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Anthony Hill Anthony Hill i(A31531 works by) (a.k.a. Tony Hill)
Born: Established: 1942 Melbourne, Victoria, ;
Gender: Male
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Works By

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1 1 y separately published work icon The Investigators Anthony Hill , Melbourne : Penguin , 2023 25545231 2023 single work novel historical fiction

'A novel of high adventure, exploration, shipwreck and survival, based on the life of Matthew Flinders' cousin, fifteen-year-old midshipman John Franklin, by the award-winning author of Soldier Boy.

''Our discoveries have been great, but the risks and misfortunes many.'

'John Franklin always wanted to be a sailor. As a volunteer in the Royal Navy at age fourteen, he found himself in the Battle of Copenhagan, but nothing could prepare him for the adventure of a lifetime, when he set off in 1801 with his cousin Matthew Flinders on HMS Investigator as it sought to chart the first circumnavigation of Australia.

'Taking on responsibility for the chronometers, under the jealous eye of Flinders' younger brother, the young midshipman found all the action, adventure and excitement he'd hoped for in his new life at sea. It inspired him to become one of the great navigators and explorers of the 19th century.

'However, he wasn't quite so prepared for the other challenges that life onboard had in store - the rivalries with fellow shipmates, the shortages of food, and the harsh realities of what they encountered in the colonies. Danger, disease and death seemed to follow in their wake, and even the Investigator was at serious risk of survival, and had to flee to Koepang in present-day Indonesia for repair.

'The history books tell us that the first circumnavigation of Australia was completed on this voyage - but award-winning author Anthony Hill tells us how it was achieved. The Investigators is an unforgettable story of high adventure, exploration, shipwreck and survival as a young sailor comes of age.' (Publication summary)

2 1 y separately published work icon The Last Convict Anthony Hill , Melbourne : Penguin Random House Australia , 2020 18573245 2020 single work novel historical fiction

''It's a good story, Samuel. You're a piece of living history.'

'Oxford 1863: Young Samuel Speed sets a barley stack alight in the hope it will earn him a bed in prison for the night. He wants nothing more than a morsel of food in his belly and a warm place to sleep off the streets. What he receives is a sentence of seven years' servitude, to be served half a world away in the penal colony of Fremantle, Western Australia.

'When Samuel boards the transport ship Belgravia, he is stripped of his clothing and even his name, and given regulations of when to rise, eat, clean and sleep. On arrival at Fremantle Prison, hard labour is added to the mix and he wonders if life can get any worse. The only solace he finds is a love of reading, which allows the likes of Tom Sawyer and Oliver Twist to become his lifelong friends.

'Samuel is granted a ticket of leave in 1867 and full freedom in 1871, but what sort of life can a man forge for himself in the colony, with no skills, no money and no family? Will it be the beginning of the life he has always dreamed of, or do some sentences truly never end?

'A colourful recreation of the life and times of the last known convict to be sent to Australia, The Last Convict is a moving study of old age and loneliness, as one social outcast finds meaning in his impoverished life through the power of literature. Meticulously researched and brilliantly woven into an engaging fictional account, it is an unforgettable story by an award-winning writer and historian.' (Publication summary)

1 1 y separately published work icon Voices From the Air : The ABC War Correspondents Who Told the Stories of Australians in the Second World War Anthony Hill , Sydney South : HarperCollins Australia , 2016 9566163 2016 selected work biography

