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Author: Christine Hansen
Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING
Published: 2012
Total Pages: 201
ISBN-13: 0643104798
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn Living with Fire historians Tom Griffiths and Christine Hansen trace both the history of fire in the region and the human history of the Steels Creek valley in a series of essays which examine the relationship between people and place. These essays are interspersed with four interludes compiled from material produced by the community.
Author: Adrian Hyland
Publisher: Text Publishing
Published: 2011-08-01
Total Pages: 285
ISBN-13: 1921834730
DOWNLOAD EBOOKShortlisted Prime Minister's Award and Age Book of the Year Awards, 2012 Black Saturday. February 7, 2009. Roger Wood is the cop on duty at Kinglake when the most devastating fire in the nation's history roars through the ranges onto his beat. His task is to defend his town against the colossus that threatens to destroy it. And, over the course of one nightmarish day, that is what he will do. Even at the risk of his own life. Even after he receives the dreadful phone call telling him his own wife and kids are caught on the front line of the inferno. Adrian Hyland is the award-winning author of Diamond Dove and Gunshot Road. He lives in St Andrews, north-east of Melbourne, and teaches at LaTrobe University. 'A masterpiece of storytelling...The central characters in this special book emerge as Victoria Cross heroes in the heart of a bush community.' Kerry O'Brien 'What sets Kinglake-350 apart is its strong, agile storytelling - particularly Hyland's skill for weaving together small, telling details with big-picture concerns like climate change, weather pattern complexity, the failings of fire management policy and Australia's historical relationship with fire...' Meg Mundell, Readings 'Every Australian, both rural and urban, should read this book. Adrian Hyland pulls no punches in describing the harrowing consequences of living on the planet's driest and most fire-prone continent, and his account of the disastrous Black Saturday fires is a story of courage, dread and fallibility that will never leave you.' Cate Kennedy 'I've been waiting for a writer to look Black Saturday in the eye ever since the flames died down and, finally, Adrian Hyland's done it. In this compelling and moving book, Hyland has captured the character of a town caught, quite literally, in a fireball.' Anna Krien 'Kinglake-350 is about more than Black Saturday. It's about families and communities, the vital nature of ecology and geology; it's about the genesis of life itself. And while there are too many deaths in this saddest of tales, for the lucky ones the outcome was redemption.' Lincoln Hall 'Adrian Hyland has found a path through the smoke and confusion to produce an informed account that brings tears to the eyes of the reader. He has woven a selection of experiences into a seamless and gripping narrative that shows the courage, uncertainty, tragedy and stupidity of that day. Although the causes and lessons of the fire were explored in the report by the royal commission, this book will be more widely read. And deservedly so.' Age Book of the Year ‘Terrifying and moving... Kinglake-350 leaves us with a visceral sense of a harrowing event.’ Australian ‘Gripping and deeply moving.’ Adelaide Advertiser ‘As in the best fiction these characters will stay with you.’ Daily Telegraph
Author: Chris Abel
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Published: 2016-10-28
Total Pages: 466
ISBN-13: 1526114283
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn this wide-ranging study of architecture and cultural evolution, the author argues that underlying the global environmental crisis is a general resistance to changing personal and social identities shaped by a technology-based culture and its energy-hungry products. The book traces the roots of that culture to the coevolution of Homo sapiens and technology, from the first use of tools as artificial extensions of the human body, to the motorised cities spreading around the world, whose uncontrolled effects are changing the planet itself. Advancing a new concept of the meme, called the ‘technical meme’, as the primary agent of cognitive extension and technical embodiment, the author proposes a theory of the ‘extended self’ encompassing material and spatial as well as psychological and social elements. Drawing upon research from philosophy, psychology and the neurosciences, the book presents a new approach to environmental and cultural studies that will appeal to a broad readership searching for insights into the crisis.
Author: Bronwyn Adcock
Publisher: Black Inc.
