Mark Peel

Highly readable, often surprising and always enjoyable. A Little History tells the whole story of this Great Southern Land from its Aboriginal origins to: discovery by European explorers, the First Fleet & Convict settlements, the birth of a Federated Nation, & successes and problems of the twentieth century.

H/cover. 88 pages

The human story of the search for a way of measuring distances around the earth to prevent sailors literally being lost at sea

Simon Winchester. The enthralling story of William Smith whose passion for rocks led him to single-handedly map the geology of Britain. 338pp. 

A new book by John Bailey. This is a great study of a loner who battled alcoholism and ill health to push himself to the limits of endurance, ultimately becoming one of Australia's greatest explorers.

The letters of F J Gillen to Baldwin Spencer. Both prolific letter writers, only Gillen's letters survive to give a picture of outback Australia in 1910.

The story of Matthew Flinders

Outback
The Discovery of Australia's Interior

In 1800, while the coast of Australia had finally been charted, the vast interior of the continent, and routes across its deserts and mountains from north to south and east to west lay all undiscovered. By 1874, its lands had been all but won. Derek Parker's new and exciting book gathers together the stories of those intrepid explorers who, often against great odds, on journeys of months or even years, beat starvation, inadequate information and mapping, disease and loss, to forge routes which would enable the country's development. From early explorers, who were generally escaped convicts, to the son of a Lincolnshire surgeon who coined the name 'Australia'; from explorers Major Mitchell, who slaughtered aborigines, to Sir George Grey, who learnt their language, recorded their culture and came to love and understand them; and from the greatest overland expedition in Australian history in 1844 to continued failed attempts to find a mythical 'inland sea', this is a fascinating read. 240pp

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The Endurance expedition to Antarctica. Sir Ernest Shackleton’s astonishing memoir of his 1914 Antarctic expedition explores human courage, tenacity and an unflagging hope in the face of adversity. South remains one of the greatest adventures of the twentieth century.

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Review by Kim Epton

A new book by Ivan Rudolph. With quotes freely taken from the explorers diaries, Rudolph allows the reader to ride into the blazing deserts, battle the flies, poor food and hostile Aborigines as the motley 1844 exploration party tries to unravel Australia's mysterious Centre.