This is a collection of contemporary accounts of the settlement and development of Sydney, covering 1770 to 1896. The emphasis is on the early years, following the arrival of the First Fleet. Contributions range from the famous, for example James Cook and Mark Twain, to newspaper articles, locals' accounts and the impressions of foreign visitors (Spanish, French, Russians, Austrians and Americans).

I thought that the editor had done a good job in choosing an interesting mix of pieces - some are funny, others macabre, but all are worthy of attention. I particularly enjoyed William Dawes's attempts to learn Aboriginal vocabulary. Tim Flannery's introductory essay is itself worthy of note - a fascinating short natural history of the Sydney area.

All the articles have a short introductory note by the editor, which helps the reader put the article, and its author, in context.

Enjoyable stuff.

This is a terrific book. Read in conjunction with John Birmingham's 'Leviathan: an unauthorised biography of Sydney', you will get more than a working knowledge of how and why Sydney is like it is.

Flannery has written an introductory essay 'The andstone City', which gives a good overview. The bulk of the book is an anthology of voices from the earliest days to late 19th century -from Captain James Cook to Mark Twain, Aboriginal women, and British governors.

2000 saw a plethora of books on Sydney, as it hosted the Olympic Games. This is one of the best.

This book was a savage indictment of the white settlement of Australia. The details of the massacres are so unrelenting as to render the reader numb with disbelief that such behaviour could be perpetrated by so-callled civilised man.

My only criticism of this treatise is that Mr Elder fails to accept that the very same reasons that made the Aboriginal people innocent also applied to the perpetrators of the massacres. A white person taught that to steal a loaf of bread could lead to 7 years transportation was unlikely to react well to an aboriginal group taking and slaughtering cattle for food. It was often a case of the brutalised doing the brutalising.

Mr Elder also brushes off the (admittedly extremely rare) massacres of whites by aboriginals as being basically "brought upon themselves" even in cases where he has no particular evidence (ie when the settlers had just arrived and were building their camp). Horrible reprisals on the parts of other whites does not reduce the horror of the original act.

Don't get me wrong. These really are minor complaints. Overall, this is a well written book and the inclusion of previously unrecorded massacres from aboriginal oral histories is an important addition to what would otherwise be a list of the stories that white Australia recorded, which were of course written mostly by the people who perpetrated and therefore were apologists for the original acts.

When I was in high school I was shocked and inspired by "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee". It took another 20 years to find the Australian equivalent.

I bought this during a recent trip home. The presentation is sparse, and much of the evidence is anecdotal, but the mass of evidence is overwhelming. Australians slaughtered the Aboriginals in defiance of ill conceived laws. Although the current generation didn't perpetrate the crimes, race relations in Australia continue to be haunted by the shadows of these events. Elder's introduction rams home that time doesn't negate these events.

Please read this.

The book really presents an australia not as we know it, but one off a great divide between a strong patriotic belief, and then one of digust and resentment for the war. Never the less in the early years of the war this patroitic fever griped the hearts of many australian men, and there was great exitment and need for one to stand up and defend his infant australia, hirtho not yet recongnised as a real or threatning force to the germans or her allies. Many of these young men felt that it was not off choice to enlist but of civil duty, and in alliance to the throne and empire of england. But as the casualities of Gallipoli reched the shores of Australia and dark and realistic shadow was cast over the hearts and minds off all australians. The fantasy of war being glorious and adventrous, came to a grinding hault, the harsh reality had struck. The divide in the country had become stronger and unenlisted eliglbles were outcast from soicety, every consievalble tactic was used to encourage these men to enlist. The country was closer than every to tryanny,and there were two referendims to allow consrcriptions to be allowed.

Bill resonstructs with great sensitivity the valour and the tragedy off war. through this he shows us why the Great War was th have profound effects of the attitudes and ideals of Australians as a nation.

