Oceania Books

This book and its associated Website are very useful in organizing stays at b&b's throughout Australia, since there is no central organization like the AA in Britain to do so. I found all the information that I used in this book to be accurate, and many of the properties have their email addresses listed, enabling one to make reservations overseas without the necessity of expensive trans-Pacific c-telephone calls or faxes.

A few minor improvements are in order. First, some of the listings do not provide the Postcode (Zip Code) for the property. Second, some of the telephone numbers given in the book do not reflect the ahanges to Australia's telephone numbering system comleted in 1998. Third, the coverage outside of New South Wales, Victoria, Brisbane/Gold Coast and Cairns/Far North is kind of thin--of course, that may be because there are fewer properties there.

This a well written book covering the Royal Australian Air Force
from its origins as the Australian Flying Corps in World War 1 to
2001. The author expresses forthright opinions on politicians and
on senior RAAF officers.
As regards World War 2 he emphasises the significant contribution
made by Australian aircrew to the allied bomber offensive against
Germany and stresses the very high casuality rate.
He discusses the main aircraft types used by the force.
There are good photographs of significant players and aircraft.
All in all a most interesting book

This book axamines the position of non-indigenous Australians who are sensitive to the great injustices done to Aboriginal people by the European "invaders", but who love the land of their birth and want to belong to it in a way which is both meaningful and yet sensitive to Aboriginal culture.

No doubt some of this could also apply to other countries such as New Zealand, USA, Canada, etc.

Read's style is very contemporary, and he uses extensively the thoughts and experiences of a wide variety of today's Australians, both indigenous and non-indigenous.

A very readable and thought provoking book.

With so many ficticious accounts of battle out there, it is truly refreshing to read such a realistic insight into a soldier's life during war. Bravo, and thank you for sharing your experience, wisdom, and bravery with the world.

I wrote this review in 2006, and it was published in Pacific Affairs, Summer 2006: volume 79, No. 2.



This is an important volume that belongs in the library of anyone seriously interested in Bougainville before - and after - the conflict. Like all volumes that derive from conferences, it contains a variety of viewpoints and professional orientations - so many that it might be subtitled "Ways of Seeing Bougainville." Although the first two sections of the book's five sections are written by "the usual suspects," the next three sections include work by authors new to me. It is a fine thing to see new names associated with Bougainville research and commentary, and even finer that among the 23 authors (of 30 chapters) 6 are Bougainvilleans. (Disclaimer: I am a Bougainville anthropologist and know many of the authors; I was asked to contribute a chapter, but was unable to do so in time for the publication.)

Contributors to the first section ("The Place and the People") represent archaeology, geology, linguistics, and anthropology. All make the point that Bougainville language and culture is impressively diverse and complex. For example, there are perhaps 25 languages among some 175,000 people. Numeric caution is required here, as elsewhere in the book: the authors have as many ways of counting and classifying as ways of seeing. This is a virtue, not a defect, because Bougainville has been in state of flux for many decades. These, and other, chapters offer no support for those who might prefer to characterize Bougainvilleans as homogenous.

The second section ("The Colonial Period to World War II") is the work of historians. The chapters are of uneven quality, and overlap considerably. There is ritual flogging of Eurocentric observers: Elder accuses Thurnwald, Blackwood, Chinnery, and Oliver of "extracting intellectual property in the form of sociological and ethnographic data..." (164); I cannot think how what they did differs from what a modern fieldworker does. Helga Griffin, in a chapter dominated by praise for Thurnwald, attempts to locate "hidden values" (205) among fieldworkers of the 60s and 70s, but the connections seem superficial.

I found the third section ("Economic and Social Change Post-World War II") the most interesting. The contributors - economist, agricultural researcher (Buin), miner, historian, politicians (Buin; Torau), teacher (Buin) are a varied lot, and ironies abound. For example, Lummani wonders whether Francis Ona and the BRA's attempt to "restore egalitarian fairness by trying to suppress developmental change" may actually have "contributed to an ever-widening situation of inequality" because Bougainvilleans "are even more dependent on cash-crop income than before the conflict" (252). The other chapters give examples of unintended and unforeseen consequences, perhaps nowhere more than in Vernon's contribution - a forthright statement from a CRA/BCL miner's perspective. I found his many "had we only known..." statements unconvincing. The information Vernon regrets not having could not have been difficult to obtain; the search for "hidden values" would be fruitful here.

The fourth section ("Persepectives [sic] on Particular Bougainville Societies") comprises competent journeyman descriptions of Buin, Haku, Nasioi, and Nagovisi. The writers - all anthropologists, one a Bougainvillean - also provide short, impressionistic post-conflict portraits.
The final section ("Towards Understanding the Origins of the Conflict") is especially useful because both writers were importantly involved with the crisis and its aftermath: Regan as an outside advisor, and Tanis (Nagovisi) as a BRA functionary, a peace process worker, and BIPG Minister. Tanis' piece moves effectively between detailed descriptions of village life and the broad sweep of the Crisis.

