In An Outback Life, Mary Groves describes the heart-breaking isolation, the hard work and the rises and falls in her family fortunes as they battle to survive in the Top End.
Mary was just 14 when her family moved to the Northern Territory from Melbourne. In her early 20s, she met Joe Groves - a cattleman, horse breaker, drover and rodeo rider. Mary and Joe fell in love and raised four children while leading an exciting and challenging life on an array of cattle stations.
During her 40 years in the outback, Mary faced death, disaster and disappointments with remarkable resilience and stoicism. She learned to operate helicopters, cattle trucks and anything else it took to help keep her family afloat, proving that if you want something badly enough you need tenacity, perseverance and - most importantly - a sense of humour.
An earthy tale of love, hope, loss and survival in the outback, Mary tells her story at a lively pace, with one entertaining yarn after another. 319pp

RM Williams. Bushman, grazier, businessman, folk hero, raconteur – one of the legends of our time. This is RM’s own story. Photos. 202 pp.

33.00

Bluebird and the Dead Lake 

John Pearson.

In Australia's remote outback, on the dazzling saltpan of Lake Eyre, Donald Campbell set out to drive his Bluebird car at over 400 miles an hour, faster than any man in history. Things went wrong from the start: unseasonal rains, a sodden lake bed in which every high-speed run slewed dangerously deep ruts, money running short, and even an Aboriginal curse. But with enormous courage, as death shimmered on the horizon ahead of him, the lonely and isolated Campbell tried to hold his nerve until he broke the record...272pp

Bush Aussies: True Stories of Australian Country Characters.

Allan Nixon 'The Uteman'. A follow on book from Bush Aussies. Nixon finds more bush characters - one of them a missing person for almost 30 years was re-united with his family as a result of these stories.

James Mahoney remembers cooking in camp ovens, problems with wooden handles, gates, fences and snakes, and cooling off with billy tea.  170pp.

John Little

Dr Catherine Hamlin has been described as a living saint and one of our greatest Australians. Since 1959 she has lived and worked in Ethiopia, helping the victims of fistulas – devastating injuries caused by obstructed labour in childbirth, which condemn women to a lifetime of incapacity and degradation.

The surgery she pioneered has helped tens of thousands of sufferers return to normal life after being shunned by their families and communities. The hospitals she has set up in her adopted country now act as teaching centres for obstetricians and surgeons from many developing nations.

Catherine's Gift takes us inside her extraordinary world, following the fate of some of the women who have travelled to Dr Hamlin's hospitals in the hope of a cure for their fistula injuries. It shows us the day-to-day experiences of her incredible staff, and the tireless work of Catherine Hamlin herself.

There are few more inspirational stories than that of Dr Catherine Hamlin, and this book brings her and her work vividly to life.

Ion. L. Idriess.

At the age of thirteen Sidney Kidman ran away from home with only five shillings in his pocket. He went on to become a horse dealer, drover, cattle buyer and jockey. He also ran a successful coach business. Above all, Kidman created a mighty cattle empire of more than one hundred stations, fighting droughts, bushfires, floods and plagues of vermin to do so. His enterprise and courage won him a huge fortune and made him a legend.

This engrossing story by famous Australian author Ion Iddriess is an inspiring tribute to the remarkable life of Sir Sidney Kidman – the cattle King. 

25.25

Colonel Rose AM, OBE deserves to be celebrated for his military career alone. He servid in two world wars but achieved even greater things as the chief veterinary officer of the Northern Territory from 1946-1958.

Dead Man Running

A true and chilling first hand account of the criminal involvement of the feared Bandidos gang - the most powerful and influential crime group currently operating in Australia and North America today - and how one man broke their code and turned informant.
'We are the people our parents warned us about' is the motto of the Bandidos, one of the world's most feared outlaw motorcycle gangs. For ten years, Steve Utah was a Bandidos insider. He arranged the security of their clubhouses and electronic surveillance and counter surveillance. He 'cooked' ecstasy and ice for them. He was at meetings where interstate and overseas drug and weapons smuggling was planned. He saw stolen military weapons, including deadly rocket launchers, being sold. He witnessed vicious beatings, helped dump corpses. He saw men executed in front of him.
It all became too much and, in an attempt to regain control of his life, Utah resorted to the unthinkable: he rolled over to the Federal Police and told them all he knew about the Bandidos. He had intimate knowledge of every facet of the Bandidos' business in Australia and many aspects of their activities in North America. He literally knew where the bodies were buried.
This shocking, unflinching, tragic story is Steve Utah's confession. He knows he is a dead man running - that inevitably the Bandido code will be honoured and he will be silenced. But not before Utah gets his chance to wake Australians to the looming threat in their midst - the relentless rise of sophisticated organised crime networks inside outlaw motorcycle gangs and the apparent inability of the Police and legal system to deal with it. 405pp