Australia & Oceania Audiobooks | History

The Dogs that Made Australia: The Story of the Dogs that Brought about Australia's Transformation fr

Hunter. Worker. Legend. The untold story of the dog's role in building our nation.The Dogs That Made Australia pays tribute to the dogs that gave their all for our prosperity: the fearless hounds that saved fledgling colonies from famine; the courageous heelers and tireless collies that powered the rise of beef and wool; the tough little home-grown terriers that protected the homestead and garden; and the extraordinary police dogs, ahead of their time, loved by the nation. The selfless exploits of our heroic dogs are writ indelibly in our nation's heritage and identity. The Dogs That Made Australia is a vivid and meticulously researched history of Australia told from the perspectives of the dingo and of the dogs that were imported and developed here, as well as the humans who loved, feared and worked them."A highly readable book about Australia's dog heroes and their contribution to Australia's development. This is a book for the ages. I loved every page!" Tony Parsons, OAM, author of The Kelpie

Guy Hull (Author), Guy Hull (Narrator)

Audiobook

Australia: A History Book of Australia

From the Aboriginal Dreamtime to the arrival of the First Fleet, from the gold rushes to the world wars, this audibook is a magical tale full of wonder and enchantment. And with a narrative style that will transport you to another world, you'll feel like you're right there, watching history unfold before your very eyes. The audibook consist of: - An immersive experience like no other: With a writing style that is as enchanting as it is informative, 'Australia' is a journey through time that will leave you spellbound. You'll feel like you're walking alongside the explorers, settlers, and rebels who helped shape Australia's destiny. - Fascinating characters and captivating stories: From the fierce warriors of the Dreamtime to the legendary bushrangers of the 19th century, from the brave ANZAC soldiers to the suffragettes who fought for women's rights, this audibook is filled with unforgettable characters and stories that will capture your imagination and leave you wanting more. - A magical look at Australia's unique challenges: From the harsh climate to the rugged landscapes, from the isolation of the continent to the complexities of multiculturalism, the audibook explores the magical and mystical factors that have made this nation's history so unique and captivating. - A celebration of resilience and triumph: Through wars, natural disasters, economic booms and busts, the people of Australia have always found a way to endure and come out stronger on the other side. The audiobook is a testament to the spirit and resilience of a nation that has weathered countless challenges. Purchase this audibook now and enter a world where history and storytelling converge to reveal the epic story of Australia.

Secrets Of History, Will Forrest (Author), Will Forrest (Narrator)

Audiobook

Huia Come Home

Once the sacred guardian of New Zealand's native forests, the huia was a symbol of the land's unique beauty and spirituality. The rare bird's tragic extinction in the early 1900s represents a shot to the heart of Aotearoa (New Zealand) and is a potent metaphor for a country's conflicted history. Using the story of the untimely extinction of the huia, J. Ruka offers a fresh perspective on the narrative of Aotearoa; a tale of two cultures, warring worldviews, and the things we lost in translation. Revisiting the early missionaries, the transformative message of the gospel and the cultural missteps of the Treaty of Waitangi, Huia Come Home invites us to reconnect with the unique story offered by the indigenous M?ori lens. In relearning our history, we might just find a shared hope for the future and a recovery of national treasures once thought to be extinct. Audio Production by Te Umu Nui. Music by J. Ruka. Re-creation of the huia call by Henare H?mana (Te Aitanga-a-M?haki, Ng?ti Porou) Recorded by the New Zealand Broadcasting Service 1949. Copyright Ng? Taonga Sound & Vision.

J. Ruka (Author), J. Ruka (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Palace Letters: The Queen, the Governor-General, and the Plot to Dismiss Gough Whitlam

What role did the queen play in governor-general Sir John Kerr's plans to dismiss prime minister Gough Whitlam in 1975, unleashing one of the most divisive episodes in Australia's political history? And why weren't we told? Under the cover of being designated as private correspondence, the letters between the queen and the governor-general about the dismissal have been locked away for decades in the National Archives of Australia, and embargoed by the queen-potentially forever. This ruse has furthered the fiction that the queen and the Palace had no warning of or role in Kerr's actions. In the face of this, Professor Jenny Hocking embarked on a four-year legal battle to force the Archives to release the letters. In 2015, she mounted a crowd-funded campaign, securing a stellar pro bono team that took her case all the way to the High Court of Australia. Now, drawing on never-before-published material from Kerr's archives and her submissions to the court, Hocking traces the collusion and deception behind the dismissal, and charts the secret role of High Court judges; the leader of the opposition, Malcolm Fraser; and the Queen's private secretary in fostering and supporting Kerr's actions. Hocking also reveals the obstruction, intrigue, and duplicity she faced, raising disturbing questions about the role of the National Archives in preventing access to its own historical material and in enforcing royal secrecy over its documents.

