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In 1858, 14-year-old Narcisse Pelletier sailed from Marseilles in the French trader Saint-Paul. With a cargo of Bordeaux wine, they stopped in Bombay, then Hong Kong, and from there they set sail with more than 300 Chinese prospectors bound for the goldfields of Ballarat and Bendigo. Around the eastern tip of New Guinea, however, the ship became engulfed in fog, struck reefs and ran aground. Scrambling aboard a longboat, the survivors undertook a perilous voyage, crossing almost 1000 kilometres of the Coral Sea before reaching the shores of the Daintree region in far north Queensland, where, abandoned by his shipmates and left for dead, Narcisse was rescued by the local Aboriginal people. Fo...
'A fascinating read' DAILY TELEGRAPH Aren't remote South Pacific islands supposed to be paradise? Perhaps, from a distance, Norfolk Island looks a peaceful place lush with tall pines. But look closer and that idyllic facade is shattered. For all of the 240 years we have known it, Norfolk's story has been one of darkness, pain, rage and horror. Long-buried bones and axes hint at the violence before Captain Cook arrived and claimed the place for England. And then the horror truly began. From its earliest days, the isolation of life on this rocky outcrop took its toll. Robert Macklin, author of the critically acclaimed HAMILTON HUME, tells the vivid, bewitching story of how a unique lifestyle and culture evolved amongst the almost two thousand inhabitants. From a brutal penal colony, a refuge for descendants of the Bounty mutineers when they outgrew Pitcairn Island in 1856, to the murder of Janelle Patton in 2002, Norfolk Island is exposed like never before. A place full of shadows and wrongful deaths, its history is a mesmerising tale all the more powerful because it is true. 'I have to tell you, Satan lives here.' - Norfolk Island resident to the author, 2011.
'Macklin recounts, with beautiful detail, the following years of Narcisse's life and his transformation . . . a great read for anyone interested in Australia and its overlooked history' Ronan Breathnach, Irish Examiner 'A truly remarkable account drawing upon a version Pelletier gave when he eventually returned to his native France and also on anthropological studies of the Daintree people.' Piers Akerman, Daily Telegraph, Sydney 'An unforgettable tale of transformation and upheaval.' Stuart McLean, Daily Telegraph, Sydney A young boy abandoned in an alien landscape thousands of miles from home is adopted by local people and becomes one of them, welcomed into their community, marrying a wife...
Explosive SAS action in East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan. The command came: 'Stop those vehicles!' It was like a red rag to a bull. Instantly streams of 7.62 mm tracer and 50 mm calibre machine gun rounds arced across the night sky and smashed into the bus and truck. Elite SAS Patrol Commander Stuart 'Nev' Bonner takes us inside the extraordinary and dangerous world of secret combat operations in this explosive, behind-the-scenes look at life inside the SAS. A world where capture means torture or death, and every move is trained for with precision detail to bring elite soldiers to the very peak of fighting ability. In a career spanning twenty years, fourteen of them in the SAS, Bonner shares with us the inside story of being out in front – and often behind enemy lines. From patrolling the mountains of East Timor to covert operations in Bougainville and the Solomon Islands, from sweeping into the Iraqi desert ahead of invading US forces to cripple Saddam Hussein's communications to patrolling in war-torn Baghdad and being in the middle of the disastrous Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan – this is a no holds barred account of what it like to live, eat and breathe SAS.
High-profile Australians including children's author Mem Fox, comedian Anh Do, retired Chief Justice Michael Kirby, broadcaster Alan Jones and The Chasers' Julian Morrow, along with contributors from all walks of life, share very personal stories of their favourite teachers.
The true story of Australia's SAS and the soldier who was there from the start. Clint Palmer has spent much of his adult life in the SAS and has fought in this elite military unit as it developed from its fledgling beginnings into the highly trained, specialised fighting force it is today. He is an insider with the long view and this is his unique story of life in the SAS. As a bush kid in the Northern Territory of Australia, growing up in a one dog mining town, Palmer's best friends were mostly Aboriginal kids, and the outside world barely existed. But he always had one driving ambition - the army. Enduring the toughest of tough training, Palmer soon demonstrated his fighting capabilities a...
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THE RONICKY DOONE TRILOGY, part of the Western Classics Series, presents a fascinating amalgamation of high adventure, moral dilemma, and the indomitable spirit of the frontier. This collection showcases the remarkable diversity within the Western genre, traversing a landscape that is at once rugged and introspective. The trilogy offers a nuanced exploration of themes such as justice, loyalty, and redemption, rendered in a literary style that combines brisk action with deep character studies. These standout pieces serve as a testament to the enduring allure of the Western narrative. The minds behind this anthology, Max Brand and Frederick Schiller Faust, bring together their shared pseudonym...
A gritty, no-holds-barred, behind-the-scenes memoir of life as one of the world's top snipers Sniper Elite takes readers inside the closed world of the elite Special Forces sniper, detailing the dark art of sniping and touching on the history of the world's greatest marksmen. As one of Australia's most highly trained and successful combat marksmen, Rob Maylor tells the story of his years on the front lines, from his early service with the Royal Marines in Northern Ireland to action in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he was involved in some of the heaviest fighting in the conflict. He also chronicles his near-death experience in a Blackhawk helicopter that crashed off Fiji, killing two of his fri...
A compelling account of Australia's intelligence organisations and special forces - from the early days of the commandos during World War II through to the SAS of today and the cyber wars of the future. From the co-author of SAS Sniper. Warrior Elite is a unique and compelling account of Australia's special forces and intelligence operations - ranging from the early special forces of World War II to the establishment and development of the SAS and Commando Regiments as the elite fighters of today, and from the Australian Security Intelligence Service to the Australian Signals Directorate and ASIO. It is an authoritative, gripping and thoroughly up-to-date account of both the history and curr...