The Land Before Avocado by Richard Glover

$29.99 AUD

Category: History

'It was a simpler time'. We had more fun back then'. 'Everyone could afford a house'. There's plenty of nostalgia right now for the Australia of the past, but what was it really like? In The Land Before Avocado, Richard Glover takes a journey to an almost unrecognisable Australia. It's a vivid portrait of a quite peculiar land: a place that is scary and weird, dangerous and incomprehensible, and, now and then, surprisingly appealing. It's the Australia of his childhood. The Australia of the late '60s and early '70s. Let's break the news now: they didn't have avocado. It's a place of funny clothing and food that was appalling, but amusingly so. It also the land of staggeringly awful attitudes - often enshrined in law - towards anybody who didn't fit in. The Land Before Avocado will make you laugh and cry, be angry and inspired. And leave you wondering how bizarre things were, not so long ago. Most of all it will make you realise how far we've come - and how much further we can go. ...Show more

Walk into History 4 - Malvern by FOSTER D/STEPHANOPOU

$5.00 AUD

Category: History

Walk Into History - Malvern by FOSTER D/STEFANOPOULOS S

$5.00 AUD

Category: History

1956: The Year Australia Welcomed the World by Nick Richardson

$35.00 AUD

Category: History

An engrossing account of a pivotal year in Australia's history. This book debunks one of the hardiest cliches in Australian history- that the 1950s was a dull decade, when the nation seemed only interested in a quiet life, a cup of tea, and a weekend drive. The truth is that, by the time the '60s came around, Australia was already expanding its outlook - politically, economically, and culturally - and central to this were the events of 1956. This was the year when Melbourne hosted the Summer Olympics, the first edition of the Games to be held outside Europe and North America. It also heralded the arrival of television in Australia. In this year, Prime Minister Robert Menzies grappled with world politics, when he opened the country's doors to refugees from the Hungarian uprising, allowed British nuclear tests at Maralinga, and tried to resolve the greatest diplomatic episode of the decade- the Suez Crisis. In these ways and more, the world came to Australia's doorstep in 1956, challenging rusted-on habits and indelibly shifting the nation's perception of itself. Nick Richardson peels back the layers to reveal Australia at a critical moment in time. He brilliantly recreates the broader events surrounding the Melbourne Olympics at the end of 1956, as well as the dramas of the Games themselves. Throughout, he also follows a range of men and women who were touched by this transformation, to illuminate the personal consequences of being part of Australia's pivotal year. ...Show more

Walk into History 2 - Malvern by FOSTER D/STEFANOPOUL

$5.00 AUD

Category: History

Curious Voyages - A Collection of Astoundingly True Tales by Andrew Murray (Illustrator)

$39.95 AUD

Category: History

Over thousands of yearsthe world was wide with wind-powered boats, one of man's mostbeautiful constructions, andsailors had to strugglein theage-old game of Man vsSea. This collection of tales isnot a history of sail, it's avoyage through centuries of curious sailing adventures.

James Cook Master Mariner Navigator and Cartographer - the Man Behind the Myth (HB) by Peter FitzSimons

$49.99 AUD

Category: History | Reading Level: 3 Biography

Captain James Cook is one of the most recognisable names in Australian history - an almost mythic figure who is often discussed, celebrated, reviled and debated. But who was the real James Cook? This Yorkshire farm boy would go on to become the foremost mariner, navigator and cartographer of h is era, and to personally map a third of the globe. His great voyages of discovery were incredible feats of seamanship and navigation. Leading a crew of men into uncharted territories, Cook would face the best and worst of humanity as he took himself and his crew to the edge of the known world - and beyond. With his masterful storytelling talent, Peter FitzSimons brings James Cook to life. Focusing on his most iconic expedition, the voyage of the Endeavour, where Cook first set foot on Australian and New Zealand soil, FitzSimons contrasts Cook against another figure who looms large in Australasian history: Joseph Banks, the aristocratic botanist. As they left England, Banks, a rich, famous playboy, was everything that Cook was not. The voyage tested Cook's character and would help define his legacy. Now, 240 years after James Cook's death, FitzSimons reveals what kind of man James was at heart. His strengths, his weaknesses, his passions and pursuits, failures and successes.     ...Show more

Major Thomas: The Bush Lawyer who Defended Breaker Morant and Took on the British Empire by Greg Growden

$32.99 AUD

Category: History

Opinion is still sharply divided on whether Breaker Morant and his Australian co-defendants were criminals who got what they deserved, or scapegoats used by the British Empire. Major Thomas, the bush lawyer drafted in at the last minute to defend them, is invariably depicted either as a hero or an incom petent fool. Now, for the first time, Greg Growden attempts to unravel the truth about the lawyer and soldier who returned from South Africa a broken man. Before the Boer War, Major Thomas had been a pillar of his community. He was a published poet, newspaper proprietor, lawyer and decorated soldier, but defending Breaker Morant became the defining episode of his life. The former 'King of Tenterfield' endured a stunning fall from grace, slipping into bankruptcy and imprisonment. Thomas ended his days as an eccentric recluse, his life ruined by the ignominy and frustration of finding himself on the wrong side of history. ...Show more

Walk into History 3 - Malvern by STEFANOPOULOS Steve

$5.00 AUD

Category: History

Growing with Cabrini in Victoria - A Memoir by Donald Campbell

$25.00 AUD

Category: History

The Pacific: in the Wake of Captain Cook, with Sam Neill (PB) by Meaghan Wilson Anastasios

$32.99 AUD

Category: History

A rich, complex and engaging account of Cook's voyages across the Pacific, from actor and raconteur Sam Neill. Captain James Cook first set sail to the Pacific in 1768, just over 250 years ago. These vast waters, one third of the earth's surface, were uncharted but not unknown. A rich diversity of peop le and cultures navigated, traded, lived and fought here for thousands of years. Before Cook, the Pacific was disconnected from the power and ideas of Europe, Asia and America. In the wake of Cook, everything changed. The Pacific with Sam Neill is the companion book to the Foxtel documentary series of the same name, in which actor and raconteur Sam Neill takes a deeply personal, present-day voyage to map his own understanding of James Cook, Europe's greatest navigator, and the immense Pacific Ocean itself. Voyaging on a wide variety on vessels, from container ships to fishing trawlers and sailing boats, Sam crosses the length and breadth of the largest ocean in the world to experience for himself a contemporary journey in Cook's footsteps, engaging the past and present in both modern and ancient cultural practice and peoples. Fascinating, engaging, fresh and vital - this is history ... but not as you know it. ...Show more

In Living Memory by Chrissie Goldrick (Editor-In-Chief)

$59.99 AUD

Category: History

The story of Australia in the middle decades of the 20th century – from 1930 to 1980 – is one of dramatic contrast; of dark days and light – of economic struggle, anxiety, war and sacrifice, giving way from the 1950s onwards to prosperity, plenty and confidence.Australian Geographic&rs quo;s In Living Memory surveys these decades with a collection of fascinating, surprising and entertaining photographs of everyday Australian life. Author Alasdair McGregor places the images in their historical context with a thoughtful essay to introduce each of the four chapters – the way we lived, the way we moved, the way we worked and the way we played.This warmly nostalgic collection will appeal to all ages – those who remember the milkman, the dunny man and the ice chest, and those who cheered on Dennis Lillee’s moustache or took part in the ‘bikini wars’ on Bondi Beach. ...Show more