AustLit

'The inspiring story of the nursing hero who survived a wartime massacre and dedicated her life to saving others - from the critically acclaimed, bestselling author of Flinders, The Remarkable Mrs Reibey, Hudson Fysh and Banjo

'Bangka Island, 1942: Australian Army nurse Vivian Bullwinkel was just twenty-six when Japanese soldiers marched her and her fellow nurses into the shallow waters of a remote beach to be executed.

'Miraculously, Vivian would be the lone survivor - and she committed the rest of her long life to an exceptional peacetime career which she lived in tribute to her lost friends. The Lieutenant-Colonel would also be the first woman to be honoured with a statue at the Australian War Memorial for her extraordinary bravery and service - a country girl who become one of the highest ranking women in the Australian army, and who spent her life caring for others.

'Growing up in Broken Hill, New South Wales, Vivian started work at a local hospital and joined the Australian Army Nursing Service in World War II. When the Japanese attacked Singapore in 1942, she and sixty-four other nurses were ordered to evacuate, but soon their ship was bombed by enemy aircraft. Some of the women drowned, but Viv made it to Radji Beach on Bangka Island, off Sumatra, with twenty-one of her nursing colleagues.

'There Japanese soldiers forced the women to wade back into the sea, and as Vivian felt a bullet slam into her back, she fell face down into the water then waited to die as the soldiers bayonetted survivors. Somehow Vivian lived.

'For the next three and a half years Viv was a prisoner of war in a series of brutal Japanese camps where she helped other inmates survive the horror. When peace was restored, she went on to become a giant of Australian nursing - and was a key driver of Operation Babylift, the mass rescue of young orphans during the Vietnam War. For her extraordinary efforts, Vivian was awarded numerous honours, but she never forgot her fallen colleagues, whose lives she paid tribute to with her service to nursing.

'From the bestselling, critically acclaimed author of Flinders, The Remarkable Mrs Reibey, Banks and Hudson Fysh, Sister Viv tells the astonishing story of the courage, sacrifice, service, and love of an Australian nursing hero who survived against the odds and dedicated her life to the care of others.' (Publication summary)

'A no-holds-barred collection of Australian boxing yarns by one of Australia's bestselling storytellers and boxing aficionado, Grantlee Kieza

'Boxing has given Australian sport some of our most inspiring champions and captivating tales. Stories of underdogs overcoming heartbreaks and hurdles, of endless courage and dedication, triumph and tragedy, of bitter feuds and fatal showdowns, and of tough Australian battlers who became giants in the ring.

'Some of our most celebrated sporting legends have been fighters - from the heroes Les Darcy and Dave Sands, to the iconic Lionel Rose and Johnny Famechon, to the huge modern drawcards such as Jeff Fenech, George Kambosos, Kostya and Tim Tszyu, and the flamboyant female stars Sharon Anyos and Ebanie Bridges.

'For many, tenacity and sheer grit ran like molten steel in their veins - Lionel Rose rising from poverty in the bush to being mobbed by a quarter of a million people after his 1968 world title win. Jai Opetaia ignoring agony to win a world title with a broken jaw in 2022. Jeff Horn, a bullied schoolboy, out-toughing Filipino Manny Pacquiao, one of the most ferocious sluggers of all time.

'From the first brawls in old Sydney Town, the travelling boxing tents across the country and the first black world heavyweight champion to today's most celebrated fighters, Australia's pre-eminent boxing journalist and former assistant trainer to some of the ring's most talented champions presents our nation's greatest boxing stories.' (Publication summary)

'The extraordinary life, loves and voyages of the man who put Australia on the map

'Fearless, sharp-eyed and handsome, Matthew Flinders was one of the greatest of all maritime adventurers and undertook one of the most important voyages of discovery - to circumnavigate and map the famed Great Southern Land.

'Together with his Aboriginal interpreter and guide, Kuringgai man Bungaree, and his beloved rescue cat Trim, Flinders explored the furthest reaches of Australia and meticulously recorded its rugged coastlines on maps so accurate they are still used today.

'He also gave our vast island continent its name, turning the centuries-old title 'Terra Australis' into 'Australia' and making the name widely popular through his writing.

'Growing up in rural England, Flinders became fascinated with the sea, inspired by the adventure story of Robinson Crusoe and the history-making explorations of Captain James Cook. While not much more than a boy, Flinders fought in great naval battles against the French, and from a young age was at the forefront of major maritime voyages that took him right around the globe. With Sir Joseph Banks, England's foremost scientist as his mentor, Flinders set off in 1801 to discover and map the vast reaches of the great continent of the southern ocean.