'An untold tale of Australians at war: the first ABC war correspondents and how radio broadcast from the battlefields to those at home waiting for news. With the outbreak of the Second World War, a new breed of reporters joined the ranks of war correspondents - and through the reach and power of radio Australians back home heard their voices and their stories shaped from the sounds of battle, out of the white noise of the ether.Australian forces defended our long shoreline against the threat of invasion and more than 500,000 Australians went into battle overseas. They fought on the dusty soil of the Middle East and North Africa, in the snow-topped hills of Greece, on the beaches of the Pacific and in the sweltering jungles of Malaya and New Guinea. And the first ABC war correspondents were on the frontlines with them.The story of these correspondents is a story of Australians at war and a tale of personal struggle, humour, tragedy and achievement. From Chester Wilmot's gripping accounts of the Siege of Tobruk to Dudley Leggett trekking with the diggers through the mud of the Kokoda Trail, Haydon Lennard helping to free Australian nurses from a Japanese prison camp and John Elliott's shocking death in the final campaign in Borneo, ABC correspondents shared the highs, lows and the dangers of the frontline with the troops. And the photographs of the correspondents in the field and the ephemera that has survived: the torn pages, blotted, crossed out and hastily typed scripts that are reproduced in the book bring these experiences to life.Tony Hill's own experience as a foreign correspondent led him in search of the first ABC war correspondents and to a compelling and largely untold story. He is passionate about telling this story of the war; about a remarkable group of men and how they reported from the warfront; how they changed the reporting of war and how the war changed their lives.' (Publication summary)

1 Books That Changed Me : Anthony Hill Anthony Hill , 2012 single work column
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 16 September 2012; (p. 14)
1 Question Time : Anthony Hill, Author Anthony Hill , 2012 single work column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 11 August 2012; (p. 3)
1 The Kid Who Refused to Die Anthony Hill , 2012 extract biography (The Story of Billy Young : A Teenager in Changi, Sandakan and Outram Road)
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 29 July 2012; (p. 73-75) The Sunday Age , 29 July 2012; (p. 11)
1 2 y separately published work icon The Story of Billy Young : A Teenager in Changi, Sandakan and Outram Road Anthony Hill , Camberwell : Viking , 2012 Z1876513 2012 single work biography war literature 'The Story of Billy Young is the true story of the suffering - and survival - of an underage prisoner-of-war during World War II. Bill Young, who is still alive, enlised in the army in July 1941 aged only 15, though he said he was 19. He went to Singapore, was captured at the fall, and spent the rest of his teenage years in some of the most barbaric Japanese prisons.

From Changi he was sent to Sandakan in Borneo, from which he and a mate were lucky to escape before the infamous death marches. They were quickly caught, however, and Billy ended up in the notorious Outram Road prison in Singapore, where he spent much of the next two years in solitary confinement.

This is the story of how he survived that ordeal. Young Bill is an extraordinary testament to a young man's remarkable courage in the face of some of the most horrific experiences of wartime. It is also the story of the tragic effects of war and its aftermath on the personal lives of those who fought.' (Publisher's blurb)
1 Living Historical Fiction Anthony Hill , 2009 single work essay
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , July vol. 24 no. 3 2009; (p. 12-13)
Hill talks about the maxim he shares with novelist Patrick O'Brian, that 'authenticity is a jewel' when it comes to historical fiction.
1 Living History - Writing History Anthony Hill , 2009 single work column
— Appears in: ACTWrite , April vol. 15 no. 3 2009; (p. 4-5)
1 Why Another Cook Book? Anthony Hill , 2008 single work essay
— Appears in: Viewpoint : On Books for Young Adults , Summer vol. 16 no. 4 2008; (p. 2-3)
Anthony Hill talks about the research for his latest title 'Captain Cook's Apprentice', which ranged from an eight day journey on the Endeavor replica to a visit to 'Grass Cove' in New Zealand where ten of Cook's men were killed and eaten during the second voyage.
1 Lest We Forget : Stories From the Front Anthony Hill , 2008 single work column
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , May 2008 vol. 52 no. 2 2008; (p. 8-9)
1 11 y separately published work icon Captain Cook's Apprentice Anthony Hill , Camberwell : Penguin , 2008 Z1529282 2008 single work novel young adult historical fiction

'A fictional recreation of one of the greatest voyages of discovery ever made, by award-winning author Anthony Hill.

'The enthralling story of Captain Cook's voyage to Australia, as seen through the eager eyes of a cabin boy.

'When young Isaac Manley sailed on the Endeavour from England in 1768, no one on board knew if a mysterious southern continent existed in the vast Pacific Ocean. It would be a voyage full of uncertainties and terrors.

