On Radji Beach by Ian W. Shaw

$24.99 AUD

Category: World War 2 History

When Singapore fell dramatically to the Japanese on 15 February 1942, hundreds of people scrambled to the docks to flee. Amongst the evacuees were 65 Australian nurses who boarded a coastal freighter named the Vyner Brooke. They only made it as far as the waters off Muntok Island near Sumatra. There, Ja panese bombers sank the small ship. Those who survived the sinking drifted for up to three days before making landfall on one of the many beaches on Muntok. A group of about 60 shipwreck survivors, including 22 nurses, gathered at Radji Beach. They voted to surrender to the Japanese rather than slowly starve to death, but the Japanese patrol that found them did not accept their surrender. Instead, it divided the Europeans into three groups and killed them all in turn. The Australian nurses were in the third group, and 21 of them died in a hail of bullets as they walked, abreast, into the sea. Miraculously, there was one survivor, Vivian Bullwinkel, who brought the truth about this appalling atrocity to light, and who went on to experience the internment camps, starvation and disease that took away many of her friends.On Radji Beach tells the story of the 65 nurses from the Vyner Brooke: their service in Singapore and on the Malay peninsula, their desperate voyage to escape capture by the Japanese, and their courage, compassion, ingenuity and fortitude in the unthinkable events that followed. ...Show more

Closer Look at Salisbury by Beryl

$20.00 AUD

Category: Queensland History

The Luck of the Draw : The Story of Allen May, Forward Scout, Battle of Long Tan, 18th August 1966 by Karen Eastwood

$29.99 AUD

Category: Post WW2 Military History

Castaway by Robert Macklin

$32.99 AUD

Category: Queensland History

The astonishing and unknown story of Narcisse Pelletier - a French cabin boy cast away in 1858 on the Daintree coast of far north Queensland, where he was adopted by the local Aborigines for 17 years - as a full member of the tribe, and had a family. He was then in effect kidnapped and returned to Franc e, where he settled unhappily, married and became a lighthouse keeper - but his heart was always back with his 'tribe'... ...Show more

The Man on the Twenty Dollar Notes: Flynn of the Inland by Everald Compton

$29.99 AUD

Category: Australian History

The Royal Flying Doctor Service is a revered legend of the development of Australia as a caring nation. However, few Australians are aware of the man who founded it-John Flynn-usually known as Flynn of the Inland. Flynn, who died in 1951, is regarded by historians as one of Australia's greatest sons. In addition to creating the Flying Doctor, he pioneered the Pedal Radio, founded the School of the Air, and built bush hospitals all over the continent on behalf of the Australian Inland Mission. It is a story that every Australian should read, and its powerful drama has been captured by veteran author Everald Compton. Flynn has been his role model in life ever since he first learned about him at a bush Sunday School in 1936. His fervent prayer is that many who read "The Man on the Twenty Dollar Notes" will choose to follow in Flynn's footsteps as the future pioneers of Australia as the finest nation on earth. ...Show more

The Oarsmen: The Remarkable Story of the Men Who Rowed from the Great War to Peace by PATTERSON, SCOTT

$34.99 AUD

Category: World War 1 History

At the end of the First World War, there were 270,000 demobilised Australian soldiers in Europe. Getting them home after the Armistice was a task of epic proportions that would take more than two years. In the meantime, how to keep these disgruntled, damaged men with guns occupied? In a word: sport. &nb sp; The Oarsmen tells the story of the servicemen who survived the war to row for the coveted King's Cup at the 1919 Royal Henley Peace Regatta. Competing against crews from the US, New Zealand, France, the UK and Canada, the Australians were a ragtag bunch of oarsmen thrown in an old-fashioned boat and expected to race. Many had seen the worst of the action during the war at Gallipoli and the Western Front, and carried scars both physical and psychological. The baggage they brought to the boat would soon threaten to capsize the whole endeavour.    Combining first-hand accounts with lively prose, this never-before-told story approaches the First World War from peacetime and illuminates history in vivid and compelling detail. Interweaving the soldiers' personal stories from before, during and after the war, The Oarsmen paints a fascinating picture of how these men, and society, transitioned from an unprecedented war to a new sort of peace.   ...Show more

