Book picks similar to
Our Voices: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Work by Bindi Bennett
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Montebello: A Memoir
Robert Drewe - 2012
'They've let off an atom bomb today. Right here in W.A. Atom bombs worry the blazes out of me, and I want you at home.'In the sleepy and conservative 1950s the British began a series of nuclear tests in the Montebello archipelago off the west coast of Australia. Even today, few people know about the three huge atom bombs that were detonated there, but they lodged in the consciousness of the young Robert Drewe and would linger with him for years to come.In this moving sequel to The Shark Net, and with his characteristic frankness, humour and cinematic imagery, Drewe travels to the Montebellos to visit the territory that has held his imagination since childhood. He soon finds himself overtaken by memories and reflections on his own 'islomania'. In the aftermath of both man-made and natural events that have left a permanent mark on the Australian landscape and psyche – from nuclear tests and the mining boom to shark attacks along the coast – Drewe examines how comfortable and familiar terrain can quickly become a site of danger, and how regeneration and love can emerge from chaos and loss.
Little Girls Lost: The Stories of Four of Australia's Most Horrific Child Murders, and Their Families' Fight for Justice
Helen Reade - 2003
This title focuses on the changes to NSW criminal laws after these murders.16 b&w photos
Golden Boy: Kim Hughes and the Bad Old Days of Australian Cricket
Christian Ryan - 2009
Golden curled and boyishly handsome, his rise and fall as captain and player is unparalleled in our cricketing history. He played at least three innings that count as all-time classics, but it's his tearful resignation from the captaincy that is remembered. Insecure but arrogant, abrasive but charming; in Hughes' character were the seeds of his own destruction. Yet was Hughes' fall partly due to those around him, men who are themselves legends in Australia's cricketing history? Lillee, Marsh, and the Chappells, all had their agendas, all were unhappy with his selection and performance as captain—evidenced by Dennis Lillee's tendency to aim bouncers relentlessly at Hughes' head during net practice. As he traces the high points and the low, Chris Ryan sheds new and fascinating light on the cricket—and the cricketers—of the times.
Cold Case Investigations
Xanthé Mallett - 2019
Along the way readers will also be introduced to new forensic techniques and scientific methods that could - or did - help move the case forward.Cold Case Investigations covers mostly murders or suspected murders - such as Ashley Coulston, Mr Cruel and Ivan Milat - with the victims as the focus. Not only because, criminologically speaking, the more you can learn about your victim the more you can extrapolate about the person who killed or abducted them, but also because they deserve their stories to be told. They deserve for people to know their names. They shouldn't just be someone's victim.
100 Things
Sebastian Terry - 2011
Sebastian embarks on an incredible adventure which sees him Get Shot in Colombia, Crash the Red Carpet at the Cannes Film Festival and Cycle Through Cuba - all in an effort to ensure he lives a life without regrets. Now more than halfway through his list, Sebastian has realised that his journey is part of something so much bigger ...100 Things is a humorous, action-packed story for anyone who's ever dreamed about living every day like it was their last.
On Violence
Natasha Stott Despoja - 2019
Every week, a woman is killed by a current or former partner. This is Australia's national emergency. Violence against women is preventable. It is not an inevitable part of the human condition. It's time to create a new normal. It is time to stop the slaughter in our suburbs.
Beyond Bad
Sandra Lee - 2002
Cruel and evil, Katherine Knight showed no mercy when she butchered her lover in a crime that put her behind bars in an Australian prison for a record life sentence.Swinging from a meat-hook, John Price's entire skin was in one piece, including his hair, face, ears, nose, mouth, and genitals. Slashes and stab holes tore through the human pelt, a testimony to the wounds he suffered before dying.Knight, a 44-year-old abattoir worker, had stabbed father-of-three John Price 37 times, skinned his body, cooked his head, and served him up as a meal for his children. Drawing on first-hand accounts, Beyond Bad tells what motivated Knight to commit such a heinous act and how it rocked the small town where she lived. This is a horrifying story of love, lust, revenge, and murder that is all the more shocking because it really happened.©2002 Sandra Lee; (P)2003 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
Why Warriors Lie Down and Die
Richard Trudgen - 2000
It provides hope and new direction for those searching for the answers as to why "the problems" seems to persist in Aboriginal communities. It also offers insights for those who want a greater understanding of the issues involved in achieving true reconciliation. In Arnhem Land, as in Indigenous communities across Australia, the situation is dire; health is poor, unemployment is rife and life is short. Why Warriors lie down provides a fresh analysis of this crisis and offers examples of how the people can once again take control of their own lives. Finding the real cause of this crisis requires the reader to look at it from the other side of the cultural / language divide - the side where the Yolngu people live. The Book Why Warriors Lie Down and Die takes us to that side.
Parenting Your Out-of-Control Teenager: 7 Steps to Reestablish Authority and Reclaim Love
Scott P. Sells - 2001
But literally millions of teens take their rebellion to a point where it disrupts their families and endangers their own futures or even their lives. If one of these teens is yours, you've probably lived through years of conflicting advice and pat solutions that don't last. Finally, this breakthrough guide from a master therapist will show you the seven steps to positive, permanent change for you and your teenager: 1. Learn the real reasons for teen misbehavior. 2. Make an ironclad contract to stop that behavior. 3. Troubleshoot future problems. 4. End button-pushing. 5. Stop the "seven aces" -- from disrespect to threats of violence. 6. Mobilize outside help. 7. Reclaim lost love within the family.Clear, compassionate, and packed with real-life solutions to real-life problems, Parenting Your Out-of-Control Teenager gives parents the tools they need to turn their families' lives around for good.
