This is the extraordinary and little known story of Qantas' significant role during World War II, particularly in its campaigns against the Japanese.Between 1942 and 1943, Qantas lost eight aircraft during its involvement in Australia's war against the Japanese. Over sixty passengers and crew died as a result. Yet Qantas' exemplary contribution to Australia's war effort and the courage of its people in those difficult times has been forgotten.Courage in...

Heroic, hilarious and sometimes just plain weird . . . Jim Eames shares great Qantas stories from World War II to the age of the jumbo and beyond.**'These are stories of passion and dedication, of risk and resilience, of excellence and Australian larrikinism, of inventiveness and determination.' Captain Richard Champion de Crespigny on The Flying Kangaroo'Jim Eames captures the experiences of a small band of brave, professional and pioneeri...

Brings to full and rich life the extraordinary characters, events and challenges that have made Qantas an Australian icon.From its earliest days, Qantas has attracted its fair share of unusual challenges and unique characters. These are the stories of a great airline and the people who made it, told by a man who has Qantas blood running through his veins. They are hilarious, nostalgic, heroic and sometimes even odd.They are about the brilliant risk takers w...

The world's most iconic commercial aircraft, the Boeing 747, and its Australian story.'We have decided we must have the 747.' - Bert Ritchie, Qantas Chief Executive, 1967From its first Qantas flight in 1971, the Boeing 747 flew millions of people to Australia, overseas for work, back to their homelands, on holiday and out of danger. For most Australians, the 747 was their first experience of international travel. And now, history's most ico...

So how do you test drive a Jumbo? And why did a future civil aviation director once taxi a plane down Perth's main street to attend a ball?From the ridiculous to the downright dangerous, the story of Australian aviation is full of tales of adventure and nation building. It is also a story about tragedy and eccentric characters with wild larrikin spirits.In this surprising, fascinating and sometimes very funny collection, Jim Eames brings together the great forgotten and unt...

A celebration of chest puffing goodness and kindness from around the country written in inimitable Peter FitzSimon's style.You gotta love this country when an AFL legend takes his mum instead of his girlfriend to the Brownlow, when an Australian cricket captain joins a bunch of fourteen year olds for a bit of street cricket, when a bloke wins the Australian Marbles Championship after being reunited with the tom-bowlers his brother threw away forty years ago, and wh...

Yarns and memories that capture the experience of policing in the bush, gathered by the inimitable Bill 'Swampy' Marsh, bestselling author of GREAT AUSTRALIAN FLYING DOCTOR STORIES and GREAT AUSTRALIAN CWA STORIES.'I tell you, you meet some strange characters in this game ...'Boasting the biggest beats in the world -- some as large as France -- Australia's outback police have seen it all: natural disasters, incredible acts of selflessness, unspeakable crimes and daring resc...

Birdsville is one of the most remote police postings in Australia. It can be lonely and uneventful for weeks, then the dramas come thick and fast: from desert rescues to rising floods, venomous vipers to visiting VIPs.Throw in heat, dust and flies and it’s not a job for the faint-hearted, unless you’re Senior Constable Neale McShane, who has single-handedly taken care of a beat the size of Victoria for the past ten years. Recently retired from this ‘hardship posting’, Neale and his ...

For the first time, Bill Marsh's terrific collection of outback yarns centred on the Royal Flying Doctor Service are available in one bumper volume.the Royal Flying Doctor Service is a unique icon of Australian culture. Since its beginnings with the Reverend John Flynn in 1928, the RFDS has helped build our nation. the Flying Doctors, and the remote stations and communities that they serve, have become enduring symbols of what it means to be Australian. the Complete Book of Australi...

From remote outback and cattle stations to coastal towns comes a collection of amazing, eccentric and funny Australian stories, yarns and furphies - most completely unknown along with some you thought you knew.'Not only are there many things we don't know, we should never be too sure about the things we are sure we do know.'From Jim Haynes, one of our most successful and prolific tellers of yarns and bush tales, comes this collection of classic Australian s...

A captivating true story that will speak to generations of Australians, from the author of Mezza Italiana.'Nonno Anni gives me a nudge. "You know, when I first came to Australia, I knew that my life would change forever."'Leaving the small village of Fossa in Italy in 1939 to meet a father he barely remembered in a place that was far from everything he knew, fifteen-year-old Annibale Boccabella arrived in Australia determined to make a go of it. It was a ti...

The truly classic Australian story of Tom Kruse - legendary mailman of the Birdsville Track.For the people who lived in the desert between Marree and Birdsville, contact with the outside world was hard and sporadic - but one man was their lifeline: Tom Kruse. For more than twenty years he was the connection with the outside world for the families, station workers and others who lived along the Birdsville Track.Tom delivered everything from the mail and news...