Ten Journeys to Cameron’s Farm

Ten Journeys to Cameron’s Farm
Author: Cameron Hazlehurst
Publisher: ANU E Press
Total Pages: 682
Release: 2013-11-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 1925021017

‘In the whole history of government in Australia, this was the most devastating tragedy.’ Three decades after what he called ‘a dreadful air crash, almost within sight of my windows’ Robert Menzies wrote ‘I shall never forget that terrible hour; I felt that for me the end of the world had come…’ Ten Journeys to Cameron’s Farm tells the lives of the ten men who perished in Duncan Cameron’s Canberra property on 13 August 1940: three Cabinet ministers, the Chief of the General Staff, two senior staff members, and the RAAF crew of four. The inquiries into the accident, and the aftermath for the Air Force, government, and bereaved families are examined. Controversial allegations are probed: did the pilot F/Lt Bob Hitchcock cause the crash or was the Minister for Air Jim Fairbairn at the controls? ‘Cameron Hazlehurst is a story-teller, one of the all-too rare breed who can write scholarly works which speak to a wider audience. In the most substantial, original, and authoritative account of the Canberra aircraft accident of August 1940 he provides unique insights into a critical, poignant moment in Australian history. Hazlehurst’s account is touched with irony and quirks, set within a framework of political, social, and military history, distinctions of class, education, and rank, and the machinations of parliamentary and service politics and of the ‘official mind’. The research is meticulous and wide-ranging, the analysis is always balanced, and the writing at once skilful and compelling. This is a work of an exceptional historian.’ (Ian Hancock, author of Nick Greiner: A Political Biography, John Gorton: He Did It His Way, and National and Permanent? The Federal Organisation of the Liberal Party of Australia) ‘Ten Journeys to Cameron’s Farm is a monumental work of historical research pegged on a single, lethal moment at the apex of government at an extraordinarily sensitive time in Australia’s history. The book embodies top drawer scholarship, deep sensitivity to antipodean class structures and sensibilities, and a nuanced understanding of both democratic and bureaucratic politics.’ (Christine Wallace, author of Germaine Greer Untamed Shrew andThe Private Don: the man behind the legend of Don Bradman)

‘Now is the Psychological Moment’

‘Now is the Psychological Moment’
Author: Stephen Wilks
Publisher: ANU Press
Total Pages: 412
Release: 2020-10-12
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 176046368X

Earle Christmas Grafton Page (1880–1961) – surgeon, Country Party leader, treasurer and prime minister – was perhaps the most extraordinary visionary to hold high public office in twentieth-century Australia. Over decades, he made determined efforts to seize ‘the psychological moment’, and thereby realise his vision of a decentralised, regionalised and rationally ordered nation. Page’s unique dreaming of a very different Australia encompassed new states, hydroelectricity, economic planning, cooperative federalism and rural universities. His story casts light on the wider place in history of visions of national development. He was Australia’s most important advocate of developmentalism, the important yet little-studied stream of thought that assumes that governments can lead the nation to realise its economic potential. His audacious synthesis of ideas delineated and stretched the Australian political imagination. Page’s rich career confirms that Australia has long inspired popular ideals of national development, but also suggests that their practical implementation was increasingly challenged during the twentieth century. Effervescent, intelligent and somewhat eccentric, Page was one of Australia’s great optimists. Few Australian leaders who stood for so much have since been so neglected.

Dreamers and Schemers

Dreamers and Schemers
Author: Frank Bongiorno
Publisher: Black Inc.
Total Pages: 398
Release: 2022-11-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1743822723

In this compelling and comprehensive work, renowned historian Frank Bongiorno presents a social and cultural history of Australia's political life, from pre-settlement Indigenous systems to the present day. Depicting a wonderful parade of dreamers and schemers, Bongiorno surveys moments of political renewal and sheds fresh light on our democratic life. From local pubs and meeting halls to the parliament and cabinet; from pamphleteers and stump orators to party agents and operatives - this enthralling account looks at the political insiders in the halls of power, as well as the agitators and outsiders who sought to shape the nation from the margins. A work of political history like no other, Dreamers and Schemers will transform the way you look at Australian politics.

The Empire Has An Answer

The Empire Has An Answer
Author: Tony James Brady
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 357
Release: 2019-06-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 1922265373

‘If we do not win the battle of training, we shall win no other battle in the air.’ In 1943 the Royal Air Force recognised that training a vast amount of aircrew for a high attrition war was essential to an Allied victory, and that the key to winning the ‘battle of training’ was the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS). 37,576 Australian aircrew graduated from the EATS. Over 300 were killed whilst training for war and 9874 aircrew were killed or listed as missing while on active duty. Those who fought under this scheme during World War II amounted to just 6.7 per cent of Australian service personnel serving overseas yet the aircrew losses amounted to almost 25 per cent of all the Australian fatalities during the war. This made serving in EATS among the most hazardous duties of the war. The Empire has an Answer was researched using more than 35 000 articles, from 150 metropolitan, regional, and district newspapers, and what materialised was a story of one of, if not, the greatest training programs the world has seen. Follow the journey from the conception and implementation of the scheme, through recruitment and basic training, flight training, and then into combat. The individual accounts woven into the narrative provide a first-hand experience of the triumphs and trials of typical airmen and airwomen who performed extraordinary feats in a time of great need. The significant achievements and success of the Empire Air Training Scheme has for the most part been overlooked in our history, until now.

