Accompanied by Turkey, his little 'hunting' dog, Derek Pugh founded several outstation schools in the most remote parts of Arnhem Land and gained a rare insight into a traditional way of life which has been witnessed by only a few outsiders. By turns reflective, tragic and hilarious, Turn Left at the Devil Tree is a memoir of a visiting teacher among the Indigenous people and wildlife of the Top End of Australia. It is also a history - revealing some little known and disturbing events that were sanctioned from the highest levels of government. Life there was "frustrating at times, but always a challenge and Derek has recorded his experiences beautifully in this delightful book". Ted Egan AO
In the best tradition of Paul Theroux and J. Maarten Troost, comes Derek Pugh's torrid tale of Sumbawa, and his ascent of the iconic volcano Mt. Tambora, whose 1815 eruption did indeed change the world. Pugh's account of the eruption and its aftermath is masterfully done - clearly the product of much dogged research through archives, scientific journals, as well as conversations with Indonesians lasting long into the steamy night. Himself a long-time resident of the neighboring Indonesian island of Lombok, Pugh is a well-qualified tourist who also brings a wry and rollicking insider's account of local and ex-pat life along the volcanic chain of islands. The reader meets a wonderfully diverse cast of characters, from pre-schooler jockeys, to an ancient princess alone in her decaying Sultan's palace, to brainless Western surfer dudes and their chicks who have no clue about the history of the slacker's paradise they've stumbled upon. Pugh does a sterling job of filling that gap in Asian travel writing, as the many-layered dimensions of Sumbawan culture - their strict Islamism, great friendliness, and intermittent traumas, with the colossal Tambora looming across every page - unfold to the reader like layers of volcanic earth from a hidden Pompeii. Gillen D'Arcy Wood, author of Tambora: The Eruption that Changed the World (Princeton University Press, 2014)
"a landmark in Australian literature" Maurice Rioli, MLA Fifteen year old Tammy Damulkurra lives in Maningrida - a remote Aboriginal community in Arnhem Land. Tammy has friends and likes the disco and thinks at last she has her first boyfriend but he cheats on her and Tammy gets into a fight with her arch enemy, Sharon. Tammy's parents send her to the outstations for several weeks to cool off and she quickly gets used to the bush and fishing and hunting with relatives. When she returns to Maningrida her love life is a mess and it's not until she leaves again for school that she realises that it's all going to be okay. Originally released in 1995 this second edition celebrates two decades of literacy education in remote communities in Australia. "a story that will strike chords with many teenagers," with a "naive quality and adolescent voice (which) makes it instantly accessible" B Richardson First Published 1995
"This book is for teenagers and anyone who knows one..." "If you only buy one survival guide for the teenage years, make it this one..." "This book [is] accessible, entertaining, humorous, and equally helpful to parents and teachers" This updated second edition of The Owner's Guide to the Teenage Brain tells us why 'we are as we are' in the teenage years. It shows teenagers how to get the most out of these years, helps parents understand and provides tips for parents on coping with their sons and daughters as they move towards adulthood. Knowledge is power. Teenagers who take that power will cope better with the exciting changes and challenges that face them.
The greatest engineering problem facing Australia - the tyranny of distance - had a solution: the electric telegraph, and its champion was the sheep-farming colony of South Australia. In two years, Charles Heavitree Todd, leading hundreds of men, constructed a telegraph line across the centre of the continent from Port Augusta to Darwin. At nearly 3,000 kilometres long and using 36,000 poles at '20 to the mile', it was a mammoth undertaking but in October 1872, Adelaide was finally linked to London. The Overland Telegraph Line crossed Aboriginal lands first seen by John McDouall Stuart just 10 years before. Messages which previously took weeks to cross the country now took hours. Passing through eleven new repeater stations and the remotest parts of Australia, the line joined the vast global telegraph network, and a new era was ushered in. Each station held a staff of six. They became centres of white civilization and the cattle or sheep industry and, in many places, the Aborigines were displaced. The unique stories of how men and women lived and/or died on the line range from heroic through desperate to tragic, but they remain an indelible part of Australia's history. '...a book written with heart and determination ... a lasting tribute to the inventiveness and tenacity of the people behind the planning, building and execution of the Overland Telegraph - a true nation building endeavour.' - His Excellency, The Honourable Hieu Van Le, AC.
