Second Edition.

The starry heavens have been a source of fascination for mankind since the dawn of time. With the extraordinary discoveries of modern-day astronomers an even greater curiosity is constantly being fueled. 

The Australian Guide to Stargazing is the ideal companion to explore the world of the night sky with the naked eye, binoculars or telescopes.

Keith Colls and Richard Whitaker. Describes Aust. climate in a lively and readable way. Cloud types and formation. The second edition of this book now describes Australia's climate and weather patterns in a lively and readable fashion, covering heaps of different topics from El Nino to natural disasters..216 pp. 

Kim Torney

A powerful exploration of the making of a uniquely Australian image - the image of a child lost in the bush.

Stories of children lost in the bush, along with drought, fires and floods, became central to many Australian colonial experiences. This cultural legacy remains to this day, and is one of the few experiences modern Australians share with their colonial past.

Evolution is the grand theme of Country, which is a triple pronged book. It's autobiographical travel, an account of the evolution of kangaroos, and offers new information in defence of Flannery's theory that it was people rather than climate change that caused the extinction of mega-fauna.  258 pages

‘It is the driest, flattest, hottest, most desiccated, infertile and climatically aggressive of all the inhabited continents and still Australia teems with life – a large portion of it quite deadly. In fact Australia has more things that can kill you in a very nasty way than anywhere else’. 

This book is not written specifically for an Australian audience but should appeal to the wacky Australian sense of humour.

Great Australian Facts & Firsts

Dr Karl Kruszelnicki

Dr Karl fills your head with funny stories about science and technology, landscape and people and the erratic path of invention and discovery in Australia. From the bionic ear to the cycle of a caterpillar’s life. 394 pp.

Frank Welsh. The book traces Australia's intriguing and varied history to examine how this society emerged, from its ancient Aboriginal peoples to today's modern nation. 723 pages.

It’s All About Australia Mate.

Denis Gregory takes us on an unforgettable and hilarious journey through the history of Australia and what it means to be an Australia. Full of quirky observations and little-known facts, this book is a vivid commentary on the life and culture of ‘ the lucky country’. 176 pp

Completely revised and updated with the latest official statistics, this invaluable book has all the answers to these and thousands more questions. Illustrated throughout with colour photographs, maps and drawings, The little Aussie Fact Book is packed with information about Australia's past and present - its famous people and places, its government and economy and its flora and fauna..

The Min Min Light, the small, bright, dancing night-light of plains and farmlands, is one of the oldest Australian mysteries. 

Temporarily unavailable

Gerald Stone. A compelling deeply researched and evocative look at the most socially divisive period in Australia's history. 429pages.

Tim Bowden. With considerable hilarity, irreverence, a zest for life and talented story-telling zeal, No Tern Unstoned is an entertaining collection of Bowden's wry observations.

Tim's topics range widely, through pet hates like over-loud music in restaurants and pubs, to beach fishing, bad poetry, vexatious letters, demented pigeons and management jargon.

Brendan Gullifer

Here in one handy reference, are the dates and deeds, heroes and villains, the icons and words that have shaped our country and place in the world. Full of useful facts as well as a handy dose of irreverence.

Australia's most innovative and penetrating historian

Hirst blends the intimacy of the insider with the objectivity usually only available to the outsider. Included here are classic essays on the pioneer legend, Australian egalitarianism and colonial culture. 

Hirst overturns familiar conceptions and deepens our sense of Australia's development from convict society to distinctive democracy.

1788     David Hill

An extraordinary narrative history of the First Fleet, by the bestselling author of The Forgotten Children. Never before or since has there been an experiment quite as bold as this. Set against the backdrop of Georgian England with its peculiar mix of elegance, prosperity, progress and squalor, the story of the First Fleet is one of courage, of short-sightedness, of tragedy but above all of extraordinary resilience. It is also, of course, the story of the very first European Australians, reluctant pioneers who travelled into the unknown - the vast majority against their will - in order to form a colony by order of the King's government. Separated from loved ones and travelling in cramped conditions for the months-long journey to Botany Bay, they suffered the most unbearable hardship on arrival on Australian land where a near-famine dictated that rations be cut to the bone. But why was the settlement of New South Wales proposed in the first place? Who were the main players in a story that changed the world and ultimately forged the Australian nation? How did the initial skirmishes with the indigenous population break out and how did the relationship turn sour so quickly?

Using diaries, letters and official records, DAVID HILL artfully reconstructs the experiences of these famous and infamous men and women of history, combining narrative skill with an eye for detail and an exceptional empathy with the people of the past.

Graeme Davison. The ways in which the past enters everyday-life in Australia. Davison questions folk museums, monuments and many other topics. 

The past can inspire, console and condemn, sometimes all at once, but how do Australians use, and sometimes misuse, the past? What are the private and public purposes it serves and what dangers attend it abuse? 

This book presents a wide-ranging and perceptive exploration of the many ways in which the past enters everyday life in Australia and a powerful plea for the imaginative study of history. 322p

Boxed set of books 1-8 as used throughout the Victorian Education system from the 1920s to late 1950s.

Where words originated within Australia

Kel Richards & the Macquarie Dictionary

This book is the first national dictionary of Australian regionalisms. Combining the resources of the Macquarie Dictionary and ABC Online and the talents of the ABC's word-meister extraordinaire, Kel Richards, it reveals the humour and whimsy of Aussie English as well as its richness, variety and scope.