Australasian and Pacific history Books

Book SynopsisThe marines on the First Fleet refused to sail without it. Convicts risked their necks to get hold of it. Rum built a hospital and sparked a revolution, made fortunes and ruined lives. In a society with few luxuries, liquor was power. It played a crucial role, not just in the lives of individuals like James Squire - the London chicken thief who became Australia''s first brewer - but in the transformation of a starving penal outpost into a prosperous trading port.Drawing on a wealth of contemporary sources, Grog offers an intoxicating look at the first decades of European settlement and explores the origins of Australia''s fraught love affair with the hard stuff.

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Book SynopsisPresenting the history of the inhabitants of the Pacific Islands from first colonization until the spread of European colonial rule in the later 19th century, this volume focuses specifically on Pacific Islander-European interactions from the perspective of Pacific Islanders themselves. A number of recorded traditions are reproduced as well as articles by Pacific Island scholars working within the academy. The nature of Pacific History as a sub-discipline is presented through a sample of key articles from the 1890s until the present that represent the historical evolution of the field and its multidisciplinary nature. The volume reflects on how the indigenous inhabitants of the Pacific Islands have a history as dynamic and complex as that of literate societies, and one that is more retrievable through multidisciplinary approaches than often realized.Table of ContentsContents: Introduction; Part 1 Exploring and Colonising Oceania: The birth of new lands, after the creation of Havai'i (Raiatea), Teuira Henry; 'Expanding' the target in indigenous navigation, David Lewis; Voyaging, Ben R. Finney; The colonisation of the Pacific plate: chronological, navigational and social issues, Geoffrey Irwin. Part 2 Historical Dynamics of Island Societies: Ecological Adaptations: Man's role in modifying tropical and sub-tropical Polynesian ecosystems, P.V. Kirch; Man and the sea in early Tahiti: a maritime economy through European eyes, Gordon R. Lewthwaite; The Ipomoean revolution revisited: society and the sweet potato in the upper Waghi valley, Jack Golson; Social and Political Evolution: The value of traditions in Polynesian research, Te Rangi Hiroa (P.H. Buck); Understanding Polynesian traditional history, Niel Gunson; Oral traditions among the Binandere: problems of method in a Melanesian society, John D. Waiko; Status rivalry and cultural evolution in Polynesia, Irving Goldman; Chimbu tribes: political organization in the Eastern highlands of New Guinea, Paula Brown; Regional Histories: The war of Tonga and Samoa and the origin of the name Malietoa, Samuel Ella (trans.); Exchange patterns in goods and spouses: Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, Adrienne L. Kaeppler; Kula: the circulating exchange of valuables in the archipelagoes of Eastern New Guinea, B. Malinowski; The place of Ulithi in the Yap empire, William A. Lessa; Yapese politics, Yapese money and the Sawei tribute network before World War I, M.L. Berg. Part 3 Culture Contact: The stranger-king or Dumézil among the Fijians, Marshall Sahlins; Institutions of violence in the Marquesas, Greg Dening; European-Polynesian encounters: a critique of the Pearson thesis, I.C. Campbell; From conversion to conquest: the early Spanish mission in the Marianas, Francis X. Hezel. Part 4 Responses to Pre-Colonial European Influences: The sandalwood trade in Melanesian economics, 1841-65, Dorothy Shineber

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Book SynopsisThe first aboriginal woman to be named in exploration literature is Ouray-Ouray; the best known is Trukanini, erroneously called the last Tasmanian when she died in 1876. This book gathers together these strands, and that of a vibrant women's literature, linking them to place - an island of still unspoilt beauty and unique flora and fauna.Trade Review"'Gently, stealthily, step by step, Susanna Hoe's narrative moves as a bright light shining into the dark history of Tasmanian Women.' - Carmel Bird 'Susanna Hoe's thorough research allows her to write a fascinating story of women in Tasmania. You can enjoy following her itineraries around the island and be amazed by the information about a multitude of women.' - Alison Alexander 'What a wonderful project! I couldn't put it down. It's based on very detailed research and she has brought to life so many important aspects of Tasmania's history.' - Lyndall Ryan"

