Ruth Wajnryb

Have you ever wondered how Canberra got its name? Who mistook crocs for 'gators when naming the Alligator Rivers in the Northern Territory. 

Place names are moments in history, freeze framed for posterity, awaiting anthropologists and linguists to discover the stories that lie behind the names.

Graeme Quick

Australia has some of the world's largest and most labour efficient farms, and tractors are an essential part of their operations. This historical overview documents the development of the indigenous tractor industry.

Histories are included of individual manufacturers as well as the historical, social  and economic impact the industry as a whole has contributed to Australia

S/cover. 176 pages

Richard Whitaker

Do you need to take an umbrella today? Will the price of bananas go up this week? Will the cyclone reach our town? From the most mundane daily decisions to matters of life and death, the weather affects our lives intimately. Drawing on the latest scientific research, The Complete Book of Australian Weather explains climate zones and weather patterns across the continent.
Australia has some of the most extreme weather patterns of any country in the world. We discover the science behind the devastating bushfires and cyclones, the willy willies and the southerly buster, and the cyclical droughts caused by the El Nino phenomenon. We explore why Australia is particularly vulnerable to climate change, and how we can harness the forces of nature for green energy.
Lavishly illustrated throughout with colour photographs and diagrams, The Complete Book of Australian Weather is a fascinating and comprehensive guide for keen weather watchers, families and students.

Constructing Australia tells the dramatic stories of political turmoil, private tragedy and conquest that lie at the heart of three epic engineering events in Australia's history: the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Perth-Kalgoorlie Pipeline and the Overland Telegraph. Combining a wealth of rare archival images with a richly researched narrative, this volume presents the grand sweep of events and the human drama behind each project.

Ken Arnold

An Identification guide.

This book covers everything from old farm equipment, hand tools, household items to stationary engines and anything else commonly used around the farm. 

S/cover 80 pages

Tall tales, all true, about guns, bombs, car chases, spiders, exotic locales, men in uniform and dancing girls - with deadpan delivery and a social conscience.

I remember the advertisement to join the Army. It asked for guys who were fit, committed, tough, volunteer parachutists, comfortable in the ocean, and mature. As a surfer, that sounded like me - except for the mature bit.
Nathan Mullins is an ex-cop, ex-soldier, ex-security consultant and an Australian Aid International volunteer, so he's experienced all sorts of dangerous stuff involving guns, explosions, surgical procedures, combat, sword-play, rioting and other potentially life-threatening behaviours all over the world. He has been lucky to survive some of his assignments and hijinks so he decided to share a few cautionary tales so everyone else can learn from his near misses.

Rod Champness

Covers a wide range of interesting topics, including Aboriginal communications, the early attempts by the settlers to setup communications with the first telegraphy, the railway, early telephone, then eventually the realisation of the Rev. John Flynns dream to provide communication with the first pedal wireless. The book then proceeds through the rapid development of modern communications we know today.

Included are many interesting sketckes, early photographs, and even circuit diagrams of the early communication equipment.
This is a must for the collector of early communications equipment, or the researcher of early life in the outback.

As a matter of interest, did you know that even with a pedal generator, batteries were still required.

Red Centre, Dark Heart

The Australian outback is a vast landscape of extraordinary magnificence. But is is also a notorious crime scene. Some of the most shocking and fascinating crimes in our history have been committed in its harsh surrounds. This book explores baffling murders, mysterious vanishing acts and intense manhunts in remote Australia.