Download or read book The Ghost by the Billabong written by Jackie French and published by . This book was released on 2016-01-12 with total page 644 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hippies wear beads, demonstrators march against the Vietnam War, and the world waits to see the first human steps on the moon's surface. But at Gibbers Creek, Jed Kelly sees ghosts, from the past and future, at the Drinkwater billabong where long ago the swaggie leaped to his defiant death. But is seventeen - year - old Jed a con artist or a survivor? When she turns up at Drinkwater Station claiming to be the great - granddaughter of Matilda Thompson's dying husband, Jed clearly has secrets. As does a veteran called Nicholas, who was badly wounded in the Vietnam War and now must try to create a life he truly wants to live, despite the ghosts that haunt him too. Set during the turbulence of the late 1960s, this was a time when brilliant and little - known endeavours saw Australia play a vital role in Neil Armstrong's 'one giant leap for mankind' on that first unforgettable moon walk. The fifth title in the highly acclaimed Matilda Saga, The Ghost by the Billabong is a story of deep conflicts and enduring passions - for other people, for the land, and for the future of humanity.
Download or read book The Ghost by the Billabong written by Jackie French and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2015-12-01 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fifth title in the sweeping Matilda Saga Hippies wear beads, demonstrators march against the Vietnam War, and the world waits to see the first human steps on the moon's surface. But at Gibbers Creek, Jed Kelly sees ghosts, from the past and future, at the Drinkwater billabong where long ago the swaggie leaped to his defiant death. But is seventeen-year-old Jed a con artist or a survivor? When she turns up at Drinkwater Station claiming to be the great-granddaughter of Matilda Thompson's dying husband, Jed clearly has secrets. As does a veteran called Nicholas, who was badly wounded in the Vietnam War and now must try to create a life he truly wants to live, despite the ghosts that haunt him too. Set during the turbulence of the late 1960s, this was a time when brilliant and little-known endeavours saw Australia play a vital role in Neil Armstrong's 'one giant leap for mankind' on that first unforgettable moon walk. The fifth title in the highly acclaimed Matilda Saga, The Ghost by the Billabong is a story of deep conflicts and enduring passions - for other people, for the land, and for the future of humanity. PRAISE FOR THE MATILDA SAGA 'An engrossing mystery story, an ode to strong women, and a moving exploration of the private wounds we carry ... The Last Dingo Summer is a must for your summer reading list' - Better Reading 'The perfect read for anyone who loves immersing themselves in Australian fiction. Gripping, emotional and moving, Facing the Flame is a great book to curl up with on a warm spring night' - New Idea 'Highly recommended ... this was a complete binge, read in one night because it was just too good and too gripping to put down ... a cracking story filled with rich characters both old and new and imbued with all that we hold dear about Australian love of country and mateship' - ReadPlus
Download or read book Ghost Wave written by Chris Dixon and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2011-10-21 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Takes us to a place of almost mythic power and tells a story that unfolds like a long ride on a killer wave . . . compellingly written.” —Sebastian Junger, New York Times–bestselling author Rising from the depths of the North Pacific lies a fabled island, now submerged just fifteen feet below the surface of the ocean. Rumors and warnings about Cortes Bank abound, but among big wave surfers, this legendary rock is famous for one simple (and massive) reason: this is the home of the biggest rideable wave on the face of the earth. In this dramatic work of narrative nonfiction, journalist Chris Dixon unlocks the secrets of Cortes Bank and pulls readers into the harrowing world of big wave surfing and high seas adventure above the most enigmatic and dangerous rock in the sea. The true story of this Everest of the sea will thrill anyone with an abiding curiosity of and respect for mother ocean. “A terrific, deeply researched tale about a truly wild place. You couldn’t make up Cortes Bank, or the characters who’ve tried to make it theirs.” —William Finnegan, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life “A first-rate account of an amazing phenomenon and the people who tried to conquer and exploit it. A great read.” —Winston Groom, New York Times–bestselling author of Forrest Gump “After reading Chris’ most excellent account of the monstrous waves of the mysterious Cortes Bank—the Bermuda Triangle of the Pacific—I never thought I would ever consider riding a wave like this. But after surviving a five-foot, head-first fall from the stage earlier this year, I think I might be ready.” —Jimmy Buffett
Download or read book Stories from the Billabong written by James Vance Marshall and published by Frances Lincoln Children's Books. This book was released on 2010-08-24 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of Walkabout come ten of Australia's ancient aboriginal legends, authentically and elegantly retold. Here you can discover how Great Mother Snake created and peopled the world with plants and creatures, what makes Frogs croak, why Kangaroo has a pouch, and just what it is that makes Platypus so special. The illustrations are by the aboriginal artist and storyteller Francis Firebrace, whose distinctive, colourful work is known throughout Australia and beyond.
