Cirrus@Austlit

'Chris the merino sheep, nervous about his first shearing, escapes into the bush. At first Chris enjoys his new life among the gum trees, but as the years go by, his fleece grows heavier and heavier. Chris's journey into the unknown takes a turn when he encounters a wiry dingo.

'Is the dingo here to help Chris overcome his fears? Can Chris find his way back to the farm? Will he become the world's woolliest sheep?' (Publication summary) 

'How Mother Kangaroo Got Her Pouch follows Mother Bunda and her spirited little joey, Baabay, as they adventure across the vast Australian landscape where they meet Wambad, the wise old wombat. When Mother Kangaroo’s bravery and quick thinking save Baabay and Wambad from hunters, Wambad repays their kindness with an unexpected gift that will change their lives forever.

'A combination of ancient First Nations storytelling and exciting adventure tale, How Mother Kangaroo Got Her Pouch is the second in a series of five picture books featuring stories from Australia, inspired by the National Museum of Australia’s immersive play space for children.' (Publication summary)

'On a starless night Little Brother leaves the safety of the campfire and is captured by the fearsome bunyip. Big Sister will need everything she has learnt about the bush and her Country to rescue Little Brother and escape the bunyip.

'Part Sky Country creation story, part exciting adventure tale, The Bunyip and the Stars is the first in a series of five picture books featuring stories from Australia inspired by the National Museum of Australia's new immersive play space for children - the Tim and Gina Fairfax Discovery Centre.' (Publication summary)

'What the Colonists Never Knew paints a vivid picture of what it was like to grow up Aboriginal in Sydney, alongside the colonists, from 1788 to the present.

'Dennis, the grandson of Clarice Malinda Lougher, the last practising matriarch of the Gai-mariagal clan, was immersed in cultural knowledge and lore from an early age. Through his eyes we see a Sydney of totemic landscapes resonating with ceremonial sites and ancestral activity, song-lines and walking tracks, habitat caves and middens, and share memories of what has been lost.

'At Narrabeen camp in the 1950s we meet Uncle Willie de Serve, a man who wore the scarifications of his ritual life and mentored the young Dennis. 'His face was alive with a thousand stories.'

'Dennis also introduces us to Nanna Watson, who lived in a little humpy at Car-rang gel (North Head). 'On a hot summer's afternoon, she would hitch her dress up round her knees and wriggle around in the sand to get a couple of ugaries (pipis), chew one up and spit it into the water and put the other one on the line, and before you knew it she'd have a big whiting or a bream.'

'Through the stories so generously told we may reflect on what it means to be a stolen child and one of the 'silent generations', and to fight to safeguard culture and identity. We can sense the responsibility of being the senior Gai-mariagal and the last of the storytellers, and the urgency to document and share the knowledge bestowed on him by generations of his family.' (Publication summary)

'Horace is a very big horse with an even bigger heart. Every day he pulls the baker’s cart and helps Old William, Big Bill and Young Billy take bread, buns and other doughy delights to all the people in the town. But when a terrible flu makes everyone sick, who is going to deliver the bread to hungry families? ' (Publication summary)

'Bark painting, as practised by Aboriginal artists of Arnhem Land for millennia, is one of the great traditions of world art. Yet it was only recognised as such late in the 20th century. Old Masters: Australia’s Great Bark Artists highlights the work of 40 master painters who have carried one of the oldest continuing traditions of art into the modern era.

'Old Masters features the paintings of Narritjin Maymuru, Yirawala, Mawalan Marika and David Malangi and their contemporaries. These men of high ritual standing were not only artists, but also ceremonial and clan leaders, philosophers, advocates for land rights and human rights, ambassadors and politicians, who recognised the power of art as the most eloquent means to build bridges between Aboriginal and European society.

'The book includes essays by renowned scholars of Aboriginal art, biographies and portraits of the artists, and 122 full-colour plates of the paintings, made between 1948 and 1988, from the National Museum of Australia’s rich and extensive collection.'

