From the doorway of this small three-roomed cottage, which houses thirty-two of us, we look out beyond to a steaming jungle in Sumatra.. In 1942 a group of sixty-five Australian Army nursing sisters was evacuated from Malaya a few days before the fall of Singpaore. Two days later their ship was bombed and sunk by the Japanese. Of the fifty-three survivors who scrambled ashore, twenty-one were murdered and the remaining thirty-two taken prisoner. White Coolies is the engrossing record kept by one of the sisters, Betty Jeffrey, during the more than three gruelling years of imprisonment that followed. It is an amazing story of survival amid deprivation and the harshest of conditions. The women’s ingenious and entertaining attempts to make their lot more tolerable, and their comradeship as they suffered so much anguish, display their incredible endurance and strength in the face of adversity.

    

    This new, revised and annotated edition includes chapters never before published, a fascinating biography of John Bede Cusack by his daughter, Kerry McCouat, and an informative introduction by editor Robert Brokenmouth.'A shocking, authentic little masterpiece of men at war.' - Australian Book Review'One of three outstanding books about the air war that have been written by Australians.' - Ross Campbell, Daily Telegraph'In language and content this book of an Australian airgunner's war is strong meat. But it bears on every page the stamp of authenticity and can be thoroughly recommended for the graphic, unblinkered insights it gives into the author's three years' experience in RAF bombers ... this vivid, often brutal book ... is vastly entertaining, with many humorous passages – and some sultry ones, too, on the amatory side of life in wartime England.' - Leslie Jillett, Sydney Morning Herald'The author is a natural writer with a flair for belly-jolting realism ... He is a real image Aussie, tough, ribald, amused by discipline, a colossal womaniser and a mighty man for the grog and all this comes over hot and salty ... It brings the almost ignored sacrifice of the airgunners before the reading public with a savage poignancy.' - Derek Whitelock'... it proves vividly what I think it sets out to prove - that war is degradation. That this is achieved not from the viewpoint of a pacifist but from the viewpoint of a man who despised the philosophy of his enemy, adds to its stature.' - Ivan SouthallAn Australian in a strange land ...

    "Flight to Landfall" is an adventurous story set in the Dutch East Indies, Singapore and the inhospitable desert region of western Australia.However, it would be incorrect to call this book an adventure novel; in addition to the fascinating act and fascinating description of strange places, the reader will follow with increasing interest the character development of a number of people who, by chance circumstances, come together to fight for their existence and try to adapt to each other.An impressive and moving book.