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Ghost Platoon (Hachette Military Collection #1)
by Frank Walker'thoroughly researched and compelling . . . a chilling account' - The Sun HeraldAn eye-opening account of Australian combat history, untold . . . until now.In 1969 a ragtag unit of 39 men were thrown together at Nui Dat, Vietnam. It was so slapdash a group it didn't even have an officer or sergeant in charge. A rugged ex-Royal Marine stepped forward to take the lead. Jim Riddle was only an acting corporal but he knew enough of war to keep these young diggers alive.When the platoon was involved in a high-risk ambush Riddle proved his leadership skills, bringing his men through unscathed and leaving the battlefield littered with enemy bodies.Despite their success, immediately afterwards the platoon was disbanded. According to the army they'd never existed – theirs was a ghost platoon.Frank Walker details what happened at that ambush and why the army buried their existence, and the secrets that went with it. His findings are a shocking indictment of the long-term effects of war. The men of the platoon – who'd fought so hard for their country – had to fight again to reveal the truth. But the price they all paid was far too high.Ghost Platoon is a gripping story of the soldiers who should never be forgotten . . . or denied.
Bumper: The Life And Times Of Frank 'bumper' Farrell
by Larry WriterThe sprawling saga of legendary Australian cop, Bumper Farrell, the most feared and revered policeman in Australia's history.Frank 'Bumper' Farrell was the roughest, toughest street cop and vice-squad leader Australia has ever seen. Strong as a bull, with cauliflowered ears and fists like hams, Bumper's beat from 1938 to 1976 was the most lawless in the land - the mean streets of Kings Cross and inner Sydney. His adversaries were such notorious criminals as Abe Saffron, Lennie McPherson, Tilly Devine and Kate Leigh and their gangs as well as the hooligans, sly groggers, SP bookies, pimps and spivs.Criminals knew just where they stood: he would catch them, he would hurt them, and then he would lock them away. He was a legendary Rugby League player for Newtown, and represented Australia against England and New Zealand.Here's Bumper Farrell in brutal, passionate and hilarious action . . . saving Ita Buttrose from a stalker; sparking a national scandal when accused of biting off a rival player's ear; beating Lennie McPherson so severely the hard man cried; single-handedly fighting a mob of gangsters in Kings Cross and winning; terrorising the hoons who harassed the prostitutes in the brothel lanes by driving over the top of them; commandeering the police launch to take him home to his beach home, diving overboard in full uniform and catching a wave to shore; dispensing kindness and charity to the poor.Bumper Farrell: lawman, sportsman, larrikin . . . legend.'fascinating . . . [a] fine biography' SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
HMAS Sydney
by Tom FrameThe complete and authoritative account of the sinking of the HMAS Sydney, and the recent finding of her wreck.On 19 November 1941, the pride of the Australian Navy, the light cruiser Sydney, fought a close-quarters battle with the German armed raider HSK Kormoran off Carnarvon on the West Australian coast. Both ships sank – and not one of the 645 men on board the Sydney survived. Was Sydney’s captain guilty of negligence by allowing his ship to manoeuvre within range of Kormoran’s guns? Did the Germans feign surrender before firing a torpedo at the Sydney as she prepared to despatch a boarding party? This updated edition covers the recent discovery of the wreck – with the light this sheds on the events of that day 67 years ago, and the closure it has brought to so many grieving families. ‘Tom Frame has produced the most comprehensive and compelling account of the loss of HMAS Sydney to date. His judgements are fair and his conclusions reasoned. If you only read one book on this tragic event in Australian naval history, and want all the facts and theories presented in a balanced way, Tom Frame’s book is for you’ - Vice Admiral Russ Shalders AO CSC RANR Chief of Navy, 2005-08.
