Australia Books

Humble family beginings to world champion, husband to father, party animal to entrepreneur. Through all this Nat Young was destined to be a surfer and one of the best the world would ever see. This book is a fascinating combination of surfing history (Australian in particular) and the history of a man who pushed to get every ounce of enjoyment out of life. This is a very informative, yet light hearted book with more than its share of incredible surfing tales. From surfing the best waves the world has to offer, the early days of the world tour and the unavoidable changes of the 70's. This book is nothing short of the ultimate life style a surfer could wish for. Reading this book inspired me on more than one occassions to get out in the waves and make the most of my life. A must read for all surfers.

This book is long overdue. As a surfer and skier who grew up in the 70's and 80's Nat Young was the inspiration to us then and to teenagers today. He was one of the front runners who not only showed us how to do it but he did it with a passionate, laid back style. This read gives you the chance to know Nat as a person and to be inspired by his youthful, adventurous soul.

NAT YOUNG BRODZIAK - CINCINNATI, OHIO (9/9/99)

...and it's dedicated to me, so I kind of had to read it. Still, I'm glad I did. It was more interesting than I expected, discussing the evolution of settlers to being "native" to North America and the Antipodes. About a chapter into it, I stopped reading out of fillial duty, and kept going because I was interested. (How could I resist the events on-board the H.M.S. Bounty being described as "a crisis in labor relations"?)

Now, I'm going to have to read his other books. So, in my unbiased opinion, buy lots of copies so that I can go to grad school.

...and it's dedicated to me, so I kind of had to read it. Still, I'm glad I did. It was more interesting than I expected, discussing the evolution of settlers to being "native" to North America and the Antipodes. About a chapter into it, I stopped reading out of fillial duty, and kept going because I was interested. (How could I resist the events on-board the H.M.S. Bounty being described as "a crisis in labor relations"?)

Now, I'm going to have to read his other books. So, in my unbiased opinion, buy lots of copies so that I can go to grad school.

From this book I learned more about the territory, the Pacific region, the United States, and Faleomavaega. This man has worked toward a positive direction for American Samoa with regards to the Pacific and U.S. Much of the content of this book can still be applied today in the territory. For Samoans in the U.S. we all have ties back to Amerika Samoa in one way or another. This book covers a few of the issues that effect Samoa, compromising traditional cultural values and the influence of the modern world.

Few Americans know that the United States still owns a relic from the Age of Colonialism below the Equator, and that this "possession" is not faring so well after 101 years of benign neglect. Congressman Faleomavaega is a gifted writer. Few people could cram quite so much information into 142 pages and still have the result highly readable. But it's not a happy story when for 51 years the proud people of American Samoa had their Governor appointed by the US Navy, and then for another 26 years their Governor was always a personal friend of the Secretary of the Interior. Yet the author is basically an optimistic person, and he continually cites the many accomplishments of Asian and Pacific Island Americans, and the success of local initiatives in agricultural development, commercial policy, and educational achievement.

I was really surprised that a Member of Congress could endorse the pagan and gruesome Ritual of the Tatau. The current medical literature suggests that severe physical punishments during initiation rites can be life threatening. And then after such a persuasive plea for Americans to take Pacific policy seriously, the Congressman asks for only half a loaf. After 101 years of being required to be Americans, the people of American Samoa deserve Commonwealth or Statehood status. If their price for joining the Union is permanent protection of the Samoan tradition of communal property ownership, it is doubtful that very many Americans would object.

The author of this book, Catherine Bull, is the Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Melbourne. She has a distinguished career as a consultant practitioner and subsequently at Queensland University of Technology, in Brisbane. She holds a masters degree from the University of Melbourne, and a doctorate in design from the GSD at Harvard, USA.

For many people, Australia is somewhat of an enigma- seemingly generously endowed with natural resources, enjoying a mild climate and fine cities, yet it is left conspicuously `unpopulated'. When asked about this, my best response is to say that the enticing shots of Sydney Harbor in the tourist brochures are but one aspect of a wondrous and intriguing landscape. I suggest they venture further afield, out west, beyond the package tour sites, and imbibe some of the quotidian landscapes of Australia- the suburbs, the country towns, the surf coasts, the eucalypt forests: these are places of every day landscapes. But exactly where: Australia is such a huge country?