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book Synopsis''They have left here today!'' he calls to the others. When King puts his hand down above the ashes of the fire, it is to find it still hot. There is even a tiny flame flickering from the end of one log. They must have left just hours ago.''MELBOURNE, 20 AUGUST 1860. In an ambitious quest to be the first Europeans to cross the harsh Australian continent, the Victorian Exploring Expedition sets off, farewelled by 15,000 cheering well-wishers. Led by Robert O''Hara Burke, a brave man totally lacking in the bush skills necessary for his task; surveyor and meteorologist William Wills; and 17 others, the expedition took 20 tons of equipment carried on six wagons, 23 horses and 26camels.Almost immediately plagued by disputes and sackings, the expeditioners battled the extremes of the Australian landscape and weather: its deserts, the boggy mangrove swamps of the Gulf, the searing heat and flooding rains. Food ran short and, unable to live off the land, the men n

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Book SynopsisThis is the first book to investigate the coming-of-age genre as a significant phenomenon in New Zealand s national cinema, tracing its development and elucidating its role in cultural change.

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Book SynopsisPresents the experiences of two burgeoning cities and the Irish people that helped to establish what it is 'to be Irish' within them

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Book SynopsisAustralia was born with its eyes wide open. Although politicians spoke publicly of loyalty to Britain and the empire, in secret they immediately set about protecting Australia's interests from the Germans, the Japanese - and from Britain itself.As an experienced intelligence officer, John Fahey knows how the security services disguise their activities within government files. He has combed the archives to compile the first account of Australia's intelligence operations in the years from Federation to World War II. He tells the stories of dedicated patriots who undertook dangerous operations to protect their new nation, despite a lack of training and support. He shows how the early adoption of advanced radio technology by Australia contributed to the war effort in Europe. He also exposes the bureaucratic mismanagement in World War II that cost many lives, and the leaks that compromised Australia's standing with its wartime allies so badly that Australia was nearly expelled from the Anglo-Saxon intelligence network.Australia's First Spies shows Australia always has been a far savvier operator in international affairs than much of the historical record suggests, and it offers a glimpse into the secret history of the nation.Trade ReviewFills a major gap in the history of Australian intelligence organisations. -- Professor David Horner, author of THE SPY CATCHERS: THE OFFICIAL HISTORY OF ASIO 1949-1963Great intelligence is often shared by great story telling, and John Fahey shares a great story in Australia's First Spies. -- Rear Admiral Paul Becker, USN (Retired), Former Director for Intelligence of the U.S. Pacific Command and Joint Chiefs of StaffTable of ContentsPreface, Introduction1 Wilson Le Couteur's Pacific Mission, 1901 2 Atlee Hunt: Public Servant, Spy Master, 1901-23 3 Enlightened Princes and Wise Generals: Military Intelligence in Early Australia 4 A Prescient Letter: Suspecting Japanese Spies 5 Join the Navy and Spy on the World 6 Australian Success, 1914 7 The Wanetta Organisation, 1901-20 8 National Intelligence, 1901-20 9 The First Coastwatcher 10 Australian Signals Intelligence, 1914-29 11 Hand to Mouth: Australian Signals Intelligence in the 1930s 12 Harry Freame's Japanese Mission, 1941 13 The Coastwatchers Go to War, 1939-42 14 The Lions in the Den: Japanese Counterintelligence 15 Herding Cats: The Allied Intelligence Bureau 16 Australia's First National Signals Intelligence Effort 17 Battle in Asia and the Pacific, 1941-42 18 Establishing Central Bureau, 1942 19 Stepping on Toes: Australia's Attack on Japan's Diplomatic Codes 20 Allied Secret Intelligence Compromised, 1944 21 Saving Australian SIGINT, 1945-47 22 Coastwatching behind Enemy Lines 23 The Solomons and Pacific Area, 1943 24 Human Intelligence in the Attack, 1943-45 25 The Kempeitai's Game, 1942-45Notes, bibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisBy the end of World War I, 45,000 Australians had died on the Western Front. Some bodies had been hastily buried mid-battle in massed graves; others were mutilated beyond recognition. Often men were simply listed as 'Missing in Action' because nobody knew for sure.Lieutenant Robert Burns was one of the missing, and now that the guns had fallen silent his father wanted to know what had become of his son. He wasn't the only one looking for answers. A loud clamour arose from Australia for information and the need for the dead to be buried respectfully. Many of the Australians charged with the grisly task of finding and reburying the dead were deeply flawed. Each had his own reasons for preferring to remain in France instead of returning home. In the end there was a great scandal, with allegations of 'body hoaxing' and gross misappropriation of money and army possessions leading to two highly secretive inquiries. Untold until now, Missing in Action is the compelling and unexpected story of those dark days and darker deeds and a father's desperate search for his son's remains.

