I found this book to be very informative and written with a "straight down the line" approach. It is factual but at the same time a very entertaining read. If you like 'True Crime' stories, you will love this one.

A feast of a book. Bert Brunet is a not only a writer, artistand expert photographer but a leading Australian naturalist. His lovefor the subject he writes about and illustrates so clearly and beautifully shines from every page. His line drawings delight the eye and enhance both text and photographs.

Painstaking research and expert knowledge allied to a clear, readable written style make this a book for experts and amateurs alike. If you have ever gazed in wonder at dew covered webs on an autumn morning or are simply curious about these remarkable invertebrates, read 'The Silken Web'.

Jackie Huggins is a powerful writer and a real deadly tita, black aussie slang for phat sistah, and if you don't know what that translates to... you better ask somebody! But on the serious tip, I really related to Sister Girl because I am an African American female. Jackie writes about how race and gender blend and how they also have a tendency to collide. Moreover, I went to study abroad in Australia, which was supposed to be the most multi-cultural society-you know the mixed salad bowl theory. Well, after a couple of weeks I realized how white and culturally insensitive this exotic land was, at least it was at the University of Queensland, where I studied. I was in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia and well I guess you could sort of compare it with an American southern town. Anyway, my most cultural experience was being enrolled in a class entitled Black Australian Literature, where the class read books written by Aboriginal women and men and also engaged in discussions about the social and political construction of race. Sister Girl was one of those books we read. I enjoyed it because it was not like most historical books you read. Jackie masterfully weaves "herstory" within the context of the social issues. I was almost in tears when I read the conversation between Jackie and bell hooks. "Wow, now that's racial solidarity and true sisterhood," I thought. Here we have an Aboriginal woman and an African American woman-two black women from two distinct parts of the world making a conscious effort to embrace each others unique concerns and identities as well as laugh and shout out a "right on sister!" or a "real deadly tita!" at their similarities. Reading this book was an eye opener to current political and social issues in the Aboriginal community and Australian multi-culturalism as a whole.It also gives a context and a history to racism and sexism on a personal and historical level. This book is an interesting read for Americans, regardless of gender or ethnicity, because Australian racism and sexism is so parallel to social issues in the U.S., and these issues effect both male and female/black and white. Jackie also has a way of connecting with the reader, and I'm not so sure if I felt this way because my identity is so closely related to Jackie's. Nonetheless, when I finished the book I felt that I knew who Jackie was, like I had made a personal connection with history. While reading the book I felt like I had gone on a journey with Jackie; I had laughed with her and experienced some of her pain, or at least came to an undersatnding of why a particular experience was painful to her and her people. Through the imagery she so vividly writes in, all of these feelings and understanding were achieved. I had a good time reading the book-and wouldn't you know it, I actually ended up meeting and speaking casually with Jackie Huggins at the end of the semester get-together my professor Sam Watson, another talented Aboriginal author, planned for our entire class. Jackie Huggins' Sister Girl is a real deadly read! I strongly recommend it to all those interested in decolonization, history,feminism and education. And Jackie if your reading this "Write on sister girl, write on!"

This book is excellent - I enjoyed both the historical side and the fascinating story.

Carolyn Kelly has obviously throughly researched the era as her descriptions and characters truely suit the time period. Her descriptions of the landscape were amazing and the story reflects the times well.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fiction which is both fascinating, informative and absorbing.

This is without a doubt the best book I have ever read! It is the third novel in the Melling saga, capturing beautifully the care-free happiness of the late 1940's. With wonderful characters, and scenes both hilarious and touching, this is a book you'll want to read again and again: Robin Klein is a genius!

At first I found this book somewhat difficult to use. The cross-indexing of the numbers assigned to each hotel was confusing. Nevertheless, I found this book to be invaluable. Detailed descriptions (often more than one page) of reasonably priced small hotels are grouped together by the section in Sydney in which they are located. By contrast, most guidebooks provide two or three sentence descriptions of hotels with little sense of where they are located. Small Hotels of Sydney gives the reader a working knowledge of the area in which hotels are located and how close they are to public transportation, including transportation to and from the airport. There are descriptions of what each hotel's rooms are like as well as the amenities offered.

I read this book carefully and felt I was making an informed decision about where my hotel was located, how convenient it would be for me, the quality of the hotel and what my room would be like. I selected the Madison Hotel in Kings Cross.The hotel room and location were exactly as described and met my needs, which included reasonable cost, perfectly.

If price is no object and you're staying in a top hotel, there's no need to bother with this book. If, on the other hand, money is an object and you want value for it, this book can give you the means of selecting an hotel within your price range that meets your needs. A vacation can be ruined or compromised by the selection of the wrong hotel. Small Hotels of Sydney minimizes the chances of making this mistake. Considering the cost and time involved in getting to Australia, this book is a bargain.

Roberta Sykes has been a figure in the activist scene in Australia for many years. We have a number of Australian heroes here, people such as Noel Pearson, Pat O'Shane, Charles Perkins, and the now deceased, Judith Wright. Dr Sykes belongs among these admired people. With an enormous amount of work and great personal courage, these activists have moved Australia's attitudes from the shameful racism and prejudice which disgraced us for so long towards more inclusive and civilised attitudes. This book is the first in the series describing Dr Sykes' life. It is very harrowing in places. She was subjected to violence so great that it makes me sick to think of it and yet, she has come through. In some ways, her life is a metaphor for the Aboriginal people in general who have all been subjected to a great violence in terms of the theft of their land and the brutality with which they were treated - but they have survived and are now being listened to and treated with more respect. Roberta Sykes draws an interesting portrait of her mother. She is not portrayed in a sentimental way. At times, she seemed too rough with Roberta. But, in the end, her loyalty and courage enabled Roberta to survive an awful crisis and we feel only admiration for both mother and daughter. This book is not for the squeamish or fainthearted and certainly not for children. It is more for the bighearted and brave, adjectives that I would apply to Dr Sykes herself. You will be shocked but you will be encouraged, too.

Snap! by Marcia K. Vaughan is an engaging tale of what happens to baby Joey when he decides to go play while Mama Roo takes a nap. He meets lots of Australian animal friends and learns lots of new games, but Joey has to think of a game to save the day after Sly-tooth the crocodile invites the friends to play Snap! We used this book to study Australia during the Sydney Olympic Games and had loads of fun!

This is Strehlow's most widely regarded work and the culmination of his anthropological work related to the Aranda (Arunta) people of the Alice Springs region. In this work Strehlow records the patrilineal chants or songs of the Aranda people and puts them into a wider context of totemic cultural understanding. Of particular interest is Chapter 10, the love songs of the Aranda people, which pre-date European romantic conventions by several thousand years.

this story was wonderful - hard to believe that poetry can tell a story with so much power and enjoyment. This book shows children that poetry can utilize the storytelling medium as effectively as prose. a rare and valuable book.