Jenny Hocking (Author), Katherine Littrell (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Battle for Hell's Island: How a Small Band of Carrier Dive-Bombers Helped Save Guadalcanal

From the author of Pacific Payback comes the gripping true story of the Cactus Air Force and how this rugged crew of Dive-Bombers helped save Guadalcanal and won the war. November 1942: Japanese and American forces have been fighting for control of Guadalcanal, a small but pivotal island in Japan's expansion through the South Pacific. Both sides have endured months of grueling battle under the worst circumstances: hellish jungles, meager rations, and tropical diseases, which have taken a severe mental and physical toll on the combatants. The Japanese call Guadalcanal Jigoku no Jima-Hell's Island. Amid a seeming stalemate, a small group of U.S. Navy dive bombers are called upon to help determine the island's fate. The men have until recently been serving in their respective squadrons aboard the USS Lexington and the USS Yorktown, fighting in the thick of the Pacific War's aerial battles. Their skills have been honed to a fine edge, even as injury and death inexorably have depleted their ranks. When their carriers are lost, many of the men end up on the USS Enterprise. Battle damage to that carrier then forces them from their home at sea to operating from Henderson Field, a small dirt-and-gravel airstrip on Guadalcanal. With some Marine and Army Air Force planes, they help form the Cactus Air Force, a motley assemblage of fliers tasked with holding the line while making dangerous flights from their jungle airfield. Pounded by daily Japanese air assaults, nightly warship bombardments, and sniper attacks from the jungle, pilots and gunners rarely last more than a few weeks before succumbing to tropical ailments, injury, exhaustion, and death. But when the Japanese launch a final offensive to take the island once and for all, these dive-bomber jocks answer the call of duty-and try to perform miracles in turning back an enemy warship armada, a host of fighter planes, and a convoy of troop transports. A remarkable story of grit, guts, and heroism, The Battle for Hell's Island reveals how command of the South Pacific, and the outcome of the Pacific War, depended on control of a single dirt airstrip-and the small group of battle-weary aviators sent to protect it with their lives.

Stephen L. Moore (Author), Pete Bradbury (Narrator)

Audiobook

Sea People: In Search of the Ancient Navigators of the Pacific

'Wonderfully researched and beautifully written' Philip Hoare, author of Leviathan 'Succeeds in conjuring a lost world' Dava Sobel, author of Longitude For more than a millennium, Polynesians have occupied the remotest islands in the Pacific Ocean, a vast triangle stretching from Hawaii to New Zealand to Easter Island. Until the arrival of European explorers they were the only people to have ever lived there. Both the most closely related and the most widely dispersed people in the world before the era of mass migration, Polynesians can trace their roots to a group of epic voyagers who ventured out into the unknown in one of the greatest adventures in human history. How did the earliest Polynesians find and colonise these far-flung islands? How did a people without writing or metal tools conquer the largest ocean in the world? This conundrum, which came to be known as the Problem of Polynesian Origins, emerged in the eighteenth century as one of the great geographical mysteries of mankind. For Christina Thompson, this mystery is personal: her Maori husband and their sons descend directly from these ancient navigators. In Sea People, Thompson explores the fascinating story of these ancestors, as well as those of the many sailors, linguists, archaeologists, folklorists, biologists and geographers who have puzzled over this history for three hundred years. A masterful mix of history, geography, anthropology, and the science of navigation, Sea People is a vivid tour of one of the most captivating regions in the world.

Christina Thompson (Author), Susan Lyons (Narrator)

Audiobook

Notes and Sketches of New South Wales during a residence 1839 to 1844 (Illustrated)

In the summer of 1839, 26-year-old Louisa Anne Meredith, in the company of her husband, Charles Meredith, sailed from England to the British colony of New South Wales, in what was then New Holland. Four years later, she published a detailed account of theyears since she had left England. A fascinating window into the past, Louisa's impressions and experiences cover the four-month ocean voyage; life within the fledgling city of Sydney; travels across the Blue Mountains to Bathurst; and eventual settlement at Homebush in Sydney's west. Vivid observations of Sydney as it was in the 1840s combine with descriptions of flora, fauna and the general way of life in the colony, all told through the eyes of a well-educated, articulate and well-to-do woman who had come from a very different climate and upbringing to that she found in Australia. Louisa was a naturalist, author and illustrator and her eye for detail provides a historically significant document giving a unique window into early Australian settlement. From descriptions of polite society, to hardships of drought and overland travel; from architecture to politics, convicts to aboriginal customs, Louisa's keen wit and clever insight provide a fascinating account of life in colonial Australia.