The Luck of Politics

The Luck of Politics
Author: Andrew Leigh
Publisher: Black Inc.
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2015-08-31
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1925203395

A delightful look at chance and outrageous fortune. In 1968, John Howard missed out on winning the state seat of Drummoyne by just 420 votes. Howard reflects: 'I think back how fortunate I was to have lost.' It left him free to stand for a federal seat in 1974 and become one of Australia's longest-serving prime ministers. In The Luck of Politics, Andrew Leigh weaves together numbers and stories to show the many ways luck can change the course of political events. This is a book full of fascinating facts and intriguing findings. Why is politics more like poker than chess? Does the length of your surname affect your political prospects? What about your gender? From Winston Churchill to George Bush, Margaret Thatcher to Paul Keating, this book will persuade you that luck shapes politics – and that maybe, just maybe, we should avoid the temptation to revere the winners and revile the losers. 'Andrew Leigh takes the simplest idea there is – luck – and threatens to remake your basic understanding of politics with it. Then he succeeds. Lucky for us.' Waleed Aly 'It's rare to find a politician prepared to acknowledge the role of luck – sheer chance – in political success and failure. Andrew Leigh doesn't just acknowledge it, he interrogates it, using fascinating historical anecdotes to illustrate his tale.' Lenore Taylor

The Bravest Scout at Gallipoli

The Bravest Scout at Gallipoli
Author: Ryan Butta
Publisher: Affirm Press
Total Pages: 186
Release: 2024-07-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1923046918

Harry Freame was the first Australian to win the Distinguished Conduct Medal at Gallipoli. Raised as a samurai, he risked his life again and again to scout the beaches and hills of the battlefield, reporting invaluable intelligence back to his officers and relieving stranded soldiers who otherwise would surely have died. Some say he should have got the VC but didn't because he was half-Japanese, a fact he tried hard to conceal. After the war, Harry (real name Henry Wykeham Koba Freame) became a soldier settler and champion apple grower. But when Japan emerged as a perceived threat to Australia, Harry was recruited into Australian intelligence to spy on the Japanese community in Sydney. Before Japan's entry into World War II, Australia opened a diplomatic legation in Tokyo, and Harry was sent as a translator - but his real role was a spy. Extraordinarily, his cover was leaked by the Australian press, and the Japanese secret police tried to assassinate him not long after his arrival in Tokyo in 1941. Harry died back in Australia a few weeks later, but his sacrifice has never been acknowledged by Australia. Until now. Featuring never-before-seen material, The Bravest Scout at Gallipoli is a fascinating and immersive investigation into a grievous historical wrong.

A Journey from the Depression to Space Age

A Journey from the Depression to Space Age
Author: Mary Bechtold
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Total Pages: 277
Release: 2012-01-04
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1467061549

I am qualified to write this book since I have seventeen years of teaching and counseling I had a B.A. in History and Government. A Masters. In Sociology, A Masters in Education Counseling and Guidance. I also ran a dog kennel for twenty years at Kidder. I had five employees and made One Million dollars the year that I decided to sell the kennel and go back into counseling. My husband was ill and the market was still good for selling dogs. My degrees all came from the University of Missouri at K.C. I was a scholarship student and a University fellow. All my tuition was paid by the University and Scholarships. I took two courses in Forensic Science and Criminology from Wentworth College in Missouri after I retired before I took a job at the prison teaching GED programs at the prison in Cameron Missouri. I have a rapport with most people, children and adults from all walks of life. I live in a rural area in Kidder Missouri. I am not ready to give the book a title. I was born in the depression and moved into the space and technicality age. I believe that after I was born a higher being set the course of my life so I could be helpful to individuals that I met and worked with. I am still thinking on this.

Cold Iron

Cold Iron
Author: Miles Cameron
Publisher: Orbit
Total Pages: 593
Release: 2018-10-23
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0316399329

A young mage-in-training takes up the sword and is unwittingly pulled into a violent political upheaval, in the first book of this epic fantasy trilogy by Miles Cameron, author of The Red Knight. Aranthur is a promising young mage. But the world is not safe and after a confrontation leaves him no choice but to display his skill with a blade, Aranthur is instructed to train under a renowned Master of Swords. During his intensive training he begins to question the bloody life he's chosen. And while studying under the Master, he finds himself thrown into the middle of a political revolt that will impact everyone he's come to know. To protect his friends, Arnathur will be forced to decide if he can truly follow the Master of Swords into a life of violence and cold-hearted commitment to the blade.