After glamorous American singer Claire Phillips opened her own night club in Manila, using the proceeds to secretly feed starving American POWs, she also began working as a spy, chatting up Japanese military men and passing their secrets along to local guerilla resistance fighters. Australian Army nurse Vivian Bullwinkel, stationed in Singapore then shipwrecked in the Dutch East Indies, became the sole survivor of a horrible massacre by Japanese soldiers. She hid for days, tending to a seriously wounded British soldier while wounded herself. Humanitarian Elizabeth Choy lived the rest of her life hating only war, not her tormentors, after enduring six months of starvation and torture by the Japanese military police. In these pages, readers will meet these and other courageous women and girls who risked their lives through their involvement in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II. Fifteen suspense-filled stories unfold across China, Japan, Mayala, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines, providing an inspiring reminder of women and girls' refusal to sit on the sidelines around the world and throughout history. These women--whose stories span from 1932 through 1945, the last year of the war, when U.S. Marines landed on Iwo Jima--served in dangerous roles as spies, medics, journalists, resisters, and saboteurs. Nine of the women were American; seven were captured and imprisoned by the Japanese, enduring brutal conditions. Author Kathryn J. Atwood provides appropriate context and framing for teens 14 and up to grapple with these harsh realities of war. Discussion questions and a guide for further study assist readers and educators in learning about this important and often neglected period of history.
Glamorous American singer Claire Phillips opened a nightclub in manila, using the earnings to secretly feed starving American POWs. She also began working as a spy, chatting up Japanese military men and passing their secrets along to local guerrilla resistance fighters. Australian Army nurse Vivian Bullwinkel, stationed in Singapore, then shipwrecked in the the Dutch East Indies, became the sole survivor of a horrible massacre by Japanese soliders. She hid for days, tending to a seriously wounded British soldier while wounded herself. Humanitarian Elizabeth Choy lived the rest of her life hating war, though not her tormentors, after enduring six months of starvation and torture by the Japanese military police. In these pages, readers will meet these and other courageous women and girls who risked their lives through their involvement in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II. Fifteen suspense-filled stories unfold across China, Japan, Malaya, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines, providing an inspiring reminder of womens' and girls' refusal to sit on the sidelines around the world and throughout history. These women--whose stories span 1932 to 1945, the last year of the war--served in dangerous roles as spies, medics, journalists, resisters, and saboteurs. Seven of them were captured and imprisoned by the Japanese, enduring brutal conditions. Author Kathryn J. Atwood provides appropriate context and framing for teens 14 and up to grapple with these harsh realities of war. Discussion questions and a guide for further study assist readers and educators in learning about this important and often neglected period of history.
What are other things to see in Australia besides kangaroos and aborigines? Find out the answer in this exciting picture book. Learn about Australia's landscapes, best places to visit, as well as the people's culture and tradition too. This is a book that will take you from the beaches to the deserts of Australia in less than an hour. Grab your copy today!
Until the early years of the 20th century, the vast continent of Antarctica was barely discovered. All that changed, when Scott, Shackleton, and Amundsen set out to solve the last great unsolved geographical mystery and find the South Pole. This book tells the amazing tale of their expeditions into the unknown. It is high adventure, dramatic and tense, with three contrasting characters - Scott, the traditional British hero, whose lack of preparation had tragic results; Shackleton (born in County Kildare) a more modern leader, refusing to sacrifice his men's lives to the cause; Amundsen, Norwegian and the true professional whose attention to detail saw him through. All the great themes are here - courage, hardship, agonising decisions, leadership, suffering and tragic death. With stunning photographs taken during the expeditions.
In the early stages of the Pacific War, General Douglas MacArthur was expected to prevent the Japanese from taking Australia. With limited forces, MacArthur had to be tactical, and the key to the continent's defense was the island of New Guinea, just above the northeast tip of Australia. In order to defend New Guinea, MacArthur sent a small task force to Milne Bay, where the Coral Sea rounded the southeast tip of the island. His plan: to establish an airfield base for bomber and fighter planes that could attack enemy invasion convoys as they rounded the tip of New Guinea to attack Australia.In the fall of 1941, at the age of twenty-six, Jules Archer joined the US Armed Forces. A few months later, he joined MacArthur as a member of the small task force being sent to New Guinea.With good reason not to expect to return alive, Archer and his troop were plunged into a new kind of war. They fought in a jungle among a primitive Melanesian people, some tribes of which were headhunters. For nearly four years they endured in the distant jungle. This is an inside look at one of the lesser-known stories of one of the worst wars the world has known. It's a story of the absurdities, fears, camaraderie, and even humor of life as a wartime solider.
The great Australian Outback has been the popular theme used in several movies and stories. The wide expanse of land features peoples and animals that are truly fascinated. Open the pages of this picture book to learn about quick facts that could help build a trove of rich and diverse information. Order your copy today!
