AustLit

'Tim Winton's first Miles Franklin-winner, Shallows revolves around the ruthless commerce of whaling, and Queenie Cookson, who joins the fight to end it.
'Whales have always been the life-force of Angelus, a small town on the south coast of Western Australia. Their annual passing defines the rhythms of a life where little changes, and the town depends on their carcasses. So when the battle begins on the beaches outside their town, and when Queenie Cookson, a local girl, joins the Greenies to make amends for the crimes of her whaling ancestors, it can only throw everything into chaos.' (Publication summary)

'This book tells the history of Australia from the standpoint of the original Australians - those who lost most in our country's early colonial struggle for power. Surveying two centuries of Aboriginal-European encounters, it reveals what white Australia lost through unremitting colonial invasion and tells the story of Aboriginal survival through resistance and accommodation. It traces the continuing Aboriginal struggle to move from the margins of colonial society to a more central place in modern Australia.".

'Since its first appearance in 1982 and revision in 1994, Richard Broome's Aboriginal Australians has won a wide readership as a classic text on the history of race relations in Australia. Now fully updated to 2001, this new edition explains the land rights struggle since Mabo, the Hindmarsh Island affair, debates over the 'stolen generation', 'sorry' and reconciliation, and the recent experience of Aboriginal Australia. Aboriginal Australians remains the only concise and up-to-date survey of Aboriginal history since 1788.' (Taken from book jacket of 2002 edition.)

'Jerra and his best mate Sean set off in a beaten-up old VW to go camping on the coast. Jerra's friends and family want to know when he will finish university, when he will find a girl. But they don't understand about Sean's mother, Jewel, or the bush or the fish with the pearl. They think he needs a job, but what Jerra is searching for is more elusive. Only the sea, and perhaps the old man who lives in a shack beside it, can help. An Open Swimmer is a remarkable first novel by one of Australia's most loved and respected writers.' (Publication summary)

'The Day of the Dog tells the tragic story of Doug's few days of freedom. Set in urban Aboriginal Australia, the novel is a fast paced as it is gripping. Scenes of sudden, devastating brutality give way to peaceful, even lyrical interludes as Doug, his family and those close to him find temporary relief in friendship, love, alcohol or escape to the bush. But they are always drawn back into the ever-narrowing circle of crime, violence, and the inevitable destruction.' (Source: Publisher's website)

'The story of how Alan McCulloch, the Australian artist and writer, and his wife Ellen, travelled on a tandem from Paris through France and Italy to Positano in southern Italy. This book bristles with vivacity and wit. It is funny and informative, gay and sympathetic, enthusiastic and observant - happy mixture of adventure, anecdote and art. There are thirty illustrations by the author. They are superb.' (Publisher's blurb)