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The Bulldog Track: A grandson's story of an ordinary man's war and survival on the other Kokoda trail
by Peter PhelpsThis is the story of Tom Phelps and the 'other Kokoda Track'. Seventy-five years later, Tom's grandson, award-winning actor and writer Peter Phelps, is sharing this inspiring tale of resilience and survival.March 1942: The world is at war. Too old to fight and with jobs scarce at home, Tom Phelps found work as a carpenter in the goldfields of the New Guinea Highlands. No one expected the Japanese to attack in the Pacific. But they did.Tom and his mates weren't going to hang around and wait to be killed. With escape routes bombed by the Japanese, their only option was to try to reach safety by foot, through some of the most rugged terrain on Earth - the Bulldog Track.Back home in Sydney, Rose Phelps, their son, George, and three daughters, Joy, Shirley and Ann, waited for news of Tom's fate. George watched the horrors of war unfold on newsreels knowing his dad was 'over there'.Travelling by foot, raft, canoe, schooner, train, luck and courage, Tom Phelps, half-starved and suffering malaria, would eventually make it home. His stories of New Guinea would lead his son and grandson to their own experiences with the country. The Bulldog Track is a grandson's story of an ordinary man's war. It is an incredible tale of survival and the indomitable Aussie spirit.
Lachlan Philpott: Plays One (Oberon Modern Playwrights)
by Lachlan PhilpottThree plays by multi-award-winning Australian writer Lachlan Philpott, including M. Rock, Little Emperors, and The Trouble with Harry.M. Rock is based on a true story about the enduring joys of music, dancing and self-discovery, and charts the fortunes of 18-year-old Tracey and her grandmother Mabel.Little Emperors: ‘Little Emperor Syndrome’ is a term used to describe the behavioural time-bomb created by China’s One Child Policy. Set in both Melbourne and Beijing, and weaving between Mandarin and English, Little Emperors deals with a single family as they attempt to negotiate the troubled waters of their shared history, one that includes a hidden second child, forced separation, and deep wells of regret and shame. The Trouble with Harry: Harry Crawford and his wife Annie seem happy enough. Together they lead quiet, unexceptional lives in the suburbs of 1920s Sydney, working and raising a child. But when Josephine arrives at the door, it sets in train a series of events that will result in an astounding revelation. A disorienting tale of deception and enigma which poses an essential, human question: can we ever really know what lies in the heart and mind of someone else?
The Trouble with Harry (Oberon Modern Plays)
by Lachlan PhilpottHarry Crawford and his wife Annie seem happy enough. Together they lead quiet, unexceptional lives in the suburbs of 1920s Sydney, working and raising a child. But when Josephine arrives at the door, it sets in train a series of events that will result in an astounding revelation. Based on the extraordinary true story of the ‘Man-Woman’ murder that shocked turn-of-the-century Australians, The Trouble with Harry is a disorienting tale of deception and enigma which poses an essential, human question: can we ever really know what lies in the heart and mind of someone else?
Transnational Protest, Australia and the 1960s (Palgrave Studies in the History of Social Movements)
by Jon PicciniAustralia is rarely considered to have been a part of the great political changes that swept the world in the 1960s: the struggles of the American civil rights movement, student revolts in Europe, guerrilla struggles across the Third World and demands for women’s and gay liberation. This book tells the story of how Australian activists from a diversity of movements read about, borrowed from, physically encountered and critiqued overseas manifestations of these rebellions, as well as locating the impact of radical visitors to the nation. It situates Australian protest and reform movements within a properly global – and particularly Asian – context, where Australian protestors sought answers, utopias and allies. Dramatically broadens our understanding of Australian protest movements, this book presents them not only as manifestations of local issues and causes but as fundamentally tied to ideas, developments and personalities overseas, particularly to socialist states and struggles in near neighbours like Vietnam, Malaysia and China.'Jon Piccini is Research and Teaching Fellow at The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. His research interests include the history of human rights and social histories of international student migration.'
