Oceania Books

Erik Dahlgren has written a definitive historical analysis that
thoroughly disproves the popular myth that Hawaiian had been
visited and charted by Spanish explorers. This myth was mentioned as fact in W D Alexander's "A Brief History of the Hawaiian People" published over 100 years ago. It was perpetuated by a Spaniard living in Hawaii, Francisco de Paulo
Marin ("manini").
The argument in favor of the Spanish discovery rests in some
part on the Spanish charts which were seized by Anson when he
captured a treasure ship in the Phillipines. Certainly this
chart was known to Cook, and it does show islands at approximately the same latitude as Hawaii, but well to the east
of Hawaii's actual location.
Dahlgren carefully sorts through the facts and demonstrates that
this Spanish chart was not based on any known observattions,
furthermore he shows that the Spaniard who supposedly made the discovery was in fact not even a competent navigator.
It is a serious historical work, carefully written, and 100%
convincing.

I enjoyed this book a lot. The writing style is almost musical in places - which is quite appropriate, given one of the themes of the book, musicianship. It is a quiet book, in that there are no major conflicts that occur in the time of the book, but nevertheless it has plenty of substance. The relationships between all of the characters are very well drawn and you can feel respect they have for each other. I would love to spend an evening at the cafe, eating and listening to the music.

Rowse traces the history of Aboriginal contact with white settlers by examining the economic rewards offered to the indigenous people by pastoralists and missionaries, from the first distribution of foodstuffs through the integration of Aboriginal people into a cash economy in the last 50 years. This is a book that wil suprise you with insights and connections, make even statistics live, and demonstrate how comlicated the skein of relationships between black and white in Australia hav ebeen and continue to be. Each transaction seems to offer good and bad, and although Rowse never attempts to speak for the Aboriginal people, but only examines the voices of whitefellas through their leavings in the historical record, he manages to pressent a balanced and nuanced understanding of both sides of the frontier.

This book is a scream, a howl, and a serious showing of how perception alters reality. The kangaroo thinks she is upside down because the picture in a book tells her so. She feels miserable. When her baby "corrects" the picture, everything is right again. The pictures are a delight.... especially the pictures of "YOU" standing around where you live, not doing much of anything! The expressions on the momma kangaroo's face are worth the price of admission.

This is on of the best Reader's Digest book on Australia, with unbelievable and stunning images on Australias nature (over 900) in a brilliant quality. This book helped me a lot in travelling outside the known tourist paths and find the treasures in the Parks and Nature. This guide to Australia's National Parks is very clear and detailed, wonderfully set up with maps and regions, with useful and clear explanation on the nature and wildlife. Even after 3 trips to Oz I still find a lot in this book, wherever I've been these places or not. Keeps me updated and curious about my next trip to Australia. Well recommended, and also a great coffee-table book (or tea-table in down-under)

I have to state that I have a conflict of interest in this matter; Rudy DePaola is my father-in-law but for nearly 30 years I and my sons have been reveled by his stories. That said, I have to add that this is great story about an ordinary kid who went to war at age 17 and came home to become a educator, father and grandfather. This is Rudy's life with some "embellishment" and is a fun read from start to finish.

Men like Rudy and my own father, who won't write his story, are the greatest heroes of our time. They went to war as kids and returned as men who quietly and steadfastly built the modern society that, more or less, has propelled the whole world forward.

We will all be poorer when they pass on but this is a great chance to learn what they endured to give us what we have today.

This book is so funny I've really embarassed myself on public transport laughing aloud. Forget all other books about Australia, this tells you what it is really like in sharp, witty style. Buy it before you go there. definitely

For those interested in one of the earliest successful movements for women's suffrage, this book is a must. It is the best of the books on the Australian movement for its thoroughness. While there are more "fun" versions of the movements with oral history excerpts, etc., this is the book to turn to as the authoritative work on the subject.

The book is an outstanding analysis of the history of Australian Literature.According to the author, in 19 century travel guides and writings,women figures scarcely appeared in male-writings.Many writings portrayed men as 'Australian legend', 'a bush man' or a 'rough and tough man'. Australian character has taken various forms and varieties through the national history but women have been kept aloof or have been absent somewhere in the bush. The bush has been typically imagined as a feminine landscape and `Woman', most of the time is seen carrying the burden of this metaphor. Australian figures of woman do not appear in the discourse of national identity. Kay Schaffer has delved deep into the fiasco of 'identity' on personal,social and national level and have brilliantly exposed the metaphoric reality of identities with help of Lacan's theory. The book is a must read in order to understand how identities are created within the culture and language and reflected in literature!

This book was a tour de force of finding the "lost" voices of women when it came out twenty years ago. Oxford keeps it in print, and it remains as important as when it was first published -- showing how women stayed in the workforce despite raising families, how they were major, not seldom primary, actors in socialist politics despite endless claims to the contrary, and how political self-interest and historiographical laziness have worked to silence their economic, political and historical roles. Based on in-depth archival research, this book remains THE corrective to so much rehashed second-hand argument.