But there was no 'big house' here - Toni did not grow up in a large homestead. She lived in a shack that had no electricity and no running water. The oppressive climate of the Territory - either wet or dry - tested everyone. Fish were known to rain from the sky and sometimes good men drank too much and drowned trying to cross swollen rivers.Toni grew up with the Aboriginal people who lived and worked on the station, and got into scrapes with her ever-increasing number of siblings. She loved where she grew up - she was happy on the land with her friends and family, observing the many characters who made up the community on Killarney. When she was sent to boarding school all she wanted to do was go back to the land she loved, despite the fact that her parents' marriage was struggling as Bill Tapp succumbed to drink and June Tapp refused to go under with him.Toni's love of the natural world and of people alike has resulted in a tender portrait of a life that many people would consider tough. She brings vividly to the page a story seldom seen: a Territory childhood, with all its colour, characters and contradictions.

    It may sound counterintuitive to say that the longer you let kids be kids, the better they will 'adult' in the future, but it's true. The more children are allowed to play in the mud, create games and find their own solutions to problems, the more they will thrive later in life.Written to combat a growing generation of kids who have not been given the room to learn and grow in their own time, 50 Risks to Take With Your Kids gives parents and careers an easy-to-use framework with simple, practical challenges for children aged up to 10 years old. In this book, you'll find risks that develop physical and social skills, responsibility and character. You'll also find some all-important parenting risks that will encourage you to step outside your comfort zone and think a little differently about raising kids.Peppered with Daisy Turnbull Brown's own experiences in parenting, teaching and wellbeing, this warm and funny book is not about developmental KPIs, and it's certainly not about judgement. It's about nurturing independence and resilience, teaching kids to recognize and assess risks themselves, and readying them to take on life and all that it brings. And it's about having fun and connecting as a family along the way.

    avoid opinion ... facts are your single clue. Get the facts!' - time Enough for Love, Robert Heinlein Does eating celery make you lighter? Do you have to be dying to have a near-death experience? Is a yawn a silent, natural scream for air; and if a little oxygen is good for you is more oxygen better? Can the humble spud kill? Did Galileo drop his balls from the Leaning tower of Pisa? Did a NASA computer really prove a miracle in the Bible actually happened? Is there any substance harder than diamond, and do diamonds really last forever? And exactly how many Eskimo words for 'snow' are there? Wherever he goes, people always ask Dr Karl to explain stuff, and in this his 26th book (26 is the only number directly between a square and a cube), he explains more myths and curly questions. Visit Dr Karl at www.drkarl.com

    Songwriter. Swamp child. Soul man. Tex Perkins is a true rock'n'roll animal. In this loud, uncut, no-holds-barred, laugh-out-loud and take-no-prisoners memoir, the enigmatic king of the Australian music underground lays bare an extraordinary life lived on the road, on the stage and on the edge.Raised a bible-thumping Catholic and beaten bloody on the streets of Brisbane for being a "cow-punk", skinny Gregory Perkins flees to Sydney and mutates into "Tex", rogue leader of the Dums Dums, Thug and Salamander Jim before finding a strange kind of success, celebrity, sex symboldom and icon status as Tex Perkins, snake-hipped, honey-voiced, often bloodied frontman of influential Aussie bands the Cruel Sea, Beasts of Bourbon and Tex, Don & Charlie... and inventor of "Zoneball".Gigs. Albums. Tours. Fights. Feuds. Arrests. Drugs. High times. Low roads. This is a wild ride of a life written loudly, proudly and full of punk energy.

    The nation’s major policy challenges go unaddressed, our economic future is uncertain, and political corruption is becoming normalised. We can’t understand the current predicament of our democracy without recognising the central role of Murdoch’s national media monopoly. There is no longer a level playing field in Australian politics. We won’t see another progressive government in Canberra until we deal with this cancer in our democracy. Three more things must change for Labor to be returned to office. Labor must significantly broaden its political base; demolish the entire rationale for the conservative political project now that the Liberal Party has abandoned its position on debt, deficit, and government intervention in the economy; and put forward a clear plan dealing with the challenges ahead: recurring pandemics, demographic decline, technological disruption undermining economic competitiveness and employment, the rise of China, and the continued economic and environmental devastations of climate change. All four tasks are essential. All four will require great political courage.

    She has a brand-new sister, and her family has moved to a small town, leaving behind everything she knows. She is sure that she will be miserable – but a mysterious old lady, a curious boy and an amazing garden prove her wrong. A story about friendship, hope, and the healing power of nature and art.

    How did he get here? From the vantage point of his prison cell, Toby pens his memoir, trying to piece together how he fell so far, all the while fielding the uninvited literary opinions of his murderous cellmate, Gary.What Toby unspools is a tale of twisted bureaucracy, public servants gone rogue, and the ever-present pervasive stench of rotting prawns (don't ask). Realizing that his political career is far from the noble endeavor he'd once imagined it would be, Toby makes a bid for freedom...before the terrible realization dawns: it's impossible to get fired from the public service. Refusing to give up (or have to pay for his relocation fee), Toby's attempts to get fired grow more and more extreme, and he finds himself being propelled higher and higher through the ranks of bureaucracy.