The Far Left in Australia since 1945 (Routledge Studies in Radical History and Politics)
by Jon Piccini Evan Smith Matthew WorleyThe far left in Australia had significant effects on post-war politics, culture and society. The Communist Party of Australia (CPA) ended World War II with some 20,000 members, and despite the harsh and vitriolic Cold War climate of the 1950s, seeded or provided impetus for the re-emergence of other movements. Radicals subscribing to ideologies beyond the Soviet orbit – Maoists, Trotskyists, anarchists and others – also created parties and organisations and led movements. All of these different far left parties and movements changed and shifted during time, responding to one political crisis or another, but they remained steadfastly devoted to a better world. This collection, bringing together 14 chapters from leading and emerging figures in the Australian and international historical profession, for the first time charts some of these significant moments and interventions, revealing the Australian far left’s often forgotten contribution to the nation’s history.
The Far Left in Australia since 1945 (Routledge Studies in Radical History and Politics)
by Jon Piccini Evan Smith Matthew WorleyThe far left in Australia had significant effects on post-war politics, culture and society. The Communist Party of Australia (CPA) ended World War II with some 20,000 members, and despite the harsh and vitriolic Cold War climate of the 1950s, seeded or provided impetus for the re-emergence of other movements. Radicals subscribing to ideologies beyond the Soviet orbit – Maoists, Trotskyists, anarchists and others – also created parties and organisations and led movements. All of these different far left parties and movements changed and shifted during time, responding to one political crisis or another, but they remained steadfastly devoted to a better world. This collection, bringing together 14 chapters from leading and emerging figures in the Australian and international historical profession, for the first time charts some of these significant moments and interventions, revealing the Australian far left’s often forgotten contribution to the nation’s history.
Waltzing the Magpies: A Year in Australia
by Sam PickeringPraise for Sam Pickering: "The art of the essay as delivered by Mr. Pickering is the art of the front porch ramble." ---The New York Times Book Review "Reading Pickering . . . is like taking a walk with your oldest, wittiest friend." ---Smithsonian "What a joy it is to 'mess around' with Professor Sam Pickering!" ---The Chattanooga Times "Pickering is a barefoot observer of the quotidian who revels in the spectacle and its gift for surprise, prefers the rumpled to the starched, has raised puttering and messing about to an art form, and wrings from it more than a pennyworth of happiness and a life well lived." ---Kirkus Reviews The movie Dead Poets Society is where most Americans first met Sam Pickering, the University of Connecticut English professor. Robin Williams plays the lead character (loosely based on Pickering), an idiosyncratic instructor who employs some over-the-top teaching methods to keep his subjects fresh and his students learning. Fewer know that Pickering is the author of more than 16 books and nearly 200 articles, or that he's inspired thousands of university students to think in new ways. And, while Williams may have captured Pickering's madcap classroom antics, he didn't uncover the other side of the author-Sam Pickering as one of our great American men of letters. Like the music of Mozart, the painting of Picasso, or the poetry of Emily Dickinson, you can spot Pickering's writing a mile away; there's no mistaking the Pickering pen. As an ample demonstration of the author's literary gifts, Waltzing the Magpies is his unabashedly lush and Technicolor travelogue from Down Under. On the face of it, Waltzing is the chronicle of a sabbatical year spent with family in Australia. Yet beneath the surface Pickering's big themes-family, nature, seizing the moment-move in a powerful current that frequently bursts out in moments of ecstatic revelation and intense sensual flourish. Through it all Pickering weaves stories from his fictional Southern town of Carthage, Tennessee, especially when the goings of the outside world get rough. Waltzing the Magpies is classic Pickering at the height of his literary powers, and places him in the company of such great American essayists as E. B. White and James Thurber, but with an irony and observational prowess that is pure Pickering.
A Secret Country
by John PilgerExpatriate journalist and film-maker John Pilger writes about his homeland with life-long affection and a passionately critical eye. In this fully updated edition of A Secret Country, he pays tribute to a little known Australia and tells a story of high political drama.
Social Welfare, 1850–1950: Australia, Argentina and Canada Compared
by Desmond Christopher PlattThis historical study of the development of social welfare systems in divergent countries draws on a variety of essays to examine the work of each country in turn, followed by a comparison of all three and an examination of social experiments in regions of recent settlement.