'Hell's Only Half Full tells the colourful story of Victorian pioneer-settler Lucy Little (Nan) through the lives of three generations of her family.

'It is essentially a gritty yet engaging story of strong, resourceful women (and fairly ineffectual men) dealing with abject poverty in an unforgiving environment.

'Born in 1893, Nan was an indomitable tyrant who had nine children, built her own house, worked into her nineties running a household and farm, and supplementing her widow's pension through her ingenuity.

'It is a story peppered with humour — beginning with the spectacle of a horse being given an enema — and spiced with drama, pathos, even fratricide.

'It is composed of many vignettes, rather than chapters, making it easy to dip in and out. Acute observations and insights combine to paint a rich portrait of a woman, a family, a community and an era.

'This little gem of a book is beautifully illustrated with Kerry Clarke's photography. ' (From the publisher's website.)

Art exhibition Yiwarra Kuju: The Canning Stock Route tells the story of the Canning Stock Route's impact on Aboriginal people, and the importance of the Country that surrounds it, through the works of senior and emerging artists and the stories of traditional custodians. (Source: National Museum Australia website)

'Daisy and her mum have just moved into the Grand Private Hotel belonging to Mr and Mrs Papadopolous. It's all new and strange, but Nina, Old Dot, the Colonel and especially Rainbow Rose are there to help them make a new life for themselves. But what's so special about the year 1975?' (National Museum)

'Grand, wild and windswept, the Australian Alps have played a big part in forging the identity of our nation. Rugged Beyond Imagination examines the lesser-known northern Alps, defined by the Namadgi-Tidbinbilla region of the Australian Capital Territory, and pursues its historical links with Kosciuszko National Park. Drawing on a rich oral history, this book captures the experiences of stockmen and skiers, scientists and surveyors, dam builders and brumby runners to paint a vivid picture of how people were shaped by the mountain environment and how they endeavoured to shape it. Rare and iconic images help to convey the beauty and history of a very special part of Australia.' (Publication summary)

'Ruby doesn't like working for the Nortons. She wants to go back to Alice Springs to live with her mum. Will Idris, the Afghan boy who works with the camels, help her to return home?' (National Museum)

'Tibby feels like everything is going wrong. Her big brother Clarence is all grown up, and doesn't want to play with her any more. If Clarence says there aren't any pixies except in books, then what exactly did Tibby see in the bush, peering out from behind a leaf?' (National Museum)

'Maggie is working as a children's nurse in the big house when she finds a copybook and decides to teach herself to read. She knows she shouldn't really take the book, and things only get worse when the mistress sends her home in disgrace.' (National Museum)

'Emily Kame Kngwarreye is one of the most important abstract painters of the 20th century and one of the most significant artists that Australia has ever produced. Emily’s strikingly modern and beautifully innovative works, created in an environment far away from the influence of the Western Art tradition, have been featured in over 100 exhibitions in the last decade and are housed in collections all over the world. This book has been published to support a major international exhibition, presented by the National Museum of Australia, that opened in Japan in 2007 and travels to Australia this year. Utopia: The Genius of Emily Kame Kngwarreye features over 120 works drawn from private, public and corporate collections around the world, telling the story of Emily Kame Kngwarreye as one of Australia’s greatest contemporary artists, and also giving some insight into her life as a senior Anmatyerre woman and a lifelong custodian of the desert country that inspired her work.' (Publication summary)

'During the Second World War the Australian Government interned thousands of Australian residents who were considered a security risk. Under Suspicion: Internment in Australia explores some of these stories. The essays in Under Suspicion explore some of these stories, which reveal the sometimes disturbing nature of how the nation reacts on the home front when its existence is threatened by war.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

John loves to fiddle with things, but when he connects a broken webcam to an old telescope he is in for a shock. Suddenly he finds himself looking back in time, caught up in a very 'cool' Antarctic adventure.' (National Museum)