'Flinders recorded his work, voyages and adventures in what would become his famous book and atlas, which announced to the world the true nature of the Australian continent's treasures - and its Indigenous people.

'But rather than bask in the accolades of his extraordinary feat, Flinders then spent years as a virtual political prisoner trapped off the coast of Africa when rushing home to his beloved wife, Ann, in England. His love for her, and his heart-breaking fight to escape his prison bonds to be with her again, was the last great adventure of a fascinating life.

'From the bestselling, critically acclaimed author of Banks, Banjo, Hudson Fysh and Monash, Flinders is a rollicking adventure tale of a man who loved the sea, and adored his family - and pushed himself to the limits of human endeavour to show it.' (Publication summary) 

'The extraordinary story of Mary Reibey - immortalised on the Australian $20 note, Australia's first female entrepreneur and the most powerful woman in colonial history

'In 1791, teenage runaway and sometime horse thief Mary Reibey narrowly escaped the English gallows with transportation to the brutal new penal colony at Sydney Cove.

'It was the beginning of a 60-plus year story of bravery and tenacity - within two decades Mary would overcome the stigma of her convict past to become the richest woman in colonial Australia.

'Finding love early on her arrival in the new colony, Mary went on to develop a family business which grew to include a fleet of merchant vessels. Widowed at just 33 and with seven children to support, Mary would oversee the growth of that business to an international trading empire and go on to expand what is now Sydney's thriving business district while helping to bankroll many of the colony's first public services.

'Shipping magnate, real estate mogul, working mum and philanthropist - this engaging and meticulously researched portrait by the acclaimed author of bestsellers such as Mrs Kelly, Banks, Banjo and Monash reveals a colourful character of remarkable determination and foresight who became one of Australia's first heroes as a brutal, remote British outpost was transformed into one of the most prosperous places on earth.' (Publication summary)

'The extraordinary life of the Gallipoli veteran and WWI Flying Corp gunner who founded Qantas and gave Australia its wings

'By the critically acclaimed author of bestselling biographies of John Monash, Banjo Paterson, Joseph Banks, Lachlan Macquarie and Henry Lawson, this is a fascinating, lively and thoroughly researched portrait of a modest, resolute family man with a steady hand during turbulence, a man who guided Australia's national airline from its humble beginnings through the dark days of the Great Depression, the perilous years of World War II, when the airline flew dangerous missions for the Allies, and into the great boom in international tourism that followed with the jet age.

'Hudson Fysh was a decorated World War I hero who not only founded Australia's national airline, Qantas, but steered it for almost half a century from its humble beginnings with two rickety biplanes to the age of the jumbo jets. More than anyone, Fysh shaped the way that Australians saw the world.

'A sickly boy traumatised by his parents' broken marriage, Fysh was a poor student, but the courage and determination he developed playing sport propelled him through his toughest challenges and became the foundations of this great Australian life.

'One of Australia's celebrated Light Horsemen at Gallipoli, Fysh went on to fly death-defying missions for Lawrence of Arabia with the Australian Flying Corps and battle Germans in deadly dogfights in the skies over Palestine. On his return from the Great War, Fysh launched his bush airline, the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd (Qantas), with the help of a wartime pilot friend and some western Queensland graziers. After flying the first scheduled Qantas passenger flight in 1922, he ushered in the Flying Doctor Service that still assists remote communities and the first Qantas international airmail services, which revolutionised Australian communications. Fysh went on to guide Qantas through the dark days of the Great Depression, the perilous years of World War II, when the airline flew dangerous missions for the Allies, and into the great boom in international tourism that followed with the jet age, giving millions of Australians their first experience of international travel.' (Publication summary)

'The desperate manhunt to bring down Australia's most notorious outlaw

'When Ned Kelly and his band of young tearaways ambushed and killed three brave policemen in a remote mountain camp in 1878, they sparked the biggest and most expensive manhunt Australia had seen. The desperate search would end when Kelly and his gang, wearing suits of armour, tried to derail a train before waging their final bloody gun battle with police in the small Victorian town of Glenrowan.