100 Tales from Australia's Most Haunted Places
by Ben PobjieFrom the ghostly black horse of Sutton Forest to the butcher of Adelaide Street, a haunted Brisbane lift to the chilling experiments carried out by Doctor Blood of the North Kapunda Hotel, Australia abounds in spooky stories that are all unnervingly based in fact and tied to real places you can visit or avoid. In 100 Tales from Australia's Most Haunted Places, comedy writer and general scaredy-cat Ben Pobjie communes with the spirit world to send a shiver down your spine. A book best read with the light left on.
100 Weirdest Tales from Across Australia
by Ben PobjieTales of the strange, unnerving and downright bizarre from one of the weirdest places on EarthFish falling out of the sky, joggers relieving themselves on your doorstep, mysterious monsters constantly springing from the shadows, spooky lights and ill-conceived toast spreads: these are just some of the things you can expect on any given day in our surreal southern land.In 100 Weirdest Tales from Across Australia, comedy writer and accredited weirdness expert Ben Pobjie delves deep into Australia's past and present to serve up the weirdest stories of all, which will leave you smacking your gob with one hand while scratching your head with the other.
Error Australis
by Ben PobjieWe’re engrossed with reality TV these days, yet we so often neglect the greatest reality of all: the reality of our nation and how it came to be. In Error Australis, TV columnist, comedian and history buff Ben Pobjie recaps the history of Australia from its humble beginnings as a small patch of rapidly cooling rock to its modern-day status as one of the major powers of the sub-Asian super-Antarctic next-to-Africa region. As thrilling as it is to see Delta Goodrem’s chair turn around, there’s an argument that World War Two was even more exciting and, like any good recapper, Pobjie provides an immediate, visceral sense of what it was like to be there in the moment at our nation’s defining events. It is only by looking at where we have been that we can understand who we are, what we stand for and why nothing seems to work. Error Australis is a scholarly and hilarious account of a young nation that has spent many years seeking its place in the world, and almost as many years not liking what it has found.
Mad Dogs and Thunderbolts
by Ben PobjieNed Kelly’s tin helmet looms large over Australia’s bushranging past, but what about all the unsung outlaws of the Australian bush? What about Black Caesar, who escaped his tyrannous British overlords four times and indeed invented the great Australian tradition of bushranging? Or Mad Dog Morgan who set out to write his name in blood on history’s ledger, the dynamic Captain Thunderbolt and his loyal wife Mary Ann Bugg, bushranging’s greatest queen, and Matthew Brady, the gentleman bushranger, who showed us all the cilivised side of armed robbery? In Mad Dogs and Thunderbolts Ben Pobjie celebrates the derring-do and revolutionary passion of all the wild colonial boys and girls who raided our towns and stole our hearts, all while wearing sensible headgear.
Better Than God
by Peter PorterBetter Than God sees Porter working with a lyric engine tuned to perfection, and a mind that shows every sign of speeding up: Porter can make a song of what another writer might take an essay to cover. Whether working in the forms of epigram or narrative, or writing of memory, mortality, Renaissance intrigue or the surreal distortions of old age – Porter’s faith in poetry as a road to the truth shines through. There are few other writers for whom contemporary events throw such long shadows or for whom the past is so present, and in Better Than God one has the sense of the poet attaining an increasingly commanding height. Porter remains one of the few poets we can open anywhere, and know that we will always be both enlightened and entertained.
Chorale at the Crossing
by Peter PorterWhen Peter Porter died in 2010 his reputation as one of the greatest Australian poets had long been settled. Chorale at the Crossing gathers together the work Porter completed after the publication of his widely-praised final collection Better than God, and shows a remarkable and capacious mind - apparently furnished with half the contents of Western culture - still working at full tilt, despite the imminence of his own passing. Chorale at the Crossing contains love poems, comic excursions, and meditations on art, death, music and nature, all written with Porter's phenomenal technical facility and immense good humour. Chorale at the Crossing is the last word from one of our wisest and most compassionate poets - and is, quite simply, necessary reading.