Promise: Promise And Dead Girl Rising (The Darian Richards Series #1)
by Tony CavanaughAn Australian crime thriller 'as good as Harlan Coben' - Weekend Australian.A serial killer is stalking the Sunshine Coast. Girls have vanished. All blonde and pretty. Ex homicide investigator Darian Richards knows they are dead even though the cops keep saying 'missing'. That's what you have to say if you don't have a body.Jenny Brown was the first. The local cops said runaway. Then others disappeared. They couldn't all be runaways.This killer knows how to stay under the radar, how to hide in plain sight. He knows how to hunt, hurt and kill. Darian has seen evil like him before and knows what it takes to make it stop. He'll make sure the killer gets what he deserves... and that's a promise. A devastatingly brilliant crime novel that gives us a horrifying glimpse into the mind of a diabolical killer and introduces us to one of the most complex and uncompromising heroes since Harry Bosch.Tony Cavanaugh is an Australian writer and producer of film and television with over thirty years' experience in the industry. His new novel, Dead Girl Sing also features former cop Darian Richards and is on sale now.'Never relinquishes its hold on your nerves' - Canberra Times'Couldn't stop reading it. One of the freshest and most well-written novels I've come across this year' - Graeme Blundell, crime reviewer, The Australian 'The best thing about this book is that it looks like there will be a second one' - Australian Bookseller & Publisher'Compulsive reading, Promise itself is more menacing, more disturbing and much more confronting than any other crime thriller on the shelves. It is brutal. It is terrifying. It is a brilliant book' - Rob Monshull, Weekends Producer, ABCThe Darian Richards SeriesPromiseDead Girl SingThe Soft Touch (Short Story)The Train RiderKingdom of the Strong
Dead Girl Sing (The Darian Richards Series #2)
by Tony Cavanaugh'One of the most complex and uncompromising heroes since Harry Bosch' - Weekend AustralianWorld-class crime writing from a brilliant Australian author.Darian Richards knew he should have let the phone keep ringing. But more than two decades as a cop leaves you with a certain outlook on life. No matter how much he tried to walk away, something, or someone, kept bringing him back to his gun.One phone call. Two dead girls in a shallow water grave. And a missing cop to deal with. Something bad is happening on the Gold Coast glitter strip. Amongst the thousands of schoolies and the usual suspects, someone is preying on beautiful young women. No one has noticed. No one knows why.Darian looked into the eyes of those two dead girls. The last person to do that was their killer. He can't walk away. He will find out why.Tony Cavanaugh is an Australian writer and producer of film and television with over thirty years' experience in the industry. Dead Girl Sing is his second book featuring former cop Darian Richards and follows on from the acclaimed crime thriller Promise.The Darian Richards SeriesPromiseDead Girl SingThe Soft Touch (Short Story)The Train RiderKingdom of the Strong
Hell on Earth: Sandakan - Australia's greatest war tragedy
by Michele CunninghamThe heart-rending story of the Australians brutally imprisoned in Sandakan, the Japanese POW camp in North Borneo, whose very name came to symbolise cruelty and ill-treatment.In mid-1942, after the fall of Singapore, almost three thousand Allied prisoners of war were taken by the Japanese from Changi to Sandakan. Of those, 2500 lost their lives.Men died at Sandakan and on the infamous death marches: they died from sickness and starvation, torture and appalling violence, or were killed by the guards as they were forced to keep moving along a seemingly never-ending track. Only six Australians survived the death marches, out of the thousand who left ...Michele Cunningham's father was one of those who survived Sandakan, and then Kuching. Through the mateship and common bond of the survivors, she has had access to their stories, and here she gives an account of these courageous men – those who refused to break no matter how badly they were treated; and those brave men who didn't make it. And it is the story of the depths to which the Japanese sank.Hell on Earth is a remarkable story of bravery, brutality, mateship and survival.
