Download or read book Jim an Australian Hero written by Maria Ngo and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2013-04-16 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a story of gum trees, cobbled streets and long cups of tea shared between good friends. It is a story that spans over a century. It encompasses rural Victorian life in the early period of Australian settlement to life in the suburbs of Melbourne in the present day. This stirring tale captures the freedom of romping through native bushland and of sleeping under the stars. It is also a tale of waking up in a mice-ridden cellar and studying by the stub of a candle's glow. Jim's biography moves rapidly from one poignant account to another – a miraculous deliverance from addictive smoking, two world wars, life as a ganger on the railway and then as a Missioner to the 'lowest of the low' in Melbourne city. He lived for nearly twenty years among drunks, thieves, murderers and other hurting and damaged souls ravaged by alcohol abuse. James Collett drew the best out of each person he knew. He was 'Jim', 'Mr C', 'Uncle Jim,' 'Dad' and 'Grandpa'. By whichever name he was fondly and respectfully called, his legacy lives on. Jim's biography will inspire and change you. You will not be able to look at your world and life in the same way again. About reading this book: The story that you are about to read is in fact a story within a story. Or more accurately, a compilation of many stories – after all, our lives are made up of many moments and events. Some events have distinct beginnings and ends, while others just merge quietly into the next. Some events in our lives are more memorable than others while others are made memorable because we choose to grace them with our attention. As this particular story goes, it is a little of both . . . At the start of each chapter (and sometimes at the end as well) you will find what I call 'cameo conversations and exchanges' that have to do with more current events in Jim's life. These have been added to give you additional insight into Jim's character and relationships as well as giving you a peek at some 'behind the scenes' stuff. But, if you are only interested in a straight forward chronological narrative of this unique, yet typical-of-the-era Australian, skip those passages typeset in sans-serif text. You can come back to these later – if you wish. However, if you are up to the challenge, you could read it as it is . . . (For those familiar with The French Lieutenant's Woman as well as fans of the very popular TV series Lost and Once Upon a Time, this should not prove too daunting an approach.) I've tried to allow Jim's 'voice' to be reflected in his biography as much as possible. As such, minimal editing has been undertaken in the 'main' passages in order to preserve, wherever possible, the narrative style of an 'oral tradition'. REVIEWS Jim Collett's life which spans more than a century from his birth in 1902 with descriptions as a rural laborer appear far-fetched and removed from our comfortable, well-nourished lives today. His matter-of-fact descriptions of growing up in a large poor family in a rural town, his rudimentary schooling with few resources or books, the need to leave school early and find work far from home were in fact the norm for large numbers of his generation. Today's parents and young people would be shocked by the freedom young people had to roam the countryside with no supervision. Jim's life resonates with some of the anecdotes told to me of their earlier life, by my parents and their friends who also grew up in the country. Jim learnt the hard way that not all employers were humane or honest – yet his story bears no resentment. Jim's gentle, trusting nature shines through. Jim's recollections of life as a railway ganger records something of the lives of the men who hammered out the rail netwo

Download or read book Aussie Kid Heroes written by Dianne Bates and published by Interactive Publications. This book was released on 2010 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tells the remarkable true stories of some of Australia's youngest heroes. At different times and in different ways, these brave, clever, adventurous, creative, athletic, caring or enterprising young Australians have done something amazing. Age 6+.