Kosinski’s classic, acclaimed as “an impressive novel . . . should confirm [his] position as one of our most significant writers” (Newsweek). A searing novel from a writer of international stature, The Devil Tree is a tale that combines the existential emptiness of Camus’s The Stranger with the universe of international playboys, violence, and murder of Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley. Jonathan Whalen’s life has been determined from the start by the immense fortune of his father, a steel tycoon. Whalen’s childlike delight in power and status mask a greater need, a desire to feel life intensely, through drugs, violence, sex, and attempts at meaningful connection with other people—whether lovers or the memory of his dead parents. But the physical is all that feels real to him, and as he embarks on a journey to Africa with his godparents, Whalen’s embrace of amoral thrill accelerates toward ultimate fulfillment. “Savage . . . [Whalen is] a foolproof, timeless American character.” —Cosmopolitan
Fort Dundas was the first outpost of Europeans in Australia's north. It was a British fortification manned by soldiers, marines and convicts, and built by them on remote Melville Island in 1824. It lasted until February, 1829, when it was abandoned and left to the termites. The fort's purpose was twofold. Firstly, it was a physical demonstration of Britain's claim to the New Holland continent as far as longitude 129E, which excluded the Dutch and the French from starting similar colonies, and it was the first of a series of fortified locations around the coast. Secondly, it was promoted as the start of a British trading post that would become a second Singapore and compete with Batavia. The settlement was named in a ceremony on 21 October 1824, but it was not a success. In its short existence we have tales of great privation, survival, greed, piracy, slavery, murder, kidnapping, scurvy, and battles with the Indigenous inhabitants of the islands, the Tiwi. It was also the site of the first European wedding and the birth of the first European children in northern Australia. None of the three military commandants who managed the outpost wanted to be there and all were gratefully relieved after their posting. They left behind thirty-four dead - victims of disease, poor diet and Tiwi spears. Others died when the crews of the fort's supply ships were slaughtered and beheaded by Malay pirates on islands to the north. Two cabin boys from one of them, the Stedcombe, were enslaved by the pirates. What happened at Fort Dundas and why it was abandoned has been largely untold. Nevertheless, it is one of the most engaging stories of nineteenth century Australia.
Based on the Port St. Lucie Legend Back in the 1970s, a series of bizarre incidents occurred at what has since been known as "The Devil Tree." Beneath this ancient denizen, evil was wrought by a sick serial killer, calling upon forces most evil and dark. People were hung there ... and bodies buried there ... exhumed by the police. Overcome by superstition, some tried to cut down the tree, to no avail. Since then, it has stood in a remote section of a local park—left to its own devices—quiet in its eerie repose—until now! Bestselling psychological-thriller author Keith Rommel has imagined the whole tale anew. He's brought the tree to life and retold the tale with gory detail only possible in a fiction novel. Action-packed, with spine-tingling detail, this thriller is beyond parallel in the ground it uncovers ... one author's explanation of what may have really been said—what may have really happened—under Port St. Lucie's "Devil Tree."
With over 100,000 copies sold since first publication, this is one of the most popular astronomy books of all time. It is a unique guidebook to the night sky, providing all the information you need to observe a whole host of celestial objects. With a new spiral binding, this edition is even easier to use outdoors at the telescope and is the ideal beginner's book. Keeping its distinct one-object-per-spread format, this edition is also designed for Dobsonian telescopes, as well as for smaller reflectors and refractors, and covers Southern hemisphere objects in more detail. Large-format eyepiece views, positioned side-by-side, show objects exactly as they are seen through a telescope, and with improved directions, updated tables of astronomical information and an expanded night-by-night Moon section, it has never been easier to explore the night sky on your own. Many additional resources are available on the accompanying website, www.cambridge.org/turnleft.