All the Way to the USA: Australian WWII War Brides by Robyn Arrowsmith

$29.95 AUD

Category: World War 2 History

Dr Robyn Arrowsmith is author and publisher of All The Way To The USA: Australian WWII War Brides, which is based on ten years research for her PhD at Macquarie University. Robyn has travelled to America a number of times to meet with some of the remarkable Australian women who fell in love with US serv icemen during the urgency and social chaos of WWII. The book chronicles the true and poignant stories of Australian brides and fiancees who embarked on a long journey, leaving family, friends and all things familiar, to follow their hearts to America. Set in an historical context, the War Brides tell their stories for the first time in over six decades. The book highlights the way these women first met their future husbands, their wartime courtships, their weddings, the long wait to sail to America and the sea voyage itself, as well as their reception in a new country. These women bravely displayed commitment, resourcefulness and determination, as they dealt with red tape, chronic homesickness and grief for the families they left behind, while adjusting to different aspects of cultural change and settling in to a new life of wife and mother. There were 15,000 Australian WWII War Brides of American servicemen, but no in depth study has been made until now, and their stories have remained untold. After 60 years, these women have been officially recognised in Washington DC as great ambassadors for good relations between the two countries. These human stories, told in the words of the war brides, add a new dimension to women's history in both Australia and America. ...Show more

Australia's Vietnam - Myth vs History by Mark Dapin

$32.99 AUD

Category: Australian History

When Mark Dapin first interviewed Vietnam veterans and wrote about the war, he swallowed (and regurgitated) every misconception. He wasn't alone. In Australia's Vietnam, Dapin reveals that every stage of Australia's commitment to the Vietnam War has been misunderstood, misinterpreted and shrouded in myt h. From army claims that every national serviceman was a volunteer; and the level of atrocities committed by Australian troops; to the belief there were no welcome home parades until the late 1980s and returned soldiers were met by angry protesters. Australia's Vietnam is a major contribution to the understanding of Australia's experience of the war and will change the way we think about memory and military history. ...Show more

Battles Before by David Connery

$19.99 AUD

Category: Post WW2 Military History | Series: Campaign Ser.

Much of Australia's military history literature focuses on battles and the way generals plan and prosecute an action or campaign. But what do generals do when they are not fighting battles? "The Battles Before" examines the role of senior leaders in preparing an army for war -- fighting bureaucratic bat tles, mobilizing forces for operations, or preparing for a future that is impossible to anticipate. The five cases examined in this book focus on strategic leadership and describe how major organizations grapple with political, strategic, economic and cultural change over time. The first three case studies analyze a series of pivotal moments in the history of the Australian Army: the dramatic downsizing that followed the Vietnam War, the seminal 1985 Dibb Review, and the buildup to the East Timor intervention in 1999. Further cases describe planning within a large organization, particularly the way senior leaders grapple with the demands of multiple operations while facing significant impetus for force modernization. The final chapter focuses on the crucial role of the Army's leadership in developing the next generation of leaders. The book concludes with a series of insights into the study of command in peacetime and its relevance to wartime command, particularly given the challenges that face peacetime commanders who operate within considerable constraints. "The Battles Before" uses recently declassified documents and interviews with key participants in a meticulous examination of a 30-year period characterized by profound and far-reaching change. This was a period that would reshape the Australian Army. ...Show more

Brisbane Bricks by Virginia Russell (Cover Design by, Designed by, By (photographer)); Joanne Heath (By (photographer))

$45.00 AUD

Category: Queensland History

An ecclectic photographic narrative of brick buildings in Brisbane, Australia, old and new

By Steppe, Desert, & Ocean : The Birth of Eurasia by Barry Cunliffe

$46.95 AUD

Category: World History

By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean is nothing less than the story of how humans first started building the globalized world we know today. Set on a huge continental stage, from Europe to China, it is a tale covering over 10,000 years, from the origins of farming around 9000 BC to the expansion of the Mongols in the thirteenth century AD. An unashamedly 'big history', it charts the development of European, Near Eastern, and Chinese civilizations and the growing links between them by way of the Indian Ocean, the silk Roads, and the great steppe corridor (which crucially allowed horse riders to travel from Mongolia to the Great Hungarian Plain within a year). Along the way, it is also the story of the rise and fall of empires, the development of maritime trade, and the shattering impact of predatory nomads on their urbanneighbours. Above all, as this immense historical panorama unfolds, we begin to see in clearer focus those basic underlying factors - the acquisitive nature of humanity, the differing environments in which people live, and the dislocating effect of even slight climatic variation - which have driven change throughout the ages, and which help us better understand our world today. ...Show more

City in Masks - How Brisbane Fought the Spanish Flu by Matthew Wengert; Caitlin Morgan (Cover Design by, Designed by, Editor)

$25.00 AUD

Category: Queensland History

Narrative history of Brisbane's experience during the 'Spanish Flu' epidemic in 1919. Non-fiction for a general audience. Research funded by Brisbane City Council (Lord Mayor's Helen Taylor History Research Award).