Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture by Bruce Pascoe

$19.99 AUD

Category: Australian History

JOE SKYRNSKI, CO-FOUNDER CHAMP EQUITY: 'A must read for every Australian! Drawn from the diaries of European explorers, it comprehensively explodes the self-serving myth we perpetrated about Terra Nullius, that the first Australians were hunter-gatherer savages with no traits of civilisation. Pascoe cle arly documents extensive contemporary evidence to the contrary'  'Dark Emu injects a profound authenticity into the conversation about how we Australians understand our continent ... [It is] essential reading for anyone who wants to understand what Australia once was, or what it might yet be if we heed the lessons of long and sophisticated human occupation.' Judges for 2016 NSW Premier's Literary Awards Dark Emu puts forward an argument for a reconsideration of the hunter-gatherer tag for pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians. The evidence insists that Aboriginal people right across the continent were using domesticated plants, sowing, harvesting, irrigating, and storing -- behaviours inconsistent with the hunter-gatherer tag. Gerritsen and Gammage in their latest books support this premise but Pascoe takes this further and challenges the hunter-gatherer tag as a convenient lie. Almost all the evidence in Dark Emu comes from the records and diaries of the Australian explorers, impeccable sources. Bruce's comments on his book compared to Gammage's: " My book is about food production, housing construction and clothing, whereas Gammage was interested in the appearance of the country at contact. [Gammage] doesn't contest hunter gatherer labels either, whereas that is at the centre of my argument." ...Show more

Blood Sisters The Women Behind the Wars of the Roses

$15.00 AUD

Category: British History

Who Owns History? The Case of Elgin's Loot (HB) by Geoffrey Robertson

$39.99 AUD

Category: General | Reading Level: 4 Non Fiction

The controversy about the Elgin Marbles continues to rage. This book will be the first to propound a system for the return of cultural property, based on human rights law principles that are being developed by the courts to decide whether artworks, manuscripts and sculptures have cultural importance and have been acquired in circumstances that morally require their return to enable peoples to enjoy the 'keys to their history'. The book examines how the past can be experienced - by everyone. It will ask what is the difference between an original and a perfect copy, and in what circumstances that difference should require uplifting of the relic and bringing it back home. Geoffrey Robertson has been involved in a number of celebrated cases - he acted with Amal Clooney to provide the Greek Government with legal arguments for reuniting the Parthenon Marbles, and took successful action for Tasmanian Aboriginals to force London's Natural History Museum to return the remains of their ancestors. In this book he will discuss these cases, and will conclude by describing, in non-legal language, a rule that can be applied to decide in particular cases how museums and private collections should distinguish treasures that are not 'theirs'. ...Show more

A Brief History of British Kings and Queens by Mike Ashley

$15.00 AUD

Category: British History | Series: Brief History of

Here is the whole of recorded British royal history, from the legendary King Alfred the Great onwards, including the monarchies of England, Scotland, Wales and the United Kingdom for over a thousand years. Fascinating portraits are expertly woven into a history of division and eventual union of the Brit ish Isles - even royals we think most familiar are revealed in a new and sometimes surprising light. This revised and shortened edition of "The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens" includes biographies of the royals of recorded British history, plus an overview of the semi-legendary figures of pre-history and the Dark Ages - an accessible source for students and general readers. ...Show more

Veni, Vidi, Vici: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Romans but Were Afraid to Ask by Peter Jones; James Nightingale (Editor)

$19.99 AUD

Category: General

The Romans left a long-lasting legacy and their influence can still be seen all around us, from our calendar and coins to our language and laws, but how much do we really know about them? Help is at hand in the form of this book which tells the remarkable, and often surprising, story of the Romans and t he most enduring empire in history. Fusing a lively and entertaining narrative with rigorous research, Veni, Vidi, Vici breaks down each major period into a series of concise nuggets that provide a fascinating commentary on every aspect of the Roman world, from plebs to personalities, sauces to sexuality, games to gladiators, poets to punishments, mosaics to medicine, and Catullus to Christianity. ...Show more

A Brief Guide to Secret Religions : A Complete Guide to Hermetic, Pagan and Esoteric Beliefs by David V. Barrett

$15.00 AUD

Category: General | Series: Brief Histories Ser.

