The Secret Histories behind over 700 Sites and Buildings
In this highly illustrated guide local Sydney historian Trevor McAlister takes us on a series of tours throughout the metropolitan area. On each one he highlights a wealth of buildings and sites, giving us insights into the history of Australia’s first and largest city.
Cyclone Tracy demolished Darwin, capital of the Northern Territory when it struck during the night of Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning, 1974. Over almost ten hours the small, intense, but slow-moving weather system left a swathe of destruction across the entire town. Few buildings escaped. Sixty-six people died, many of them on vessels which ......
Nostalgic trip to the days when the Greek Café was the gathering place for every town and suburb. Effy Alexakiss evocative photos are paired with marvellous images from family albums. The cafes and the people behind them, showing décor, milkshakes, sundaes and innovative sweets were combined in a unique and special Australian experience. The ......
The Australian Gamble explores Jack Rooklyns, the Bally gambling organization managing director, role as a thread that connects some of the best-recognized characters, and most pivotal events, in Australian criminal history.
The Snowy Mountains Scheme changed Australia forever. A country founded on stolid British stock almost overnight became one of the world’s great pancultures. Tens of thousands of workers from more than 30 lands poured into what was the undisturbed pastoral realm of the high country stockman, the southern Outback.
As they drilled and tunnelled ......
How a tycoon, a pastoralist and a convict helped shape the exploration of colonial Australia
The Australian outback was revealed partly by formal expeditions, but also by runaway convicts, privately funded explorers, and pastoralists. This is the enthralling tale of three exemplars: Ralph Entwistle, bushranger; John Horrocks, first to explore the parched interior by camel; and Horace Wills, who pushed the frontier back in the far north.
The Foundation Years of the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts
Sydney’s “oasis in the wilderness”, the Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts was founded in 1833 to share scientific knowledge to the workingmen of Sydney’s European settlement. Emulating the mechanics’ movement in Britain, the founders hoped to change the individual and society. Dr Scanlon’s book shows the school during its formative years within the ......
Crossing the Dead Heart is a classic narrative of modern exploration - and follows the first crossing of the Simpson desert by the author in 1939. From Charlotte Waters Madigan travelled by camel, camping at Andado Bore before heading east through the centre of the desert to Birdsville, then south by Goyder's Lagoon to the eastern shores of Lake ......
