Ordinary peoples experiences and memories of loss, through loved ones not returning from the Great War

John Hamilton. This book is the acclaimed account of one of the bravest, and most futile, actions of the  Gallipoli campaign—the 3rd Light Horse Brigade’s tragic charge at the Nek. 365pp

'Yes, we could fight all right. Nobody could fight better than us diggers.' - Jack Buntine, veteran of Gallipoli and the Western Front

Great Battles in Australian History tells the story of the forty most remarkable conflicts involving Australians through the eyes of the great heroes who were there. Alongside them, we can ride a horse into battle to save a wounded bugler in the Boer War; charge up the cliffs with the Anzacs at Gallipoli to help forge the legend; ride history's last great cavalry charge with the legendary Light Horse; shoot Japanese planes down as they bomb Darwin; beat off Hitler's Desert Fox, Rommel, with the 'Rats of Tobruk'; escape from a Viet Cong ambush in a tropical downpour, or slide down a rope from a helicopter into the jaws of a Taliban attack in Afghanistan. Many of these great warriors won the Victoria Cross; some died winning it.

As historian Jonathan King takes us to the battlefields of long ago and then on a rollercoaster-ride right up to the war in Afghanistan, he brings history alive, laying bare the significance of each battle.

Despite the heroics and the glory, the devastation that war wreaks is inescapable. This book serves as a tribute to all the Australian servicemen and women who have fought selflessly for their country over the last two centuries.

'Anzac' stood and still stands for reckless valour in a good cause, for enterprise, resourcefulness, fidelity, comradeship and endurance that will never admit defeat.

The Guns of Muschu

During the night of 11 April 1945 , eight Australian Z Special commandos landed on Japanese-held Muschu Island, off the coast of New Guinea. Their mission was to reconnoitre the island's defences and confirm the location of two concealed naval guns that commanded the approaches to Wewak Harbour.But the secret mission went horribly wrong. Unknown to them, their presence had been discovered within hours of their landing. With no means of escape, the island became a killing ground. Nine days later, on the New Guinea mainland, the only survivor staggered back through the Japanese lines to safety...This is the remarkable true story of that survivor.

When the Japanese invaded Malaya in 1941, Ernest Hodgkin was a British Colonial government servant living with his wife Mary and their four children in Kuala Lumpur. In January 1942 the reality of war found them separated by thousands of miles and forced into new lifestyles very different from those they would have chosen for themselves: Mary and the four children sailed aboard a troop ship to safety in Perth, Western Australia and Ernest was interned, and remained a prisoner of the Japanese for the next four years.

Kevin O’Reilly. 

A valuable historical reference for RAAF operations in Nhill: its establishment as a training base with No 2 Air Observers (Navigators) School, the early presence of No 1 Operational Training Unit & No 97 Reserve Squadron, and finally Air Armament and Gas School. The book draws you in with its recollections of a childhood in Nhill in the lead up to and during WW11. It goes on to be a chronicle of the quintessential Australian town during the war years. The comprehensive, well researched and informative collection of photographs and illustrations reproduced here adds greatly to the look and feel of both the RAAF and Nhill during this period.

David Rosenberg

In 1966, Australia and the US signed a treaty that allowed the establishment of a jointly run satellite tracking station, just south of Alice Springs. For more than forty years it has operated in a shroud of secrecy and been the target of much public and political controversy. For the first time, a US high-tech spy who worked at Pine Gap for 18 years speaks out to give an insider's account of what happens behind those locked gates in the middle of the Australian desert. Author David Rosenberg details his career with an American intelligence agency during a tumultuous period in history that covered the terms of three American Presidents, four Australian Prime Ministers, the end of the Cold War, a peace treaty between Israel and Jordan, two wars in Iraq, genocide in Rwanda, as well as the ‘War against Terror' and the emergence of North Korea as a nuclear-armed nation.  

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IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PRIVATE LYNCH   by Will Davies

Retrace Australia's role in the First World War from the trenches of SOMME MUD to the wider war on the Western Front.

Imagine this. You are a country boy and just eighteen. The war has been raging for two years and because of your age, you have not been eligible for enlistment. Your mates, older by a few months are joining up and disappearing to the great adventure across the world in Europe. And there is forever talk of the need for reinforcements, for men like you to join up and support the Empire, Australia and your mates in the line.

Such was the case for Edward Francis Lynch, a typical country boy from Perthville, near Bathurst. When war was declared in early August 1914, he was just sixteen and still at school, but like a generation of young males in Australia, there was something to prove and a need to be there.

Will Davies, editor of the bestselling SOMME MUD, meticulously tracked Lynch and his battalion's travels; their long route marches to flea ridden billets, into the frontline at such places as Messines, Dernancourt, Stormy Trench and Villers Bretonneux, to rest areas behind the lines and finally, on the great push to the final victory after August 1918. In words and pictures Davies fills in the gaps in Private Lynch's story and through the movements of the other battalions of the AIF provides impact and context to their plight and achievements. Looking at these battlefields today, the pilgrims who visit and those who attend to the land we come to understand how the spirit of Australia developed and of our enduring role in world politics.

Explores the nature of combat from the point of the view of the men doing the actual fighting. From the heights of Gallipoli to the trenches of the Western Front, from the deserts of North Africa to the jungle POW camps of the Thai-Burma Railway, from the savage cold of a Korean winter to the steamy heat of Vietnam, this book details what it's really like to be in the line of fire. It also reveals the experiences of Australian women at war, as well as the combat photographers who did so much to document the realities of the front line.

Using first-hand accounts, contemporary sources, biographies and over 60 classic photographs to create an extraordinarily vivid picture of Australians in combat, this book also provides an incisive overview of each campaign that lends depth and context to each of the individual stories. Compelling, fascinating and informative, it's a must-have for any student of Australian history.

. . unlike cricket which is a polite game, Australian Rules Football creates a desire on the part of the crowd to tear someone apart, usually the referee . . . "

" . . . The Australian has few equals in the world at swearing . . . the commonest swear words are bastard (pronounced "barstud"), "bugger", and "bloody", and the Australians have a genius for using the latter nearly every other word . . . "

Personal glimpses into the lives the last of the original Anzacs. 110pp.