An utterly compelling account of Burke and Wills' journey into the great unknown. It was the greatest expedition of its time. In 1860 Robert O'Hara Burke, accompanied by William Wills and a party of explorers, set out to cross Australia from south to north. A few months later a tree bore a strange carving: Dig Under 3ft NW. Burke, Wills and five other men were dead. How did a man notorious for getting lost on the way home from the pub come to lead an expedition into the desert's dead heart? What went wrong? Edited for a young adult audience, Dig 3ft NW is an abridged version of Sarah Murgatroyd's acclaimed and bestselling book, The Dig Tree. 'The characters of Burke and Wills, and their accompanying team are well-drawn, with all their fatal flaws and strengths...This is history at its best, well-written and researched and hard to put down...It moves at a cracking pace, certainly faster than the actual expedition!...This is Australian history writing at its best.' Magpies
The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka is the most talked-about work of Australian history in recent years. Now here is Clare Wright's groundbreaking, award-winning study of the women who made the rebellion in an abridged edition for teenage readers. Front and centre are the vibrant, adventurous personalities who were players in the rebellion: Sarah Hanmer, Ellen Young, Clara Seekamp, Anastasia Hayes and Catherine Bentley, among others. But just as important were the thousands of women who lived, worked and traded on the goldfields--women who have been all but invisible until now. Discovering them changes everything. Clare Wright is a historian who has worked as a political speechwriter, university lecturer, historical consultant and radio and television broadcaster. Her first book, Beyond the Ladies Lounge: Australia's Female Publicans, garnered both critical and popular acclaim. Her groundbreaking second book, The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka, which took ten years to research and write, won the 2014 Stella Prize. Clare researched, wrote and presented the ABC television documentaries Utopia Girls and The War that Changed Us. She lives in Melbourne with her husband and three children. 'It's hard not to be inspired by this feminist revisiting of gold rush history.' CBCA Reading Time Praise for The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka 'This is a wonderful book. At last an Australian foundation story where women are not only found, but are found to have played a fundamental role.' Chris Masters 'Brilliantly researched and fun to read. An exhilarating new take on a story we thought we knew.' Brenda Niall 'Fascinating revelations. Beautifully told.' Peter FitzSimons 'This is a fascinating book for teens that captures the essence of the times while never once feeling like a dry history book.' Readings 'The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka offers us a full cast of flesh-and-blood women who belong in any telling of the Eureka story, and in any account of Australian goldfields life.' Robyn Annear, Monthly 'Clare Wright's revisionary history of the Eureka stockade is immediately entrancing. A social history of the Ballarat goldfields in Victoria circa 1854, it recreates the landscape as one of bustling domesticity, commerce, theatre and constantly shifting authority. It is a far cry from the stories and images of my school history books which portrayed a shanty town of tents and men.' Guardian 'Extraordinary...There is so much to be learned from her prodigality of content...not just about the role of women of women in Eureka and on the goldfields...but also about Australian society.' Australian Book Review 'As Wright points out, for too long Eureka has been a masculine myth. Women's presence has never been fully explored. Indeed, their absence has been assumed. Her work fills an enormous gap. Furthermore, The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka supports her claim that women's presence does not just add colour to the picture, it changes the very outline.' Weekend Australian 'Wright's use of source material focusing on people, mostly women, whose stories, diaries and writings can take us through the entire journey from immigration to rebellion allows readers to connect with these characters in a way that isn't often found in history books...Without a doubt the historical legacy of the Eureka Stockade is one which will never be forgotten but thanks in large part to the work of Clare Wright the stories of the women who almost were can stay with us.' Salty Popcorn
Winner of the NZ Post Children's Book Awards, non-fiction category and shortlisted for the CBCA Children's Book Awards, 2011. The First World War was only meant to last six months. When the Australians and New Zealanders arrived at the Western Front in 1916, the fighting had been going for a year and a half and there was no end in sight. The men took their place in a line of trenches that spread from the North Sea to the Swiss Alps. Beyond the trenches was no-man's-land, an eerie wasteland where rats lived in the ribs of the dead and the wounded cried for help. Beyond that was the German Army. The Anzacs had sailed for France to fight a war the whole world was talking about. Few who came home ever spoke about it again. Zero Hour is the third book by Leon Davidson, author of the best-selling and multi-award-winning Scarecrow Army: the Anzacs at Gallipoli and Red Haze: Australians & New Zealanders in Vietnam. 'Written with a simplicity and directness that make it an ideal teaching tool, Zero Hour blends historical overview of the Anzacs' role with ordinary soldiers' experiences and perspectives.' Age
Grandfather and Grandmother telling lots of stories. They had to live at Yalata. Their home was bombed. That was their home where the bomb went off. They thought it was mamu tjuta, evil spirits, coming. Everyone was frightened, thinking about people back in the bush. Didn't know what bomb was. Later told it was poison. Parents and grandparents really wanted to go home, used to talk all the time to get their land back. Yvonne Edwards was just six years old when the first bombs of the nuclear tests at Maralinga were detonated in 1956. The tests continued until 1963, and their consequences profoundly affected her family and community. This powerful book, by award-winning author Christobel Mattingley, honors Yvonne Edwards' legacy as a highly respected artist and community elder.