This wide-ranging book explores the diversity of esoteric and occult beliefs. Neo-Paganism is one of the fastest-growing new religions in the western world where witchcraft or Wicca, Druidry, and Urban Shamanism are thriving. Alongside this there has been an upsurge in New Age ideas of an even wider var iety, including astrology, Tarot, numerology, and many others. And then there are members of various schools of occult science, practising High Magic. Why this new interest in old beliefs? Why are millions of educated people today abandoning both the established religion of their parents and 21st century scientific rationalism and turning to magic and esoteric teachings? In their search for spirituality those who follow these paths claim to be applying ancient wisdom to the modern world. The Brief History of Secret Religions, a companion book to The Brief History of Secret Societies, looks at the history and variety of these esoteric movements, where they came from and what they tell us about the world today. Praise for The New Believers: 'an excellent guide to fringe religions that juxtaposes "respectable" movements and those conventionally dismissed as cults.' The Telegraph. 'no-nonsense, comprehensive survey packed with non-judgmental information about the beliefs, aims and activities of such movements. Daily Mail. ...Show more

Spinning Tops & Gumdrops: A Portrait of Colonial Childhood by Edwin Barnard

$44.99 AUD

Category: Australian History

Spinning Tops & Gumdrops captures a time when `imagination, skill, and daring' was the source of children's play. Quoits and jacks, hide and seek, cricket with a kerosene tin for a wicket, dress ups and charades, can all be seen in these appealing images. Children climb trees, run races, and build r afts to sail on the local waterhole, happily absorbed in the play of their own making. This was also a time when school yard disagreements were sorted out with fists and `the loss of a little claret'. A time when children could view public hangings, and premature death was frequent, especially taking the very young and vulnerable though dysentery, whooping cough, or diphtheria. The word `mollycoddled' has its origins in the mid-nineteenth century, but certainly cannot be applied to the colonial children depicted in Spinning Tops & Gumdrops. Children were often required to work - many at adult jobs - to the neglect of their education, and photographs show children taking part in rural life, tending animals, milking, and harvesting crops. In the cities, too, we see factories using cheap child labour to satisfy the increasing demand for mass produced shoes and clothes, to bake bread, and to process food. Many youngsters found themselves `in service' to the growing middle class. One story is told of an innovative girl who earned pocket money by collecting leeches for the local doctor. There were distinctive gender roles in colonial Australia, and associated dress conventions. As a practical solution to ease toilet training, boys generally wore dresses until five or six years of age, seen in the photographs shown here. Only then they were `breeched' that is, put into breeches. Meanwhile, girls' dresses became longer as they approached womanhood, coinciding with a greater emphasis on modest behaviour and a reshaping of their activity and education to gain home-making skills. The lasting impression left by the contemporary accounts, photographs, etchings, and paintings of colonial children in Spinning Tops & Gumdrops is their possession of qualities of resilience, self-sufficiency, and acceptance of their lot. Perhaps it was through lack of choice, or of knowing no other. Nevertheless, these were qualities that put them in good stead for the challenges many faced in their adulthood. Interestingly, these are qualities on which contemporary society still places a high value, but which today seem a little more elusive. ...Show more

Dark History of the Tudors - Murder, Adultery, Incest, Witchcraft, Wars, Religious Persecution, Piracy by Judith John

$15.00 AUD

Category: British History

Dark Emu in the Classroom: Teacher Resources for High School Geography by Simone Barlow; Ashlee Horyniak

$20.00 AUD

Category: Australian History

Dark Emu in the Classroom: Teacher Resources for High School Geography is a rich resource for teachers to use in the Geography classroom. Based on the concepts in Bruce Pascoe's highly acclaimed book Dark Emu, this resource presents lesson content for the topics: Biomes and Food Security (Vic Year 9)/Su stainable Biomes (NSW Stage 5) Environmental Change and Management (Vic. Year 10/NSW Stage 5) This innovative resource offers both new and experienced teachers a supportive and fresh approach to teaching geography through its well-organised lesson structure and high-interest, inquiry-based activities for students ...Show more