Download or read book A Waltz for Matilda The Matilda Saga 1 written by Jackie French and published by HarperCollins Australia. This book was released on 2010-12-01 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story behind Banjo Paterson's iconic Australian song. 'Once a jolly swagman camped by a Billabong Under the shade of a Coolibah tree And he sang as he watched and waited till his Billy boiled You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me...' In 1894, twelve-year-old Matilda flees the city slums to find her unknown father and his farm. But drought grips the land, and the shearers are on strike. Her father has turned swaggie and he's wanted by the troopers. In front of his terrified daughter, he makes a stand against them, defiant to the last. 'You'll never catch me alive, said he...' Set against a backdrop of bushfire, flood, war and jubilation, this is the story of one girl's journey towards independence. It is also the story of others who had no vote and very little but their dreams. Drawing on the well-known poem by A.B. Paterson and from events rooted in actual history, this is the untold story behind Australia's early years as an emerging nation. PRAISE 'Jackie French has a passion for history, and an enviable ability to weave the fascinating minutiae of everyday life into a good story.' -- Magpies Magazine
Download or read book Waltzing Matilda written by Andrew Barton Paterson and published by Scholastic Press. This book was released on 2019-12 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This famous ballad of the outback wanderer who drowned himself rather than lose his freedom needs no introduction. There is no swagman as legendary as the tragic hero of this tale, and there is no Australian song as well-known throughout the world. Here the famous ballad is given new depth and perspective. Talented illustrator Freya Blackwood has explored the intriguing background behind the writing of this song, and has shown us not just the lively story of a proud outback larrikin, but also a glimpse into the clashes and struggles that were so formative of Australian history.
Download or read book Billabong Valley written by Don Cronk and published by Trafford. This book was released on 2002 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seven fast-paced adventure stories with anthropomorphic characters, set in early Australia.
Download or read book Maia Mitchell written by Heather E. Schwartz and published by Lerner Publications. This book was released on 2014-08-01 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: You may know Maia Mitchell from the Disney Channel's Teen Beach Movie. But did you know that she: • was born and raised in Australia and learned her American accent by watching TV? • loves playing the guitar and writing music? • prefers low-key jeans and sneakers to glamorous outfits? Want to know more about this talented star? Read on to learn all about Maia's life before stardom, rise to fame, breakthrough roles, passions, and more!
Download or read book The Girl from Snowy River The Matilda Saga 2 written by Jackie French and published by HarperCollins Australia. This book was released on 2012-12-01 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the tradition of The Man from Snowy River comes a gripping and courageous sequel to A Waltz for Matilda The year is 1919. Thirty years have passed since the man from Snowy River made his famous ride. But World War I still casts its shadow across a valley in the heart of Australia, particularly for orphaned sixteen-year-old Flinty McAlpine, who lost a brother when the Snowy River men marched away to war. Why has the man Flinty loves returned from the war so changed and distant? Why has her brother Andy 'gone with cattle', leaving Flinty in charge of their younger brother and sister and with the threat of eviction from the farm she loves so dearly? A brumby muster held under the watchful eye of the legendary Clancy of the Overflow offers hope. Now Flinty must ride to save her farm, her family and the valley she loves. Set among the landscapes of the great poems of Australia, this book is a love song to the Snowy Mountains and a tribute to Australia's poets who immortalised so much of our land. The Girl from Snowy River combines passion, heartbreak, history and an enduring love and rich understanding of our land. PRAISE FOR A WALTZ FOR MATILDA '... this absorbing saga abounds in social and historical detail' -- Magpies
Download or read book Waltzing Matilda written by Dennis O'Keeffe and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2012 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An expose of two cover-ups: one the death of a swagman by a billabong; the other, a torrid affair between Banjo Paterson and his fiancee's best friend, and how the two events come together in Australia's best-loved national song. Australians know Waltzing Matilda, written by their most popular poet Banjo Paterson, as their most loved song and unofficial national anthem. What Australians don't know is that their song is embroiled in a web of secrecy, violence and a triangular love affair. Written at a pivotal time in Australia's history, Waltzing Matilda is as important to Australian culture as events like the Eureka Stockade and the story of Ned Kelly. One hundred and fifteen years after the writing of Waltzing Matilda, Australians continue to be fascinated with the song and sing it proudly wherever they meet to celebrate. Given the facts outlined in this story, they will be further captivated and embrace the song for decades to come.
Download or read book If Blood Should Stain the Wattle written by Jackie French and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2016-12-01 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It’s 1972, and across Australia the catchcry is ‘It’s time’. Time for old folk, time for young folk, time for a new, idealistic Labor government. In Gibber's Creek, it's time for Jed Kelly to choose between past love, Nicholas, the local Labor member, and Sam from the Halfway to Eternity commune. And for Scarlett O'Hara, it's time to dream that one day she becomes a doctor - despite being in a wheelchair. It's also time for matriarch Matilda Thompson to reflect on the life that took her from the slums of Grinder's Alley to the events that began a nation at a billabong in 1894. The 1970s was a time of extraordinary ideals of a better world, but as the ideals drifted from disaster to the Dismissal there were deep conflicts about what that better world might be. Jackie French, author of the bestselling To Love a Sunburnt Country, has woven her own experience of that period into an unforgettable story of a small rural community and a nation swept into the social and political tumult of the early 1970s.
