with stories of potential Hall of Famers, contemporary stars like Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson and Tyler Wright. Part journal, part biography, part surf culture memoir, Golden Daze gives a fascinating insight into Australian surfing and what makes it so unique. ...Show more

The Flying Kangaroo by Qantas

$49.99 AUD

Category: Australiana

No symbol better conveys the intrepid spirit of Australia than the flying kangaroo. Whether it's glimpsed on a red-eye flight to an interstate business meeting, before leaving for adventure or holidays, or when longing to return home, that sweep of red defines air travel in Australia. Qantas has always been about connection. It began by connecting Australians across western Queensland's unforgiving terrain, and before long was connecting Australia with the world. Qantas's history is entwined with Australian identity, launching in the aftermath of World War I and the Spanish Flu, and soaring to match Australian ambitions in the one hundred years since. Its centenary year has been the most turbulent year yet, with a pandemic grounding virtually the entire fleet and Qantas coming to the rescue of Australians stranded overseas. Like Australia, Qantas will soar again. The Flying Kangaroo features never-before-seen photographs and historical detail from Qantas's archives, celebrating a century of Australian aviation and a nation that always reaches for the sky. ...Show more

Living on Stolen Land by Kwaymullina, Ambelin

$22.99 AUD

Category: Australiana

You are on Indigenous lands, swimming in Indigenous waters, looking up at Indigenous skies. Living on Stolen Land is a verse-styled look at our colonial-settler ‘present’. This book is the first of its kind to address and educate a broad audience about the colonial contextual history of Au stralia, in a highly original way. It pulls apart the myths at the heart of our nationhood, and challenges Australia to come to terms with its own past and its place within and on ‘Indigenous Countries’. This title speaks to many First Nations’ truths — stolen lands, sovereignties, time, decolonisation, First Nations perspectives, systemic bias and other constructs that inform our present discussions and ever-expanding understanding. This title is a timely, thought-provoking and accessible read. ...Show more

Wild Nature: Walking Australia's South East Forests by John Blay

$39.99 AUD

Category: Australiana

An epic journey of discovery into the heart of a vast and contested Australian wilderness. John Blay laces up his walking boots and goes bush to explore Australia’s rugged south east forests – stretching from Canberra to the coast and on to Wilsons Promontory – in a great circle from h is one-time home near Bermagui. In Wild Nature, the bestselling author of On Track charts the forests’ shared history, their natural history, the forest wars, the establishment of the South East Forests National Park and the threats that continue to dog their existence, including devastating bushfires. Along the way Blay asks the big questions. What do we really know about these wild forests? How did the forests come to be the way they are? What is the importance of wild nature to our civilisation?'...As well as being a story of 'spiritual regeneration', it’s also very much about the decades long 'war' between the forest industry and Aboriginal custodians and environmentalists, and about the history of this region. Reading Wild Nature is itself a deep immersion experience in the teeming tapestry of these wild places and what connects us with them.' — Fiona Capp, The Sydney Morning Herald 'This is a beautiful and enchanting book. John Blay is a superb walking companion – a naturalist, historian and philosopher whose writing glows with wit, wisdom and wonder. I savoured every word and relished every step. Wild Nature is a journal of meditation, observation and exploration, and a delicate natural and human history of the south east forests. What is nature, and how do we value it today? How did we save these special places and how might we lose them? Pick up this book and set foot in another world, a wild one nested within our own.' — Tom Griffiths ‘A brilliant natural history of the south east forests. Blay brings a lifetime of experience, knowledge and passion to every walk.’ — Inga Simpson, author of Nest, Where the Trees Were and Understory ‘Moving and vividly told. John Blay’s Wild Nature is a book like no other, written on the soles of his boots and in the wildness of his heart. At once personal, historical and political, it bears witness to the majesty and fragility of a unique Australian environment.’ — Mark McKenna ‘It’s a wonderful relief to read the work of others who are closely attached to forests and to landscapes – the kinds of books like this one written by John Blay are such an important part of the natural identity of this wonderful continent.’ — David Lindenmayer, Climate Change Institute ...Show more

Songlines - The Power and Promise by Margo Neale; Lynne Kelly

$19.99 AUD

Category: Australiana | Series: First Knowledges Ser.

'Let this series begin the discussion.' - Bruce Pascoe 'An act of intellectual reconciliation.' - Lynette Russell.  Songlines are an archive for powerful knowledges that ensured Australia's many Indigenous cultures flourished for over 60,000 years. Much more than a navigational path in the cartogra phic sense, these vast and robust stores of information are encoded through song, story, dance, art and ceremony, rather than simply recorded in writing. Weaving deeply personal storytelling with extensive research on mnemonics, Songlines offers unique insights into Indigenous traditional knowledges, how they apply today and how they could help all peoples thrive into the future. This book invites readers to understand a remarkable way for storing knowledge in memory by adapting song, art, and most importantly, Country, into their lives.  About the series:The First Knowedges books are co-authored by Indigenous and non-Indigenous writers; the series is edited by Margo Neale, senior Indigenous curator at the National Museum of Australia.  ...Show more

Tell Me Why: The Story of My Life and My Music by Archie Roach

$32.99 AUD

Category: Biography

A powerful memoir of a true Australian legend: stolen child, musical and lyrical genius, and leader. Not many have lived as many lives as Archie Roach - stolen child, seeker, teenage alcoholic, lover, father, musical and lyrical genius, and leader - but it took him almost a lifetime to find out who he r eally was. Roach was only two years old when he was forcibly removed from his family. Brought up by a series of foster parents until his early teens, his world imploded when he received a letter that spoke of a life he had no memory of. In this intimate, moving and often shocking memoir, Archie's story is an extraordinary odyssey through love and heartbreak, family and community, survival and renewal - and the healing power of music. Overcoming enormous odds to find his story and his people, Archie voices the joy, pain and hope he found on his path through song to become the legendary singer-songwriter and storyteller that he is today - beloved by fans worldwide. Tell Me Why is a stunning account of resilience and the strength of spirit - and of a great love story. Winner of the 2020 Indie Book of the Year Non-Fiction Shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, Non-Fiction Archie Roach is the 2020 VIC Australian of the Year 'Just like his early songs, Tell Me Why was written with empathy as its impetus and that intent shines through on every page. This is a phenomenal work by one of the most articulate and recognisable members of the Stolen Generations. It will be read, studied and discussed for many years to come.' The Australian 'Beautiful, gut-wrenching and compelling memoir' Sydney Morning Herald 'Archie's deeply resonant voice sings out - of a broken country and a life renewed. The voice of Australia.' Daniel Browning, ABC journalist and producer 'Roach is honest and humble in his oft-heartbreaking retelling of his search for identity, belonging and purpose' Courier Mail 'Best book of 2019: Tell Me Why by Archie Roach, a beautifully written autobiography that captures one of the most remarkable lives in Australian music' Weekend Australian ...Show more