In September 1915, Keith Murdoch, then a young war journalist, wrote an 8000-word letter to the Prime Minister, Andrew Fisher. 'The Gallipoli Letter', as it came to be known, changed the course of the Gallipoli campaign.The letter, protesting against the conduct of the campaign and describing conditions at the front, is both intimate and conversational: 'I shall talk to you as if you were by my side.' It is also at times angry, passionate, vivid and very moving: 'Then in the early ...

The National Library of Australia describes Keith Murdoch’s Gallipoli Letter in the following way:“The Gallipoli letter is an 8000-word private report written by journalist Keith Arthur Murdoch, with the help of British war correspondent Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, after visiting the Gallipoli peninsula in September 1915. It describes the organisation and conditions of the Gallipoli campaign. It was sent to Andrew Fisher (then-Prime Minister of Australia) and Henry Herbert Asquith (the...

Australians remember the dead of 25 April 1915 on Anzac Day every year. But does anyone know the name of a single soldier who died that day? What do we really know about the men supposedly most cherished in the national memory of war? Peter Stanley goes looking for the lost boys of Anzac: the men of the very first wave to land at dawn on 25 April 1915 and who died on that day. There were exactly 101 of them: the first to volunteer, the first to go into action, and the first of the 60,000 A...

A broad, concise and inclusive vision of Australia and Australians by one our most renowned historians.After a lifetime of research and debate on Australian and international history, Geoffrey Blainey is well-placed to introduce us to the people who have played a part and to guide us through the events that have created the Australian identity: the mania for spectator sport; the suspicion of the tall poppy; the rivalries of Catholic and Protestant, Sydney and Melbo...

WAS THE KILLER OF HARVEY AND JEANNETTE CREWE A POLICE INSIDER?The shocking new evidence in a 40 year old cold caseA new witness comes forward:"Dear Ian, I have had information since 1970 that I have been far too frightened to release. I made an effort to inform the Police in 1970 and spoke to a Sergeant Johnston...he told me that if I ever rang the Police with that information again or made any attempt to have it m...

"Australia seemed to bring out the worst in Winston Churchill. Often enough to form a discernible pattern, Australia found itself on the wrong side of the very qualities-his strength of will, singleness of purpose, his refusal to 'give way, in things great or small, large or petty', the power of his imagination to set grim reality at defiance, his mastery of the English language-that made Winston Churchill, as the philosopher Isaiah Berlin described him, 'the saviour of his country, the la...

The ultimate collection of unbelievable true Australian stories: the unknown, the forgotten, and the surprising.Did you know that in 1932 the Australian army was called out to wage war on an invading army of 20,000...emus? Or that the first royal personage to arrive in Australia was the King of Iceland and he came as a convict? And how about the spooky phenomenon of the mischief-making Guyra Ghost?From Jim Haynes, one of our most successful and prolific tel...

This was "the war to end all wars"; a conflict in which 155,000 Australian servicemen were wounded and over 60,000 died. Through the devastation it left behind, it changed the face of much of the Western world and laid the foundations for World War II. Yet this conflict, fought far from Australian shores, also saw the birth of the Anzac legend and led to the emergence of a true "Australian" identity. WORLD WAR I examines the vital role Australia played in the Allied forces and how the war ...

Tangata Whenua: A History presents a rich narrative of the Māori past from ancient origins in South China to the twenty-first century, in a handy paperback format. The authoritative text is drawn directly from the award-winning Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History; the full text of the big hardback is available in a reader-friendly edition, ideal for students and for bedtime reading, and a perfect gift for those whose budgets do not stretch to the illustrated edition. Maps and diagrams c...

"People don't understand how desperate you have to be to eat a boot," he replied. "Exploration of uncharted territory is very demanding, especially in the arctic. They don't realise what we went through: the bitter cold, the scurvy, the unknown. Men died of starvation out there; they did desperate things. These were good men reduced to scraping moss from rocks to survive. Yes, we ate boot leather as well, but it was an act of desperation, a last ditch attempt at survival. They act like I a...

A compelling account of Australia's intelligence organisations and special forces - from the early days of the commandos during World War II through to the SAS of today and the cyber wars of the future. From the co-author of SAS Sniper.Warrior Elite is a unique and compelling account of Australia's special forces and intelligence operations - ranging from the early special forces of World War II to the establishment and development of the SAS and ...

Overview of Australia around 1900. Chapters include: Australia Its Beginning, Australia of Today, The Native, The Animals and Birds, The Australian Bush, and The Australian Child.