American Museum of Natural History Card Deck100 Treasures from the Hall of Science and World Culture by American Museum Of Natural History

$25.00 AUD

Category: American

The AMNH is one of the world's preeminent natural history museums and research institutions. Its collections contain more than 32 million specimens of plants, humans, animals, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites and human cultural artifacts. Its complex houses 45 permanent exhibition halls, as well as the Hayden Planetarium, and a library; The AMNH Card Deck is a collection of 100 treasures, hand-selected by the museum's curators that represent its most fascinating, iconic, and wide-ranging artifacts; The content is culled from each of the museum's major areas of exhibition including Bird-Reptiles, and Amphibian Halls; Earth and Planetary Science Halls; Fossil Halls; Human Origins and Cultural Halls; Mammal Halls; Biodiversity and Environmental Halls; and the Hayden Planetarium;Artifacts in the card deck include the Star of India, the largest sapphire in the world; the Cape York Meteorite, discovered in Greenland in 1894; the Haida Canoe, built in 1878 by the Indians of the Pacific Northwest and carved from a single piece of wood, the trunk of a large cedar tree; the Blue Whale, a fiberglass replica of a 94-foot whale caught in 1925 off South George Island and one of the most popular exhibits in the museum; the Peregrine Falcon diorama; the Warren Mastodon skeleton, the first complete mastodon skeleton discovered in the United States, it was found in 1945, just 100 miles from New York City; Each card includes a full-bleed photograph of the object on the front and a 200-word description of the objects on the back that tells of the origin and age of the object and its scientific and historic significance. The organization of the cards within the deck follows that of the museum's exhibits. ...Show more

Buckley's Chance by Garry Linnell

$34.99 AUD

Category: Australian History | Reading Level: 3 Biography

He fought Napoleon's army and survived. He was sent to the gallows and escaped the noose. Now he is in chains and on his way to the other side of the world. What happens next will become one of the most remarkable survival stories in history. The 19th century has just begun. The world is at war. England , ruled by a mad king, is exiling thousands of criminals to an old land that has become its newest dumping ground. One of those prisoners is William Buckley, barely 21, a former soldier sentenced to life for stealing two small pieces of cloth. He's a giant for his times. But it's not just his towering frame that sets him apart. It's his desire for freedom that will make his story so unique - even in an era famous for outrageous acts of bravery and heroism. On a moonlit night Buckley escapes and disappears into the Australian bush. Discovered and adopted by an aboriginal tribe who regard him as a ghost, he is initiated into their rich and complex culture. Given up for dead by his white captors, he will not be seen again for more than 30 years until he emerges one day...carrying a spear, dressed in animal skins and having forgotten the English language. Buckley's Chance is a profound journey into a turning point in history where cultures clash, bitter rivals go to war and the body count mounts. It's also the story of a man who refuses to be held down. A man prepared to defy all odds and take a chance. Buckley's chance.   ...Show more

Pocket Essentials: A History of the Anglo-Saxons by Giles Morgan

$15.00 AUD

Category: British History | Series: Pocket Essential Ser.

But who were the Anglo-Saxons, and where did they come from? A Short History of the Anglo-Saxons traces the fascinating history of this era and its people, from the early European migrants from tribes such as Angles, Saxons, and Jutes who traveled mainly to Britain after the end of Roman rule in 410, to the dramatic end of the Anglo-Saxon period following the victory of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings. It covers their various kingdoms, such as Wessex and Mercia, as well as the numerous attacks on the prosperity and successes of the Anglo-Saxons by peoples such as the Vikings. From popular fiction such as The Hobbit to Game of Thrones to the world language of English, the continuing influence of the Anglo-Saxons can be found in many modern societies today. This Pocket Essential guide provides an indispensable introduction to everything you need to know about the Anglo-Saxon period. ...Show more