AustLit

Ludwig Becker, artist, naturalist, scientist, was a member of the doomed Burke and Wills expedition of 1860-61 - one of the best equipped yet worst fated of explorations. The sophisticated, talented and always curious Becker would die beside an ephemeral creek in south west Queensland while his party was under siege from displaced and enraged Aborigines.

'He had lived an extraordinary life in Europe before coming to Australia. As court painter for the Archduke Ludwig III of Hesse-Darmstadt; as an archaeologist and a portraitist; and, controversially, as a member of the radical political group Gesellschaft für Menschenrechte, the Society for Human Rights, Becker participated in formative events leading up to the European Revolutions of 1848.

'A collector and a dilettante as well, Becker at various times owned a first edition of Martin Luther's Table Talk (1556), original artworks by Rembrandt, Raphael, Cranach and van Dyck, and was the man who recognised and rescued from oblivion a unique artefact - the death mask of Shakespeare.

'Becker's principal Australian legacy is his written and visual diary of the Burke and Wills expedition, which includes over seventy luminous artworks - half of them reproduced here - depicting this new and foreign environment with eloquence and sympathy.

'In The Supply Party author Martin Edmond follows Becker's path from Melbourne to Bulloo Creek, guiding the reader on a physical journey and an emotional quest through outback Australia in search of a man who, malnourished, bullied by Burke, harried by Aborigines and horribly injured, until the last continued to fulfil his official duties as artist and naturalist.' (Publisher's blurb)

'By the age of thirty Reg had discovered the oldest fossils in the world and some of its deepest under-sea canyons. He had worked at Australia's first two uranium mines and searched for material to construct the world's first atomic bomb. By the time he was forty he had helped found SANTOS and discovered the great Cooper Basin oil and gas fields - Australia's largest on-shore petroleum province; he had set up the largest private geological consulting firm in the country; built his own boat and diving chamber; and mastered the primitive art of scuba diving. By the time he was fifty he had driven the first vehicle across the Simpson Desert and crossed the continent from north, south, east and west. He had also launched Arkaroola Wildlife Sanctuary, one of Australia's first eco-tourism resorts. The rest of his life he would devote to the unlikely bedfellows of mining and conservation, and to his insatiable love of geology. Oil; uranium; geology; conservation; these are the catch-cries of our times and the life of this intrepid, determined and oft-times irreverent pioneering Australian, renowned as one of our nation's greatest geologists, embodies them all. Written in a lively narrative style, Rock Star will make you laugh and cry and introduce you to a fascinating world that you never knew existed and won't easily forget.' (Publication summary)

'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 [sic], 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.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Oldcastle Books ed.).

'Chamberlain's version of the the story of the disappearance of her baby from a camping ground in the Australian outback. She relates how she was convicted for murder, the time she spent in prison and the legal battle which secured her release and which continues to sue for a full pardon.' (Publisher)