Louisa Anne Meredith (Author), Amy Soakes (Narrator)

Audiobook

Mallacoota Time

Highly-regarded creative talent Milena Cifali is an award winning singer-songwriter and poet, who, along with her partner Jim Horvath, lost her home, instruments and beloved parrots in the Mallacoota bushfires on New Year's Eve 2019. Out of adversity, Milena has written a heartfelt book, sharing her personal journey towards recovery, against the larger backdrop of an unprecedented bushfire season and the coronavirus pandemic. The book showcases Milena's considerable talents of writing, poetry, lyrics, and photography to create a stirring and timely work. At its heart is the search for home and its aim to connect with Australia's fire ravaged communities and to provide solace, facilitating healing for all those suffering loss amongst these communities.

Milena Cifali (Author), Milena Cifali (Narrator)

Audiobook

Walk a War in My Shoes

On the 25th August 1895, Ernest Alfred Hall was born into a pioneering Australian family that lived on a 313-acre property called 'Cloverdale' near the hamlet of Beech Forest, south of the Otway Ranges, some 200 kilometres south west of Melbourne, Victoria. As a child, it seemed he would be destined for the life of a farmer in a country that was just realising its independence through Federation, yet his path was to be diverted by the cataclysmic events that befell Europe and the British Empire. So it was, that one month short of his 20th birthday, Ernest caught the train to Melbourne and enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. At only 5' 3' he was never going to be the biggest soldier in the army, but as his father said to him, 'It's not the size of the dog in the fight, son, but the size of the fight in the dog.' Like so many, Ernest Hall embarked for the war to end all wars. Unlike so many, his letters and records survived. This is his story.

Murray Ernest Hall (Author), Geoffrey Boyes (Narrator)

Audiobook

Great Furphies of Australian History

With all the skills of the master storyteller that he is, Jim Haynes exposes some of the great myths of Australian history. Did you know that Portuguese and Spanish explorers probably found the east coast of Australia before Captain Cook, and that the Rum Rebellion was not caused by rum? And what about Banjo Patterson writing 'Waltzing Matilda'? As for Ned Kelly being a brave freedom-fighting rebel, in truth he was a thief, a thug and a murderer. The Ashes have nothing to do with cricket, the Ghan is not named after Afghan cameleers and Hargraves lied about discovering gold in NSW. Surprising, confounding, revealing and fun, Jim Haynes takes us on another great journey through Australian history and folklore.

Jim Haynes (Author), Jim Haynes (Narrator)

Audiobook

Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism

In 1897, as a white oligarchy made plans to allow the United States to annex Hawai'i, native Hawaiians organized a massive petition drive to protest. Ninety-five percent of the native population signed the petition, causing the annexation treaty to fail in the US Senate. This event was unknown to many contemporary Hawaiians until Noenoe K. Silva rediscovered the petition in the process of researching this book. With few exceptions, histories of Hawai'i have been based exclusively on English-language sources. They have not taken into account the thousands of pages of newspapers, books, and letters written in the mother tongue of native Hawaiians. By rigorously analyzing many of these documents, Silva fills a crucial gap in the historical record. In so doing, she refutes the long-held idea that native Hawaiians passively accepted the erosion of their culture and loss of their nation, showing that they actively resisted political, economic, linguistic, and cultural domination. Drawing on Hawaiian-language texts, primarily newspapers produced in the nineteenth century and early twentieth, Silva demonstrates that print media was central to social communication, political organizing, and the perpetuation of Hawaiian language and culture.

Noenoe K. Silva (Author), Kaipo Schwab (Narrator)

Audiobook

Torpedo Run: The Story of WWII Submarine Hero Eugene B. Fluckey

The remarkable true story of Eugene Fluckey, the US Navy's most innovative-and aggressive-submarine commander of World War II Over the course of five combat patrols during the Pacific War, Commander Fluckey reinvented submarine warfare, pioneering audacious strategies to hunt and sink Japanese warships and merchant vessels. At the helm of the USS Barb, he directed his boat to attack warship convoys-never mind the lop-sided odds-and to slip into heavily defended enemy harbors to launch torpedoes at unsuspecting targets. "Lucky" Fluckey's submariners often attacked from the surface, brazenly sinking the enemy with the Barb's deck guns. Once, he even sent sailors ashore on one Japanese island on a perilous mission to blow up a Japanese train. Fluckey and his crew sent an astounding seventeen enemy ships, including an aircraft carrier, to the bottom of the sea. In Torpedo Run, acclaimed naval historian Don Keith dives into the most thrilling and dangerous tales of Fluckey's war, as he guides his gallant crew against the Japanese fleet. For his heroism and intrepidity, Fluckey earned four Navy Crosses and the Medal of Honor, and showed what a submarine-and he-was capable of.

Don Keith (Author), Vincent Caruso (Narrator)

Audiobook

Australia & Oceania Audiobooks in History