With this book by Professor Bull in your backpack, and with sufficient time and resources, you could make a grand journey of revelation- and find in every corner of the Australian continent, some revealing place to explore. The book shows and discusses a very diverse range of landscape design projects, from Darwin in the north to Launceston in the south (but don't miss out on Hobart- arguably one of the most captivating urban settlements in the world), from Perth in the south-west to Palm Cove in the north-east, and many places in between.

One particular aspect of these projects is that most of them are about public use areas, in the `public realm', that is, free and open to the community. Certainly there are private gardens of merit in Australia, but arguably the projects shown in this book represent a far more important aspect of Australian culture: the quality and amenity of public spaces. This reflects a fundamental attitude and belief, that the ordinary lived -in public places are important, cherished and worth protecting. Despite contemporary pressures for reduced government spending and privatization of public assets, this commitment is generally being maintained. Perhaps for visitors, this is one of the joys of visiting places such as Sydney Cove, illustrating a principle that is not irrelevant to Korean cities.

There are certainly some gaps in the coverage of the book. It under-represents the influence and value of recent immigrant cultures from south-east Asia, which is very apparent in the larger cities. Aboriginal cultural traditions are minimally represented. I doubt that these omissions reflect the overtly retrograde mode, recently seen in contemporary Australian social and political processes! Some of the more remote locations, such as the Kimberley region in the north-west, or the west coast of Tasmania, regions where there are significant landscape projects, would have been valuable additions. But this is a small quibble, there are so many possibilities, and the projects that are included are many and varied.

From this book, it appears that Australia is seemingly and somewhat belatedly finding its bio-social `space'; and this through landscape projects. By this I mean that, in many of the projects, both `natural' space and `social' space can be discerned as melding and complementary. It may even be said that, in many of these projects, landscapes are prompting or initiating a pivotal re-orientation in Australian's cognition of itself.

The quintessential project that illustrates this point is the Riawunna Aboriginal Studies Centre, at the University of Tasmania's Launceston campus (p. 148). This tiny space, as much community facilitation as a design, by Sinatra Murphy and Urban Initiatives, exposes an essential primordial relationship of culture and environment. The design was developed with the Aboriginal community. But, as importantly, it addresses the wider immigrant community. We see a landscape of rocks, stone, shells (middens) and plants. In lesser hands, this may have amounted to a parody, but here it elicits recognition. We understand a representational space about extended time (dreamtime?), adaptation and subsistence with resources, and opportunity for social connections.

On the other hand, at the National Museum of Australia, Canberra, in the Garden of Australian Dreams, there are a plethora of memetic signs, but not much signified. (p. 144). There is a cacophonous assemblage of words and objects- representations of the settlement of other places; the intent however is obscured by reliance on semiology which engages the viewer through metonymy, a trompe-l'oeil of signs, which verge on mere verbiage. The `marking out' of the garden also downplays a pivotal aspect of the process of occupation of land in Australia, then and now, and that is the overt `ethnic cleansing' which was and is a fundamental aspect of the European occupation of Australia. In this context, the naming of places, which is emphasized in the garden, whether using European names or under official policy employing Aboriginal names, is relatively unimportant. I am also drawing a direct analogy between the historic `ethnic cleansing' of Aboriginals and the current incarceration of recent immigrants; both processes directed at ensuring a white (only) occupation of preferred localities. But I guess that's an argument for another day.

For these reasons, Professor Bull's book is far more that an inventory for a tourist, and I really should not suggested that. The fundamental value of the book is the way in which it points toward designed landscapes as a vital aspect of self-cognition for Australians and along the way, it captures the knowledge and innovation, at the hands of landscape practitioners and clients, which make it possible.

This can be seen in the final chapter in particular. Professor Bull concludes the book at a high pitch indeed. Between the lines of the placid prose there is an impassioned plea, for what the author lays out is a challenge. Professor Bull asks for - and seeks positive answers through designed landscapes- a society that understands and enjoys its diversity and capacities, its natural processes and cultural adaptability.

This book received an Award of Merit from the American Society of Landscape Architects Professional Awards program in 2004.