    She’s transformed her rundown outback property, The Springs, into a successful artists’ retreat; she’s won a distinguished art prize, and she’s living with her soulmate, trail-blazing grazier Heath Blackett.But the chance discovery of a portrait of her father, renowned artist Jim Larkin, makes her question everything. How could it have been drawn just weeks ago when Jim has been dead for years . . . Or so she thought.Could her father still be alive? Can she track down the man in the picture? And is this connected to the missing gold buried by her ancestor over a century ago?Her search for answers will draw Nina into a maze of family secrets – just as the man who stepped out of a portrait arrives at her door . . .Alice Campion is the pseudonym for four members of a Sydney book club. Their first novel, The Painted Sky, also features Nina, Heath and the captivating landscape of outback Wangalla.

    Secrets are different from privacy. They are things you are forced to keep to yourself, by family, friends, by your own shame. Secrets like these come to the surface one day and demand an airing.Emerging from an unconventional, boisterously happy childhood, Mary-Rose MacColl was a rebellious teenager. And when, at the age of fifteen, her high-school teacher and her husband started inviting Mary-Rose to spend time with them, her parents were pleased that she now had the guidance she needed to take her safely into young adulthood.It wasn't too long, though, before the teacher and her husband changed the nature of the relationship with overwhelming consequences for Mary-Rose. Consequences that kept her silent and ashamed through much of her adult life. Many years later, safe within a loving relationship, all of the long-hidden secrets and betrayals crashed down upon her and she came close to losing everything.In this poignant and brave true story, Mary-Rose brings these secrets to the surface and, in doing so, is finally able to watch them float away.

    This title focuses on the changes to NSW criminal laws after these murders.16 b&w photos

    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

    Come visit Scotland, Zambia, Australia, Canada, and several American states, including Alaska, in these inspirational romance novellas. You'll love each refreshing contemporary romance as the characters enjoy the water on hot summer days, whether it be in a river, lake, ocean... or a swimming pool! His Perfect Catch by Narelle Atkins, author of the Snowgum Creek series A holiday romance isn’t part of the plan when Mia Radcliffe temporarily moves to Sapphire Bay and lives next door to Pete McCall, her secret crush from years ago. Pete prefers the simple life. Can Mia leave behind her big-city dreams and settle with Pete in the seaside town? Sweet Serenade by Valerie Comer, author of the Farm Fresh Romance series Carly and Reed thrive on the rush of running rapids in a canoe until they capsize in both river and romance. Will secrets from the past drown their future, or can this idyllic summer romance lead to a lifetime of sweet serenades? More than Friends by Autumn Macarthur, author of the Love in Store series When nurse Catriona asks for help with her Vacation Bible School for disabled children, she never imagines how much could go wrong on a simple seaside day out — or that the colleague she's secretly loved for years might come to see her as more than his best friend's little sister. Love Flies In by Heidi McCahan, author of the Emerald Cove series He’s a seaplane pilot determined to honor his convictions. She’s a kayak guide who mocked his faith for sport. One small lakeside cabin in Alaska can’t house them both.  Testing the Waters by Lesley Ann McDaniel, author of the Madison Falls series After breaking up with her ultra-critical boyfriend, Teresa decides to reinvent herself. She meets a nice guy named Curt on the beach in Crescent Cove, Oregon, and tells him she’s Terése from Paris. Pretending to be someone else is fun until the unthinkable happens — she starts to fall for him. The Lifeguards, the Swim Team, and Frozen Custard by Carol Moncado, author of the CANDID Romance series Lifeguard Alivia Collins looks forward to another summer on the guard stand at the Serenity Landing Aquatic Center. This year, she’s going to have to keep herself from falling for the cute, new guard - or realize it’s time to give love another chance. Time and Tide by Lynette Sowell, author of the Lone Star Hearts series When out-of-work fashion journalist Karyn Lewis uses the summer to regroup on the coast of Virginia, she plans to lie low at Pine Breezes campground. She doesn't plan for her heart to be on a collision course with old friend Brodie Reed. They must decide if the past that looms between them will be too much for them to have a future together.  Draw You Near by Jan Thompson, author of the Savannah Sweethearts series Savannah artist Abilene Dupree keeps her personal life out of her commercial paintings except one. That one painting has now brought Londoner Lars Cargill back to the coastal town and into her art world. Can she hold him at bay before he invades her personal space and her heart? Orphaned Hearts by Marion Ueckermann, author of the Heart of Africa series His faith buried with his wife,  Simon devotes himself to raising his daughter

    You know, again.

    This book is not an adventure story with a fictitious hero, but is the story of one of the great nautical heroes of the eighteenth century, a man who discovered many of the islands of the Pacific, to say nothing of the great lands of Australia and new Zealand.

    Keli Lane, Australian water polo champion and elite private school teacher had it all -- a privileged social life on Sydney's Northern Beaches, a tightly knit circle of friends and a rugby hero for a boyfriend -- until her hidden double life was exposed. In secret, Keli carried three babies to term, giving birth on her own each time. Incredibly, her family, friends, colleagues -- even her boyfriend -- had no idea. Two babies were adopted but one, Tegan, disappeared without a trace. In December 2010, Keli Lane was found guilty of murder. In this probing, investigative work, journalist Rachel Chin sifts through Keli's background and the compelling drama that unfolded daily in the coronial inquest and criminal trial for answers to this baffling case. Who is Tegan's father? Why did Keli keep her pregnancies and births secret -- and how could her family and friends not know?Nice Girl explores all these questions and more, revealing a dark and bizarre story of secrets and lies.