Australia's Best Unknown Stories
Australia's Best Unknown Stories

Author: Jim Haynes

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Published: 2014-10-22

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 174343913X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

From remote outback and cattle stations to coastal towns comes a collection of amazing, eccentric and funny Australian stories, yarns and furphies - most completely unknown along with some you thought you knew. 'Not only are there many things we don't know, we should never be too sure about the things we are sure we do know.' From Jim Haynes, one of our most successful and prolific tellers of yarns and bush tales, comes this collection of classic Australian stories: the unknown, the forgotten, the surprising. Jim reminds us that things are not always as they seem, or as we've been told. Was the Ghan really named after the Afghan cameleers? Does that urn that represents that greatest of all sporting clashes between Australia and England really contain the ashes of a burnt cricket bail? And who really is the most important Australian who ever lived? Jim introduces us to the forgotten nation builders, artists, poets and great unknown characters of Australian history and tells the funniest, the most amazing and the quirkiest stories that capture the heart and soul of the Australian spirit.

Australia's Most Unbelievable True Stories
Australia's Most Unbelievable True Stories

Author: Jim Haynes

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Published: 2016-11-23

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1952535700

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Did you know that in 1932 the Australian army was called out to wage war on an invading army of 20,000...emus? Or that the first royal personage to arrive in Australia was the King of Iceland and he came as a convict? And how about the spooky phenomenon of the mischief-making Guyra Ghost? From Jim Haynes, one of our most successful and prolific tellers of yarns and bush tales, comes this ultimate collection of unbelievable true Australian stories: the unknown, the forgotten, the surprising, the truly weird and the completely inexplicable. Told with a refreshing understatement, Australia's Most Unbelievable True Stories vividly evokes a vanishing Australia when anything was possible, when characters were larger than life and the bizarre and strange were normal.

The Best Australian Bush Stories
The Best Australian Bush Stories

Author: Jim Haynes

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Published: 2013-08-01

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 1743314396

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Stories that take us from the Mallee to the back of Bourke and beyond . an indispensable collection about the enduring appeal of the Australian bush.

The Big Book of Australian Racing Stories
The Big Book of Australian Racing Stories

Author: Jim Haynes

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Published: 2015-11-18

Total Pages: 627

ISBN-13: 1925268764

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The ultimate collection of great racing stories told in Jim Haynes's inimitable style. Jim Haynes, Australia's favourite tale teller, loves the sport of kings as much as he loves Aussie yarns and bush verse. From country picnic tracks to the thoroughbred racecourses of Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, from Archer to Black Caviar, from the mysterious punter Louis the Possum to the great trainer Bart Cummings, he brings these two great loves together in the biggest book of Australian racing stories ever. In these stories, full of the humour and romance of the track, Jim reminds us of the great champions, the tragedies, and the unique characters (equine and human) of racing. Here are stories of famous races and jockeys, touts and urgers, nose-to-nose battles and a rort or two, as well as country race meeting where anything can happen. This rich collection captures the heart and soul of the turf and reminds us exactly why a day at the races and having a punt are such an important part of the Australian spirit.

Great Australian Rascals, Rogues and Ratbags
Great Australian Rascals, Rogues and Ratbags

Author: Jim Haynes

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Published: 2022-11-01

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 1761185586

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An incredible collection of true crime characters from Australia's master storyteller. The bold, the bad, and the slightly mad... Criminality, some say, is part of Australia's national identity, and in Great Australian Rascals, Rogues and Ratbags Jim Haynes profiles fifteen larger-than-life Aussie rogues - some of our greatest ne'er-do-wells from colonial times to the modern era. These stories uncover the truth and expose the myths about characters ranging from the most despicable examples of humanity, to those whose courage has to be admired and whose so-called 'crimes' were unjustly punished. This fascinating collection features felons who have sprung from Australia's underbelly since 1788, such as the infamous Kate Leigh of the razor gangs; the convict Mary Bryant, who in 1791 escaped from the Sydney penal settlement and somehow made it back to England; James Hardy Vaux, who was sent to Australia no less than three times; Henry James O'Farrell, the madman who attempted to murder Prince Alfred in Sydney in 1868; and John Leak, who was repeatedly charged with insolence, disobedience and being absent without leave in World War I - and awarded the Victoria Cross. Told with Jim's inimitable combination of history and humour, Great Australian Rascals, Rogues and Ratbags is packed with murders, mystery and miscreants: true stories of true criminals from Australia's past. 'entertaining . . . highly readable . . . you will find some genuinely amazing new facts and insights.' ArtsHub