In the early stages of the Pacific War, General Douglas MacArthur was expected to prevent the Japanese from taking Australia. With limited forces, MacArthur had to be tactical, and the key to the continent's defense was the island of New Guinea, just above the northeast tip of Australia. In order to defend New Guinea, MacArthur sent a small task force to Milne Bay, where the Coral Sea rounded the southeast tip of the island. His plan: to establish an airfield base for bomber and fighter planes that could attack enemy invasion convoys as they rounded the tip of New Guinea to attack Australia.In the fall of 1941, at the age of twenty-six, Jules Archer joined the US Armed Forces. A few months later, he joined MacArthur as a member of the small task force being sent to New Guinea.With good reason not to expect to return alive, Archer and his troop were plunged into a new kind of war. They fought in a jungle among a primitive Melanesian people, some tribes of which were headhunters. For nearly four years they endured in the distant jungle. This is an inside look at one of the lesser-known stories of one of the worst wars the world has known. It's a story of the absurdities, fears, camaraderie, and even humor of life as a wartime solider.
The new, revised & redesigned second edition of the 'Visual Geography Series' explains the history & government, economy, people, geography & cultural life of countries around the world.
This is a comprehensive guide to Australia, from the time of Aboriginal settlement through to the modern day. It takes a largely chronological approach and looks at social, cultural, economic and political trends in the country's long history.
Where is Here? is a concise version for young adults of Flannery's classic anthology, The Explorers, including a revised introduction. The explorers of Australia were many and varied, beginning with Indigenous Australians. They often forged ahead for the Dutch, the French or the English explorers, looking for food, water and new territory. Some explorers imagined a green land with a vast interior ocean. 'The Great South Land' was considered a place of monsters and miracles. Now that we are trying to imagine a sustainable future for our planet, these explorers tell us what the land was like and how the Indigenous Australians treated the environment. In these exciting, heartbreaking diaries of the men and women who explored our country, young readers will get a sense of the freedom of travelling into the unknown. These amazing stories will inspire everyone to become passionate modern explorers, alive to our incredible environment.
How did Australia's earliest human inhabitants reach the island continent? Which discovery ushered in a new era of immigration, prosperity, and technological advancement? How did a far-flung colony and military outpost transform into one of the wealthiest and most peaceful nations in the modern world? Dip into the pages to discover these answers and more. This detailed illustrated history of Australia journeys from the formation of the continent to the growth of a modern, thriving nation. Clear, accessible text offers explanations of key events and the people behind them. From the enduring cultures of Australia's Indigenous people, European exploration and colonization, and the tragic impacts of two world wars, The Story of Australia concludes with the exciting fast-paced development of the last decades of the 20th century. The Story of Australia draws on the National Museum of Australia's rich collection of objects, photographs, and artifacts. Entertaining, colorful, and inviting, The Story of Australia is the essential history resource for every home and library.
- Information-packed volumes provide comprehensive overviews of each nation's people, geography, history, government, economy, and culture - Abundant full-color illustrations guide the reader on a voyage of discovery - Maps reflect current political boundaries
Taking a largely chronological approach, A Brief History of Australia looks at social, cultural, economic, and political trends in the country's long history, all of which have contributed to its unique and complex identity. Beginning with the peopling of the continent about 60,000 years ago, the volume examines the early history and culture of the Aboriginals, Australia's indigenous population and the oldest continuously surviving culture in the world. The volume continues with the first documented sighting of the landmass by a European in the 17th century and the colonial period in the 18th and 19th centuries. From the Federation of 1901 to the Liberal government of John Howard (1998-2007) and the Labor government of Kevin Rudd (2007-present), this new book explores Australia's relationship to the British Crown, environmental issues that plague the land, the rights of marginalized people, and the role of sports.Basic facts, a chronology, a bibliography, and a list of suggested reading make up the appendixes.
Provides information about Australia, with emphasis on its geography, culture, history, economy, and government.
The little-known story of Reg Saunders, the first Indigenous Australian to become an officer in the Army, retold in action-packed graphic format. Reg Saunders MBE (1920-90) not only survived the World War II battlefields in the Middle East, North Africa, Greece, Crete and New Guinea, but excelled as a military leader. He was recommended for officer training and, in 1944, returned to New Guinea as a platoon commander - the first Aboriginal Australian to serve as a commissioned officer. What happened during the war to transform a determined young man from country Victoria into a war hero - one who would go on to serve with distinction in the Korean War, and become a pioneering figure for Indigenous rights? Teachers Guide also available 'Reg Saunders immortalised in comic, An Indigenous War Hero,' featured in The Age Winner of the Educational Publishing Awards, Secondary Student Resource - Junior.
Provides information about New Zealand, with emphasis on its geography, culture, history, economy, and government.