'In the 20 months between those shootouts and aided by a network of informers, hundreds of lawmen, soldiers, undercover agents and a team of Aboriginal trackers combed rugged mountains in freezing conditions in search of the outlaws. The police officers were brave, poorly paid and often ailing, some nearing retirement and others young with small children, but they risked death and illness in the hope of finding the men who had killed their comrades.

'The hunt for the Kelly gang became a fierce battle of egos between senior police as they prepared for the final shootout with Australia's most infamous bushrangers, a gun battle that etched Ned Kelly's physical toughness and defiance of authority into Australian folklore. By the author of the critically acclaimed Mrs Kelly, as well as other bestsellers such as Banks, Monash and Banjo, The Kelly Hunters is a fascinating and compelling account of the other side of the legendary Kelly story.' (Publication summary)

'The extraordinary rise, devastating fall and enduring legacy of an Australian icon

'Henry Lawson captured the heart and soul of Australia and its people with greater clarity and truth than any writer before him. Born on the goldfields in 1867, he became the voice of ordinary Australians, recording the hopes, dreams and struggles of bush battlers and slum dwellers, of fierce independent women, foreign fathers and larrikin mates.

'Lawson wrote from the heart, documenting what he saw from his earliest days as a poor, lonely, handicapped boy with warring parents on a worthless farm, to his years as a literary lion, then as a hopeless addict cadging for drinks on the streets, and eventually as a prison inmate, locked up in a tiny cell beside murderers. A controversial figure today, he was one of the first writers to shine a light on the hardships faced by Australia's hard-toiling wives and mothers, and among the first to portray, with sympathy, the despair of Indigenous Australians at the ever-encroaching European tide. His heroic figures such as The Drover's Wife and the fearless unionists striking out for a better deal helped define Australia's character, and while still a young man, his storytelling drew comparisons on the world stage with Tolstoy, Gorky and Kipling.

'But Henry Lawson's own life may have been the most compelling saga of all, a heart-breaking tale of brilliance, lost love, self-destruction and madness. Grantlee Kieza, the author of critically acclaimed bestselling biographies of such important figures as Banjo Paterson, Joseph Banks, Lachlan Macquarie and John Monash, reveals the extraordinary rise, devastating fall and enduring legacy of an Australian icon.' (Publication summary)

'Lust, science, adventure - Joseph Banks and his voyages of discovery

'The extraordinary life of one of the world's most famous and notorious adventurers

'Sir Joseph Banks was a man of passion whose influence spanned the globe. A fearless adventurer, his fascination with beautiful women was only trumped by his obsession with the natural world and his lust for scientific knowledge.

'Fabulously wealthy, Banks was the driving force behind monumental voyages and scientific discoveries in Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific, Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and the Arctic. In 1768, as a galivanting young playboy, he joined Captain James Cook's Endeavour expedition to the South Pacific. Financing his own team of scientists and artists, Banks battled high seas, hailstorms, treacherous coral reefs and hostile locals to expand the world's knowledge of life on distant shores. He returned with thousands of specimens of plants and animals, generating enormous interest in Europe, while the racy accounts of his amorous adventures in Tahiti made him one of the most famous and notorious men in England.

'As the longest-serving president of Britain's Royal Society, Banks was perhaps the most important man in the scientific world for more than half a century. It was Banks, one of the first Europeans to set foot on Australia's east coast, who advised Britain to establish a remote penal settlement and strategic base at Botany Bay, and he eventually became the foremost expert on everything Australian. Early governors in the colony answered to him as he set about unleashing Australia's vast potential in agriculture and minerals. For decades, major British voyages of exploration around the globe only sailed with his backing.

'By award-winning bestselling writer Grantlee Kieza, Banks is a rich and rollicking biography of one of the most colourful and intriguing characters in the history of exploration.' (Publication summary)

'Lachlan Macquarie is credited with shaping Australia's destiny, transforming the harsh, foreboding penal colony of New South Wales into an agricultural powerhouse and ultimately a functioning society. He was also responsible for the death of several Aboriginal men, women and children, brutally killed in a military operation intended to create terror among local Indigenous people. So was Macquarie the man who sowed the seeds of a great nation, or a tyrant who destroyed Aboriginal resistance?