Download or read book Jimmy Sharman s Boxers written by Stephen McGrath and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2023-10-04 with total page 475 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jimmy Sharman is a conundrum. Raised in a large poor catholic family, becoming a tent boxer at age eleven. He blinds another boxer and is racked by guilt for the rest of his life yet develops an extremely profitable and popular showground fixture. We learn about Sharman’s boxing tent spruiking, his unconventional business habits, his furious temper, his leadership and diplomacy. Sharman was twenty seven and medically fit when the war started. We learn the real life stories of several indigenous boxers who were openly defiant against the intense racism they encountered. We meet clumsy Billy Grimes (the flat foot kid) who went on to win several Australian titles. We see an unlikely friendship develop between Rud Kee a Chinese boxer and Sharman. As losses at Gallipoli and the Western Front grow, townspeople begin to question why a troupe of young men is fighting for profit while others are dying. Soon there are few men left, Sharman struggles to find challengers, recruitment propaganda and white feather campaigns intensify. The conscription plebiscites’ bitterly divide Australia. Then great personal tragedy visits Archie and the troupe. This story is the result of a remarkable new discovery in Australian history, a true story about how Jimmy Sharman navigated his Boxing Troupe throughout the First World War despite; the war fervour, the conscription debate, pressure to enlist, accusations of cowardice and the tragic loss of so many to the war itself. Based on extensive research of real people and real events, this story tells how Jimmy Sharman managed to continue to tour throughout the war and created an unbeatable boxing troupe of White, Chinese and indigenous boxers, training them to be the most famous of all the Australian Travelling Boxing Troupes. This is an incredible, true and uniquely Australian story, it is beautifully told, giving us deep insight into the struggles of extraordinary people in extraordinary times. "Stephen McGrath's tireless research underpins this reanimation of a key chapter in Australia's social, cultural and sporting history. Much can be learned from revisiting the rollicking days of Jimmy Sharman's troupe, traversing geographic, racial and social frontiers.’ Micheal Winkler, Author of “Grimmish”, short listed for the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2022.

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 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 A Talent ed Digger written by Hena Maes-Jelinek and published by Rodopi. This book was released on 1996 with total page 574 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anna Rutherford has been the most dynamic ambassador of Australian culture in Europe. More than any other single person, she has been instrumental in spreading interest in Commonwealth and post-colonial studies. Wherever she has been in the world, she has brought people together in friendship and intellectual endeavour. This volume ranges widely over the areas Anna has promoted as teacher, editor and publisher.

Download or read book The Europeans in Australia written by Alan Atkinson and published by UNSW Press. This book was released on 2014-09-01 with total page 634 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the third and final volume of the landmark, award-winning series The Europeans in Australia that gives an account of settlement by Britain. It tells of the various ways in which that experience shaped imagination and belief among the settler people from the eighteenth century to the end of World War I.Volume Three, Nation, tells the story of Australian Federation and the war with a focus, as ever on ordinary habits of thought and feeling. In this period, for the first time the settler people began to grasp the vastness of the continent, and to think of it as their own. There was a massive funding of education, and the intellectual reach of men and women was suddenly expanded, to an extent that seemed dazzling to many at the time. Women began to shape public imagination as they had not done before. At the same time, the worship of mere ideas had its victims, most obviously the Aboriginal people, and the war itself proved what vast tragedies it could unleash.The culmination of an extraordinary career in the writing and teaching of Australian history, The Europeans in Australia grapples with the Australian historical experience as a whole from the point of view of the settlers from Europe. Ambitious and unique, it is the first such large, single-author account since Manning Clark’s A History of Australia.

Download or read book John English written by Deke Rivers and published by Book Venture Publishing LLC. This book was released on 2015-10-30 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Sequel to The Singer and His Songs. Story of a British guitarist, who has no intentions of becoming a rockstar, but instead being a back-up guitarist to the stars. Fate has other ideas about his future.

Download or read book Jimmy Simpson written by E. J. Hart and published by Rocky Mountain Books Ltd. This book was released on 2009 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Stoney Indians called him Nashan-esen meaning "wolverine-go-quick" because of his speed in travelling on snowshoes over the rugged landscape of the Canadian Rockies. This book is the story of Jimmy Simpson's 80-year epic as one of the most important guides, outfitters, lodge operators, hunters, naturalists and artists in the Canadian Rockies. The story takes him from blazing the trails in the valley bottoms to ascending some of the highest peaks in the range, from leading scientists, mountaineers, big-game hunters and world-famous artists through some of the most unimaginable scenery on earth to entertaining thousands of visitors at his famous lodge at Bow Lake with his tales -- both true and tall -- of the pioneer days.