Outback Survival
by Bob CooperOutback Survival is a timeless, practical run down on everything you need to know to survive in the outback.Bob Cooper's incredible bushcraft skills have been developed through more than 25 years of experience in Australia's harsh outback. He has picked up tools of survival from the experiences of living with traditional Aboriginal communities, instructing with Special Forces Units, lecturing with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Service on desert survival in the Mexican Desert, delivering wilderness lessons in the UK and learning the skills of the bushmen of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana.Bob has put his own lessons to the test, dropping himself off in the 42C heat of the Australian desert with only a map and soap box sized survival kit, no food, water or sleeping gear, and a 10 day walk across 160km of rough terrain back to safety. He did this alone and showed that with the right knowledge of the land, you can survive in even the harshest of conditions.The outback of Australia is one of the most unforgiving regions of the world, but Bob is committed to protecting and enhancing the experience people have when venturing out into the bush.
SAS Insider: An elite SAS fighter on life in Australia's toughest and most secretive combat unit (Hachette Military Collection #3)
by Clint Palmer Robert MacklinThe true story of Australia's SAS and the soldier who was there from the start.Clint Palmer has spent much of his adult life in the SAS and has fought in this elite military unit as it developed from its fledgling beginnings into the highly trained, specialised fighting force it is today. He is an insider with the long view and this is his unique story of life in the SAS.As a bush kid in the Northern Territory of Australia, growing up in a one dog mining town, Palmer's best friends were mostly Aboriginal kids, and the outside world barely existed. But he always had one driving ambition - the army. Enduring the toughest of tough training, Palmer soon demonstrated his fighting capabilities and became part of the Australian SAS. So began almost thirty years of service.We go with him to Iraq and Afghanistan, where he is at the heart of some of the worst fighting in Operation Anaconda in the Shahi-Kot Valley in 2002. He lets us in on what it's like to have made well over a thousand parachute jumps, many of them in terrible conditions and into treacherous terrain which may have ended not just his career but his life. And he shares with us how this adrenalin fuelled world has become a lifelong commitment.Palmer is the man who knows the Regiment almost better than anyone, so SAS Insider really is the inside story of the SAS - and a gripping account of one Australian soldier's life at the sharp end.Robert Macklin is a well-known Australian biographer and historian with more than twenty books to his credit. His most recent books include One False Move, Dark Paradise and the bestselling SAS Sniper which he co-wrote with Rob Maylor.
Flinders: The Man Who Mapped Australia
by Rob MundleThe fascinating story of the exceptional maritime explorer, Matthew Flinders - the man who put Australia on the map.Shipwrecks, storms, death and danger - Matthew Flinders encountered it all on his courageous quest to circumnavigate and chart the treacherous Terra Australis coastline.From the drama of epic voyages and devastating shipwrecks; his part in the naming of Australia; his cruel imprisonment by the French on Mauritius for six long and harrowing years; the heartbreaking separation from his beloved wife; and the comfort he got from his loyal cat, Trim; to his tragic death at just forty.This is a gripping adventure biography that details the life of Flinders, a true hero whose name is forever woven into the fabric of Australian history.
Redback One: The true story of an Australian SAS hero (Hachette Military Collection)
by Robert MacklinExplosive SAS action in East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan.The command came: 'Stop those vehicles!'It was like a red rag to a bull. Instantly streams of 7.62 mm tracer and 50 mm calibre machine gun rounds arced across the night sky and smashed into the bus and truck.Elite SAS Patrol Commander Stuart 'Nev' Bonner takes us inside the extraordinary and dangerous world of secret combat operations in this explosive, behind-the-scenes look at life inside the SAS. A world where capture means torture or death, and every move is trained for with precision detail to bring elite soldiers to the very peak of fighting ability.In a career spanning twenty years, fourteen of them in the SAS, Bonner shares with us the inside story of being out in front – and often behind enemy lines.From patrolling the mountains of East Timor to covert operations in Bougainville and the Solomon Islands, from sweeping into the Iraqi desert ahead of invading US forces to cripple Saddam Hussein's communications to patrolling in war-torn Baghdad and being in the middle of the disastrous Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan – this is a no holds barred account of what it like to live, eat and breathe SAS.