Download or read book Send Round the Hat written by Henry Lawson and published by Good Press. This book was released on 2021-11-09 with total page 109 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Send Round the Hat by Harry Lawson is a collection of exciting short stories about a very tall Australian stakeholder known as The Giraffe going around town and offering to help people with his services. Excerpt: "Now this is the creed from the Book of the Bush— Should be simple and plain to a dunce: "If a man's in a hole you must pass round the hat— Were he jail-bird or gentleman once." "Is it any harm to wake yer?"
Download or read book The Ghost of the Billabong Speaks written by Dr Farvardin Daliri and published by . This book was released on 2016-09-23 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Passing through Boundary Rd at West End, a Brisbane suburb, is not an ordinary experience. As opposed to the larger world-- where due to differences in religion, culture, language or social class, pools of blood have coloured the streets and the sacred threshold of family homes have been turned to crime scenes and rubble-- you get to see an immense diversity of food, shops, retail stores, cultures, costumes, religions and music, all within a stretch of 500 metres. In such a place, you may see many different shades and colours of human flowers in the garden of humanity. All happily following their Australian dream and proudly expressing their way of life, cultures and values --without being interrupted by any one. Like a supreme pizza, you may see every nice and tasty form of topping and flavour, so colourful and tasty. It is heaven of humanity. Yet something is missing, rather, rendered invisible - the base of the pizza, the one which makes this pizza possible, the one that allows all these colours and flavours to shine. What is it that is missing and often goes unnoticed in West End and in all similar situations? That is the Australian Cultural Narrative that, like the pizza base, has been rendered invisible and not worth mentioning, it is the Ghost of the Billabong. In this book, Dr Farvardin Daliri OAM has endeavoured to bring to light the missing ghost of Australian culture with the warning: If we don't recognise the base of this multicultural pizza, we can't go too far with it before the pizza of our wonderful Australia disintegrates and the wonderful individual flavours of the topping are lost. Yes, multiculturalism is important, but more importantly is that which holds it together and sustains its development, the Australian Culture. Come a Waltzing Matilda with Farvardin Daliri and bring to light the Ghost of the Billabong, with its unifying and healing message for all who made Australia home.
Download or read book Breaking the Sheep s Back written by Charles Massy and published by Univ. of Queensland Press. This book was released on 2016-07-01 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 10-billion-dollar collapse of the wool industry is considered one of Australia's biggest business disasters, and for the first time, the shocking true story behind this colossal collapse is revealed. Spanning 170 years from the birth of the industry in 1840 and its boom during the 1950s through its unraveling from 1980 to 1991, this is a searing account of greed, political corruption, and heavy-handed protectionism. As it uncovers the never-before-seen archival sources, government and board papers, and private correspondence and shares exclusive interviews with key whistle blowers, this narrative unveils the gripping true story of government corruption in a seemingly untouchable industry.
Download or read book What s Your Story written by Rose Giannone and published by . This book was released on 2016-06 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What's Your Story? is a beautiful children's book set against the backdrop of the First Settlement of Australia. It describes the friendship of a little orphan boy from England, Leonard, and the friendship he strikes with a little Aboriginal girl called Milba. Leonard and Milba are mesmerised by the peculiarity of each others' worlds, and it is with this, the story develops.
Download or read book Ghost Wave written by Chris Dixon and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2016-09-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rising from the depths of the Pacific lies a fabled island, now submerged just below the surface of the ocean. Rumors and warnings about Cortes Bank abound, but among big wave surfers, this legendary rock is famous for one simple (and massive) reason: this is the home of the biggest rideable wave on the face of the earth. In this dramatic work of narrative non-fiction, journalist Chris Dixon unlocks the secrets of Cortes Bank and pulls readers into the harrowing world of big wave surfing and high seas adventure above the most enigmatic and dangerous rock in the sea. The true story of this Everest of the sea will thrill anyone with an abiding curiosity of—and respect for—mother ocean.
Download or read book To Love a Sunburnt Country written by Jackie French and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2014-12-01 with total page 487 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In war-torn Malaya, Nancy dreams of Australia - and a young man called Michael. The year is 1942 and the world is at war. Nancy Clancy left school at fourteen to spend a year droving, just like her grandfather Clancy of the Overflow. Now sixteen, Nancy's family has sent her to Malaya to bring home her sister-in-law Moira and baby nephew Gavin. Yet despite the threat of Japanese invasion, Moira resists, wanting to stay near her husband Ben. But not even Nancy of the Overflow can stop the fall of Singapore and the capture of so many Australian troops. When their ship is bombed, Nancy, Moira and Gavin are reported missing. Back home at Gibbers Creek, Michael refuses to believe the girl he loves has died. As Darwin, Broome and even Sydney are bombed, Australians must fight to save their country. But as Michael and the families of Gibbers Creek discover, there are many ways to love your country, and many ways to fight for it. From one of Australia's most-admired storytellers comes a gripping and unforgettable novel based on true events and little-known people. This is a story about ultimate survival and the deepest kinds of love. PRAISE 'A book about a love of country that is heartwarming and heartbreaking, and hard to put down.' -- Adelaide Advertiser, 4 stars