Published: 2021-09-20
Total Pages: 235
ISBN-13: 1743821948
DOWNLOAD EBOOKA moving insider’s account of surviving one of Australia’s worst bushfires – and how we live with fire in a climate-changed world The gripping, deeply moving account of a terrifying fire – among the most ferocious Australia has ever seen The Currowan fire – ignited by a lightning strike in a remote forest and growing to engulf the New South Wales South Coast – was one of the most terrifying episodes of Australia’s Black Summer. It burnt for seventy-four days, consuming nearly 5000 square kilometres of land, destroying well over 500 homes and leaving many people shattered. Bronwyn Adcock fled the inferno with her children. Her husband, fighting at the front, rang with a plea for help before his phone went dead, leaving her to fear: will he make it out alive? In Currowan, Bronwyn tells her story and those of many others – what they saw, thought and felt as they battled a blaze of never-before-seen intensity. In the aftermath, there were questions: why were resources so few that many faced the flames alone? Why was there back-burning on a day of extreme fire danger? Why weren’t we better prepared? Currowan is a portrait of tragedy, survival and the power of community. Set against the backdrop of a nation in the grip of an intensifying crisis, this immersive account of a region facing disaster is a powerful glimpse into a new, more dangerous world – and how we build resilience. Bronwyn Adcock is an award-winning Australian journalist and writer. She has worked as a radio current-affairs reporter and documentary maker for the ABC, as a video journalist for SBS’s Dateline and as a freelance writer, including for Griffith Review and The Monthly. ‘A searing account of surviving Australia’s Black Summer, laced with grim warnings about how exposed the country still is to more catastrophic bushfires.’ —Michael Rowland, editor of Black Summer ‘A vivid and terrifying glimpse of not just our future but our present. Every Australian should read this book.‘ —Sophie Cunningham, author of Warning: The Story of Cyclone Tracy ‘Bronwyn Adcock offers a powerful, devastating account of Australia’s worst bushfire disaster from ground zero. This is a story of heartbreaking loss, as well as humble acts of care and bravery that helped save lives and property and find ways forward. Adcock offers us a window into the human story of the climate crisis, beyond the science and politics, to why action now matters so very much.’ —Amanda McKenzie, CEO, Climate Council ‘A brilliant piece of reportage from the inside of the Black Summer maelstrom – and a frightening glimpse of the future that awaits us all as we ignore the causes of climate change.’ —Adrian Hyland, author of Kinglake-350
Author: Daniel R. LeClair
Publisher: McFarland
Published: 2019-10-31
Total Pages: 287
ISBN-13: 1476638594
DOWNLOAD EBOOK From the Crimean War through the Second Boer War, the British Empire sought to solve the "Great Gun Question"--to harness improvements to ordnance, small arms, explosives and mechanization made possible by the Industrial Revolution. The British public played a surprising but overlooked role, offering myriad suggestions for improvements to the civilian-led War Office. Meanwhile, politicians and army leaders argued over control of the country's ground forces in a decades-long struggle that did not end until reforms of 1904 put the military under the Secretary of State for War. Following the debate in the press, voters put pressure on both Parliament and the War Office to modernize ordnance and military administration. The "Great Gun Question" was as much about weaponry as about who ultimately controlled military power. Drawing on ordnance committee records and contemporary news reports, this book fills a gap in the history of British military technology and army modernization prior to World War I.
Author: Philip Guedalla
Publisher:
Published: 1926
Total Pages: 474
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAuthor: Isobel Blackthorn
Publisher: Next Chapter
Published: 2022-02-12
Total Pages: 255
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKVoltaire’s Garden is a memoir of creating a sustainable lifestyle, back-to-earth style, on a fifteen-acre cattle paddock in an idyllic pocket of southeast Australia, made famous by the bushfires of New Year’s Eve 2019. Award-winning author Isobel Blackthorn introduces readers to the wondrous countryside of Cobargo Valley, where in 2005 she bought a parcel of land with spectacular views and built a large villa called Voltaire’s Garden, and surrounded it with swathes of luscious gardens. With glorious descriptions of gardening, cooking and an exquisite Australian landscape, Voltaire’s Garden will inspire you to reflect on the values formed through a deep connection with the land. Composed in evocative prose, Blackthorn lays bare the hardships, the resilience, and many a hilarious moment in what is a feel-good and at times poignant read.
