Founded in 1888, James Hardie Industries is one of Australia's oldest, richest and proudest corporations. And its fortunes were based on what proved to be one

02 A groundbreaking history of convicts in Australia which lays bare the distortions and myths that caused the nation to deny its own past. 03 Why is it that Australians are still misled by myths about their convict he

This is the first major collaborative reappraisal of Australia's experience of empire since the end of the British Empire itself. The volume examines the meaning and importance of empire in

Between 1870 and 1920, as many as 2,000 cameleers and 20,000 camels arrived in Australia from Afghanistan and northern India. Australia's Muslim Cameleers is a rich pictorial history of these men, their way of life and the vital role they pl

Colonial firebrand John Harris constructed the archetypal verandah house. Sue Rosen explores his life as a naval surgeon, magistrate, power briker, police chief and explorer who strode through the colony in convict times. She also tells the

Tells the exclusive, authorised story of the 14-day entombment and rescue of Brant Webb and Todd Russell, and the fascinating aftermath. The rock-fall, which occurred one kilometre underground, on Anzac Day, 25 April 2006, killed thei

A travelling exhibition celebrating a national institution and colourful part of Australian life. Captures the events, personalities and the innovations that have made surf lifesaving in Australia the vibrant movement it is t

Little-known sixteenth century maps locked away in a Los Angeles library vault prove conclusively that it was Portuguese maritime adventurers, not the Dutch or the British, who were the first Europeans to discover and map th

Scottish Highlanders on the frontier of Australia. After their military defeat in 1745 the Scottish Highlanders suffered a worse humiliation. They were displaced from their ancestral lands and became curiosities: objects of romantic nostalgia,

New edition of the bestselling history that traces the chequered story of 100 women transported together in 1829 to Sydney. Includes new information on the women and treatment of convicts, and new illustrations. Intrig

This is the story of how high-tech met the outback and the can-do spirit - how a little outback town in Australia helped put man on the Moon. Carnarvon in 1969 was a town with no television and only a manual teleph

Australia has always imported overseas technology, largely out of necessity, but has this been exploitative, fostering a relationship of dependence, or used to Australia's advantage? Jan Todd explores this quest

Australia is the last continent to be settled by Europeans, but it also sustains a people and a culture tens of thousands years old. For much of the past 200 years the newcomers have sought to replace the old with

"Death or Liberty" reveals how the British Government of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries banished to the end of the earth - Australia - political enemies viewed by authorities with the same alarm as today's 'terrorists': Jacobins, de

Australian history is full of disasters and colossal debacles. Some are natural but many more are man-made, results of individual or collective stupidity, poor choices, short-sightedness or outright greed. In "Disast

Discovering Cooks Collections focuses on the collections of art and material culture brought back from the Pacific on Captain Cooks voyages and contains essays by some of the worlds leading and most innovative historians and anthropologists.

Spanning more than 400 years, from the first documented sighting of the Southern Cross in 1516 to the Rudd Government?s national apology to the Stolen Generations, this anthology presents in chronological form a richly varied spectrum of 100

This is a pioneering account of the transnational production of whiteness in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A work remarkable for both its international breadth and for its sensitivity to a local particul

In 1787, the twenty-eighth year of the reign of King George III, the British Government sent a fleet to colonize Australia. This work presents an epic description of the brutal transportation of men, women and children out o

02 The book: In George Raper, midshipman on the Sirius of the First Fleet, talent and opportunity magnificently coalesced to produce what is now one of the National Library of Australias most treasured collections, the

Frank Hurley is best known for his stunning Antarctic photographs. Here, Helen Ennis discusses some of his most famous images and the conditions in which they were taken. Uniquely, Hurley's own words are sprinkled throughout as fa

The early years of Sydney were witnessed by seven expeditions of French exploration between 1788 and 1831. These expeditions spent well over a year in the new town of Sydney meeting most of its leading citizens and visiting its exp