One final comment. Most of the authors take pains to cite multiple causes of socioeconomic change and the conflict. The list is not surprising: missionization, plantations, WW II, cash cropping, the copper mine, unwelcome migrants, and others. However, I was astonished to find only one (passing) reference to the taro blight that fundamentally altered subsistence and forced dramatic socioeconomic change in many areas in the post-WWII period. If this volume has a systemic defect, it is that the authors commonly explain change exclusively in terms of human behavior. None of the authors (except Lummani) consider ecological factors except as asides or when assessing mine-related environmental disasters. It is sad that a volume representing multiple points of view lacks this important perspective.


Buffalo State College, Buffalo, New York, USA DON MITCHELL

Originally published in 1911 under the pseudonym Floyd Akers, Hungry Tiger press makes this volume in The Boy Fortune Hunters Series by L. Frank Baum available again with a new Foreward by David Maxine and a new cover illustration by Eric Shanower. The author wrote various adventure series under pseudonyms, while publishing his more famous Oz novels under his own name.

In this volume the boy fortune hunters take a job running guns from Australia for wealthy Colombians who are planning a revolution. The guns come in handy when they end up run aground during a typhoon on a tropical island full of hostile natives who worship a Pearl God. They have the richest pearl beds in the world and keep them secret by killing anyone who lands there.

Fortunately the Columbians have a Louis Bleriot Antoinette biplane in crates below deck. Louis Bleriot was famous in Baum's time because in 1909 he was the first person to fly across the English Channel. Using the biplane to fly themselves in and out of trouble with the local islanders, the boys have life-threatening adventures and stuff their pockets with lovely pearls.

The book's leading characters are full of White supremacist attitudes that jar the sensibilities of modern readers. However Baum relates these with an innocence that would be difficult to recreate today. In addition to being an adventure tale for young white boys, the book provides an interesting look into how racial stereotypes were presented at the beginning of the 20th century.

This book is a history of Australian advertising from 1900 to 2000. It covers the rise (and fall) of different media and discusses how the industry itself adapted and reinvented itself to keep pace with change. Along the way, we meet some of the colourful characters involved in Australian advertising, explore some of the tensions between fact and hyperbole, and revisit some of the successful campaigns of the past. The role of regulation is also covered.

Advertising is one industry where it is absolutely true that the only constant is change. This book combines an easy to read account of the history of Australian advertising with some of the delightful (and not so delightful) examples of advertisements that many Australians will be familiar with. Who can forget the Grim Reaper (AIDS awareness) advertisements of the 1980s? Or Paul Hogan's cigarette advertisements (`Let `er rip, Boris!') back when such advertisements were legal?

I read the book for interest, and for the memories, and thoroughly enjoyed it. For those looking at either Australian culture, media or advertising more generally this book provides a treasure trove of factual information.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

This is one of the most readable personal accounts of the Falkland and Gulf wars that I have encountered.Chris Craig commanded the frigate HMS Alacrity during the Falkalnds war. Alacrity was in the thick of action - searching for blockage runners (sinking one), was near-missed by an Argentine submarine, and carried out many fire support missions. Naval operations during the Gulf war have been overshadowed by the land campaign, even though it is unlikely that Desert Storm would have been possible without command of the sea. This book partly redresses that inbalance. Craig commanded the royal navy squadron during the conflict and this book provides much insight into naval operations.

In the usual way of the Cambridge Encyclopedias, this is a well-produced and useful guide. Being encyclopedic, it covers all the usual range of bases - the physical nature - climate, soils, water, vegetation etc, history, including a section on Aboriginal heritage, the nature of government, the economy, society, science and technology and culture and the arts. The contributors are an eminent group of mainly boffins from various universities. Unlike some older, and similar comprehensive surveys of Australia, this volume does include a section on Aboriginal-European relations, from first contact to the early 1990s and the Mabo judgement affecting land rights. There is a small section on child removal, a major issue in Australia since the inquiry into this. Generously illustrated in full colour. A worthy general, single volume addition to the home or school reference library.

Here is an excellent documentation of the continuing stories regarding the plight and fight of Australian indigenous peoples that have seen the light of publication since the 1970s. This, like so many, highlights the resilience, flexibilty and pragmatism of a band of Martu desert dwellers who have adapted to survive the settler society. Their stories historic importance is relative to the development of the atomic testings in their homelands immediately after the Second World War. Readers might well extend their understanding by referring to Yami Lester's account which was published by IAD Press nearly a decade ago. The book is attractively presented with ample photographs, which amongst other things, demonstrates that the material well-being of the surviving Martu has changed little since the 1950s. Melbourne museum's Philip Batty has curated a poignant exhibition, currently touring Australia, which also touches on some of this book's themes.