Cirrus@Austlit

'Peter Board was a British sailor, born in Devonshire, who joined the Royal Navy at 16 and served on HMS Newcastle and HMS Consort. With his mate Ron Palmer they jumped ship after the Montebello nuclear tests. Peter headed for country WA and after some adventures ended up at Dwellingup. He describes bush town life and its people and working on the bush railways of the forest area. Eventually the RN found the pair and it was back to swabbing decks. He returned to Australia in 1972 and worked in the Pilbara. Here he took up diving, metal detecting, boating, and expeditions with the WA Museum archaeologists around the islands. Retiring from Hamersley Iron in 1987 he married again and retired to the hills, surrounded by his collections and library.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Sue was a taxi driver at Yirrkala in Arnhem Land. She writes passionately of the people and life in a place still little known by Australians.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Beyondie Station at Kumarina, north of Meekatharra, was taken up in the 1920s by Bob George, a Rabbit Proof Fence boundary rider. He protected a young part-Aboriginal girl, later marrying her. Yibbie had ten children with Bob George and later attachments, and most were sent by Bob to Sister Kate’s home in Perth for their education. Of the children today, two of the girls survive. One is a Perth lawyer, and the other, Evalene, was involved in a pastoral life. This is the interesting story of growing up in the wildest bush and in the equally feral children’s home. The George family were well-known in the upper Murchison/Gascoyne region and this autobiography is an interesting and important reflection of life in that country. It was written by 2003 but ignored by publishers, perhaps because its content was not considered abrasive enough in the ‘culture wars’ of that time.'  (Publication summary)

'Up the Carob Tree is a novel firmly based in Western Australia. Related through the eyes of a growing child, it tells the story of a family living on the outskirts of 'an ordinary little country town' that remains nameless but could be anywhere the reader wishes to place it: anywhere with 'majestic' grain silos and a milk bar called the Rotunda with a juke box that works 'most of the time.' In due course there's a Drive –In and a new fangled establishment called a 'motel.' The four neighbouring blocks on East Quarry Road where the family lives are taken up by an assortment of people, all from 'somewhere else' with their different and colourful, sometimes mysterious backgrounds and circumstances that are of endless interest to a curious child.' (Publication summary)

'Wanjina Beings – among the most distinctive of all the Aboriginal Ancestral Beings depicted in Australian rock art – have been a topic of conjecture among Western scholars since their discovery by the explorer George Grey in the Northwest Kimberley Region of Australia, in 1838. Their origins have at various times been ascribed to travellers from other continents and even extraterrestrial sources.'

'This essay presents a brief history of past research into the Wanjina cult of the Kimberley: and examines some of the core mythology that embraces the country of the Wanjina and which links people, from the coasts lapping the Timor Sea, to the fastness of the Kimberley Plateau.'

'Drawing together a range of ethnographic data this essay shows that the Wanjinas have played an integral role in underpinning the identity of the Worrorra, Wunambal and Ngarinyin peoples. This cultural connection stretches back for many millennia and continues today, through both oral traditions and the visual arts, playing a major role in defining the bond that holds these three groups of Indigenous Australians together.' (Source: Publishers website)

'This publication presents a revised English translation of the first volume (Australie) of an account of a voyage around the world undertaken in 1866 by two young French aristocrats.

'In Australia they visited Melbourne, Ballarat and Bendigo, and outside Melbourne experienced the life of a squatter at that time. They also visited Hobart, Sydney, Newcastle and Brisbane before sailing north towards South East Asia.

'The separate chapters are preceded by a general introduction written by Marie Ramsland (University of Newcastle), and by introductions to the separate chapters written by the editor, and by Nicola Cousen (Federation University), Steve Mullins (Central Queensland University), Stefan Petrow (University of Tasmania, and John and Marie Ramsland (University of Newcastle).

'The text and the introductions provide a vivid picture of the eastern states of Australia as they were in 1866, seen through the eyes of a young French aristocrat.' (Publication summary)

'Charlie Gaunt arrived in the Northern Territory in 1878 as a young teenager. His adventurous life there and in NQ is detailed with many bloody meetings with the tribesmen.

'Pearling, prospecting, soldiering, tall ships, dog musher, hobo, ranch manager, customs officer were some of the occupations of an adventurous life in the Boer War, Alaska, Nevada & USA generally, Mexico, China, Trinidad, British Guiana, Burma., etc. He died in Brisbane in 1938.' (Publication summary)

'Bob Parker of Bundarra and Sydney, NSW, enlisted in the AIF in 1944 and served in BCOF, Japan. After discharge and the start of the Korean War he re-enlisted in the RAR. In the fortunes of war he became a Don-R rider.

'During the Battle of Kapyong he was hit by machine gun fire and captured. The story of his forced marches to the POW camp on the Chinese border and the lives of the men around him are the substance of this book. At the truce he was released and returned to Australia. Bob died earlier this year.

'Graham J Brammer OAM. The author served in the Australian Regular Army for almost three decades, mostly in special forces and including two tours of Vietnam as a Patrolman and as a Patrol Commander with SASR. In 1988 he was posted to North West Mobile Force (NORFORCE) as the Regimental Sergeant Major and later established the Army Survival Wing. He is held in the highest esteem by soldiers of all ranks for his actions as a warrior, leader and instructor. He is an accomplished author of fiction and military history.' (Publication summary)

'Sarah of Enderslea Farm, Red Flowering Gums, and River Dreaming are three plays, one set in the early Swan River Colony and the others as examinations of later colonial and society attitudes.

'The authors have set the scene with a Foreword and Introduction placing the real life characters in the correct historical, geographical and social context.' (Publication summary)

'Lt Bill Grayden, under Brig. Arnold Potts, led his men in the bitter fighting of Kokoda in 1942. This book is possibly the only one written by one of those who fought, rather than by a distant armchair observer.' (Publication summary)

'Bushman, tracker, drover, stockman, pastoralist, Aboriginal Ningebong was an extraordinary individual. C1904-1978 he spent most of his life in the wider Wiluna area. He was a favourite of the local people and many are the stories of his solidity and of course his little quirks. This biography places on record his life and peoples appreciation of him. He was the principal witness in the trial of the murderers of trapper Joe Wilkins in 1937 and in a rustling trial in the 1970s. He was one of the first Aboriginals to have his own pastoral Lease.' (Source: Publisher's website)