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"German artist Elise Blumann arrived in Western Australia in 1938, having fled Nazi Germany in 1934. With her husband and two sons, she set up home on the banks of the Swan River and began to paint. Over the next ten years she produced a series of portraits set against the river and the Indian Ocean, and pursued an anlysis of plant forms ... to brilliant effect. In this study Sally Quin traces Blumann's formative student years in Berlin and her first decade in Australia, where the artist reinvented her working method in response to the intense light and colour of the local landscape ... Blumann was a conservative modernist, but the Perth art scene was not prepared for her expressive style, and when she exhibited for the first time in 1944 her art was met with bewilderment. The book considers attitudes to modernism in Perth and the influence on local culture of European refugees and emigrés newly arrived in the city ... Quin establishes Blumann as a significant figure in the story of Australian modernism"--Publisher's description.
As banks crashed, belts tightened, and cupboards emptied across the country, American prisons grew fat. Doing Time in the Depression tells the story of the 1930s as seen from the cell blocks and cotton fields of Texas and California prisons, state institutions that held growing numbers of working people from around the country and the world—overwhelmingly poor, disproportionately non-white, and displaced by economic crisis. Ethan Blue paints a vivid portrait of everyday life inside Texas and California’s penal systems. Each element of prison life—from numbing boredom to hard labor, from meager pleasure in popular culture to crushing pain from illness or violence—demonstrated a contes...
From one of our finest writers - winner of the Miles Franklin, the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Prime Minister's Literary Award - comes a wistful and emotional story that imagines a happier ending for the mercurial and complicated Vivienne Haigh-Wood, first wife of the great poet, TS Eliot. London, June 1940. Vivienne Haigh-Wood, the mercurial wife of celebrated poet T.S. Eliot, is about to effect a daring escape from Northumberland House, the private asylum where she has been held for the past three years. There is an old law, Vivienne has been told, that if you can break out of an asylum and stay free for thirty days, they can't make you go back. But closing in on Vivienne is the you...
In an old house with 'too many windows and women,' high in the Indian hills, young Hannah lives with her older sister Gloria; her two older brothers; her mother, 'the Magician;' a colourful assortment of aunts, blow-ins, and misfits; and her father, 'the Historian.' It is a world of secrets, jealousies, and lies, ruled by the Historian but smoothed over by the Magician, whose kindnesses and wisdom bring homely comfort and all-enveloping love to a ramshackle building that seems destined for chaos. And then one day the Magician is gone, Gloria is gone, and the Historian has spirited Hannah and her brothers away to a new, and at first bewildering, life in Perth. As Hannah grows and makes her own way through Australian life, an education, and friendships, she begins to penetrate to the heart of one of the old house's greatest secrets-and to the meaning of her own existence. [Subject: Fiction]
She sighs as she starts to pleat her skirt. 'Old age ain't no place for sissies, Willa,' I tell her. 'Bette Davis said that.' Willa looks into infinity, across the length of her days. 'What's happening to me?' The question is a complete throwback to clarity, sanity. 'You've got a serious memory problem,' I say, wanting it to sound like Asian flu - not too grave, certainly not irreversible. Though it is. But Willa has already lost interest. - from The Seamstress *** In this fourth novel in the acclaimed New Writing series, Jo narrates the story of her strong, passionate mother, Willa, whose gradual slide into dementia shifts them into a new and difficult relationship. Infused with abundant warmth and wry humor, The Seamstress is a memorable tale of friendship and love between women.
In Western Australia, the Swan River has been flowing the same course for some 60 million years. Take Me to the River traces the relationship of European-Australian culture to this ancient river system. This historical narrative is viewed through the lens of schemes proposed for Perth's foreshore, the city's symbolic front garden. The foreshore has been contentious since the first plan for Perth was drawn up, and has subsequently acted as a sinkhole for hundreds of proposals. An investigation of this archaeological stratum of foreshore drawings allows us to understand changing ideas of what Perth was, what it could have been, and indeed what it can be. "This fascinating book uncovers hundreds of 'lost' proposals for Perth's foreshore - and sets out a compelling vision for how the city should relate to its river in the 21st century. It is essential reading for those who have a stake in the future of Perth and the Swan River." -- Janet Holmes a Court AC *** Librarians: ebook available on ProQuest and EBSCO [Subject: Urban Design, Architecture, Australian Studies]
MULTICULTURAL STUDIES. AUSTRALIAN. Vite Italiane documents the migration flow of Italian immigrants from the late 1800s to the present day. This work integrates the history of the largest non-English-speaking migrant group in Western Australia into the mainstream historical record and in so doing shows how the Italian-speaking community has become an integral part of Western Australias, and indeed the nations, social, economic and cultural fabric.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common mental-health condition in children and is present in most countries around the world. Although there is an abundance of literature on ADHD with plenty of scientific information, this condition remains controversial and often under-diagnosed. Many books have been written for parents about ADHD but most of them are quite scientific. They can be difficult to navigate, especially if you are a parent with some symptoms of ADHD yourself. This book is a go-to guide for parents and teachers, providing up-to-date knowledge in a simple, easy-to-read format. It is filled with information your doctor would like to provide, but is often ...
The lead-up to the 2017 Western Australian state election saw a large and lively protest over the construction of stage 8 of the Roe Highway (Roe 8) and the Perth Freight Link. Years of opposition to Roe 8 culminated in civil disobedience, mass arrests, and media theatrics as the bulldozers tore across Aboriginal heritage sites and through much-loved bushland and wetland just weeks out from an election the government appeared likely to lose. When Labor was swept to power in the biggest landslide victory ever delivered by Western Australian voters, the Roe 8 contracts were cancelled. However, the planning systems that enabled Roe 8 and the Perth Freight Link remain in place and in need of ref...
A pioneer for women in international diplomacy, Sue Boyd shares this account of her life in foreign service. 'An engaging account of life at the coalface by one of Australia's most active and effective diplomats - and real pathfinder in leading our diplomatic establishment out of its sexist dark age' -- Gareth Evans, Foreign Minister 1988-96 'A thoroughly engaging read. Sue's book took me for a walk down memory lane, remembering the tumultuous events of 2000 in Fiji and the fall out thereafter. Sue has a rare understanding of the Pacific Islands and its peoples. An enjoyable read. Part of it made me laugh out loud. From a gender perspective, it offers intuitions into the difficulties faced by women attempting to pierce the glass ceiling. Sue faced those difficulties with good humour and common sense, partly explaining why she has had such a successful career.' -- Imrana Jalal, The World Bank