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Book Synopsis'Luca Antara is a book-lover's book, a graceful and mesmerizing blend of history, autobiography, travel and romance.' - JM Coetzee Part memoir, travelogue, history and part detective story, Luca Antara is a rich tapestry of history and the present. It parallels the life of the author, an émigré to Sydney, and the life of an historical figure, António da Nova, the servant of a Portuguese explorer who in the 1600s sends him to find out more about Luca Antara (now Australia). New to Sydney, Martin Edmond finds himself impoverished and displaced. He earns money as a taxi driver but spends his spare time frequenting second hand bookshops trying to learn more about the history of Australia and the wider region. The people Edmond encounters in his taxi and in his search for rare books are varied and strange, offering the reader a voyeuristic glimpse into Sydney's sub-culture. Sent to discover more about Luca Antara, António da Nova's crew mutiny and dump him on the West Australian coast. He is found by Aborigines, who take him on an epic walk across northern Australia. Eventually he manages to return to his master in Portugal who awaits news of his explorations. Edmond's reading centres upon da Nova, but each book he reads leads to another and the subject becomes broader and increasingly fascinating. The lives of the two men and the strange customs and unique social mores of each man's culture and time intertwine throughout the book, ending with Edmond literally walking in the footsteps of da Nova across northern Australia.Trade ReviewReading this book is like listening to someone whose companionable, open-ended stories are absorbing yet elusive: you must make of them what you will -- Artemis Cooper * Daily Telegraph *part autobiography, part history, part travel book and part quest narrative, an unusual combination that nevertheless works. Indeed, Edmond's text is often a pure pleasure to read -- John Clay * The Literary Review *On one level, Edmond's curiously ambiguous book might be mistaken for a novel; on another, it is autobiography; on yet another it is literary history -- Iain Finlayson * The Times *In this part-memoir, part-fiction, part-history, Edmond attempts to find 'Luca Antara', the fabled land down under -- Naomi Mapstone * The Financial Times *ultimately, any memoir's agenda may be to present the multifariousness of the self, and where Edmond the protagonist is most vivid is in his evocations of his adopted Australia -- Jim Shepard * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisSouthern Lights recounts the story of how New Zealand lighthouses were established through the transfer of technology from Scotland to New Zealand over a period of almost 90 years. This resulted in most of New Zealand's lighthouses being fully or partially built using Scottish materials and expertise. The major Scottish contribution was the professional services provided by the firm founded by Robert Stevenson. The firm of David and Thomas Stevenson took on the first commissions and its successor companies over a period of 80 years were Consulting Lighthouse Engineers to the New Zealand Government. They arranged tenders, advised on technology, supervised manufacture and dispatch of lighthouse components and stores, and much more, proving invaluable to the New Zealand Agent-General in London. It was on this basis that in the period 1859 to 1941, 38 major lighthouses were built; 30 of which were constructed between 19865 and 1897. Thirty-three were built using Scottish-designed and built lanterns and apparatus and Scottish-designed lenses, although these were of French or English manufacture. Of the other five, two were eventually replaced by Scottish lighthouses, two were upgraded with Scottish technology and the fifth remains the sole example of English lighthouse design, although in its time was supplied with Scottish equipment. Scotland also supplied trained professionals who manned the lights, designed and administered them.Trade Review`This book gives an excellent account of the political background... ...it also paints a vivid picture of the logistical problems of shipping delicate and expensive equipment across the globe as well as demonstrating the efficiency of the Stevenson firm. The complete history of each lighthouse, including those built after 1913, is described in exhaustive detail down to the twentieth century. ... The book is crammed with facts and with transcriptions of letters and specifications... This book has copious references, and the numerous transcriptions of archival material are useful for a lighthouse historian. ...it has some excellent illustrations’. Engineering History and Heritage -------------------- `...well-written enlightening account that will appeal to all lighthouse enthusiasts and anyone interested in the maritime history of New Zealand’. Sea Breezes -------------------- `Southern Lights has been meticulously researched. ...contains some wonderful images of the lighthouses - some no longer standing - and a number of archival plans and charts. An interesting title...' LAMP -------------------- '...highly recommended to anyone with an interest in lighthouses, whether in New Zealand or Scotland, or more widely... ...a book which is going to have enduring value as a work of reference long into the future. ... The depth of research that underpins it is reflected in the long lists of references that conclude each chapter. Despite this the book remains approachable and readable, and fascinating. ...superbly illustrated... ...the best book anyone is ever going to be able to write about its subject and is a real pleasure to read'. Undiscovered Scotland

