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y separately published work icon Girt : The Unauthorised History of Australia single work   non-fiction  
Issue Details: First known date: 2013... 2013 Girt : The Unauthorised History of Australia
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Girt. No word could better capture the essence of Australia...

'In this hilarious history, David Hunt tells the real story of Australia's past from megafauna to Macquarie ... the cock-ups and curiosities, the forgotten eccentrics and Eureka moments that have made us who we are.

'Mark Twain wrote of Australian history: 'It does not read like history, but like the most beautiful lies ... but they are all true, they all happened.' In Girt, Hunt uncovers these beautiful lies, recounting the strange and ridiculous episodes that conventional histories ignore. The result is surprising, enlightening – and side-splittingly funny.

'Girt explains the role of the coconut in Australia's only military coup, the Dutch obsession with nailing perfectly good kitchenware to posts, and the settlers' fear of Pemulwuy and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamingcoat.

'It introduces us to forgotten heroes like Mary McLoghlin, transported for the typically Irish crime of 'felony of sock'; Patyegarang, the young Eora girl who co-authored the world's most surprising dictionary; and Trim the cat, who beat a French monkey to become the first animal to circumnavigate Australia.

'Our nation's beginnings were steeped in the unlikely, the incongruous and the frankly bizarre. Girt restores these stories to their rightful place. Not to read it would be un-Australian.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Black Inc. , 2013 .
      image of person or book cover 3561453365292760470.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 274p.
      Note/s:
      • Published: 24th July 2013
      ISBN: 9781863956116

Other Formats

  • Sound recording.
  • Dyslexic edition.

Works about this Work

John Birmingham : Leviathan: The Unauthorised Biography of Sydney [and] David Hunt : Girt: The Unauthorised History of Australia Kurt Johnson , 2018 single work review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , August 2018;

'Leviathan and Girt are engaging because they do what official histories shy away from – they spin a ripping yarn.'  (Introduction)

John Birmingham : Leviathan: The Unauthorised Biography of Sydney [and] David Hunt : Girt: The Unauthorised History of Australia Kurt Johnson , 2018 single work review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , August 2018;

'Leviathan and Girt are engaging because they do what official histories shy away from – they spin a ripping yarn.'  (Introduction)

Last amended 13 Aug 2020 10:46:50
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