'In the most comprehensive biography yet of this fascinating colonial governor, acclaimed author Grantlee Kieza chronicles the life and times of a poor Scottish farm boy who fought wars on five continents, clawed his way to the top of the British military after suffering a broken heart and who saw magnificent potential in the prison refuse sent to the penal colonies of the Great South Land. Lover, fighter, hopeless romantic and ruthless autocrat, Lachlan Macquarie is a towering figure of Australian history.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A.B. 'Banjo' Paterson is rightly recognised as Australia's greatest storyteller and most celebrated poet, the boy from the bush who became the voice of a generation. He gave the nation its unofficial national anthem 'Waltzing Matilda' and treasured ballads such as 'The Man from Snowy River' and 'Clancy of the Overflow', vivid creations that helped to define Australia's national identity.

'But there is more, much more to Banjo's story, and in this landmark biography, award-winning writer Grantlee Kieza chronicles a rich and varied life, one that straddled two centuries and saw Australia transform from a far-flung colony to a fully fledged nation.

'Born in the bush, as a boy Banjo rode his pony to a one-room school along a trail frequented by outlaw Ben Hall. As a young man he befriended Breaker Morant, and covered the second Boer War as a reporter. He fudged his age to enlist during World War I, ultimately driving an ambulance before commanding a horse training unit during that conflict. Newspaper editor, columnist, foreign correspondent and ABC broadcaster, he knew countless luminaries of his time, including Rudyard Kipling, Winston Churchill, Field Marshal Haig and Henry Lawson. The tennis ace, notorious ladies' man, brilliant jockey and celebrated polo player was an eye-witness to countless key moments in Australian history, and saw Carbine and Phar Lap race.

'Extensively researched and written with Kieza's trademark verve, Banjo is a lively and captivating portrait of this truly great Australian.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'My journey from bullied schoolboy to world champion

'The story of Jeff Horn reads like a fairytale. Written with award-winning author, journalist and boxing aficionado Grantlee Kieza, The Hornet is the tale of a boy who, slapped around by bullies, saw through tears in his eyes a vision of himself as a hero, a champ, someone other people might one day look up to.

'Horn took up boxing after being tormented as a teenager. Fast forward a dozen years and the former bullied schoolboy - now humble schoolteacher - became world boxing champion on 2 July 2017 at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium. The fight drew a record crowd to the stadium and a global audience of hundreds of millions, with Horn's victory over one of the greatest boxers of all time, Filipino senator Manny Pacquiao, one of the most incredible upsets in Australian sporting history.

'But the fight was decided not amid the roar in the vast arena so much as in the chambers of Jeff Horn's heart, where the essence of his character lives with blood and fire beside his steel backbone.

'Jeff Horn's journey to victory will resonate with anyone who has ever felt downhearted or dejected, anyone who has ever been an outsider. It's the revenge of the nerd, the rise of the geek, the coronation of the wimpy kid who once spent his lunchtime in the library to avoid the tough guys.

'The now millionaire boxer's message is simple: never give up on your dreams, because if you push through tough times, amazing things can happen. Through his rise from the pit of despair to global sporting fame, Jeff Horn has proved to the whole world that anything is possible. Anything.'  (Publication summary)

'The astonishing life of Ned Kelly's mother

'While we know much about the iconic outlaw Ned Kelly, his mother Ellen Kelly has been largely overlooked by Australian writers and historians -

until now, with this vivid and compelling portrait by Grantlee Kieza, one of Australia's most popular biographers.

'When Ned Kelly's mother, Ellen, arrived in Melbourne in 1841 aged nine, British convict ships were still dumping their unhappy cargo in what was then known as the colony of New South Wales. By the time she died aged ninety-one in 1923, having outlived seven of her twelve children, motor cars plied the highway near her bush home north of Melbourne, and Australia was a modern, sovereign nation.

'Like so many pioneering women, Ellen, the wife of a convict, led a life of great hardship. Born in Ireland during a time of entrenched poverty and sectarian violence, she was a mother of seven when her husband died after months in a police lock-up. She lived through famine and drought, watched her babies die, listened through the prison wall while her eldest son was hanged and saw the charred remains of another of her children who'd died in a shoot-out with police. One son became Australia's most infamous (and ultimately most celebrated) outlaw; another became a highly decorated policeman, an honorary member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and a worldwide star on the rodeo circuit. Through it all, 'the notorious Mrs Kelly', as she was dubbed by Victoria's Assistant Police Commissioner, survived as best she could, like so many pioneering women of the time.

'By bestselling biographer Grantlee Kieza, Mrs Kelly is the astonishing story of one of Australia's most notorious women and her wild family, but it's also the story of the making of Australia, from struggling colony and backwater to modern nation.' (Publication summary)