A Sunburnt Childhood
Toni Tapp Coutts - 2016
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 Wasn't Meant to Be Like This
Lisa Wilkinson - 2021
One of Australia's most admired and respected journalists and media personalities, her warm, intelligent and elegant presence has graced our television screens for many years, where she has shared and shaped many important national conversations. Australians of all ages love and respect her warmth, empathy, humour, integrity and fighting spirit. But it all could have been so different... When she was at school, Lisa found herself wishing she could just disappear. Subjected to horrific bullying as a teenager, she survived by making herself as small as possible, but she swore when she left school that no one was ever again going to determine who she was - or limit what she was capable of. That determination and drive led to Lisa blazing an unprecedented and enormously successful trail through the Australian media and cultural landscape for more than four decades. She was only twenty-one when she became the editor of Dolly - the youngest ever appointed to a national women's magazine - and four years later, after almost tripling the circulation, Lisa was head-hunted by the late Kerry Packer, who offered her the editorship of the iconic Cleo magazine. which she transformed into the number-one bestselling women's lifestyle magazine per capita in the world. Moving to television, first on Channel Ten's Beauty and the Beast, then as host of the Seven Network's Weekend Sunrise, she went on to spend almost eleven years as co-host of the Nine Network's Today Show, becoming its longest-serving female co-host, and where her talents took the program to the number-one spot in breakfast television. Lisa then caused a media storm in Australia and the world when she moved to the Ten Network as co-host of its prime-time award-winning program The Project. Lisa's interviews with everyone from George Clooney to Lady Gaga to Sophia Loren to Kim Kardashian, to every one of the country's last eight prime ministers, always create headlines. But it is her most recent work and the leading role she took in uncovering the misogyny in Parliament House, with her powerful, exclusive interview with Brittany Higgins, of which Lisa says she is most proud. A fierce campaigner for women and gender equality, Lisa has fought her own personal battles on this front, and continues to lead the way. It Wasn't Meant to Be Like This, the story of how a young girl from Campbelltown came to be such a force in Australian cultural life, is honest, warm, funny, engaging - and powerfully inspirational.
Survival of the Dumbest
Wil Anderson - 2006
Now I don't want to seem callous, but to me that's not a tragedy - that's natural selection.'In SURVIVAL OF THE DUMBEST, Wil Anderson turns his sharp gaze and wicked wit to the stupid, strange and perplexing quandaries of popular culture. Wil spares no-one, not even himself, as he delivers an almighty forehead slap to the modern world. And let's face it: between TV, politics, oversexed sports stars, advertising and automatic phone-banking systems - there are a lot of foreheads that need one.Wil Anderson caused cornflake snorting incidents as a breakfast announcer on Triple J, hosts ABC TV's ever-popular The Glass House and continues to thrill audiences at just about every comedy festival known to man. Now Wil has set down some of his funniest rants and observations in this book. Let's just hope there are enough people left who can read…
A Thoroughly Unhelpful History of Australian Sport
Titus O'Reily - 2017
Completely, irrationally insane. It’s the closest thing we have to a culture. From Don Bradman’s singular focus to Steven Bradbury’s heroic not falling over, sport has shaped our sense of self.But how did we get here? Part history, part social commentary and a lot of nonsense, Titus O’Reily, Australia’s least insightful sports writer, explains.Covering Australian Rules, League, Union, soccer, cricket, the Olympics and much more, Titus tackles the big topics, like:· How not to cheat the salary cap· The importance of kicking people in the shins· The many shortcomings of the EnglishTitus takes you through the characters, the pub meetings, the endless acronyms, the corruption and the alarming number of footballers caught urinating in public. Sport is important – gloriously stupid, but important. To understand Australia you must understand its sporting history. With this guide you sort of, kind of, will.
The Storm Within: The Autobiography of a Legend
Cameron Smith - 2020
The recipient of numerous Dally M and Golden Boot awards, he has starred in the toughest league competition on the planet every season since he made his NRL debut in 2002. Captaining the Melbourne Storm to multiple premierships, Smith played in a staggering seventeen finals campaigns. An integral member of the record-breaking Queensland teams of 2006-2017, he won eleven State of Origin series. As skipper of the Australian national team for over a decade, he led the Kangaroos to two World Cups. Smith is credited with revolutionising the number nine position. He holds the State of Origin records for most appearances and most wins, as well as the NRL records for most games, goals, points scored, wins and appearances as captain.This book maps his unique journey in the game: an extraordinary look into the biggest matches and biggest moments, Smith describes his career with great colour and candour, outlining what it takes to climb to the highest level in sport. Talent aside, it is Smith's intelligence and poise that set him apart, coupled with consistency, durability and longevity that are unlikely to ever be matched. Notoriously private throughout his career, The Storm Within sets the record straight. Finally, the life behind the legend - the man behind the mystery - tells his story.Features a foreword by legendary Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy.
The Case for Courage
Kevin Rudd - 2021
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.