New Zealand Books

I purchased this volume of poetry as much for comparison's sake as for pleasure. I've piled up the latest Norton Anthology of Poetry, Christopher Ricks's edition of The Oxford Book of Verse from 1999, and The Oxford Book of American Verse as I study for the GRE subject exam in English Literature. The Norton should serve the practical needs of any student or reader, but I purchased this after skimming it in the local library, deciding to compare the selections by renowned poets found in most anthologies as well as view the work of poets who have now faded into relative obscurity today, or at least, they didn't find their way into my undergraduate syllabi! Even after exam preparation, this will be a pleasure to open, and it is certainly an easier travel companion than the unwieldy Norton. If, however, you're looking for twentieth century poetry in your survey, then try to locate the Ricks volume.

Saw this and had to have it. Covers all states of Australia in some detail. City and country is covered with good depth. Naturally, those that survived longer than others rate a more substantial entry. It seems that just about every country town in Australia had it's own brewery at some stage or another.

If the history of brewing in Australia is of some interest to you, I can definitely say this is the book for you.

There is a large number of photographs in this book, and they are very enjoyable to look at. Beyond that, the 'biography' portion is sorely lacking (though that appears to have been a secondary concern in the making of this book.) Very little of the trial and error, the failing and succeeding, is detailed; we're almost lead to believe that after one prototype, John built his famous motorcycle overnight and it was an instant success. Maybe that's the way it happened, but for a bike so groundbreaking on every level, I doubt it. Oh yes, and he invents (and patents) this new technique for making carbon fiber wheels that no one else has ever done before. What?!? That's huge! I want to know more. It does John and all the people who worked with him a disservice to make it sound so easy. Four stars is generous, as of this review I am the only reviewer so I don't want fewer stars scaring people off from even considering this book.

Craig Harrison's first novel is an excellent example of his work. The novel reads the future as New Zealand struggles to come to terms with the Treaty of Waitangi. But Craig adds in the impact of a fascist and racist government, an interferring superpower and a scandel to create a flashpoint in the "peaceful" country. Following the introduction of Apartheid Maori terrorists steal the Treaty and attempt to fight to reclaim Aotereroa (New Zealand). Craig builds the suspense well. Close in tone and content to Sleeping Dogs (CK Stead)

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

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.

Perhaps the only persons interested in this book are alums of UWA or those who worked there. The campus is the main university for Western Australia and the book describes how it flourished in the suburb of Nedlands, by Matilda Bay and the Swan River.

Much of the book's details will frankly be uninteresting to a reader who was never at UWA. During this time period, the campus expanded modestly. Its original core buildings were still well kept up. The biggest expansion was in the new Engineering and Maths buildings and the main library.

From an academic viewpoint, the biggest change was the establishment of the Computer Science department and the Crystallography Centre. Both in the same building, by the way. The CS department was needed, as the ongoing rush of Moore's Law gave rise to a need for programmers. While the Crystallography Centre became a world class research group under Ted Maslen, with a very productive output of research papers.

In this fascinating account, we see that Australian republicanism keep recurring. Brought forth by new generations of activists. Often with grandiose claims of a promised land, if only we could rid ourselves of those benighted royalists and their foreign sovereign.

From the very inception of Sydney colony, there was a republican movement. Perhaps not unsurprising, if you recall that one reason for the colony's being was that Britain could no longer send convicts to the Carolinas, as the US had won its independence. Hence many in the early Sydney of convict origin or descent had little love of royal rule.

In later years, the book shows how other factors caused new republican movements to arise. Culminating in the recent kerfuffle about abolishing the Governor General's post and replacing him with an elected or appointed president. While republicanism has broad sentiment, it tends to fall apart on the details of the transitioning to a republic. Something that John Howard gleefully exploited to defeat the latest republican push. Though keep in mind that this latest event was after the book's timeframe.

What is also interesting is how in the post World War 2 period, waves of migrants arrived from outside Britain. This diminishing of a British cultural heritage might have been expected to drive a demand for a republic. Yet any such trend appears minimal, from book's discussion. Australians from other backgrounds tend to be content with the Crown and the current arrangement.

This was one of a three-book series. It was nice to watch the characters work through a shared painful past and find happiness together.

Kate Walsh, curator of the Migration Musuem in Adelaide, South Australia, has assembled a remarkable photgraphic record of Australian migration history over the last hundred years. Over five hundred photographs are accompanied by very informative narratives which convey the rich and varied history of migration to this land where four in ten persons today are either born overseas or from foreign born parents.

The highlights of an often chequered history of Australian immigration are vividly brought home by some very personal stories drawn from family albums, community organizations,and library archives. A group of Italian settlers from the Aeolian islands pose for the first annual picnic for Melbourne frutierrs in 1906. In another photo, six young Australians of German ancestry are photographed in a detention camp in Germany where they were held during the First World War together with British prsioners. There is the snapshot of one Australian solider from Darwin's Chinese commnity who was shot several times in New Guinea by fellow Australian soldiers during World War Two who mistook him for a Japanese. A photo from the 1960s shows the generational differences between adult members of a Spanish commnity in Whyalla singing and dancing to flamenco music and the younger Spanish girls who were kept in pants and never owned a flamenco dress. Photos of Malays and of Greeks show the diverse specialist skills which were attracted into Australia's pearling industry. The chronicle of the 1970s and 1980s reveal the changing composition of immigrants, with Asian and African faces increasingly showing up in the photos.

This book is a remarkable and informative piece of historical research judiciously combined with a rich portfolio of images of a nation which has become vastly transformed in a hundred years.