Australia at the time was a young enthusiastic country just wanting to be accepted in the empire and a lot of young people (about 1/2 of all young males)went away to prove themselves and were butchered - literally. Wars like these were common in the 'old world' but australlia, the land of the great social experiment was in every sense just a young child - the photo on the cover demonstrates that perfectly - a fresh faced young boy so young and whos mother would have been so proud, but so many of these people are now rotting in a strange country, no gum trees no nothing. Read the part about battle at Nek to find out what I mean - blood on the wattle means something to a lot of Australians and this is why - innocence lost but they kept on going - The best army since Genghis Khan. The diaries are so sad lost love and lost life. Literally peoples last words on this earth are noted in some of those diary extracts. the human condition at its most extreme. These days a lot of young Australians looking for role models are looking at the ANZAC tradition. These people were in every sense of the word 'superhuman' they did twice the work with half of the manpower and that's why they are still regarded so highly in france 80 years later.

I know this isn't really a book review but when i read the broken years it made me that emotional that i just want to say how it affects Australians. Others should read it too it's historical and its personal some times really personal. Some of these old guys would never say what when on in the great war but this is an insight into the rare archives which do exist. How exciting it all seemed at first then at one instant at Gallipoli realisation came, the blood shed, people told to run at machine guns, horses wailing, mateship Always remember that Australia was just little child when it entered the most gross expression of the human condition that I know of

I have read anything I can get my hands on regarding the history of Northern Australia, and although this book is fiction, it is a fair account of the hardships that was endured by the early settlers of the North. I would recommend it to anyone as a good read, espicially if you intend coming to the Cairns area for a holiday.

Reading this book takes one back to a different era. It's hard to put it down once started! The characters are well developed and lifelike. There's a touch of humor now and again and the dialog is believable.It's obvious to the reader that the book has been well researched.Some parts of the story are very graphic, but believable. A thoroughily enjoyable read...and recommended to anyone who "wants to get away from it all." The plot certainly has a different and unique twist!

An Australian children's classic, written and illustrated in the 1930s by May Gibbs, this is the story of two "gumnut babies", tiny childlike people that live in the Australian bush. We follow their adventures meeting new friends and learning the ways of the bush and its animals, including a foray into the ocean and fish society and occasional encounters with the Bad Banksia Men!

This is a beautifully written story with gorgeous illustrations that also subtly teaches the importance of caring for animals and the environment. Bear in mind that being written in the 1930s, there may be occasional moments that could be at odds with modern sensibilities (I don't recall anything blatantly offensive, however), but I don't believe these should be reasons to not read the book, but rather they could be a learning point about how things have changed, etc. I remember being entranced by the adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie as a child, and the book is most suitable for the 5-10 age group, probably with an adult helping the younger ones.

Snugglepot and Cuddlepie is honestly the best children's book i have ever read.

I first took it out at the library when i was about 9 years old, and immediately i fell in love with the little Gumnut babies, and little Obelia was my favourite. She, however, lived under the sea, which made her even more mysterious. The book has a few villains, like the Banksia men and Mr. Snake, but other than that, the Gumnuts always managed to outsmart them!

Set in Australia, this book holds a multitude of charms, laughs and fascination. My love for Snugglepot and Cuddlepie will never die, even though i enter my adult years. May Gibbs, the author, does a fantastic job of illustrating and writing this gorgeous book. I recommend it to children 9 - 11 years, or anyone with an interest in nature, and wildlife mixed with fantasy.

Under inauspicious circumstances -- failing health -- Banfield arrives on Dunk island off of Australia's northeast coast. But as island lovers everywhere know, more often than not islands have a way of reintroducing vitality to the soul and regenerating failing health. Consider Robert Louis Stevenson! Such was the situation of Banfield when he arrived on Dunk Island.

Banfield's greatest skill within this book is his journalistic training and keen powers of observation. His descriptions of island birdlife, in particular, present detailed glimpses of behavior and how individual birds interact with the rest of the island. "With the aid of a good telescope and a compact pair of field glasses, birds may be studied and known far more pleasurably than as stark cabinet specimens," he writes. It's no surprise to find out later that Banfield eventually persuaded -- similar to Thoreau and Muir in America -- the Australian government to set aside Dunk Island as a protected wildlife area.

