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Alvin Purple by Catharine Lumby
Category: Fiction | Series: Australian Screen Classics S.
One of the seminal films of the 1970s, "Alvin Purple" depicts Alvin's struggles with his irresistibility to women - from his school days and time as a waterbed salesman to his short-lived career as a sex therapist. The 'definitive ocker comedy', "Alvin Purple" survived a critical mauling and went on to ...Show more
Banjo Paterson: Collected Verse by Banjo Paterson
Category: Poetry | Series: Penguin Australian Classics Ser.
The poet A B 'Banjo' Paterson, best known for his rousing folk classics "The Man from Snowy River" and "Waltzing Matilda," is widely acknowledged as Australia's greatest and most popular balladist. His poems, written with great gusto and humour, celebrate all the romance and rough-and-tumble of old Aust ...Show more
Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith by Henry Reynolds
Category: Film & Tv | Series: Australian Screen Classics S.
Raised by missionaries, Jimmie Blacksmith, a young half-castle Aboriginal man, is poignantly caught between the ways of his black forefathers and those of the white society to which he aspires. Exploited by his boss and betrayed by his [white] wife, he declares war on his white employers and goes on a v ...Show more
Edward the Emu by Sheena Knowles
Category: Graphic Novels | Series: Australian Children's Classics Ser.
Tired of his life as an emu, Edward decides to try being something else for a change. He tries swimming with the seals, he spends a day lounging with the lions, and even slithers with the snakes. But Edward soon discovers that being an emu may be the best thing after all. Sheena Knowles's upbeat, rhymin ...Show more
Islands of Angry Ghosts: The Story of Batavia, Australia's Bloodiest Mutiny by Hugh Edwards
Category: History | Series: Australian Classics Ser.
New edition. In 1629 the Dutch East India merchantman, the Batavia was wrecked off the coast of West Australia while on a voyage to Indonesia. What followed this disaster is a harrowing tale of desertion, betrayal and murder. This updated edition includes new photographs. A replica of the Batavia is in ...Show more
Jedda by Jane Mills
Category: Fiction | Series: Australian Screen Classics S.
Filmed in 1955, Jedda was the first Australian feature film to use Aboriginal actors in lead roles, the first to be filmed in colour and the first to be shown at the Cannes film festival. It tells the tragic story of a young Aboriginal girl of the Arunte tribe, adopted by a white woman, Sarah McCann, as ...Show more
Looking for Crabs by Bruce Whatley
Category: Picture Books | Series: Australian Children's Classics Ser.
A family on holiday at the beach go looking for crabs in rock pools, under little rocks at the bottom of the pools, under really big rocks, or looking for hermit crabs living in little shells. They go away thinking perhaps there are no crabs at that beach. The delightful illustrations accompanying the t ...Show more
Mulga Bills Bicycle 50th Anniversary HB Edition by Deborah Niland (Illustrator); Kilmeny Niland (Illustrator)
Category: Children's Classic Fiction | Series: Australian Children's Classics Ser.
Celebrating 50 years in print, this is a new edition of the classic children's poem by Australia's favourite poet, A.B. 'Banjo' Paterson. Mulga Bill's Bicycle was written by Banjo Paterson in 1896. It was written at a time when cycling was a relatively new and popular social activity. Cycles were ridden ...Show more
My Sister Sif by Ruth Park
Category: Children's | Series: UQP Australian Classics Ser.
"Erika Magnus is a 14-year-old stirrer with a sky high IQ and complete confidence that she knows best. Her sister Sif may be seventeen, but Erika believes she has to be looked after and guided aright. So, when Sif longs to return home to the island of Rongo, a green dab in the middle of the Pacific ocea ...Show more
NAKED ISLAND by BRADDON RUSSELL
Category: Australian History | Series: Australian War Classics Ser.
Russell Braddon wrote The Naked Island in 1950. By 1968 it had been reprinted eleven times and sold one million copies in Britain alone. As the author states, 'It was written to tell the world what sort of people the Japanese can be. It was written to explain what they did in the war and what they might ...Show more
Puberty Blues by Nell Schofield
Category: Film & Tv | Series: Australian Screen Classics Ser.
Fish-faced moll', rooting machine', melting our tits off': with its raw, in-your-face dialogue, Bruce Beresford's film 'Puberty Blues' has become a cult classic. Based on the autobiographical novel by the outrageous Salami Sisters Kathy Lette and Gabrielle Carey, 'Puberty Blues' is a coming-of-age chick ...Show more
Rabbit-Proof Fence by Larissa Behrendt
Category: Fiction | Series: Australian Screen Classics S.
Three Aboriginal girls have been forcibly removed from their outback families in 1931 to be trained as domestic servants, as part of official government policy. They escape and begin a 1500-mile journey home using a rabbit-proof fence as a guide, with authorities chasing them all the way. Adapted fro m ...Show more