Grug
Grug

Author: Ted Prior

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2022-09-07

Total Pages: 20

ISBN-13: 1761108638

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Once the top of a Burrawang tree fell to the ground and became ... Grug! This classic Aussie hero is back from the bush to enchant a new generation of youngsters! Grug teaches the basic building blocks of learning, the alphabet and numbers, in a fabulous Australian setting.

The Secret River
The Secret River

Author: Kate Grenville

Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 466

ISBN-13: 1459620038

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

'Winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize and Australian Book Industry Awards, Book of the Year. After a childhood of poverty and petty crime in the slums of London, William Thornhill is transported to New South Wales for the term of his natural life. With his wife Sal and children in tow, he arrives in a harsh land that feels at first like a de...

Best Australian Drinking Stories
Best Australian Drinking Stories

Author: Jim Haynes

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Published: 2018-11-28

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 1760870110

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

'It seemed like a good idea...at the time.' - the lament of many a morning after Rum, beer, scotch, wine, beer and more beer. For nearly 250 years Australian history has been punctuated with stories of booze and boozing. From Cook's voyages and the First Fleet to the Rum Rebellion, the mutiny of the 99th Regiment, the soldiers' riot of 1916, six o'clock closing and beyond, we've been a nation that likes a drink. With the eye of the master storyteller that he is, Jim Haynes has collected the best yarns, verses, stories and anecdotes of our boozy history. He uncovers the good and the bad of our national character and its relationship with grog. He celebrates the social gift of alcohol and riotous moments of mateship and camaraderie, but he also offers salutary tales of its consequences - the hangovers, the suffering, the recriminations and the grave occasions subverted by drink. Amusing, wry, tragic and surprising, Best Australian Drinking Stories asks you to grab a glass of your favourite beverage, get comfy and enjoy this fascinating collection of stories about Australia's love affair with booze.

Great Furphies of Australian History
Great Furphies of Australian History

Author: Jim Haynes

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Published: 2021-11-02

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 1761063219

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Jim Haynes upturns some of the long-held myths of Australian history with surprising results. With all the skills of the master storyteller that he is, Jim Haynes exposes some of the great myths of Australian history. Did you know that Portuguese and Spanish explorers probably found the east coast of Australia before Captain Cook, and that the Rum Rebellion was not caused by rum? And what about Banjo Paterson writing Waltzing Matilda? As for Ned Kelly being a brave freedom-fighting rebel, in truth he was a thief, a thug and a murderer. The Ashes have nothing to do with cricket, the Ghan is not named after Afghan cameleers and Hargraves lied about discovering gold in New South Wales. Surprising, confounding, revealing and fun, Jim Haynes takes us on another great journey through Australian history and folklore.

Great Australian Scams, Cons and Rorts
Great Australian Scams, Cons and Rorts

Author: Jim Haynes

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Published: 2017-10-25

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 1760639699

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

'Australian history is...so curious and strange, that it...does not read like history, but like the most beautiful lies... It is full of surprises, and adventures, and incongruities, and contradictions, and incredibilities; but they are all true, they all happened.' - Mark Twain Australia is the birthplace and setting of some of the wildest, craziest and least-likely-to-succeed cons and rorts in history. From the cleverest double-crosses to the most unlikely and maddest schemes, master storyteller Jim Haynes reminds us that we've never been shy of pulling a trick or two. So how did a clever bushman who 'couldn't lie straight in bed' steal a thousand head of cattle and get away with it even though he was caught 'red handed'? And what about the disappearing work of art that suddenly dissolved only to reappear at an auction years later? Or how about the butcher from Wagga who passed himself off as a French-born English duke to inherit a small fortune. And then there was the small matter of a horse, a tin of paint and a million dollar double-cross that became known as the Fine Cotton Affair. In only the way he can, Jim Haynes has collected a veritable 'Gullible's Tales' of unexpected and surprising true stories that may seem hard to believe!