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 Train Rider (The Darian Richards Series #3)
by Tony Cavanaugh'Tony Cavanaugh brings new depth and dimension to crime fiction in this country' - The Weekend WestOne man pushed Darian Richards to the edge. The man he couldn't catch. The Train Rider.As Victoria's top homicide investigator, Darian Richards spent years catching killers. The crimes of passion, of anger, of revenge ... they were easy. It was the monsters who were hard.Someone was taking girls. At first he'd keep them a week then give them back. Darian warned that wouldn't last. It didn't. From then on, their bodies were never found. Girls kept disappearing. All they had in common was the fact they'd last been seen on a train.The ever-rising list of the vanished broke Darian. Forced him to walk away. Now, retired, watching the Noosa River flow by, the nightmares had finally stopped. Darian was never going back.Then three girls go missing from Queensland trains. Darian knows that the killer is playing him. He has a choice to make. But when the decision means a girl will die, there is no choice. He has to stop this man once and for all. Forever.Tony Cavanaugh is an Australian writer and producer of film and television. The Train Rider is his latest book featuring cop Darian Richards and follows on from the acclaimed crime thrillers Promise and Dead Girl Sing.The Darian Richards SeriesPromiseDead Girl Sing The Soft Touch (Short Story) The Train Rider Kingdom of the Strong
Ambon: The truth about one of the most brutal POW camps in World War II and the triumph of the Aussie spirit (Hachette Military Collec Ser.)
by Roger MaynardSurvival, heroism, courage and mateship in Ambon - a place of nightmares.In February, 1942, Ambon, an Indonesian island north of Darwin, fell to the Japanese army and the Allied forces defending it were captured. Over a thousand of these soldiers were Australian. By the end of the war, just one-third of them had survived and Ambon became a place of nightmares, one of the most notorious of all POW camps the war had seen.Many of the men captured were massacred, and of those who initially survived, many later succumbed to the sadistic brutality of the Japanese guards. Starvation also took a fearful toll, and then there were the medical 'experiments'. It was a place almost without hope for those who held on, made worse by the fact that the savagery inflicted on them wasn't limited to their captors but also came from their own. One soldier described their hopelessness towards the end with the bleak words: 'The men knew they were dying.'Yet astoundingly there were survivors and in Ambon they speak of not just the horrors, but the bravery, endurance and mateship that got them through an ordeal almost impossible to imagine.The story of Ambon is one of both the depravity and the triumph of the human spirit; it is also one that's not been widely told. Until now.
Things I Carry Around: The bestselling memoir from the ARIA Award-winning country music star
by Tom Gilling Troy Cassar-DaleyA born storyteller, Troy Cassar-Daley has at last turned his talent to sharing his own inspiring life.‘Troy’s achievements are many, and perhaps the finest may be his ability to make us listen to his heart.’ Joy McKeanFor the first time, Troy talks about his early life - how his parent’s divorce changed things for him, about missing his Dad and growing up in Grafton surrounded by the warmth and love of his mother, Irene, his Nan and Pop and his extended Indigenous family. A larrikin at heart, Troy includes all the highs and lows on his path to stardom: the thrill of performing on stage at the Tamworth Music Festival with Jimmy Little when he was just 15; the excitement of heading off on tour with Brian Young and then discovering just how lonely life on the road could be; his first record deal; playing with the greats – Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Slim Dusty; his first album Beyond the Dancing, which blended his indigenous heritage with his rural background; meeting the woman who would steal his heart; recording in Nashville; and, finally, releasing True Believer, the album that really launched his career. The multiple Golden Guitar, APRA, ARIA and Deadlys winner also lets us in on some of the life lessons he learned the hard way, lessons that kept this prodigiously talented Aussie on the straight and narrow (most of the time). Things I Carry Around, is the warm, genuine, and inspiring story of a young indigenous Australian who had a dream and turned that dream into reality. ‘Troy’s a true gentleman, warm and genuine, always a pleasure to be around. He sings straight from his heart and straight from the heart of his country.’ Paul Kelly