'During the course of the three-year journey, Isaac’s eyes are opened to all the brutal realities of life at sea – floggings, storms, press-gangs, the deaths of fellow crewmen, and violent clashes on distant shores.

'Yet Isaac also experiences the tropical beauty of Tahiti, where he becomes enchanted with a beautiful Tahitian girl. He sees the wonders of New Zealand, and he is there when the men of Endeavour first glimpse the east coast of Australia, anchor in Botany Bay, and run aground on the Great Barrier Reef.

'Acclaimed and award-winning historical novelist Anthony Hill brings to life this landmark voyage with warmth, insight and vivid detail in this exciting and enlightening tale of adventure and discovery. ' (Publication summary)

1 4 y separately published work icon Lucy's Cat and the Rainbow Birds Anthony Hill , Jane Tanner (illustrator), Camberwell : Puffin , 2007 Z1353402 2007 single work picture book children's

A young girl works through various attempts to stop her cat from feasting on the rainbow birds in the garden.

1 1 y separately published work icon River Boy Anthony Hill , Canberra : National Museum of Australia Press , 2006 Z1341614 2006 single work children's fiction children's When Nat Shannon ran away from his uncle's farm to join the river boats, his escape was easier than the boy ever imagined. Nat is asked to help out on a paddle steamer. It's his dream and he's even getting paid for it! But he's got a secret that could not only risk his own life but the lives of the entire crew.
1 2 y separately published work icon Harriet Anthony Hill , Camberwell : Puffin , 2006 Z1303922 2006 single work children's fiction children's

Harriet was a real tortoise from the Galapagos Islands... who lived for most of her long, long life in Queensland.

When Harriet died in 2006, at the great age of about 175-years-old, she had become one of the world's most famous tortoises.

It was said she was one of the tortoises collected by the great naturalist Charles Darwin and the ship HMS Beagle, when it visited the Galapagos Islands in 1835.

But was she? In the story of Harriet Anthony Hill tried to find out... (Source: Author's website)

1 4 y separately published work icon The Shadow Dog Anthony Hill , Haymarket : Viking , 2003 Z1070373 2003 single work novella

'The Shadow Dog is Anthony Hill's heart-felt tribute to his dog Sebastian ... a quite well-bred German short-haired pointer who suffered one terrible defect.

'He was black. And black is not permitted. So the breeders dumped Sebastian as a six-week-old puppy in a drain outside the Canberra pound...

'Sensitively illustrated with ink and wash drawings by Andrew McLean, another dog lover, The Shadow Dog is in part an elegy, as Anthony takes his dog on their last walk together ... through the gate and into the paddock where Sebastian used to chase tennis balls ... among the pine woods and up the track through the bush to the top of Dog Hill ... and down again.

'But it is also a song of joy known by everyone who has owned and loved a dog ... as Anthony remembers the pup coming home and being mothered by the old dog Sandy ... going to obedience school ... learning his manners ... chasing sticks and swimming in the lake ... becoming the family's devoted companion through nine years.'

Source: Author's website.

1 14 y separately published work icon Young Digger Anthony Hill , Camberwell London : Penguin , 2002 Z978714 2002 single work biography historical fiction young adult An extraordinary story about Henri Tovell who was known as 'Young Digger'. Orphaned, homeless and no more than seven years old, he attached himself to several British Army fighting units, until he was eventually smuggled back to Australia where he was raised by an airman as his own son. Ages 14+.
1 6 y separately published work icon Forbidden Anthony Hill , Ringwood : Puffin , 2002 Z938974 2002 single work children's fiction children's

On a remote Scottish island music has been banned for a hundred years. All that is about to change because of the courage of one boy and a mysterious old fiddle player. Forbidden is the haunting story of bravery friendship and the healing power of music.

1 Notes on Soldier Boy Anthony Hill , 2001 single work column
— Appears in: The Lu Rees Archives Notes, Books and Authors , no. 23 2001; (p. 15-18)
1 Once Were Giants : The Reality of Gallipoli Anthony Hill , 2001 extract biography (Soldier Boy : The True Story of Jim Martin the Youngest Anzac)
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 21 April 2001; (p. 7)
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