Download or read book The Big Book of Australian Racing Stories written by Jim Haynes and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2015-11-18 with total page 627 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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. Jim Haynes lives ten minutes' walk from Randwick Racecourse and his favourite television channel is Thoroughbred Central.
Download or read book Immortals of Australian Horse Racing written by Alan Whiticker and published by . This book was released on 2021-09-15 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Track enthusiasts endlessly debate the question of who are the best racehorses across different eras.
Download or read book Great Australian Sporting Stories written by Ian Heads and published by Macmillan Publishers Aus.. This book was released on 2019-10-29 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Heads and Tasker, legends themselves, set out to write a book that would continue the trail laid by early-days sporting scribes of long ago. I could not put it down.' John Coates AC, President of the Australian Olympic Committee 'I know readers will enjoy the many stories and anecdotes that Heads and Tasker have accumulated over more than a century combined in journalism.' Ian Chappell, former Australian cricket Captain. Australia enjoys a rich sporting heritage. Our small population has yielded a disproportionate number of champions. These sports stars have become known worldwide as fierce combatants and honourable competitors, achieving soaring victories, but also heart-pounding near-wins and humbling defeats. Veteran Australian sports journalists Ian Heads and Norman Tasker have seen it all. In these 65 original stories, we hear of the explosive introduction of World Series Cricket in 1977, which turned a genteel endeavour into a high-octane contest, and the clash of the titans as Packer and Murdoch squared off over the Super League war. We see Rugby Union become a battleground for race and the Olympics an arena for sublime acts of courage and achievement. We get an insider's perspective on every kind of sporting endeavour - from boxing to tennis, cricket to AFL, athletics to rugby league - and not just the action on the field, but the change room gossip and clubhouse politics as well. Written with wit, insight and a wealth of knowledge, Great Australian Sporting Stories is an enthralling expedition into the combative, collegiate, entertaining and always exciting world of Australian sport.
Download or read book The Best Australian Bush Stories written by Jim Haynes and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2013-08-01 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Great Australian Scams Cons and Rorts written by Jim Haynes and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2017-10-25 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: '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!
Download or read book The Big Book of Australia s War Stories written by Jim Haynes and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2019-11-05 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A unique collection of poignant, horrific, sad and sometimes dryly humorous stories and tales about wartime experiences of Australian's on the front lines, in the air and on the sea. 'The bravest thing God ever made,' said a British officer of the insubordinate Aussies at Gallipoli. And before the Normandy invasion, Field Marshal Montgomery's chief of staff remarked, 'I only wish we had the Australian 9th Division with us this morning'. But there is more to the Australian experience of war than heroic endeavour and bravery. Jim Haynes has rediscovered stories that are as harrowing as they are uplifting, as strange as they are brutal and as heart-breaking as they are humorous. From Federation to the Vietnam War, from our first VC winner to our hundredth, this sweeping overview of Australia's military adventures both overseas and at home is a guide to understanding how this nation's role in the twentieth century's major conflicts unfolded as each war ebbed and flowed. These stories have formed Australia's collective memory of war. Some battles and campaigns are household names, although their historical significance may have been lost. Others are barely remembered now but are part of our history and deserve to be retold. These are the accounts, recollections and legends that explain Australia's wartime reputation. They demonstrate the extraordinary courage, resilience, stoic humour, personal heroism and sacrifice that created the mythology of the Aussie 'digger' - the soldiers, sailors, nurses and flyers who did things their own way and earned the undying respect of both their allies and their enemies.
Download or read book Melbourne Cup 1930 written by Geoff Armstrong and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 19?? with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Phar Lap's assault on the Melbourne Cup generated unprecedented excitement across the country. At the same time, it filled many bookmakers with dread a victory for the favourite would cost them plenty. He'd have to be stopped, whatever the cost. For the newspapers, the twin stories of sporting greatness and seedy corruption were a sensational cocktail. Readers lapped it up, while for the poor punters, suffering during the Great Depression, a Phar Lap triumph was their best hope of turning one quid into two. Melbourne Cup 1930 is the story of four days in November that became at the same time the most famous and infamous in Cup history. It began with a gunman, like something out of a Chicago gangster movie, apparently trying to kill Phar Lap on a quiet suburban street. With his life in danger and those closest to him terrified, the champion was spirited away to a secret location, while one of the city's most celebrated detectives searched for the culprits. Meanwhile, the other horses, owners, trainers and jockeys were preparing for the biggest race of their lives. Their many diverse stories and the memories they invoke of Cups gone by are an integral part of this unique tale. An hour before the jump, Phar Lap's whereabouts remained a mystery. Finally, he arrived at Flemington, to go almost immediately to the start as a huge crowd cheered him on. The police had been told to put men down the back of the track, in case the gunman tried one last time, but they now believed that the original assassination attempt might not have been all that it seemed. Nothing it appears could stop Phar Lap now
Download or read book Fixed written by Matthew Benns and published by Random House Australia. This book was released on 2012 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dapper horse trainer Les Samba was in Melbourne for the annual yearling sales when he turned down an Italian meal with racing contacts saying: "I have got to meet a bloke." Just hours later he was laying dead, in the middle of the road with blood pouring from five bullet wounds to his head and body. Racing in Australia has a dar.