You will want to go to New Zealand after you have visited the South Island through Mary Bull in her book New Zealand Tales and Tours: South Island Adventures. She draws the reader into the landscape through descriptions of land, sea, people and weather as well as history and stories of the region.The pictures are lovely and enticing to make the trip - a Mt. Cook Lily from the mystical area of their highest mountain to a successful fisherman showing the NZ fish "rig".

Bull invites the reader to become "family" as she quotes poems or includes personal photos from her own travels around the South Island. Small animal pictures bring the material alive. I want to put on my hiking shoes, sun hat, warm sweater and find some sheep to walk the back roads.

This book is well written by a local resident who loves her corner of the world and dares to share secrets of these warm and welcoming people; so as a traveler, you will want to return many times.

If you are planning a trip to New Zealand's South Island, you will want to take this book with you. I really like it.

I actually bought this for friends who plan to visit New Zealand soon, but found myself reading it cover to cover, loving the author's personal approach and regretting that we had not visited the South Island when we visited the North Island a few years ago. The author and her husband have spent half of each of their last 24 years living on the South Island and she recommends 4 road trips lasting one month for travelers who want to thoroughly familiarize themselves with the country's dramatic landscapes and unique history, culture, plants, and animals. The trips start and end in the city of Christchurch, but most of the travel is through fascinating small towns. The author provides helpful details about the lifestyle, accommodations, and unique activities of each community and tips about driving and changeable weather conditions. She also includes Maori myths, local legends, personal experiences, a glossary of New Zealand terms and information about topography, sheep farms, farm stays, fishing, winter and summer sports, and wineries, as well as original sketches of the flora and fauna, numerous photos, and listings of web sites. As a retired library director I would highly recommend this travel book.

Like the previous reviewer, I could hardly put this book down. It is an amazing story told in cinamgraphic detail. It would have been a good book written as fiction, but to know the stories are all true (I confirmed the outline with an RAAF offical obit) brings a part of WWII to life. Well done Peter Dornan, in taking in so much oral history and weaving it into a compelling story.

Nicky Barr's life and the courage he showed, were almost too unblieveable to be true. His biography by Peter Dornan is wonderfully written and impossible to put down. Nicky Barr was a quiet, unassuming man, but a fierce, aggressive fighter to his enemy in battle, and a great friend to those who knew him. The reader will come away feeling like the latter.
His wife and true love, Dot, passed away in May 2006 and Nicky joined her in June.
Thanks to Peter Dornan, for allowing me to know them both!

Any almanac of Australian political history will tell you something like this (usually next to an asterisk): on Remembrance Day, 1975, Australian Governor-General Sir John Kerr, the unelected representative of the British Queen, dismissed Australia's Labor Party prime minister, Gough Whitlam, the elected leader of the national government. Whitlam's successor, conservative Malcolm Fraser, called an election immediately and served as PM until 1983. What the almanacs don't tell you about is the sheer level of passion which consumed and polarized the nation for the better part of 10 years after the Dismissal. Kerr was vilified; a figure of universal hate for those on the Left. Fraser, whom Whitlam tagged "Kerr's cur," was hailed as the country's savior by loyal Tories throughout Australia's suburbs. Whitlam, whose government had staggered through several notorious financial and personal scandals, lost another election and retired from politics in 1978 , but to this day is hailed as a God-Caesar by armies of fervent loyalists. Kelly, an Australian journalist, does not delve into these latter day issues; instead he conducts a piece-by-piece reconstruction of the constitutional, legal and political forces which from 1972 conspired to bring about The Dismissal. Some of his personal interviews from the players brought about real scoops, such as the revelations about those who secretly counseled Kerr on the propriety of his actions. Another bombshell is the realization that Whitlam could so easily have "won" on November 11 itself, even after Kerr had sacked him, with deft application of parliamentary procedure. This is not for the neophyte: a familiarity with Australian politics is assumed.

For all Australians, November 11, 1975 shouls stand as a day simultaneously full of fear and of pride.

On that day the Governor General, Sir John Kerr, sacked the democratically elected government of Gough Whitlam. Kerr was given his job by Whitlam; if Whitlam got to the phone first to call the Queen, he could havfe sacked Kerr.

Of course this Constitutional Crisis did not all happen on one day. Paul Kelly has excelled himself in documenting the background to this crisis and biographing main players. He takes an even handed approach to the political situation and has written an unexpectidely readible book.