Author: Peter Adey
Publisher: Duke University Press
Published: 2024-08-16
Total Pages: 234
ISBN-13: 1478059575
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn Evacuation, Peter Adey examines the politics, aesthetics, and practice of moving people and animals from harm during emergencies. He outlines how the governance and design of evacuation are recursive, operating on myriad political, symbolic, and affective levels in ways that reflect and reinforce social hierarchies. Drawing on a wide range of case studies, from the retrieval of wounded soldiers from the battlefield during World War I and escaping the World Trade Center on 9/11 to the human and animal evacuations in response to the 2009 Australian bushfires and the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Adey demonstrates that evacuation is not an equal process. Some people may choose not to move while others are forced; some may even be brought into harm through evacuation. Often the poorest, racialized, and most marginalized communities hold the least power in such moments. At the same time, these communities can generate compassionate, creative, and democratic forms of care that offer alternative responses to crises. Ultimately, Adey contends, understanding the practice of evacuation illuminates its importance to power relations and everyday governance.
Author: Sophie Cunningham
Publisher: Text Publishing
Published: 2014-07-23
Total Pages: 328
ISBN-13: 192196152X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWarning is the definitive account of one of the most frightening extreme weather events our country has ever seen. When Cyclone Tracy swept down on Darwin at Christmas 1974, the weather became not just a living thing but a killer. Tracy destroyed an entire city, left seventy-one people dead and ripped the heart out of Australia's season of goodwill. For the fortieth anniversary of the nation's most iconic natural disaster, Sophie Cunningham has gone back to the eyewitness accounts of those who lived through the devastation, and those who faced the heartbreaking clean-up and the back-breaking rebuilding. From the quiet stirring of the service-station bunting that heralded the catastrophe to the wholesale slaughter of the dogs that followed it, Cunningham brings to the tale a novelist's eye for detail and an exhilarating narrative drive. And a sober appraisal of what Tracy means to us now, as we face more - and more destructive - extreme weather with every year that passes. Compulsively readable and undeniably moving, Warning is the essential non-fiction book of 2014. Sophie Cunningham is the author of two novels, Geography (2004) and Bird (2008) and the non-fiction Melbourne (UNSW Press, 2011). She is a former editor of Meanjin and was until recently the chair of the Australia Council's Literature Board. ‘The strength and beauty of this book is the way it delves into the lives of the people affected and tries to understand their responses, their courage and their failings. Cunningham argues that these kinds of natural disasters are going to become more prevalent as the effects of climate change make extreme weather conditions more likely. This book is no polemic: it’s a gripping and visceral tale.’ Mark Rubbo, Readings ‘Highly accomplished...compelling.’ Age/SMH ‘Cunningham has pieced together a pacey and energetic insight into the build up, experience and aftermath of the cyclone...It’s a great read and, given the subject, it is strangely hopeful.’ Big Issue ‘Along with an eye for good stories and a knack for telling them, Sophie Cunningham brings a contextualising political intelligence. What she is interested in is how natural disasters are also social and political events, and the period details amount to more than the sideburns and lairy shirts...What happens in natural disasters depends on how communities work; the effects and aftermaths of those disasters are in fact man-made. As the future promises more and more extreme weather events whose causes as well as effects are anthropogenic, Cunningham’s gripping book contributes to new ways of thinking about them.’ Sunday Age/Sun Herald ‘Sophie Cunningham has done a tremendous job in gathering the voices - from then and now - of those who were there and during the clean-up [of Cyclone Tracy]. The result is vivid storytelling, gripping from beginning to end.’ Townsville Bulletin/Cairns Post ‘Warning: The Story of Cyclone Tracy is a brilliant book and on the anniversary of such devastation, it is a timely reminder to cherish everything you have in your life because in one night it could all be blown away.’ Salty Popcorn
Author: Lisa Jacobson
Publisher: Apollo Books
Published: 2014
Total Pages: 132
ISBN-13: 9781742586021
DOWNLOAD EBOOKSouth in the World is a dialogue between the earthly and the ethereal, reality and enchantment, body and spirit - those southern and northern poles by which we navigate the world. The poems in this collection speak to family, love, and daily living, as well as a world blighted by cataclysm and touched by redemption. Lisa Jacobson is an award-winning poet and fiction writer. Poems in this book have either won or have been shortlisted for major awards: the 2011 Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize, the 2013 Montreal International Poetry Prize, and the 2013 Fish International Poetry Prize (U.K.). Her verse novel, The Sunlit Zone (Five Islands Press, 2012), won the 2014 Adelaide Festival John Bray Poetry Award and was shortlisted for four of Australia's national awards.