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Book SynopsisThe Great War profoundly affected both New Zealand and its Prime Minister William Massey (1856-1925). Farmer Bill oversaw the dispatch of a hundred thousand New Zealanders, including his own sons, to Middle Eastern and European battlefields. In 1919 he led the New Zealand delegation to the Paris Peace Conference, where it was represented both in its own right and as part of the British Empire. This symbolised its staunch loyalty to Empire and the fact that it had its own particular interests. Massey was largely satisfied with the Versailles Treaty, as New Zealand gained a mandate over Western Samoa, Germany forfeited its other Pacific colonies, and control over Nauru's valuable phosphate deposits was shared between Britain, Australia and New Zealand, rather than simply being given to Australia. He believed that the apparent confirmation of British power improved New Zealand's security, and had little faith in the League of Nations. However, the opposition Labour Party came to believe the League could prevent a major war and made that a cornerstone of their foreign policy in government after 1935. Their belief that Versailles was unfair to Germany partly influenced them to favour negotiations with Hitler even after the outbreak of war in 1939.Trade ReviewWe know much about the principal players at the Paris peace conferences of 1919-23: US President Woodrow Wilson, French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau and Britain's Prime Minister David Lloyd George. Each has his own volume in the "Makers of the Modern World" series on the peace conferences and their aftermath. These twin volumes examine the contributions by two small players: the prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand, William Morris (Billy) Hughes and William Ferguson (Bill) Massey, whose countries' wartime sacrifices for the British Empire secured them seats around the conference table. The Paris Peace Conference in 1919 represented a landmark for both in that it was one of the first occasions when the then British Dominions had separate representatives at an international conference beyond the confines of the Empire. Significantly for their national histories, Hughes and Massey appended their separate signatures at Versailles for their own Dominions. Though H-Diplo might regard these as twin volumes in the series, and that is how I propose to review them, these titles are not written as such but as separate, potted histories of the "personalities, events and circumstances" relating to the "makers" - the countries and their leaders - implicated in making peace after the Great War. The volumes follow the same broad structure - the life and the land; the Paris peace conference; and the legacy - because that presumably is the template set by the publisher to examine the standpoint of different countries' leaders around the table. As reviewers of other volumes in this series have noted, it would have helped to have a general editor's introduction to each book on the peace conferences that explained the relationship between each volume and the series. I am not the first reviewer to be confused by the book covers, which in this case suggest they contain biographies of Hughes and Massey, when the volumes are hybrids of biography and abridged segments of national narrative, placed in a suitably imperial context. That said, it is timely to reappraise both Hughes' and Massey's careers. Hughes is better known than Massey because Australia's wartime leader was vituperative and a propagandist, who benefited in Britain from a high media profile crafted by the first generation of the Murdoch press. The mercurial Hughes at least earned biographies, if they now appear dated in this era of transnational scholarship, and Carl Bridge's volume is a useful update of Laurie Fitzhardinge's classic life of the "Little Digger".1 Bridge argues the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 was Hughes' "finest hour" (p. ix), since the concessions he won made him Australia's most important twentieth-century politician and a foremost imperial figure. While this claim may be overstated, it is worth making in order to invite debate. Massey, by contrast, awaits a full biography. Though James Watson depicts him as a warm character, New Zealand historians have not found him sufficiently endearing to publish a full account of his life, so this volume fills a gap in the historiography. New Zealand had two representatives at the Paris conference, the other being Sir Joseph Ward, who was one of an extra ten delegates representing the British Empire. As Watson explains, Massey was the delegate who spoke for New Zealand. He argues that Massey has not received his due from historians of the peace conferences and seeks to revise understanding of the New Zealand Prime Minister's contribution, especially where he diverged from