The Rest on the Flight: Selected Poems
by Peter PorterSatirist, philosopher, elegist, aphorist, cultural historian – Peter Porter is perhaps too singular a talent to be described as ‘representative’ of the age: an Australian whose easy familiarity with the breadth of European culture puts most Europeans to shame, he has long held the reputation of one of our most intellectually promiscuous and culturally sophisticated writers. Porter uses the poem as a means through which a thought can be pursued; this selection from fifty years’ work allows us the first opportunity to fully survey the quality and breadth of that thought, and the unfailing intensity of its light. In short, his Selected Poems is a one-volume education: Porter’s subtle and profound sense of history permits him to read any event as a point in a dynamic space where the forces of time and culture converge. From these coordinates, he gives perspective, direction and bearing to our contemporary life, and allows us to read the pattern of our ideas, art and loves on the map of an ancient terrain. That he has done all this with such immense good humour and human compassion is one of the literary miracles of our time.
Labor's Lot: The Power, History, and Culture of Aboriginal Action
by Elizabeth A. PovinelliHow does an Aboriginal community see itself, its work, and its place on the land? Elizabeth Povinelli goes to the Belyuen community of northern Australia to show how it draws from deep connections between labor, language, and the landscape. Her findings challenge Western notions of "productive labor" and longstanding ideas about the role of culture in subsistence economies. In Labor's Lot, Povinelli shows how everyday activities shape Aboriginal identity and provide cultural meaning. She focuses on the Belyuen women's interactions with the countryside and on Belyuen conflicts with the Australian government over control of local land. Her analysis raises serious questions about the validity of Western theories about labor and culture and their impact on Aboriginal society. Povinelli's focus on women's activities provides an important counterpoint to recent works centering on male roles in hunter-gatherer societies. Her unique "cultural economy" approach overcomes the dichotomy between the two standard approaches to these studies. Labor's Lot will engage anyone interested in indigenous peoples or in the relationship between culture and economy in contemporary social practice.
Birds of New Guinea: Second Edition
by Thane K. Pratt Bruce M. Beehler John C. Anderton Szabolcs KókayThis is the completely revised edition of the essential field guide to the birds of New Guinea. The world's largest tropical island, New Guinea boasts a spectacular avifauna characterized by cassowaries, megapodes, pigeons, parrots, cuckoos, kingfishers, and owlet-nightjars, as well as an exceptionally diverse assemblage of songbirds such as the iconic birds of paradise and bowerbirds. Birds of New Guinea is the only guide to cover all 780 bird species reported in the area, including 366 endemics. Expanding its coverage with 111 vibrant color plates—twice as many as the first edition—and the addition of 635 range maps, the book also contains updated species accounts with new information about identification, voice, habits, and range. A must-have for everyone from ecotourists to field researchers, Birds of New Guinea remains an indispensable guide to the diverse birds of this remarkable region.780 bird species, including 366 found nowhere else111 stunning color plates, twice the number of the first editionExpanded and updated species accounts provide details on identification, voice, habits, and range635 range mapsRevised classification of birds reflects the latest research
Birds of New Guinea: Second Edition (PDF)
by Thane K. Pratt Bruce M. Beehler John C. Anderton Szabolcs KókayThis is the completely revised edition of the essential field guide to the birds of New Guinea. The world's largest tropical island, New Guinea boasts a spectacular avifauna characterized by cassowaries, megapodes, pigeons, parrots, cuckoos, kingfishers, and owlet-nightjars, as well as an exceptionally diverse assemblage of songbirds such as the iconic birds of paradise and bowerbirds. Birds of New Guinea is the only guide to cover all 780 bird species reported in the area, including 366 endemics. Expanding its coverage with 111 vibrant color plates—twice as many as the first edition—and the addition of 635 range maps, the book also contains updated species accounts with new information about identification, voice, habits, and range. A must-have for everyone from ecotourists to field researchers, Birds of New Guinea remains an indispensable guide to the diverse birds of this remarkable region.780 bird species, including 366 found nowhere else111 stunning color plates, twice the number of the first editionExpanded and updated species accounts provide details on identification, voice, habits, and range635 range mapsRevised classification of birds reflects the latest research
Empire and Indigeneity: Histories and Legacies
by Richard PriceIndigeneity is inseparable from empire, and the way empire responds to the Indigenous presence is a key historical factor in shaping the flow of imperial history. This book is about the consequences of the encounter in the early nineteenth century between the British imperial presence and the First Peoples of what were to become Australia and New Zealand. However, the shape of social relations between Indigenous peoples and the forces of empire does not remain constant over time. The book tracks how the creation of empire in this part of the world possessed long-lasting legacies both for the settler colonies that emerged and for the wider history of British imperial culture.