Commandos: Heroic and Deadly ANZAC Raids in World War II
by Frank WalkerAmazing revelations and extraordinary exploits of Australia's elite secret warriors.There was something unique about Australians and New Zealanders in war that prompted World War II Allied commanders to turn to ANZAC soldiers, sailors and airmen to carry out the most dangerous and virtually impossible missions behind enemy lines.Paddling canoes 4,000 kilometres to attack enemy ships in Singapore; lightning raids on Rommel's forces in the deserts of North Africa. Flying bombers at tree-top level deep into Nazi Germany to destroy vital targets; rescuing sultans and future US presidents from under the noses of the Japanese and playing crucial roles in the greatest commando raid of the war at St Nazaire - the Aussies and Kiwis were there.The special forces showed incredible bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. They were determined to complete their missions. Often alone and far behind enemy lines,they demonstrated resourcefulness, spirit and a humanity that inspired others to follow them.Frank Walker, author of bestselling books on the Vietnam War and the British atomic tests in Australia, brings to life the amazing exploits and extraordinary stories of this select band of heroes..
At the Altar of the Road Gods: Stories of motorcycles and other drugs
by Boris MihailovicCaution: Contains incidents of insane motorcycle antics, drug use and swearing.'Boris has more fun on two wheels than should be legally possible.' - Richard Fidler, ABCHis mother may not know it but Boris Mihailovic has lived a fast, furious, often politically incorrect life chasing the epiphanies of speed (the sensation not the drug). For Boris, motorbike riding was the rite of passage into manhood he'd been searching for. Now, nearly 40 years since he first rode a bike, the wisdom of age has provided the perspective for Boris to look back and realise some pretty wild shit went down. At the Altar of the Road Gods is about popping your motorcycle-buying cherry with an XJ650 Yamaha. It's about fines, feuds and fractures, high-sides, tank-slappers, angry police, even angrier young men, crashing, getting up, cranky girlfriends, riding faster, outlaws, and partaking in copious amounts of alcohol and drugs. It is about mateship and motorcycles. Ultimately, it is about four decades of two-wheel-related mayhem. Just don't tell Boris's mum! Be warned: may cause laughter, sleeplessness and the desire to buy a Lucifer-black Katana.
Maralinga: The chilling expose of our secret nuclear shame and betrayal of our troops and country
by Frank Walker'The story reaches out and grabs you by the throat' - Dr Clare Wright, historian and author of The Forgotten Rebels of EurekaThe facts are shocking. The treachery is chilling. The fallout ongoing.This edition contains a new author note with shocking new material that has come to light as a result of the groundbreaking original publication.Investigative journalist Frank Walker's Maralinga is a must-read true story of the abuse of our servicemen, scientists treating the Australian population as lab rats and politicians sacrificing their own people in the pursuit of power.During the Menzies era, with the blessing of the Prime Minister, the British government exploded twelve atomic bombs on Australian soil. RAAF pilots were ordered to fly into nuclear mushroom clouds, soldiers told to walk into radioactive ground zero, sailors retrieved highly contaminated debris - none of them aware of the dangers they faced.But the betrayal didn't end with these servicemen. Secret monitoring stations were set up around the country to measure radiation levels and a clandestine decades-long project stole bones from dead babies to see how much fallout had contaminated their bodies - their grieving parents were never told. This chilling exposé drawn from extensive research and interviews with surviving veterans reveals the betrayal of our troops and our country.'An amazing tale – utterly gripping, it reads like a thriller' - Jon Faine, ABC Radio Melbourne'This book will contribute to a much greater awareness and perhaps much more action on this issue' - Fran Kelly, ABC Radio National'Walker demonstrates powerfully why, regardless of the context in which the testing took place, the emotional legacy of Maralinga will linger in the Australian psyche, just as do Gallipoli, Bodyline and Singapore. The cost in terms of damage to health, the environment and public trust in government will remain with us for generations to come' - The Australian'Shocking revelations…' - Margaret Throsby, Midday Interview, ABC Classic FM'An extraordinary story – there are things here that would make your hair stand on end' - Philip Clark, ABC Radio Canberra'This book should be on the school syllabus' - Andrew O'Keefe, Weekend Sunrise
