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. Hard-cover. 88pp.

First published in 1997, this edition 2007

Dava Sobel.

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

First published in 1998, this edition 2011

Simon Winchester. 

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

First published in 2001, this edition 2002

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.

First edition 2006, this edition 2010

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.

First published in 1997, this edition 2001

Ernestine Hill.

The story of Matthew Flinders.

First published in 1941, this edition 2002

Outback:The Discovery of Australia's Interior

Derek Parker.

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.

First published in 2007, this edition 2009

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In 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton led twenty-seven men, for almost two years, through a harrowing fight for their lives after the wreck of their Antarctic vessel, Endurance, left them stranded on an ice floe twelve hundred miles from civilization. But every man survived. And everyman ascribed it to Shackleton's superb leadership.
Nearly a century later, this once-overlooked explorer is riding a wave of 'Shackleton mania.' Yet nowhere have the secrets of Shackleton's leadership success been fully analysed. Shackleton's Way draws on anecdotes, crew diaries, contemporary material, and interviews with some of today's leaders to illustrate Shackleton's tactics.
Here readers will learn how to manage crises with limited personnel and resources, how to create order out of chaos, how to hire good workers, how to support and inspire employees to do their best, and how to lead by personal example - with optimism, egalitarianism, humour, strength, ingenuity, intelligence, and compassion.
Shackleton's Way is a fascinating and practical case study of a leader who triumphed by putting people first and striving for the seemingly impossible.

First published 2001, this edition 2002

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.

First published in 1919, this edition 2008

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Spinifex & Sand

David W. Carnegie.

The author draws the reader into Sturt’s 1844 expedition thrusting towards the Red Centre by quoting freely from eyewitness accounts. You ride into the fierce, blazing deserts with them, feel what they felt and picture what they saw. It has been carefully researched from original material that is cluttered by a great deal of extraneous detail.

The author highlights important details missed by other writers, such as the progressive influence of scurvy on the personalities of the leaders and Browne’s conjecture that Lake Torrens was not a single lake at all. Rudolph gives an empathetic account of the men, one that appreciates their courage and achievements, while not glossing over their weaknesses.

A readable book for all Australians: the man or woman in the street, in the bush and on properties.

First published in 2006