Download or read book Best Australian Drinking Stories written by Jim Haynes and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2018-11-28 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: '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.
Download or read book Great Australian Rascals Rogues and Ratbags written by Jim Haynes and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2022-11-01 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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
Download or read book Phar Lap written by Geoff Armstrong and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2003 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book studies the many mysteries of Phar Lap's career, including the infamous shooting that occurred just days before his great triumph in the 1930 Melbourne Cup. The book examines the way an emerging media played its part in building the legend. The authors provide an analysis of his previously unexplained death in North America and explain why Phar Lap is much more than a racehorse.
Download or read book Australia s Most Unbelievable True Stories written by Jim Haynes and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2016-11-23 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The New Treasury of Great Racing Stories written by Dick Francis and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 1992 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of fourteen classic horse racing stories.
Download or read book The Best Australian Trucking Stories written by Jim Haynes and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2011-11-01 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of true stories taken from the lives of trucking men and women from Tarcutta to Alice Springs and all over Australia. The trucker's job-so vital to our nation's everyday life-makes for a diverse treasure trove of stories. This first-ever collection of stories about Aussie truckers captures the humour, tragedy and fascinating history of their world, proving once again that truth is often stranger, funnier and more inspiring than fiction. The unlikely yarns and tales, collected by Jim Haynes, quickly transport the reader into the intriguing but often hard and lonely world of the long-distance truck driver. There are stories of endurance while crossing the Nullarbor in the early 1950s, of rescuing mates stranded in the desert and dumping wheat in protest at Parliament House, of repossessing vehicles in suburban Adelaide, and of men imprisoned during the long political battle to make the roads of Australia free to carry freight. Steeped in larrikinism, these are salt-of-the-earth Aussie voices from the most genuine characters to ever spin a yarn. Whether you're interested in one of the most significant social revolutions to have shaped our nation, or in these never-say-die modern pioneers who astound with their resourcefulness, or whether you're just after a laugh and a bloody good story, this book is for you.
Download or read book Formula One written by John Smailes and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2021-11-02 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since 1950, fifteen Australians and nine New Zealanders have raced in world championship Formula One, the pinnacle of motor racing. Three - Jack Brabham, Denny Hulme and Alan Jones - have won the world title. Two have died in the attempt without ever facing the world championship starters' lights. So few drivers make it to Formula One. Ever fewer succeed in the fastest and most challenging four-wheeled sport of all. Now John Smailes, author of the bestselling Climbing the Mountain, Race Across the World, Mount Panorama and Speed Kings, gives us the definitive story of our involvement with Formula One, from the pioneer days in the aftermath of World War II, to the championship glory of Brabham, Hulme and Jones, the grit and determination of Mark Webber, and Australia's current Formula One star, the irrepressible Daniel Ricciardo, all the way to potential champions of the future like Oscar Piastri. With over 150 stunning photographs, and interviews with drivers past and present, as well as the engineers, managers and team owners behind the scenes, this is the must-have book for every Australian and New Zealand fan of Formula One.
Download or read book Great Furphies of Australian History written by Jim Haynes and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2021-11-02 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The Fine Cotton Fiasco written by Peter Hoysted and published by Random House Australia. This book was released on 2019-08-20 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brisbane, 1984. It all started with a simple plan to secretly swap a mediocre horse with a faster one, and rake in the cash with a few well-placed bets. What could possibly go wrong? In The Fine Cotton Fiasco, Peter Hoysted and Pat Sheil brilliantly tell the scarcely believable tale of how – through a combination of horrendous mismanagement, terrible judgement and comically bad luck – the scheme gradually unravelled. How did a horse with white painted socks dripping onto the turf come to hold the hopes of punters across Australia and beyond? How was a supposedly secret plan so widely advertised that even the Queensland Commissioner of Police placed a bet? And how much of a cover-up ensued in the aftermath of this absolute debacle? The story of Fine Cotton is the stuff of Australian legend. It features hardcore crims, likeable rogues and a supporting cast that ranged from the hapless to the hopeless – with some entirely innocent bystanders thrown in for good measure. Not every crazy scheme cooked up by a couple of inmates in Boggo Road Gaol would culminate in a story that will be told across the nation for the next hundred years. But this one did.