Banfield also turns his attentions to other island life, such as the coral reef and fishes surrounding the island, and including Aboriginals living on Dunk Island. While sounding condescending now, nearly a century later, his observations offer interesting insights into times past.

Banfield's book reminded me of a non-political, "Desert Solitaire"-esque Edward Abbey turning his attention to a tropical island, in that the location is both a background and a source of detailed information. I enjoyed reading about the behavior of all island life and appreciated Banfield's obvious patience and skills as an observor. Being an island aficionado myself, I felt like I was enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells of some of my favorite places revisited.

Overall, an excellent book to add to your library, whether travel, island, bird, or environmentally related.

The Confessions Of A Beachcomber is the fascinating autobiography of a man who left a high-stress, dead-end career to live the simple live of a beachcomber on Dunk Island off the northern coast of Queensland, Australia. An avowed disciple of Thoreau, Banfield sough as simple a life as possible and maintained that life on his tropical island for twenty-five years. He involved himself in observing the flora, fauna, and aborigines of the island, and through the publication of The Confessions Of A Beachcomber became one of Australia's highly regarded literary figures. Now available to an American readership through this Dixon-Price edition, The Confessions Of A Beachcomber is especially recommended reading for any one who has ever felt like chucking so-called "modern life" and return to a simpler, more basic existence in harmony with the environment and all that nature has to offer the contemplative life.

Kate Grenville is a terrific writer. Her prose is clear, concise and flowing, yet never dry or prosaic. Albion Gidley Singer, the subject of "Dark Places", could very easily have become a caricature, but in Grenville's expert hands, he is at once a monster for the evil he perpetrates but also a victim of his parent's grotesque upbringing methods. Brought up to despise the female species - in his eyes, soft, weak, mindless, lacking in intellect and above all, trivial - the cruelty he shows to his society wife Nora and his fat but intelligent daughter Lilian, is a front and a cover up for his own pitifully underdeveloped inner self. He surrounds himself and obsesses with facts simply because he hasn't the ability to offer an opinion or make a common human judgement on anything. Lacking a sense of humour, he is socially inept but retreats behind a picture perfect persona manufactured to fool the world. His unspeakable cruelty and crime against the rebellious Lilian marks the start of his own unrevelling. Even poor weak John finds his vocation and loosens himself from Albion's clutches. "Dark Places" is a fascinating study of dysfunctionality, yet there are times you feel your interest dulled by the sheer deadweight of its predictability in characterisation and its unremitting sense of doom. If not for Grenville's remarkable skills as a writer, some may even find it one dimensional and tiresome in parts. I myself enjoyed it immensely and would recommend it as a text to be studied and discussed.

This is a novel of outstanding quality in every respect. Grenville knows how to write right across the gender barrier. If one were to remove all details of authorship from the cover of Dark Places, I very much doubt that even the best critic would detect that the author was female. She does a spectactular job of writing from a male perspective. Her main character Albion Gidley Singer, is to all intents and purposes an upstanding male citizen who comes complete with all the accolades of success, but who has a very dark side. He has "... a fear and loathing of the flesh of females." Worse still, he despises himself. What's interesting about Grenville's approach to this character is that the reader somehow becomes Albion; that he/she is transformed into the monster that he is. Ironically, there's no way that Grenville is being anti-male here. In fact, she shows the reader that Albion is a victim of his mother as much as he is a victim of a patriarchal society and ultimately, himself. A fascinating novel that takes the reader white water rafting into the darker realms of their consciousness.

A photo essay journey across Australia focuses on some of the "world's weirdest and most wonderful" animals. Sharp, lovely color photos are clearly labelled. There is brief information on each creature. Two pages at the end give a background of the country itself.