In the 1800s, the first white farmers and graziers making their homes in the outback were joined by their wives, many of whom had no idea what lay in store. This book profiles Australia's women pioneers and records the extra

Shows how a new nation - Australia - was created in a very old continent. Looking at some of those who observe the natural world closely - including scientists, field naturalists and farmers - this title suggests fresh ways

Captain James Cook was the greatest explorer of his age. He and his crews had encounters with peoples of the South Seas which could lead to mutual respect and trade. Yet despite what is known about him, the man

In these enthralling essays, John Hirst considers whether Curtin was indeed Australia's greatest prime minister, examines the origins of Aussie Rules, tells the story of how Australia introduced the secret ballot, selects the best Australian

Blackfella's Point lies on the Towamba River in south-eastern New South Wales. This work is a history for every Australian who is interested in the story of settler-Australia's relations with indigenous people, what happened

MACQUARIE charts the eventful rule of Lachlan Macquarie, governor of New South Wales from 1810 to late 1821. These were crucial years during which the fate of the colony was in the balance after years of struggle, famine and strife culminati

Following the success of Australian Migrant Ships 1946-1971 Peter Plowman examines those ships and shipping companies used to transport migrants to Australia and New Zealand from 1900 to 1939. During the period cover

Takes a clear headed, historical look at civil and military unrest in Australasia, from the earliest times of European colonisation to the riots at Cronulla in 2005, whose intensity and aftermath took Australia by surprise.

Pastoral Australia tells the story of the expansion of Australias pastoral industry, how it drove European settlement and involved Aboriginal people in the new settler society. The rural life that once saw Australia ride

Racing with Death is an unforgettable story of true heroism: 'the greatest survival story in the history of exploration.' - Sir Edmund Hillary The early twentieth century was the 'heroic age' of Antarctic exploration -

The Macquarie and Dixson collectors' chests hold tales of ambition, friendship and intrigue played out against the beautiful and confronting Australian frontier landscape. Commissioned by Governor Macquarie in the early 1800s, these

A study which takes the reader beyond the euphemistic and romantic popular misconceptions to reveal the often invisible past and the present subterfuge of Australia. It portrays a country of stark con

From the arrival of the First Fleet to the present, Irish immigrants and their descendants have been at the centre of Australian life. Sinners, Saints and Settlers takes the reader on a journey through the Irish experience in Australia, visi

02 A book to celebrate 200 years of one of Australia's greatest and most enduring institutions: Australia Post. 03 The story of Australia's postal services - now two hundred years old - is the story of Australia itself

In 1925 DH Lawrence described a 'huge, restless, modern Sydney, whose million inhabitants seem to slip like fishes from one side of the harbour to the other'. What was true then had been the case for centuries before

The story of the 72,000 convicts transported to Van Diemen's Land from 1803 to 1853, and the colony they built.

A history of rural Australia across two centuries, told through the eyes of the people who have lived and worked in a small valley in rural New South Wales.

Almost half of the convicts who came to Australia came to Van Diemen's Land. There they found a land of bounty and a penal society, a kangaroo economy and a new way of life. In Van Diemen's Land, James Boyce shows how the convicts were chang

'The most significant colonial history since The Fatal. In re-imagining Australia's past, it invents a new future.' - Richard Flanagan 'The first ecologically based social history of colonial Australia, showing how wallabies led t

The story of the settlement of Australia and how our culture has been shaped by the scarcity of water and by the need to fill the imagined silence of the continent with the sounds o

The ways Australians live and think have been shaped by water - or rather by the lack of it. The Water Dreamers tells the story of the settlement of Australia and how our culture has been shaped by the scarcity of water and by the need to fi

In recent years Anzac an idea as much as an actual army corps has become the dominant force within Australian history, overshadowing everything else. The commemoration of Anzac Day is bigger than ever, while Remembrance Day, VE Day, VP Day a

In the tradition of Dava Sobel and Longitude, award-winning writer Martin Edmond uses his extraordinary intellectual breadth and imaginative reach to elegantly and lucidly execute his most ambitious project to date - the