Stories of the first white people born in Australia

Married to a man with an avid interest in Western Australia's history, and living with the Pilbara for stimulus, it was only a matter of time before this former journalist became fascinated by the regions mainly unwritten history.

Jenny Hardie began writing of the changing pastoral history of the Pilbara for The West Australian. This led onto the Port Hedland Council requesting her to write this book of the settlement and massive changes which have taken place in the Pilbara during European settlement.

A policemans' account of the Kimberley region from the 1880s to the 1920s

"When I was three-years-old I wanted to be a horse because my horse had shoes and I didn't."

From these humble beginnings Bert Bolton has lived a life many can only dream of. Born with a love of the outback, his adventures began when he was making a living along the Rabbit Proof Fence – trapping dingoes (wild dogs) for the Government in outback Western Australia. But Bert wanted to share the beauty, mystery and adventure of the remote outback regions of Australia with Australians and foreigners and so he did through his touring company.

Well known by thousands of Australians who have been on his Outback Track Tours, he has been painted by Rolf Harris, taught how to hunt and gather food by local Aborigines in Arnhem Land, and discovered breathtaking Wandjina art in Kimberley caves. From around a campfire and along a dusty road, these are the stories of a true outback man.

A different version of early pioneering in Australia begining with the influence of English novelists on young men considering moving to Australia. There are also excellent pen pictures of many lesser-known but never-the-less influential Australians. 150pp.

A humorous comparison between the not so well known Australian Outback characters and the well documented American Wild West pioneers

The gap between the city and the bush has never been greater and the bush has never had to work harder to meet the challenges of our rapidly changing society.

This is a book about the never-say-die spirit of those who live in regional Australia; the people and communities who see opportunity and the chance for renewal where others see dust.

They're the people Tim Fischer and Peter Rees know best. In his 30 years as a parliamentarian, Tim has crisscrossed the country listening to the stories of rural Australians while Peter has maintained a keen interest in the people of the bush since his time as a journalist on the Wagga Wagga 'Daily Advertiser. Here Tim and Peter show that the 'have a go' spirit of the bush means adapting to the challenges of the new century with canny thinking, hard work and a refusal to give up.

Coming from every corner of Australia, these stories are real, rich and funny, with the power to inspire us all.

Evan McHugh. 

The men and women you'll meet in this fascinating book come in all shapes and sizes, from convicts and engineers to cattleduffers and anthropologists. These remarkable Australians share an extraordinary ability to survive the rigours of the bush. In Outback Heroes, Evan McHugh brings together his favourite ripping yarns from the Australian frontier. He begins with escaped convict William Buckley, who emerged from the forest after thirty-two years in the wild; re-examines the legends of the Man from Snowy River and Waltzing Matilda; recounts one of the most stunning rescues in Australian history; and relives the 2000 Olympics Opening Ceremony.

These and other true stories of courage and ingenuity remind us how the Australian character was forged – through encounters with the bush, desert and outback.

'There were few more exotic places in Australia. Tribal Aboriginal people could still be seen around the town. Camel trains slowly made their way through the red-stone gorge that split MacDonnell Range. Rugged cattlemen and hard-bitten prospectors strode the streets.'

In Outback Pioneers, Evan McHugh gathers the enthralling stories of the men and women who opened up the Australian outback and in the process discovered the beauty and terror of this extraordinary country.

We meet the little-known convict explorer John Wilson, the first European to cross the Blue Mountains (though history favours the proper English gentlemen Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson); we follow Australia's greatest drover, Nat Buchanan, as he blazes stock routes from one side of the country to another; and we marvel at the genius and grit of the men who overcome political treachery to build the Coolgardie Pipeline and the Trans-Australian Railway.

There are some delightful inclusions: a gentle Pakistani cameleer who saves foolhardy expeditioners; a nerdy ham radio operator who invents the pedal radio and paves the way for John Flynn's Flying Doctor; two bush nurses who toil in the ruins of a pub while saving outback lives; and the modern-day pioneers who battle apathy to save endangered wildlife. Plus there are the intriguing stories of R.M. Williams, the Cattle King James Tyson, and the women behind the CWA and the School of the Air.

Milton Owen.

Stories of the development of Australia's 'Top Half', and its colourful characters - 1850s to 1950s. The characters portrayed in this book are men and women, black and white, who apart from a villain or two, served the outback and the Inlanders with distinction.

Characters covered include, Nat Buchannan, Patsy Durack and John Costello, Skipper Partridge and Harry Griffiths, Sonny Muir, alias Jim Campbell and Harry Redford, Henry Peckham,Chunda Williams and Mike O'Bader.

A stockman's stories from 1945 to 1980s

This is an unforgettable journey through Mary Durack’s life and the landscape, from early writings in the 1930’s through to mid 1980’s

This is a collection of her favourite works, including some material that has never been published before. It is a glimpse into Mary’s life experience, from her Kimberley days on the family farm and her own time in Broome, to her city home in Perth.  310pp, photos.

Katharine Pritchard

This endearing nineteenth-century family saga follows the lives, loves and losses of one pioneering family and two escaped convicts as they open up the land in Gippsland, Victoria. The Pioneers won the Hodder and Stoughton All Empire Literature Prize for Australasia in 1915, giving its author one thousand pounds and the opportunity to launch her career as a creative writer. The Pioneers has been filmed twice: in 1916 and in 1926. This classic Australian story not only commands a place in the cannon of Australian literature but it is also an important part of Australia's national cultural heritage for its fascinating record and reflection of early Australian life and perspectives.