Truth Telling: History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement by Henry Reynolds

$34.99 AUD

Category: Australiana

If we are to take seriously the need for telling the truth about our history, we must start at first principles. What if the sovereignty of the First Nations was recognised by European international law in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries? What if the audacious British annexation of a whole conti nent was not seen as acceptable at the time and the colonial office in Britain understood that 'peaceful settlement' was a fiction? If the 1901 parliament did not have control of the whole continent, particularly the North, by what right could the new nation claim it? The historical record shows that the argument of the Uluru Statement from the Heart is stronger than many people imagine and the centuries-long legal position about British claims to the land far less imposing than it appears. In Truth-Telling, influential historian Henry Reynolds pulls the rug from legal and historical assumptions, with his usual sharp eye and rigour, in a book that's about the present as much as the past. His work shows exactly why our national war memorial must acknowledge the frontier wars, why we must change the date of our national day, and why treaties are important. Most of all, it makes urgently clear that the Uluru Statement is no rhetorical flourish but carries the weight of history and law and gives us a map for the future.   ...Show more

Summertime: Reflections on a Fractured Future by Danielle Celermajer

$24.99 AUD

Category: Australiana

I went and sat alone where Jimmy has been lying. It is way down in the bush. The light is soft, the air and the earth are cool, and the smell is of leaves and the river. I cannot presume to know what he is doing when he lies here, but it seems that he is taking himself back to an ecology not wrought by the terror of the fires, not fuelled by our violence on the earth. He is letting another earth heal him. Philosopher Danielle Celermajer's story of Jimmy the pig caught the world's attention during the Black Summer of 2019-20. Gathered here is that story and others written in the shadow of the bushfires that ravaged Australia. In the midst of the death and grief of animals, humans, trees and ecologies Celermajer asks us to look around - really look around - to become present to all beings who are living and dying through the loss of our shared home. At once a howl in the forest and an elegy for a country's soul, these reflections are lyrical, profound and heartbreaking. ...Show more

Aussie Anecdotes by TUCKER TREVOR

$32.99 AUD

Category: Australiana

The Rock: Looking into Australia's 'Heart of Darkness' from the Edge of Its Wild Frontier by Aaron Smith

$29.99 AUD

Category: Australiana

Journalist Aaron Smith's new memoir holds up a unique mirror to Australia. What he sees is at once amazing, disturbing and revealing. The Rock explores the failings of our nation's character, its unresolved past and its uncertain future from the vantage point of its most northerly outpost, Thursday Isla nd.Smith was the last editor, fearless journalist and the paperboy of Australia's most northerly newspaper, The Torres News, a small independent regional tabloid that, until it folded in late 2019, was the voice of a predominantly Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal readership for 63 years across some of the most remote and little understood communities in Australia. The Rock is a story of self-discovery where Smith grapples to understand a national identity marred by its racist underbelly, where he is transplanted from his white-boy privileged suburban life to being a racial and cultural minority, and an outsider. Peppered with his experiences, Smith gradually and sensitively becomes embedded in island life while vividly capturing the endless and often farcical parade of personalities and politicians including Scott Morrison and Tony Abbott.Smith pulls no punches while he reflects on the history of Terra Australis incognita, dissecting what is truly Australia, and its gaping cultural and moral divide.'A credit to regional journalism, Aaron carried on the fine tradition of The Torres News holding governments to account and telling stories of everyday life in the Straits, never shying away from controversies, lifting all the rocks and even out foxing Prime Minister Tony Abbott on his visit to Mabo's grave.' Stefan Armbruster, SBS ...Show more

What Ever Happened to Ned Kelly's Head? by Eamon Evans

$29.99 AUD

Category: Australiana

Culture Is Life: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in Modern Australia by Wayne Quilliam

$39.99 AUD

Category: Australiana

Culture is Life is a modern, photographic celebration of the diversity of Indigenous Australians. In the same way that Humans of New York offered interesting life stories to give context to images of everyday New Yorkers, pre-eminent photographer Wayne Quilliam has collected over 500 images and intervie ws with Indigenous people across the country. His work explores the nuances of Indigenous thinking and identity, and focuses on how the First peoples view their place within the contemporary culture of Australia. The people featured in this book include many high-profile Indigenous Australians, as well as community members of different ages from Tasmania to the Torres Strait, offering insights into the dreams of youth and the reflections of Elders. With a short quote sitting next to each image, this book is an accessible gateway to better understand and appreciate the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, presented as a stunning and contemporary photo book.     ...Show more

