Entrepreneur, adventurer, philanthropist ... Australian icon Dick Smith shares his extraordinary life story for the first time.'Part Bear Grylls, part Bill Gates, but 100% Aussie larrikin. Dick is a great innovator, philanthropist and adventurer, who in my eyes can do no wrong.' - Paul Hogan'Businessman, adventurer, philanthropist . . . Dick Smith is a true Australian legend.' - Greg Mortimer OAM'I have been charmed by good fortune to be born in...

Entrepreneur, adventurer, philanthropist ... Australian icon Dick Smith shares his extraordinary life story for the first time.'Part Bear Grylls, part Bill Gates, but 100% Aussie larrikin. Dick is a great innovator, philanthropist and adventurer, who in my eyes can do no wrong.' - Paul Hogan'Businessman, adventurer, philanthropist . . . Dick Smith is a true Australian legend.' - Greg Mortimer OAM'I have been charmed by good fortune to be born in Australia in the 194...

Dick Smith takes on the hot topic of our times, arguing that Australian and global population growth carries enormous risks, dangers that none of our political parties is prepared to address.In 2011 the world's population exceeded 7 billion. Each year we add nearly 80 million people and by mid-century we will require twice as much food and double the energy we use today. Australia will be deeply affected by these trends - we have the fastest growing population of a...

This unprecedented biography of Hawke includes an exclusive series of interviews with him - the last that he gave - as well as unfiltered access to his extensive trove of personal papers. It features new interviews with more than 100 people who knew and worked with Hawke, including his family and friends; political and union colleagues, and rivals; advisers and public servants; and journalists; along with international contemporaries of Hawke such as George H.W. Bush, John Major, Brian Mul...

The battle that saved Australia. The track that saved one man's life.Reg Chard endured hell as an 18-year-old Australian soldier who fought in 1942 on the infamous Kokoda Trail in World War II.Ironically, Kokoda rescued Reg decades later when he decided to take his own life. After losing Betty, his wife of 66 years, the grief-stricken great-grandfather lost the will to live. But he found new purpose through educating young people, giving guided tours of Syd...

The extraordinary, must-read story of the brave, bold Hubert Wilkins - Australia's most adventurous explorer, naturalist, photographer, war hero, aviator, spy and daredevil - brought to life by Australia's greatest storyteller.Sir Hubert Wilkins is one of the most remarkable Australians who ever lived.The s...

'The sun did not know how beautiful its light was until it was reflected off this building.'- Louis Kahn, US architectIf only these walls and this land could talk ...The Sydney Opera House is a breathtaking building, recognised around the world as a symbol of modern Australia. Along with the Taj Mahal and other World Heritage sites, it is celebrated for its architectural grandeur and the dar...

On 31st October 1917, as the day's light faded, the Australian Light Horse charged against their enemy. Eight hundred men and horses galloped four miles across open country, towards the artillery, rifles and machine guns of the Turks occupying the seemingly unassailable town of Beersheba. What happened in the next hour changed the course of history.This brave battle and the extraordinary adventures that led to it are brought vividly to life by Australia's greatest storyteller, Pete...

From the bestselling author of Kokoda and Gallipoli comes the epic story of Australia's deadliest Vietnam War battle.4.31 pm: Enemy [on] left flank. Could be serious.5.01 pm: Enemy ... penetrating both flanks and to north and south.5.02: Running short of ammo. Require drop through trees.It was the afternoon of 18 August 1966, hot, humid with grey monsoonal skies. D Company, 6RAR were four kilometres...

The extraordinary life of the Gallipoli veteran and WWI Flying Corp gunner who founded Qantas and gave Australia its wingsBy the critically acclaimed author of bestselling biographies of John Monash, Banjo Paterson, Joseph Banks, Lachlan Macquarie and Henry Lawson, this is a fascinating, lively and thoroughly researched portrait of a modest, resolute family man with a steady hand during turbulence, a man who guided Australia's national airline from its humb...

'Readers look for and admire good writers and great writing. They will find it, in spades, in The Battle of the Bismarck Sea.' - The Canberra TimesIn the thick of World War II, during the first week of March 1943, Japan made a final, desperate lunge for control of the South West Pacific. In the ensuing Battle of the Bismarck Sea, a force of land-based Australian and American planes attacked a massive convoy of Japanese warships. The odds were against them. But a d...

The epic story of the Boer War and Harry 'Breaker' Morant: drover, horseman, bush poet - murderer or hero?Most Australians have heard of the Boer War and of Harry 'Breaker' Morant, a figure who rivals Ned Kelly as an archetypal Australian folk hero. But Morant was a complicated man. Born in England and immigrating to Queensland in 1883, he established a reputation as a rider, polo player and poet who submitted ballads to The Bulletin and counted Banjo Pate...