Empire and Indigeneity: Histories and Legacies
by Richard PriceIndigeneity is inseparable from empire, and the way empire responds to the Indigenous presence is a key historical factor in shaping the flow of imperial history. This book is about the consequences of the encounter in the early nineteenth century between the British imperial presence and the First Peoples of what were to become Australia and New Zealand. However, the shape of social relations between Indigenous peoples and the forces of empire does not remain constant over time. The book tracks how the creation of empire in this part of the world possessed long-lasting legacies both for the settler colonies that emerged and for the wider history of British imperial culture.
American Accent Drills for British and Australian Speakers
by Amanda QuaidAmerican Accent Drills for British and Australian Speakers provides a comprehensive guide to learning a "General American" accent, made specifically for native English speakers. Unlike most American accent guides, which are geared toward ESL learners, this handbook covers only the shifts that English speakers need to make – nothing more, nothing less. In addition to vowel and consonant drills, it covers the finer points of American intonation and elision, features that often elude English speakers of other dialects. Finally, it provides exercises for "owning" the dialect, finding authenticity and making it work for each individual actor in their own way. This is an excellent resource for students of speech and dialects, actors from the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, and advanced ESL learners who need to use an American accent on screen or on stage. American Accent Drills for British and Australian Speakers also includes access to downloadable audio files of the practice drills featured in the book, to help students practice and perfect their American accent.
American Accent Drills for British and Australian Speakers
by Amanda QuaidAmerican Accent Drills for British and Australian Speakers provides a comprehensive guide to learning a "General American" accent, made specifically for native English speakers. Unlike most American accent guides, which are geared toward ESL learners, this handbook covers only the shifts that English speakers need to make – nothing more, nothing less. In addition to vowel and consonant drills, it covers the finer points of American intonation and elision, features that often elude English speakers of other dialects. Finally, it provides exercises for "owning" the dialect, finding authenticity and making it work for each individual actor in their own way. This is an excellent resource for students of speech and dialects, actors from the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, and advanced ESL learners who need to use an American accent on screen or on stage. American Accent Drills for British and Australian Speakers also includes access to downloadable audio files of the practice drills featured in the book, to help students practice and perfect their American accent.
Unfree Workers: Insubordination and Resistance in Convict Australia, 1788-1860 (Palgrave Studies in Economic History)
by Michael Quinlan Hamish Maxwell-StewartThis book examines how convicts played a key role in the development of capitalism in Australia and how their active resistance shaped both workplace relations and institutions. It highlights the contribution of convicts to worker mobilization and political descent, forcing a rethink of Australia’s foundational story. It is a book that will appeal to an international audience, as well as the many hundreds of thousands of Australians who can trace descent from convicts. It will enable the latter to make sense of the experience of their ancestors, equipping them with the necessary tools to understand convict and court records. It will also provide a valuable undergraduate and postgraduate teaching tool and reference for those studying unfree labour and worker history, social history, colonization and global migration in a digital age.
Constitutionalism of Australian First Nations: A Comparative Study (Indigenous Peoples and the Law)
by Maria Salvatrice RandazzoThe book considers Australian First Nations constitutionalism by drawing on the chthonic constitutional traditions of three distinct Australian First Nations legal orders: the Warlpiri, Yolngu, and Pintupi legal orders, in the endeavour of identifying, via a comparative analysis, a core of similarities to be drawn upon and articulate an emergent legal theory common to the three legal orders. The comparative analysis is undertaken at the most foundational levels of their legal traditions, via the prism of a legal paradigm elaborated with reference to an Australian Indigenous cosmological, ontological, and epistemological standpoint. The proposed legal theory comprises a broad overview, general concepts, normative principles, and general working principles. In so doing, the book expounds how Australian First Nations constitutionalism unfolds into holistic orders of spiritual, political, and legal authority that are explainable in terms of legal theory. At the most foundational level, such elaboration may help delineate normative and legal constitutional patterns throughout Indigenous Australia.