Australia Books

This book is a welcome relief from the same old England, middle-ages type of fantasy. The book includes wonderful spirits of the Australian outback and a great love story, too. The writing is beautiful and full of wonderful images.

from backcover: "Had she found her identity or her destiny? Rebel had been fortunate to be adopted by the James family. The Australian clan fully supported her search for her mother's roots--even though it took her to England. But when Rebel arrived at Davenport Hall, the English manor where her mother had stayed as a five-year old war orphan, she was surprised to discover the earl actually seemed to be expecting her...."

A wonderful, continuation of inspiring, life-changing stories from the series Christian Heroes: then and now.

Janet and Geoff Benge have captured, in an easy to read - keep turning the pages book - the heart of the David and Carol Bussau family and their contribution to the globally poor of our world.

David's life was shattered at the age of 9 when he and his brother were abandoned by his parents and taken into a children's home in New Zealand. This is a story of overcoming life challenges regardless of what is thrown at you. It is the story about a young boy's dream to work hard and become a millionaire by the age of 40. It is also a story about finding God's purpose for each of us and how God uses our skills to make significant impact in our world.

David is a family man, a follower of Jesus and a man of humility who likes to get along side people and help them develop and succeed. David's skill is being an entrepreneur and making money whether by selling hot dogs, hamburgers or baked goods or building a construction business. His skill is seeing opportunities that come his way and making a profit. His skill is believing in people, particularly the poor, that they can develop these same kind of skills with a bit of capital.

David is one of the fathers in the development of micro-enterprise, micro-finance and providing small loans for the poor and has founded organizations like Opportunity International, Maranatha Trust and the Wholistic Resource Transformation Center to name a few. If you are in business, if you are in government, if you are a student that is looking to make a difference in life or if you are wondering what you can do in missions, this book will give an example of how God can use your skills and help bring about transformation.

From page 160 -" David had learned that a process was involved before loans could be made to people. First you had to get to know a community, build trust, and identify the leaders among the people. Then you had to identify the needs of the community. Did the community need a clean-water supply so that the fields could be irrigated and crops grown? Or did it need an access road so that things produced in the community could be easily transported to market? Only when such issues had been addressed was it time to begin making small loans available to members of the community. And then it was important to identify those people who had an aptitude for business and would develop businesses, that would create jobs for others in the community, thus magnifying the effect of the loan. "

I have known and partnered with David, Maranatha Trust and Opportunity International for more than 10 years. He is a personal friend and you will be deeply challenged by this book.

I am the first reviewer and boy george this books it great! Top notch

This is a great book. It is told through the letters that a girl and a boy write to each other over many years. They are from different cultures. It is a touching sweet story that you will love.

Joy Hester and Sunday Reed were two important women in Australian cultural life of the 1940s. Hester was an artist and Sunday Reed, her patron.Their letters to one another span 1940-1960, the year of Hester's death. Reed's home was a focus for Melbourne's radical cultural life. Hester was Reed's best friend. When Hester contracted cancer in 1947, Reed adopted her son.Their letters chart the passage of Hester's illness together with Reed's love for her garden, books, poetry, art and friendship.Despite poverty and illness, Hester produced fine, expressionist drawings which are now in Australia's state galleries. Reed was her constant and unflagging audience.

my favorite sleuth, the stylish, independent phyrne fisher goes to sea in this volume of one of the best mystery series in existence.

as usual, greenwood has done her homework, and makes the days of the great ocean liners come to life. her characters are well drawn, the dialogue is believable, and the gleefully intricate plot pays homage to at least two of the traditions of the so-called golden age of mystery. there are wonderful descriptions of new zealand, and liberal doses of humor.

however, if you haven't read any of the earlier titles, i wouldn't recommend starting with this one. most of the usual cast of characters make only brief appearances, but some previous familiarity with our phyrne would add to the enjoyment.

Death of a Swagman was written in the mid point of Arthur Upfields career and shows in his attention to detail and his ability to capture the feling of Australian country towns in the early part of our century. The story is a good detective novel in its own right with plenty of plots and action and red herrings. Bony's relationship with Rose Marie is used as a strong pivot point throughout the novel giving a useful viewpoint of the running of the town from a child's perspective. The advantage of this book over other bony novels is the character development of the subjects. This gives a depth and humanity which remains after the story is finished. The narrative of the swagmans lifestyle and its mythology is addressed here with great detail and provides a refreshing glimpse of a bygone era.

Xavier Waterkeyn did an excellent job on this book, making it unique from this important perspective....he allows you to a glimpse inside the head and hearts of Death Row prisoners. Good or bad, these people are not subhuman as they are often depicted. Also explores injustice in the system.

Written in an irreverent style with regular examples from the authors' extensive experience in world-debating, this book is an excellent guide to debating - for beginners, the experienced, the coach and the adjudicator.

Focusing on the Australian style of debate, the initial chapters on Manner and Method clearly set out standards expected, as well as mentioning pitfalls and recommendations. The chapters devoted to Matter, combined with the discussion on Topics & Preparation lends immediately the wisdom necessary to construct speeches with structured purpose as opposed to a series of nascent ramblings.