Warrior Elite: Australia’s special forces Z Force to the SAS intelligence operations to cyber warfare
by Robert MacklinA compelling account of Australia's intelligence organisations and special forces - from the early days of the commandos during World War II through to the SAS of today and the cyber wars of the future. From the co-author of SAS Sniper.Warrior Elite is a unique and compelling account of Australia's special forces and intelligence operations - ranging from the early special forces of World War II to the establishment and development of the SAS and Commando Regiments as the elite fighters of today, and from the Australian Security Intelligence Service to the Australian Signals Directorate and ASIO. It is an authoritative, gripping and thoroughly up-to-date account of both the history and current state of our special forces and intelligence bodies - and gives a unique glimpse into the warfare of the future. Our future.Robert Macklin has conducted dozens of exclusive interviews and uncovered incredible, daring and sometimes heartbreaking stories of the elite troops that guard our nation and engage in secret operations around the world. He has had significant cooperation from numerous sources within the special forces and the various intelligence agencies.Both thoroughly researched and colourfully written, Warrior Elite will attract the reader of action memoirs as well as those interested in broader military history and espionage.
Kingdom of the Strong (The Darian Richards Series #4)
by Tony CavanaughAcclaimed crime writer Tony Cavanaugh is back with a gripping new novel featuring Australia's answer to Michael Connelly's Hieronymus Bosch - Darian Richards.Darian Richards is an ex-cop, a good one. He did whatever it took to solve a crime and stop the bad guy. Whatever it took! But after sixteen years as the head of Victoria's Homicide Squad, he'd had enough of promising victims' families he'd find the answers they needed. He had to walk away to save his sanity.Now Police Commissioner Copeland Walsh has tracked Darian down. He needs him to help clear an old case. The death of Isobel Vine. The coroner gave an open finding. An open finding that never cleared the cloud of doubt that hovered over four young cops who were present the night Isobel died.Twenty-five years later, one of those young cops is next in line to become police commissioner, so Copeland Walsh needs the case closed once and for all. In his mind there is only one man for the job. One man who would be completely independent. One man who has never bowed to political or police pressure. One man who knows how to get the job done - Darian Richards.Darian is going back to stir a hornet's nest. But once Darian is on a case he won't back off tracking down evil, no matter who he has to take down.'Cavanaugh has created a fascinating hero who is a law unto himself. Worthy of the world stage' - West Australian 'Cavanaugh's best novel to date' - Sunday Canberra Times'Dark and powerful, this is Cavanaugh's best novel to date' - Newcastle Herald'This is the Cavanaugh's fourth novel, and like the others is outstanding' - Illawarra MercuryThe Darian Richards SeriesPromiseDead Girl SingThe Soft Touch (Short Story)The Train RiderKingdom of the Strong
Margaret & Gough: The love story that shaped a nation
by Susan MitchellThe Whitlams' wasn't just a love story - it was a dynamic and enduring partnership that shaped our nation.This is the compelling story of former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, his wife Margaret and their 70-year relationship – personal and political, private and public. It is a story of how two extraordinary people, side by side, led the Australian nation into an exciting and turbulent new era.Gough had no small talk, Margaret had the gift of easy conversation. He was often ill-at-ease in company and preferred his books. She was warm, inclusive and jollied him along. He had a vicious tongue and a quick temper. She always tried to see the best in people. He knew everything about the ideology, history and