Hughes. Notably, Massey supported a compromise over the Japanese demand for a racial equality clause in the Covenant of the League of Nations. Watson's volume exposes divergences in Australia's and New Zealand's circumstances: Massey arrived late at the 1919 peace conference, delayed by the Spanish influenza epidemic, which struck earlier in New Zealand than in Australia. Reading these volumes in parallel also exposes divergent personal and geopolitical approaches: while Hughes and Massey were both accustomed to dealing in, and with, a British world, and unaccustomed to American and French diplomacy, Hughes' approach was more pugilistic. Massey owed his separate voice at the table to Hughes and to Robert Borden of Canada. Who the intended audience for these volumes is puzzled me when perusing the biographical sections. We learn that both Hughes and Massey were migrants - Hughes was a Welshman from London, Massey an Ulster Scot from County Londonderry - with different politics, as leader of the Australian Labor Party and New Zealand's non-labour Reform Party respectively. Bridge portrays Hughes in Keith Hancock's terms as an "independent Australian Briton": a nation-builder in a British imperial context, an advocate of compulsory military training and a citizen army and an independent Australian navy equipped to defend Australia's coast. Deeply suspicious of Japan despite the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, Hughes was an outspoken advocate of the White Australia policy, for whom World War I was a life or death struggle. Massey equally favoured a White New Zealand policy, though Watson does not describe it as such, noting instead that the Immigration Restriction Act 1920 reinforced New Zealand's policy of racial exclusion. This was more covert than the White Australia policy, but a direct parallel in practice. Bridge's national history begins with Australian federation in 1901 and Watson's with New Zealand's late discovery by Europe and late colonisation. Bridge's approach is more successful because the historical context he provides is more specifically related to these volumes' core subject: how these British Dominions responded to the Paris peace treaties. Reading the two volumes in parallel offers a particular advantage in this respect, by providing an accessible means of understanding the contrasting national stories over conscription in the Great War: New Zealand introduced conscription, like Britain, Canada, Newfoundland and the United States, whereas Australia did not, like South Africa and Ireland. Both Hughes and Massey supported the British model of conscription. But Hughes, unlike Massey, could not introduce conscription by Act of Parliament because the Australian federal system was against him. Australia said "no" to conscription twice, in referenda in 1916 and 1917. The result split the Labor Party because Hughes walked out taking 25 MPs with him. Hughes formed a new coalition party, the Nationalists, who won the federal election in 1917. Consequently, the Australians remained a volunteer force in World War 1 while at home Hughes became a divisive figure. New Zealand, on the other hand, legislated for conscription in 1916, while the conscription issue helped create, as opposed to split, the New Zealand Labour Party. When we compare Bridge's and Watson's accounts of "dividing the spoils" (to use Bridge's term for the treaty negotiations) we learn that both Hughes and Massey sought mandates over the German colonies to their north: Australia over New Guinea and New Zealand over Western Samoa. Massey shared Hughes' aim to exclude Germans from the Pacific and shared suspicions of Japan, though Hughes was blunter. According to Bridge, Hughes made his mark debating what would become of the former German colonies in the Pacific, and famously clashed with Wilson over the mandate (annexation) issue. Australia and New Zealand gained the substance of what they wanted, that is, to be rid of the German empire in the Pacific especially where that intruded south of the equator into what the southern Dominions regarded as their neighbourhood. Bridge shows how Hughes was uncompromising in opposing the racial equality clause that Japan sought to have included in the League of Nations covenant. Both volumes could have made more of the comparative context whereby these white settler states around the Pacific Rim perceived the Japanese proposal as a threat to their restrictive immigration policies; for Massey also opposed the idea, as did Canada and the western United States. On the issue of reparations, Hughes was equally truculent: "'Germany must pay'" (Bridge, p. 88). Massey sought a tougher peace as well, but this view failed to secure British and American support. What Australia and New Zealand did gain was the tiny former German island of Nauru and, with it, access to a century's supply of phosphate for agricultural fertiliser. In the aftermath