November 11, 1975 is a day of fear because it was the day democracy stopped happenning; it was a day of pride because Australians didn't degenerate into a violent mob.

Democracy returned to Australia when a General Election was held on December 13, 1975. By the way, Whitlam lost.

Kelly's book is vital reading for: 1. All Australians, 2. All who love a good political read, 3. All students of Government.

Australian fiction is the best you will ever find (and I've read everything from King to Koontz) but 99% of books from Down Under are not released here in the United States. Why? I don't know. But I DO know what I've discovered. O'Fear by Peter Corris (a Cliff Hardy mystery) is fantastic! I've hunted down more Cliff Hardy mysteries over the internet and they're all great.

Other must reads by Australian authors are:

Any book written by Robert G. Barrett! (The Stephen King of Australia)

Jon Cleary's Scobie Malone mysteries! (As good as anything written by Nelson DeMille)
Blood Junction by Caroline Carver (As good as anything written by Dean Koontz)
Every book written by Peter Doyle! (Move over John Grisham)

My fellow Americans, fight to read the books the US publishers won't let you see! You will be glad you did.

Considering that the hard-boiled private eye novel is one of the distinctly American genres, it's perhaps surprising that one of the best current practitioners of the form is the Australian Peter Corris, with his detective, Cliff Hardy. If we forgive Hardy his affection for wine, which we'll assume is a cultural deal, and a long running relationship, which fortunately never quite achieved Susan Silvermanesque proportions, he's really quite traditional. Of course, it helps that Australia isn't all that different from America, particularly in terms of its cultural heritage. Corris has written 23 Cliff Hardy books, but they are not generally available in the U. S., which is a shame.

From what I've read of them, O'Fear is a fairly representative entry in the series, which is to say, it's quite good. Hardy is hired after an old friend dies in a car accident :

'Barnes Todd has left you some money.'

'Why?'

'To find out who murdered him.'

I sat back in the chair. Sackville unhooked his glasses and set them down gently on top of the file. He massaged the bridge of his nose and tried to look grave, but there was a flicker of amusement in his eyes. It irritated me, the way a lot of small things had lately. What's so funny? I thought. I'd been in this business for nearly fifteen years. I'd found murderers before, hadn't I? Well, stumbled across a couple. 'How much money?' I said harshly.

'Ten thousand dollars. His wife's not too happy about it.'

Hardy learns that with Todd's last breath he gasped the word : "O'Fear..." He recognizes this enigmatic phrase as the beginning of the name of a notorious, but relatively harmless, scoundrel named O'Fearna, who is currently in jail, awaiting trial. His bail just happens to be $10,000.

And he's off...sexy widows, unsavory secrets, random corpses, brutal henchmen, crooked lawyers, the whole nine yards. But what makes the book a real throwback is Hardy's vulnerability :

...I had strewn the contents of my wallet across the desk. I looked at the credit cards and the meagre amount of cash and the creased driver's licence and suddenly felt small and isolated. My only backup in the office was an answering machine; my only means of transport was the Falcon; I had an illegal Colt .45 and a properly licenced Smith & Wesson .38 for firepower. No helicopters, no armoured vans, no shotguns. Who was I kidding? This was too big for me.

If Corris does not quite have the comedic chops of a Robert B. Parker or a Robert Crais, he more than compensates by restoring the dramatic tension of a hero who is truly a lone knight, who can be hurt, even killed, and who has no one he can really trust.

This is good stuff, in a classic vein. Read him, if you can the books.

GRADE : A

Want to refresh your eyes amongst the visual boredom of thecity landscape? Feel like having a non-occidental approach tofigurative arts and religion? Then read this book and find the amazing collection of photographs along with a concise and effective study on representative arts in Oceania by Anthony J.P. Meyer. This edition could well be recommended as an obligatory visual encyclopedia for anyone who has read studies on art, magic and religion like that of Mircea Eliade on shamanism or J.G. Frazer's Golden Bough. As a visual artist I consider that this carefully selected collection of images is a golden mine until the present day for all creative person, like it was for cubist and surrealists long decades ago. Find a brilliant example of art and tradition that has given European painting and sculpture a new vitality and a wider perspective on Man. Sit back and enjoy a lavish design and a trustworthy source of info on Oceanic art for the demanding reader.