heroes of the Labor movement. She trusted her instincts. They saw each other as equals and never hesitated to express their different viewpoints. He may have passed the laws that changed the nation, but she made it possible.This is a story of love, respect, struggle, success, failure, disappointment and resilience. It was the strength and endurance of this remarkable relationship that helped change our nation politically, culturally and socially. Neither Gough nor Margaret would have developed into what each became without the influence of the other. Through every major political change, every election campaign, every triumph and every loss, they stood together.Margaret and Gough takes us inside a partnership where the political was always personal and the personal was always political.'Mitchell succeeds in weaving together their lives against a backdrop of Gough's political career ... a fine dual biography' - The Australian'This sweeping, slightly idealised overview of their love, with a bit of political history thrown into the mix, is a lesson in commitment' - Daily Telegraph'Read about Gough the man who read romantic poems from Keats and Shelley to his new wife Margaret on their honeymoon in 1942' - Sunday Territorian
The Battle of Long Tan: As featured in The Vietnam Years
by Michael CaulfieldThe truth about the battle that came to define our Vietnam War - from the men who were there.18th August, 1966. 1pm…D Company entered the plantation. They thought that, if they were lucky, they were closing in on perhaps 30 or 40 VC. They were horribly wrong.Over twelve long, bloody and brutal hours, 105 Australian soldiers and three New Zealanders fought off mortar attacks and heavy machine-gun fire, unaware they were facing up to 2500 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces. The first major battle of the war for the Australians, our men showed extraordinary courage and, against all odds, they triumphed – although the Vietnamese didn't admit this for another forty years.In The Battle of Long Tan, Caulfield takes us through that hellish day in the Long Tan rubber plantation, combining gripping first-hand accounts from eleven of the men who fought with an authoritative overview of the battle itself – from headquarters to the men in the field.This is as close as you'll get to being there.Michael Caulfield has worked as a composer, musician, TV and film producer, and director. He was the executive producer of the ABC TV series Australians at War. His books with Hachette Australia include The Vietnam Years, War behind the Wire and Voices of War.
Holidays: All About Going Away And Staying At Home, About Train Trips, Lion Parks And Family
by William McInnesFrom bestselling author William McInnes, a book about the languid, unending holidays of summer; it's about going away and staying at home, about sunburn, seagulls, family and friends.Remember those long, languid holidays when the only decisions to be made were what to pack in the Esky and who should get the front seat on the drive to the beach?Let William McInnes reignite your nostalgia for holidays past, and give you a taste of the boundless opportunities that await in holidays to come in this book about our love affair with life away from the everyday.This book will take you back to the holidays you had as a kid and remind you of the ones you've had with your own family or friends or even the ones where you've flown solo.Holidays are the runway to possibilities - a romantic sunset, the spare seat at breakfast being taken by an attractive stranger, a miraculous airline upgrade - or missing bags, unfortunate rashes and wrong turns that lead to places you definitely did not intend to go. Whether you are away from home and somewhere exotic or just in your own backyard on a lilo in an above-ground pool, whatever happens, you know that life is sweet because you're on HOLIDAYS.**Includes a bonus extract from William's hilarious and heartwarming memoir Fatherhood**"McInnes is a natural storyteller . . ." - Sun Herald, Sydney"McInnes enjoys a quirky love affair with the quintessential Australian holiday" - Brisbane News"Proves that the journey is just as agreeable as the destination" - Sunday Age". . . full of beautifully crafted childhood reminiscences and anecdotes" - Sunday Examiner"McInnes is a wonderfully engaging writer - witty and warm and a master of a good yarn. If your holidays aer a way off, curl up with William and he'll take you away" - Adelaide Advertiser
Slim: Another Day, Another Town (Slim Dusty Songbooks Ser.)
