This closely woven Chinese, Irish and Australian story begins in Canton during the Opium Wars and expands in the Australian Gold Rush of the 19th century. The Chinese miners are entwined in adversity with the rural Irish poor and notorious Kelly Gang.

James Hardiman’s 1820 History of the Town and County of the Town of Galway, is a book treasured as a classic of Irish history and tradition, and the Galway he knew so well has continued to build upon its medieval foundations and cultivate its unique heritage. With an inquiring mind and exceptional diligence, Hardiman paved the way for others to follow — and here in Hardiman & Beyond a host of today’s writers explore two further centuries of Galway’s history; the vibrant cultural and artistic life of this compact and energetic city on the edge of Europe."This intricate cultural history of Galway demonstrates the power of visual and performing arts in vitalising and revitalising our lives. It shines a radiant light across the turbulent decades of the modern Irish story." — Professor Robert Pascoe, Victoria University, Melbourne"This book is full of treasure about the west of Ireland. It is beautifully designed, researched, and illustrated, including a trove of archival photos; absorbing reading not merely for cultural historians anywhere, but especially for anyone living in Ireland. It will become a favourite gift for anyone with a connection to to Galway." — Professor William Lyons, Emeritus Professor of Moral Philosophy and Fellow of Trinity College, Member of the Royal Irish Academy & playwright

Our world is at a critical turning point in history, as certainties are swept aside by a global pandemic, climate change and political upheaval. The choices we make over the next few years How we respond to these challenges will resonate for decades and determine whether we usher in a new Age of Enlightenment or a second Dark Ages. In this compelling book, Mark Roeder makes sense of our predicament, and explains why we must reconsider some of our most fundamental beliefs. Our current path is not sustainable - socially, environmentally or economically. We are literally devouring our planet, and our communities are becoming more polarised and fearful of the future. The time has come for us to make some bold changes to the way we live. This book explains what these changes should be, and how to implement them.

Fully illustrated in colour and most informative, this is a personal story about spiders and arachnophobia. With more than a touch of humour, deep curiosity and an artist’s eye the author examines her phobia and the object of her fear. What is a spider? What makes these eight-legged creatures so scary? To understand her own reactions to spiders better, she describes her many past and present encounters with them. The story takes her back to her childhood in Norway, to the USA, to holidays in Spain and Portugal, and to travels around Australia. She focuses on fine examples of these astonishing creatures from many places.

Alannah Coleman was admired as a free spirit and loved by many for her creative energy and physical beauty. She was part of a bohemian enclave in Australia and most significantly in postwar London where as a gallery director and curator she cultivated and captivated artists and literary figures such as Arthur Boyd, Charles Bush, Alister Kershaw, Sidney Nolan, Elizabeth Paterson, Albert Tucker and Phyllis Waterhouse. She tirelessly promoted Australian art and was a central figure in the sixties London art scene. In this biography, Simon Pierse reveals the fascinating and turbulent life of a neglected figure in British and Australian post-war art.

‘This book will save lives - human and animals.’Victoria Thompson is a passionate advocate for the protection of animals from great harm. She movingly describes our appalling failures in this regard and praises those who press for the enlightened awareness and humane treatment of animals. She believes profoundly that we must not continue to think of animals as just resources to exploit - for animals too have a right to live naturally. And she gives us solutions for a kinder world.

A contemporary artist is out to win a portrait prize by sketching a Che Guevara rebel from the old Australian colony in Paraguay. The artist’s brother is troubled by doubts about the rebel’s heroic identity and feels obliged to investigate.Set largely in South America, the novel explores divergent approaches to the truth in the wilds of Bolivia where Che sought to ignite a widespread revolution. The investigation ends in Sydney where Che’s ambitious dreams are still revered and the prize will soon be awarded. The counter-factual mysteries to be unravelled mirror South America’s own ingenious literary form, magic realism, a form reflecting the post-modern world’s richly-imagined but often bizarre perceptions.

The first months of London’s Great Plague of 1665 give no hope of any improvement, only an ominous warning of worse to come. Those who can are fleeing the city. Those who can’t – the poor, the old, and a dedicated few – must stay to face the growing danger. The ancient women of the parish of St Cyneswide and St Tibba, the Searchers, Viewers and Keepers, who have weathered the disappearance of one of their own, face further calls on their courage and resilience. The plot against the King simmers, supported by folk of fire and faith, dismissed by others as the work of fanatics. There are those who will stop at nothing and threaten the whole city. But … the parish still finds solace in singing; small children play their joyous, sometimes fractious, street games; and young people find each other. Volume 2 of Plague Searchers – Flee quick, go far – continues this gripping tale with its friendships and feuds, songs and psalms, plots and betrayals.

It is 1665 and London faces two deadly threats – the devastating plague, and dangerous rumblings of a rebellion against the King, Charles II. In the frontline of the plague, the ‘first responders’, are the ancient women of the parish: the Viewers, Keepers and Searchers, who must deal with the sick, the dying and the dead. Political and religious differences split the city. Some yearn for the days of Oliver Cromwell and the Puritan Commonwealth, others rejoice in the pleasure loving King’s return. A tale of friendships and feuds, songs and psalms, plots and betrayals, this exciting and original novel paints a rich picture of life – and death – in the perilous streets of plague-struck London.

When the Vietnam War veterans returned home to Australia, neither the veterans nor their partners were aware of the psychological harm with which many had been afflicted. Post-traumatic stress disorder had not yet been recognised and as the men fell victim to terrible moods and illnesses, they capitulated to their pain and isolated themselves and their families. With great courage and without recognition, veterans' wives held their families together despite government and community indifference, and they did so for decades. When He Came Home is a belated recognition of these women, and it also focuses on how the issues of PTSD and suicide affect veterans who participate in contemporary conflicts. Told within an informed historical context and employing intimate narrative interviews, this important book examines the unexamined: how so many families have been brought to their knees and how such suffering can be prevented.

A fully illustrated biography of London artist;Francophile and Western Australia colonial settler John de Mansfield Absolon painted superb ship-board scenes in an impressionistic style reminiscent of Edouard Manet's.

Original fine-art prints inspired by the classical architecture of Florence.

A biography of Ron Edwards;a leading collector and publisher of Australian folk music and publisher of many works on bush arts and Aboriginal rock art.

A biography of Alexander Kinghorne;an agricultural innovator;surveyor;civil engineer and sturdy;enlightened;Scottish settler in colonial New South Wales.

Ultima Thule was published in 1929 and is the third novel in the 1930s trilogy, The Fortunes of Richard Mahony, by Henry Handel Richardson. Writing in Sphere in 1929, Arnold Palmer said of these works: "In these three volumes we have one of the greatest novels not only of our generation, but of our language ..

"In these three volumes we have one of the greatest novels not only of our generation, but of our language ..