Showing results by narrator "Una Byrne" in All Categories

In the third Quarterly Essay of 2001, Guy Rundle comes to grips with John Howard, the prime minister who, on the eve of an election, seems to have turned round his political fortunes by spurning refugees and writing blank cheques for America's War on Terror. This is a brilliant account of John Howard's dominant ideas, his concerted "dreaming" with its emphasis on unity and national identity that reveals him to be the most reactionary PM we have ever had.

When Mal Brough and John Howard announced the Northern Territory intervention in mid-2007, they proclaimed a child abuse emergency. In this riveting piece of reportage and analysis, Paul Toohey unpicks the rhetoric of emergency and tracks progress. One year on, have children been saved? Will Labor continue with the intervention? What are the reasons for the social crisis and how might things be different? Toohey argues that the real issue is not sexual abuse, but rather a more general neglect of children.

Ask google Who discovered gold in Australia? and you'll promptly get 'Edward Hammond Hargraves'. Hargraves has for decades (and decades) received the fame, fortune and adulation from all corners of the country, but did he earn it? What about the two diggers he met on the Californian goldfields who told him where to look when he returned home to Australia? What about the guys who led him to where they'd heard gold had been found before? What about the pioneers whose discoveries had been documented years earlier?

Virginia Collins is not what she appears to be. By all outward appearances the successful uptown psychiatrist is just another beautiful dame who hires a private investigator to find her missing husband: a weird little man who makes fancy umbrella drinks and dresses like something out of an old gangster movie. Collins hides her real motives, along with her tragic past, in order to win the affections of Raffy Rheinhardt, a cynical PI with an equally tragic history; a long forgotten shared incident resulting in damaged psyches and dead bodies.

Living Hot tells the blunt truth about our current climate change predicament: it's time to get cracking on making Australia resilient to intensifying climate extremes. If we prepare well, we can give ourselves a fighting chance to preserve some of the best of what we have, build stronger and fairer communities, find a path through the escalating pressures of a warming world – and even find new ways to flourish.

The little boat with a big past: the fight to save one of the most important artefacts of Australian military history. For many years, thousands of people have walked past an unassuming black timber fishing boat bobbing in the water down at the wharves of Sydney's Darling Harbour. But...

Mila Watson finally discovers the truth about her mother, Julia Miller, and what became of her. But are the Werewolves of Shade telling Mila the truth? Coming face-to-face with Flint, the man she once loved, will Mila be able to ever trust him again now that she knows the secret he has been keeping from her? And can Mila master the magic that is buried deep within her, or will she need help from the Witches of Twisted Den, who practice a darker and far more sinister sorcery?

When 18-year-old police recruit November Lake joins training college, her curiosity and desire to solve mysteries soon has her investigating a series of creepy and chilling crimes. With the help of her friend and colleague, Kale Creed, November is soon caught up in a dark world of strange and inexplicable mysteries, each with a deadly twist.

The Troll Bridge tells the story of a young boy, Joel, and his encounter with the Troll who lives under a bridge. The greedy Troll charges everyone and everything that crossed the bridge and grew very wealthy. When disaster strikes however he needs the kindness of strangers to save him from a damp and miserable end.

Steve Byrne has established himself as one of the premier stand-up comedians of his generation.

What drives veterans, military experts and forensic investigators to dedicate years to search for and identify the remains of fallen warriors? What does it mean to the families of the dead to be able to lay them to rest? Over thirty five thousand Australian soldiers and airmen are still listed...

Lachlan Macquarie is credited with shaping Australia's destiny, transforming a harsh, foreboding penal colony into an agricultural powerhouse and ultimately a prosperous society. He also helped shape Australia's national character. An egalitarian at heart, Macquarie saw boundless potential in Britain's refuse, and under his rule many former convicts went on to become successful administrators, land owners and businesspeople.

Men love the game of football because it mimics the eternal war perpetually existing between good and evil. This recondite battle is analogous to football because like human beings themselves, football is half a physical game and half a spiritual undertaking. It is my hope that this book carries both theoretical and practical implications for athletes, coaches, and even more so to those entrusted with carrying out the calling of Jesus great commission commandment.

From battling pirates to tracking down gun runners, drug smugglers and terrorists; the high energy exploits and explosive adventures of the Australian Navy in the Arabian Gulf. From Ian McPhedran, best-selling author of The Amazing SAS, Soldiers Without Borders and Too Bold to Die, comes the...

What happens to the elite, close-knit soldiers of Australia's Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment after they leave the Who Dares Wins world of special forces? For some, there are highly paid jobs in the world's war zones and trouble spots protecting global corporations from terrorism, sabotage and violence. Others become powerful government advisers, many join foreign armies to train their special forces and expand the global brotherhood.

It's a universal account of greed, ambition and the power of the political machine that crushes anyone who gets in the way. In much the same way that Bruce Beresford's award-winning feature film "Breaker Morant" captured the popular imagination, Shoot Straight, You Bastards! is an explosive read - as controversial an event today as it was 100 years ago.

Bringing the United States during World War II dramatically to life, this title presents an introduction to the challenges that faced America at the start of a war long thought avoidable. 2006 The Estate of Alistair...

Indomitable Steve Byrne brings the high-energy flair that earned him a nod as one of the best comics in the history of the Comedy Central Stand-Up.

Inspired by the works of Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen, Garth Nix's Newt's Emerald is a lighthearted Regency romance with a fantasy twist. After Lady Truthful's magical Newington Emerald is stolen from her, she devises a simple plan: go to London to recover the missing jewel. She quickly learns, however, that a woman cannot wander the city streets alone without damaging her reputation, and she disguises herself as a moustache-wearing man. During Truthful's dangerous journey she discovers a crook, an unsuspecting ally and an evil sorceress, but will she find the Emerald?

Like it or not, 26 January in Australia has become a significant day of both celebration and mourning. Most countries, if not all, have a national day. The reasons to celebrate a national day include independence from a colonial power, the signing of a treaty, or an act by a monarch, political leader or patron saint. Australia is the only country whose national day celebrates the colonisation of an already occupied territory. Controversially, it continues to do this despite most of its citizens both acknowledging this and the devastating impact upon its original inhabitants.