by Slim Dusty Joy McKeanAustralia's greatest country singer-songwriter Slim Dusty's own story, written with Joy McKean, his wife for 50 years - now updated.'It seems I've done most things I wanted to do, but of all things, I think I most enjoy finding good songs and recording them. There are so many songs I want to record that I will be kept busy for as long as I can keep it up ... It is the people you meet along the road of life who make the travelling easier. No wonder I loved it all.' - Slim DustySlim Dusty was Australia's most well-loved and best known country music performer. A legend in the bush, his famous hit 'A Pub With No Beer' made him a household name in the towns and cities too.This is the story of the life that Slim Dusty and Joy McKean shared for their fifty years of marriage and touring together - their love for each other, their family and their music - and their determination to bring country music to the whole of Australia. Slim died in 2003, but throughout Australia, and around the world, people are still playing his songs and passing them on to new generations of fans. In this updated edition of the classic autobiography, Joy McKean writes about her family's commitment to honouring his memory and their work to keep his name alive.If you love today's Australian country music, this is the story of where it all started.'... just like his lyrics, the prose is perfect. Here he is talking about the early Dusty days. It's just like listening to a bright spark in the bush.' - The Age'Slim blazed the red-dirt trail for Australian singer/songwriters, allowing us to remain unashamedly ourselves.' - Missy Higgins
Henry and Banjo: The Tumultuous Lives And Times Of Henry Lawson And Banjo Paterson, The Men Who Wrote Australia's History
by James KnightThe fascinating lives and turbulent times of Henry Lawson and Andrew 'Banjo' Paterson - the two men who wrote Australia's story.Today most of us know that Henry Lawson and Andrew 'Banjo' Paterson were famous writers. We know about Matilda, Clancy of the Overflow and the Man from Snowy River; The Drover's Wife, While the Billy Boils and Joe Wilson and his mates, but little else. Here, in a compelling and engaging work, James Knight brings Henry and Banjo's own stories to life. And there is much to tell.Both were country born, just three years and three hundred kilometres apart, Henry on the goldfields of Grenfell and Banjo on a property near Orange, but their paths to literary immortality took very different routes - indeed at times their lives were ones of savage and all too tragic contrasts. Banjo, born into a life of comparative privilege, would rise from country boy to Sydney Grammar student, solicitor, journalist, war correspondent and revered man about town. Henry's formal education only began when his feminist mother finally won her battle for a local school but illness and subsequent deafness would make continuing his lessons difficult, seeing him find work as a labourer, a coach painter and a journalist, all the while wrestling with poverty, alcoholism and mental illness. Both men would become household names during their lifetimes. Both would have regrets.Henry and Banjo details two incredibly fascinating lives and delves into the famous (and not so famous) writings of the two men who had the power to influence and change Australia.
44 Days: 75 Squadron and the Fight for Australia
by Michael VeitchThe epic World War II story of Australia's 75 Squadron - and the 44 days when these brave and barely trained pilots fought alone against the Japanese.'Brilliantly researched and sympathetically told, 44 DAYS is more than just a fitting tribute to brave but overlooked heroes. It's also a top read.' **** ADELAIDE ADVERTISERIn March and April 1942, RAAF 75 Squadron bravely defended Port Moresby for 44 days when Australia truly stood alone against the Japanese. This group of raw young recruits scrambled ceaselessly in their Kittyhawk fighters to an extraordinary and heroic battle, the story of which has been left largely untold.The recruits had almost nothing going for them against the Japanese war machine, except for one extraordinary leader named John Jackson, a balding, tubby Queenslander - at 35 possibly the oldest fighter pilot in the world - who said little, led from the front, and who had absolutely no sense of physical fear.Time and time again this brave group were hurled into battle, against all odds and logic, and succeeded in mauling a far superior enemy - whilst also fighting against the air force hierarchy. After relentless attack, the squadron was almost wiped out by the time relief came, having succeeded in their mission - but also paying a terrible price.Michael Veitch, actor, presenter and critically acclaimed author, brings to life the incredible exploits and tragic sacrifices of this courageous squadron of Australian heroes.