This massive, oversize, extremely weighty and well-made (Made In Italy) book is a very broad survey of so-called Oceanic Art. This genre may be defined geographically as that area surrounding and surrounded by the Southern Pacific Ocean stretching from Irian Jaya (Indonesian Half of New Guinea), the Northern and Eastern coast of Australia stretching down to New Zealand, as far East as the Easter Islands and up North and West to the Sandwich Islands, and all of the vast number of islands that dot the surface of the ocean in between.
This is then, obviously, a huge undertaking and explains the sheer mass of this publication (along with the fact that the book's text is printed in the French, German and English languages). It also makes it inevitable that some very worthy objects will be left out or overlooked. I'll get to that but first would like to praise the author for having the foresight to place objects in the context of their cultural use, discuss the native flora and fauna (there is even a section dedicated to the ubiquitous betel nut) that go into the artwork (literally and figuratively), describe and explain the religious or secular significance of certain objects and speculate upon probable ancient migration patterns which peopled the region. There is much information here that I am certain you will be exposed to for the first time, and there is a surfeit of excellent photographic reproductions of objects and the people who created them. Because of the large scope of this survey it is likely that you will need to come back to it time and again as you make your way through the various island 'nations'. You may also wonder if, for the same reason, this book has missed anything. I think it has. For instance, I was a little disappointed to see no so-called 'Story Board' carvings from the Palau Islands. These are, as the name implies, carved pictorial representations of local legends, typically done in a single frame on a hand-carved board as long as four feet, and one foot high. There is probably a good reason for this omission, but it causes me to wonder if there are not more categories, knife sheaths, for instance, that were also left out. Still, one must trust the editorial judgment of the author if for no other reason than the overall quality of the book's content is so high that concern over possible ommissions somewhat recede into the background. At present, this book is available right here on Amazon for a ridiculously low price below the issue price. I strongly encourage anyone who collects art books to purchase this, as well as anyone who studies or is interested in the islands, people and cultures of the South Pacific, and anyone who collects books with an eye toward re-selling them for a profit as I predict that this book is one that goes into the 'rare' book category within a year or two.

This is the remarkable story of Dr. Paul Scully-Power, who became the first Australian-born person to fly into space in October 1984. A brilliant student and accomplished athelete during his formative years, he went on to become the first oceanographer to view the world's oceans from the best vantage point of all- Earth orbit. As a youth with a passion for riding his surf board at Sydney's northern beaches, he managed to combine a love of the ocean with his academic studies. This led him on the path to oceanography. Later he went to the United States on a Navy exchange program, where he briefed and debriefed NASA's astronaut crews on what to look for and photograph as they circled the oceans. He continued to be involved in briefing space shuttle crews for many years afterwards. Through a series of circumstances Paul Scully-Power was chosen to fly into space aboard the Shuttle Challenger. He describes the many sights he saw from space, particularly Australia- the land of his birth. Author Colin Burgess's enduring interest in spaceflight history was kindled by the dramatic flight of John Glenn in 1962, and he is a noted and regular contributor to spaceflight magazines. His friendship with Paul Scully-Power began in 1985 when he asked him to pen a suitable foreword for his children's book, 'Space: The New Frontier'. He has authored an impressive variety of books on topics ranging from humorous anecdotes of flying for Quantas Airways through to best-selling books on the Australian prisoner-of-war experience. Join the first Australian-born astronaut on his incredible journey of discovery, and learn how his space flight has changed forever the way scientists regard our oceans- knowledge which should lead to more accurate weather forecasting.

I cannot recommend this book more highly. Colin Burgess has previously written some excellent books on World War Two prisoners of war, and books of aviation humor, and here he writes with great flair on another subject- the first person born in Australia to journey into space. This book offers a fascinating insight into how someone born outside of the USA and Russia managed to make an incredible journey into orbit and study the oceans from above. However, I believe that this book will not only appeal to those interested in astronauts and Australian space achievements- the book also contains a wealth of breathtaking photos taken from orbit, guaranteed to inspire awe in even the most hardened reader. This book will be of immense interest to both adult readers and younger readers who wish to learn about the wonders of spaceflight. It makes a great companion piece to Burgess's fabulous book about Christa McAuliffe. I can't imagine my bookshelf without it, and would urge you to buy a copy if you can.