Have you ever dreamed about going on a scientific expedition to the North and South Poles? If you have, you will love "Destination: Polar Regions," by Jonathan Grupper. Published by the National Geographic Society, this book is directed towards younger readers. The combination of well-written text and beautiful full-color photographs make this book an outstanding choice.

The book focuses primarily on the many different animal species of the Arctic and Antarctic regions: ringed seals, caribou, ptarmigans, Adelie penguins, grizzly bears, Arctic sea stars, and more. The text gives interesting facts about each species. And the photographs capture many unforgettable images: a narwhal's tusk breaking the water, a mother polar bear cuddling with her cubs, a lone Arctic wolf standing atop a frosty hill, and more. Both beautiful and educational, this book impressed me greatly.

A thorough explanation of the Micronesian islands and what to expect, both on land and under the water, on each of them. The history is fascinating. Our first visit to Micronesia, so we'll see how true the information the book presents is!

Throughout the world of diving, there are a few Divers who are able to provide their Publishers with excellent material for their Guide Books and Eric Hanauer is one of these.

"Diving Micronesia" measures 10" x 7" and is another guide in the medium size format favoured by Aqua Quest. This is a worthy addition to a first rate series of books - throughout which, these publishers have maintained the highest standards in terms of quality of information and photography.

As with each of these guides, this book is clearly laid out with chapters on the overall subject area (complete with all the relevant information required), an overview of diving in the South Pacific and specific detail with regard to the individual countries visited (Guam, Mariana Islands, Yap, Palau, Chuuk (formerly Truk Lagoon), Pohnpei, Kosrae and the Marshall Islands (including Bikini Atoll)). Chapter 1 begins with a précis of the region's geography and history coupled with details of the present day. This is followed by a map and all that essential information such as credit cards, cuisine, currency, dress, electricity, getting there, entry/exit requirements, mail, telephone, time, post - and anything else the prospective visitor wishes to know.

Chapter 2 is an overview of the Diving in general and includes all the relevant information the diver requires - such as: facilities, water/weather conditions, visibility, flora and fauna and lots more besides.

As one might expect, there then follows a chapter dedicated to each of the aforementioned countries within the catchment area of this book. Being separate countries spread over a large area of the Pacific Ocean, these chapters contain a wealth of information on diving and non-diving topics. The diving details commences with a map of the specific island complex where all the relevant dive sites are clearly numbered and displayed. This is followed by a description of each site with adequate narrative, relevant depth and grade-of-diver information.

With everything lavishly supported by underwater and surface photography of the highest standard, the book then concludes with Appendices containing Emergency Information and what appears to be a very thorough list of local (South Pacific) diving contact details.

With a total of 92 dive sites to set the heart racing, the book also includes 3 dive sites from Bikini Atoll. Clearly the Publishers were leaving the very best to the very last by including the USS Saratoga (the only diveable Aircraft Carrier in the world), HIJMS Nagato and USS Apogon which combine to form three of the world's most important dive sites.

For me, it was nice to find a book where some of the world's most historic sites from the WW2 Pacific theatre of War were placed together - rather than allowing, say, Truk Lagoon (sorry - just can't get used to that new name!), or Bikini Atoll to dominate the book.

Altogether, a well-rounded book with everything supported by some pretty stunning and imaginative photography. For anyone considering a trip to the South Pacific, I do believe this is the only book you will require - and it is one for which I have been waiting for some time...

NM

An excellent addition to the Rapa Nui library, with glorious color plates showing every aspect of the island. So many Easter Island books focus wholly on Easter Island's past, and the moai statues. This one includes excellent aerial views of the whole island and island life as well as its archeological splendors. A few too many of those pretty girls than can really be justified though, Carlos!

...Esta publicación es definitivamente la mejor opción para tener una visión general de la isla. Contiene hermosas fotos de la isla y sus habitantes, así como un excelente texto escrito por un arqueólogo, quien fue Director del Parque Nacional Rapa-Nui. En resumen un trabajo serio, completo y artísticamente hermoso