Download or read book Australia s Heroes written by Charles Henry Eden and published by . This book was released on 1875 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Memory Man The Life and Sporting Times of Jimmy Magee written by Jimmy Magee and published by Gill & Macmillan Ltd. This book was released on 2012-08-31 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jimmy Magee, whose extraordinary memory for sports trivia has led to his being dubbed the Memory Man, has the distinction of being the longest-serving sports commentator in the English-speaking world. He started his career in 1956, the year that Ronnie Delany won the 1,500 metres gold medal at Melbourne. He has covered every Olympic Games since 1972 (the London 2012 games were his eleventh!) and every soccer World Cup since 1974. He achieved worldwide notice in Munich in 1972 when he managed to breach security in the Olympic village to cover the terrorist attack on Israeli athletes. This incredible scoop was picked up by CBS in the United States and then by every television station around the world. Jimmy Magee has been present at the most iconic sporting moments in both world and Irish sport and gives his unique insight into these major sporting moments. He tells how he played five-a-side football with Gert Müller, how he almost came to blows with Nigel Benn, and why he thinks Katie Taylor is Ireland's greatest contemporary sportsperson. But what is perhaps the most striking aspect of such an accomplished career is how Jimmy managed to find the strength to keep up his cheerful persona on air as he endured immeasurable sorrow in his personal life. His beloved wife, Marie, died unexpectedly in 1989 and his son Paul, himself a footballer and sports broadcaster, tragically lost his battle with motor neuron disease in 2008 at the early age of fifty-one. Full of anecdotes, humour and poignancy, Memory Man tells all these things and more. This is a frank, open and honest book by one of Ireland's most beloved national treasures.

Download or read book Celluloid Heroes Down Under written by Theodore F. Sheckels and published by Praeger. This book was released on 2002-07-30 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the heroes of 100 Australian films released between 1970 and 2000, and how those fictional characters reflect the attitudes of Australian culture. The films are organized chronologically around the figure of the classic hero, the modern hero, women, aborigines, youth, and eccentrics, and th.

Download or read book The Immortals of Australian Motor Racing written by Luke West and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-08-20 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book takes the Immortals concept made famous in cricket and applies it to motorsport, choosing the best of the best from Bathurst and the Australian Touring Car Championship (now the Supercars Championship) and other local series. It delves into the careers and characteristics of icons Peter Brock, Allan Moffat and Dick Johnson along with modern-era champions such as Mark Skaife, Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup: heroes who are not just high achievers but influential identities who set a new benchmark and changed local racing forever through skill, determination and sheer will. It tells the remarkable stories behind each Immortal's rise, from the fabled tale of rock star Johnson to the little-known facts surrounding Lowndes' Bathurst arrival in 1994 that, a few hours earlier, teetered on the brink of disaster. The Immortals of Australian Motor Racing: the Local Heroes is the third instalment in Gelding Street Press's Immortals of Australian Sport series. In it, motorsport writer Luke West gives readers insights into his 10 chosen immortals and their influence on the national scene.

Download or read book Movements That Change the World written by Steve Addison and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2011-03-17 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Steve Addison gleans the characteristics of the dynamic missionary movement from biblical, historical and contemporary case studies. Addison shows how these factors recur in every period of Christian expansion, and suggests that Christianity's distinction as a historical movement lies in its power to outlast the centuries.

Download or read book James J Corbett written by Armond Fields and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2017-07-06 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When he died in 1933, James J. "Gentleman Jim" Corbett was honored by two distinguished groups of people: the professional boxing public, who celebrated him as America's greatest boxing champion, and the world of popular theater admirers, who revered him as one of Broadway's top vaudeville headliners. Corbett was uniquely instrumental in making boxing and popular theater both justifiable commercial enterprises, to be enjoyed by all classes of people. He became America's first national sports hero and went on to formulate the theater world's star system. This is the first definitive biography of the man who knocked out heavyweight champion John L. Sullivan, and who also knocked out audiences who flocked to see him in vaudeville and silent pictures. The focus herein is on the real man, the influences on his life, and the social and commercial environment within which he functioned. The author reveals that Corbett was a complex, driven, enigmatic man whose dedicated participation in popular entertainment changed American social values and mores, and at the same time reinvented the notion of a national hero.

Download or read book The Last Flight of Jimmy Melrose written by John Burke and published by . This book was released on 1972 with total page 3 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Heroes written by Jim Stynes and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2003 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A practical, fully-illustrated inspirational book for teenagers, packed with inspiring stories from ordinary and extraordinary heroes.