Return to Uluru by Mark McKenna

$34.99 AUD

Category: Australiana

A killing. A hidden history. A story that goes to the heart of the nation. When Mark McKenna set out to write a history of the centre of Australia, he had no idea what he would discover. One event in 1934 - the shooting at Uluru of Aboriginal man Yokunnuna by white policeman Bill McKinnon, and subseque nt Commonwealth inquiry - stood out as a mirror of racial politics in the Northern Territory at the time. But then, through speaking with the families of both killer and victim, McKenna unearthed new evidence that transformed the historical record and the meaning of the event for today. As he explains, 'Every thread of the story connected to the present in surprising ways.' In a sequence of powerful revelations, McKenna explores what truth-telling and reconciliation look like in practice. Return to Uluru brings a cold case to life. It speaks directly to the Black Lives Matter movement, but is completely Australian. Recalling Chloe Hooper's The Tall Man, it is superbly written, moving, and full of astonishing, unexpected twists. Ultimately it is a story of recognition and return, which goes to the very heart of the country. At the centre of it all is Uluru, the sacred site where paths fatefully converged. 'Mark McKenna has exposed the wounded heart of Australia. Never has a history of our country so assumed the power of sacred myth. Return to Uluru is a spellbinding story of death and resurrection that is Australian to its core.' --James Boyce 'Mark McKenna sets the highest standard for truth-telling of the kind that Australians so urgently need if they are to live in this country with honour. I feel sure that this book will become an Australian classic, not the first of its kind, but certainly the most powerful narrative I have read of frontier injustice and its resonance in our lives today.' --Marcia Langton ...Show more

Argyle: The Impossible Story of Australian Diamonds by Stuart Kells

$34.99 AUD

Category: Australiana

'Fascinating and lucid ... a valuable insight into an industry once widely praised but now undervalued by a nation that relies on it so strongly.' GEOFFREY BLAINEY The remote Kimberley region of Western Australia has a rich history and unique geography. In the 1960s De Beers, the world's largest diamo nd company, sent gem-hunters to the area but they came away empty-handed. It was a vast region to survey, and they'd overlooked something vital. A few years later, a team of Australian geologists with a tiny budget searched for even tinier mineral clues. Those clues led them to the earth's largest diamond deposit and the world's richest source of rare pink diamonds. Based on in-depth research and interviews-including with Alan King Jones, Bill Leslie and 'the father of Australian diamonds', Ewen Tyler-Argyle- The Impossible Story of Australian Diamonds details the almost overwhelming challenges with realising a diamond mining venture in Australia, shows how these obstacles were overcome, and explores the mine's impact and legacy. ...Show more

Landscapes of Our Hearts by Matthew Colloff

$34.99 AUD

Category: Australiana

On this ancient continent, waves of people have made their mark on the landscape; in turn, it too has shaped them. If we look afresh at our history through the land we live on, might Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians find a path to a shared future? An epic exploration of our relationship with th is country, Landscapes of Our Hearts takes us from the Great Barrier Reef to the Central Desert, the High Country to Canberra's Limestone Plains. It is a book of hope and offers the possibility that a renewed connection to the landscape and to each other could pave the way towards reconciliation. It will change the way you see this land.     ...Show more

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

Due North: An Expedition Through Australia from Tasmania to the Gulf by James Viles

$39.99 AUD

Category: Australiana

An Australian food adventure, from the stark beauty of Tasmania due north through red earth to the Gulf of Carpentaria. This is award-winning chef James Viles' photographic journal of his road trip due north, from Tasmania to the Gulf of Carpentaria. His focus is real food, where it comes from, how it' s grown, tended and harvested, and how it sometimes flourishes in the most hostile and breathtakingly beautiful parts of Australia. James describes the people he meets along the road and the conversations he has with foragers, food producers, fishermen, tribal elders, local farmers, all of whom are knowledgeable and passionate about Australia and Australian ingredients. James also discovers that sleeping in a swag under the stars reminds him about what matters and reconnects him to his creative self. With exquisite imagery from Adam Gibson, this is an extraordinary portrait of a country.  ...Show more

Australia 2020 Betoota Advocate by The Betoota Advocate

$32.99 AUD

Category: Australiana

From the heart of the Western Queensland Channel Country, Australia's oldest and favourite newspaper details our country's very rocky start to a new decade that was supposed to be one of great optimism and innovation. 2020 was meant to be our year of healing. A time to tend to the wounds of a country t orn asunder by a decade of divisive political and media debates. A lack of confidence in the international sporting arena. A 24-hour news cycle that has destroyed the pub test.We thought all of the uncertainty was behind us. The federal election delivered us Scotty from Marketing. The Quiet Australian spoke up. Gay marriage? Yep. Climate change? Let's wait and see what happens. Smudge and Warner had served their time and, together as a nation, it was time to rebuild.But fate had other plans, starting with the worst bushfires in human memory. While large swathes of the country burned, our politicians were either on holidays or giving their mates grants to build indoor pools in blue-ribbon seats. Surely, it couldn't get worse. 'ken oath it could. Mother nature arrived as COVID-19, and told us all to go to our rooms.   ...Show more