of the peace conference, Britain, Australia and New Zealand shared the administration of Nauru's mandate. But Massey clashed with Hughes over Nauru because he wanted the mandate assumed by Britain, not Australia. Massey also wanted the British government to take control of the British graves (including those of New Zealanders) at Gallipoli, which he saw as a sacred site for the British race, especially the Anzacs from Australia and New Zealand. Overall, despite such comparisons and contrasts invited by this joint review, Watson portrays Massey as distrustful of Hughes rather than subservient to Australia's "Little Digger". Both Bridge and Watson demonstrate how Massey and Hughes advanced their separate national interests. Comparing the volumes themselves, Bridge's is the more successful in style and zest, and in locating Hughes within a broader British world. He interprets "the legacy" of Hughes' participation at the conference table largely in biographical terms, arguing that participation made Hughes a leading figure in the British Empire. For Bridge, the legacy is Hughes's as an elder statesman, rather than the legacy of the peace conferences. This exposes an inherent tension: for the series' sub-title suggests the aftermath of the peace conferences will be discussed. Instead we learn that Hughes remained in Australia's federal parliament for another 30 years, but after 1923 he never again served as Prime Minister. Indeed, he lived long enough to experience the war against Japan that he had predicted. Bridge's conclusion is a pithy summing up of Hughes as both a nationalist and an imperialist: "The British Empire literally made him and in so doing he and it did much to make modern Australia." (p. 131) Watson, however, is to be commended for his useful short chapter reflecting on the legacy of Versailles from a New Zealand perspective. He outlines and explains the lack of public awareness about the Paris Peace Conference in New Zealand compared to Anzac Day, the anniversary of the landing by Australian and New Zealand forces at Gallipoli in April 1915; the long-run implications of securing the mandate for Western Samoa; and the boost to New Zealand farming from using Nauru's phosphate as fertiliser. He proceeds to argue that the perception of a "faulty peace" (p. 154) helps to explain the New Zealand first Labour government's conciliatory attitude towards Nazi Germany in the late 1930s. He also outlines the change of attitude that saw New Zealand become a foundation member of the United Nations in 1945. In sum, both authors have tried valiantly to write to a series template that contains inherent problems for the reader because of unresolved tensions between the different genres of biography and concise national histories, and the history of international relations, which remain unaddressed by a general editor. As a result each volume transitions awkwardly between chapters within the specified parts. Nonetheless, individually and comparatively, these works are useful additions to our understanding of the role that the broader empire of settlement played in imposing peace terms at the end of World War I. Each contains useful notes and a chronology. But a rationale is not given for the "culture" timeline in each volume. Are the works included relevant to the biographical subjects' lives? I suspect the answer is no. More signposting is required, as for the series as a whole. 1 L. F. Fitzhardinge. William Morris Hughes: A Political Biography, vol. 2 The Little Digger, 1914-1952. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1979. -- Philippa Mein Smith H-Diplo Review 20110722

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Book SynopsisThe Gerd and Helga Plewig Collection of Bark Paintings from Northern Australia with works mainly from the 1950s to 1970s is presently considered the best collection of its kind outside of Australia. It includes works from the Kimberley, Wadeye, the Tiwi Islands, Arnhem Land and Groote Eylandt by artists like Yirawala, Mawalan Marika and Mungurrawuy Yunupingu. Painting on bark is part of a continuing artistic tradition of Australian Aboriginal people intimately related to long-established practices of body decoration, rock painting and the manufacture and decoration of various objects in sacred and secular spheres. It is thought to have been practiced for centuries, but has only been known to European researchers and collectors since the early 19th century. Bark painting relates to the time of creation which underlies the present and determines the future.

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Book SynopsisAn account of relations between the sexes and the role of myth in the transition between unconscious fantasy and cultural forms, based on studies of the mythologies of the Gimi, from the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea.

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