'To hear the story of a person who has lived long and well is a privilege beyond price. It is a strange and wonderful process to delve into another person's life; strange because we usually focus on our own lives, not others, wonderful because to discover another is to uncover a treasure.' Marg Carroll In The Man Who Loved Crocodiles and Stories of Other Adventurous Australians, fifteen fiercely independent men and women who have lived life exuberantly cast a revealing light on a fast vani...

Beyond the steady diet of drought, debt and despair about the bush in our media, something exciting is happening, something few seem to have noticed. It's a new vision for the future being created by young rural Australians. Some tackle national issues. Others impact at grassroots level. All give hope for the future.Reinventing the Bush are dynamic people who, from the top End to the tasmanian highlands, from the rugged Kimberley to the struggling Murray, are reinventing possibilities for ...

Childhood stories of family, country and belongingWhat is it like to grow up Aboriginal in Australia?This anthology, compiled by award-winning author Anita Heiss, showcases many diverse voices, experiences and stories in order to answer that question. Accounts from well-known authors and high-profile identities sit alongside those from newly discovered writers of all ages. All of the contributors speak from the heart - sometimes calling for empathy, often...

“A rich and exuberant kaleidoscopic portrait of a great, messy, noisy, daunting, inspiring, maddening, enthralling, constantly shifting Rorschach test of a place. . . . Delightful. . . . In Taylor’s patient and sympathetic hands, regular people become poets, philosophers, orators.” -- New York Times Book ReviewLondoners is a fresh and compulsively readable view of one of the world's most fascinating cities–a vibrant narrative portrait of the London of our own time, featuring unforg...

Brought together by their crimes, the prisoners, young offenders and young people at Bridgend's Parc Prison share their stories of life on the other side of the security walls. Whether they are hardened criminals, prolific offenders or teenagers in trouble for the first time, they all have one thing in common - they had a life outside. Through their creative writing workshops, these prisoners have put into words their feelings and experiences about doing time at Parc Prison and talk about ...

The work of a nurse is challenging enough, but when you add a remote location, the stakes are so much higher. Meet fifteen courageous people who prove that the outback runs on nurse power.There's Anna, who is on duty as the fury of Cyclone Yasi tears through inland Queensland; Maureen in outback New South Wales, who faces everything from a snakebite to a helicopter crash; Aggie, who overcomes her demons to help young people in the Kimberley; and Catherine, newly graduated and determ...

Five kids orphaned by a terrible accident . . .A struggling family living in the most isolated spot on earth . . .A single dad battling to cope in a house falling down around his ears . . .A desperately ill woman in the middle of nowhere . . .In the great Outback traditions of mateship, resilience and generosity come these stories of ordinary people who, against seemingly insurmountable odds, help out those who inhabit Austra...

Are Australian schools safe? And if they’re not, what happens when kids are caught in a bleak collision between ill-equipped teachers and a confected scandal?In 2016, the Safe Schools program became the focus of an ideological firestorm. In Moral Panic 101, Benjamin Law explores how and why this happened. He weaves a subtle, gripping account of schools today, sexuality, teenagers, new ideas of gender fluidity, media scandal and mental health.In thi...

A collection of short pieces on topics dear to Paul Henry’s heart – some outrage him, some will outrage you, and others will outrage everybody. A smattering of sample topics: tipping; political zealots of all persuasion; dog owners; people who just stop at the top of escalators; roadwork signs that haven't been put away; closed-minded people; queueing; people who steal the magic from chidren's eyes; rubbish on the street; surcharges; children on planes; Twitter; wine serve...

The inspiring and entertaining story of a determined young woman alone, who overcame the isolation of her family farm to build a flourishing business. When Lisa Harper returned to her family’s farm at the head of remote Mahau Sound, in the Marlborough Sounds, after years overseas working as a scientist, she showed all the pluck and entrepreneurial streak of the earlier generations of women in her family. The isolation wasn’t going to deter her from starting a new business....

International humanitarian-aid nurse and New Zealander Andrew Cameron is the winner of the coveted Florence Nightingale Medal. In this gripping book he recounts his remarkable life nursing in some of the world's most dangerous and challenging locations, including South Sudan, Yemen, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan. He also details his nursing career in some of Australia's most remote settlements, where anything can be waiting at the end of a long and dusty outback road: a major road accident,...

Like his talk show, this autobiography delivers more than the everyday - it's honest, informative and insightful - and is in Leighton's trademark style.For nearly 30 years, one voice has dominated the airwaves of New Zealand morning radio, sometimes infuriating his audience but always challenging it to embrace the concepts of individual responsibility, high standards and opinion based on sound knowledge.Now, for the first time, the previously private Leighton Smith unveils the perso...