Australia War

For the first time, The Australian Wars brings what for too long has been considered the historical past into connection with its reverberations in the present. It is estimated up to 100,000 people died in the frontier wars that raged across Australia for more than 150 years. This is equivalent to the combined total of all Australians killed in foreign battles to date. But there are few memorials marking these first, domestic wars.

One American soldier called it "a green hell on Earth". Monsoon-soaked wilderness, debilitating heat, impassable mountains, torrential rivers, and disease-infested swamps - New Guinea was a battleground far more deadly than the most fanatical of enemy troops. Japanese forces numbering some 600,000 men began landing in January 1942, determined to seize the island as a cornerstone of the empire's strategy to knock Australia out of the war.

Established after World War I by the Royal Australian Navy, the Coast Watchers were a loose organisation of several hundred European settlers, missionaries, patrol officers and planters living in British and Australian Pacific Island territories whose job it was to observe and report on the enemy. They were mostly all unpaid volunteers whose job it was simply to observe and report on foreign shipping and aeroplane movements. It was never envisaged that the Coast Watchers would do any fighting, nor operate inside enemy-occupied territory.

An intense, action-packed battle for a volcano stronghold in the Vietnam War. Early 1967. In the embattled province of Phuoc Tuy, Corporal Chris Jackman and the men of 5 RAR join a daring helicopter-borne assault to capture Hill 82, a critical stronghold infested with enemy forces. They must storm the hill under relentless fire, clearing bunkers, trenches, and hidden fortifications in brutal close-quarters combat. But taking Hill 82 is only the beginning. Jackman and his men cannot rest on the laurels and must now dig in and prepare hold what was taken with blood and bullets. The NVA will ...

September 1942 marked the high point of Axis conquest in World War II. In the Pacific, Japan's soldiers had seemed unstoppable. However, the tide was about to turn. On Sunday, 6 September 1942, Japanese land forces suffered their first conclusive defeat at the hands of the Allies. At Milne Bay in Papua New Guinea, a predominantly Australian force - including 75 Squadron (fresh from their action in 44 Days) - fought for two weeks to successfully defend a vital airstrip against a determined Japanese invasion.

Unlike most other World War II accounts, this work covers the South Pacific operations in detail. The audiobook includes many now-forgotten operations that deserve to be well remembered. Significantly, the official Australian history of World War II correctly observed that Australia's part in the Pacific war is barely mentioned in American histories. This volume finally brings the major Australian contribution to the fore.

In the steamy heart of Quảng Nam, the war is changing, and so are the men who fight it. Corporal Chris Jackman has seen too much of Vietnam already, but nothing prepares him for his new assignment as an advisor with the AATTV. Thrust into a small team of Australians, Americans, and New Zealanders, Jackman must learn to trust and fight alongside the ARVN soldiers he is meant to guide. Together they navigate the chaos of shifting allegiances, strained commands, and an enemy that always seems one step ahead. From the rain-lashed training grounds of Canungra to the bullet-scarred compounds of...

Follow the antics of Clyde & Neville as they annoy friends and battle enemies, on water, in the air and deep in the jungles of the South Pacific during W.W. II, where they never lose their sense of humor- fighting the enemy or searching for the perfect beer. They are simple plantation owners on a South Seas Island before being chased off by the Japanese. They volunteer as Coast Watchers, working behind enemy lines. Problems occur, many of their own making and dog them as they confound both the Japanese and the Allies. Never having learned to put up with bureaucrats they go about their work,...

Under the fierce heat of the Australian outback, the laws of nature serve a rough justice. When a man vanishes deep in the Northern Territory, local police write it off. But his family suspect otherwise—and when the call for help goes out, Ben Hope and Jeff Decker are there to hear it. Ben’s instincts, honed by years of Special Forces missions, soon see the story told by a trail of bullet casings, rumours of a missing map and a lethal cocktail of greed, power and money.

The Tin Ticket takes us to the dawn of the nineteenth century and into the lives of Agnes McMillan, whose defiance and resilience carried her to a far more dramatic rebellion; Agnes's best friend Janet Houston, who rescued her from the Glasgow wynds and was also transported to Van Diemen's Land; Ludlow Tedder, forced to choose just one of her four children to accompany her to the other side of the world; Bridget Mulligan, who gave birth to a line of powerful women stretching to the present day. It also tells the tale of Elizabeth Gurney Fry, a Quaker reformer who touched all their lives.

Australian History For Dummies is your rough-and-ready tour guide through Australia's whirlwind past. We'll introduce you to the people and events that have shaped this "Land Down Under" (and why it's called that). You'll see how Indigenous Australians lived in Australia for over 65,000 years. You'll be there as British colonists explore Australia's harsh terrain. You'll delve into the recent past, giving you insight into modern-day Australia and what's next. This new edition fills in the last ten years of history and covers issues faced in the twenty-first century.

Long before Australia started to be considered one of the best places in the world to live, it was thought to be completely unlivable. In the 15th century, the European race to claim land began. Despite the fact that Australia was a large landmass, no nation believed it was worth colonizing. The land was claimed by the Netherlands. However, little exploration happened there. Many countries actually believed it to be uninhabitable. However, the Aboriginal populations had already been thriving on the land for millennia.

Colditz Castle was Nazi Germany’s infamous "escape-proof" wartime prison, where hundreds of the most determined and resourceful Allied prisoners were sent. Despite having more guards than inmates, Australian Lieutenant Jack Champ and other prisoners tirelessly carried out their campaign to escape from the massive floodlit stronghold, by any means necessary.

In 1932, Australia fought their own Great War... against the Emus. Convinced of an easy victory, the Army quickly learned not to underestimate their flightless foes. The emus formed alliances with other birds and kept advancing, gaining a near-human sentience after the nuclear testing of 1952-54 (We told the Poms and the Pollies that was a bad idea...) Come 2019, the east coast cities are the final hold-out against Avian Conquest of the Sunburnt Country, and it's Magpie season...

An epic tale of courage, camaraderie, and survival in the unforgiving jungles of Hat Dich. Corporal Chris Jackman and section of ANZAC soldiers are thrust into the heart of a vast offensive. Alongside their ARVN allies and the formidable U.S. 25th Infantry Division, known as Tropic Lightning, they must push deep into enemy territory to dismantle the Viet Cong's stronghold in the Suoi Da River Valley. From brutal ambushes and relentless artillery fire to desperate final stands, Brothers in Arms follows Jackman and his men as they navigate a harrowing campaign against a cunning and relentless...

Covering international wars from 1700—and now updated to include Ukraine and Gaza—Blainey demolishes many widely-held theories of why nations fight, arguing that peace is not the "natural" state of international relations, and war is not an aberration. Both are best understood as means of advancing national interests: when one is failing, the other becomes more likely, and therefore we need to understand what causes "the mystery of peace" as urgently as we understand what causes war.

This story is based on real life experiences of the Royal Australian Navy's Clearance Diving Team 3 (EODMUPAC Team 35), which served in South Vietnam from '67 to '71. This book provides a quite accurate snapshot of what it was like to be an Australian Navy 'Clearance Diver' serving in Vietnam. Their professionalism, their mostly unconventional behavior, their ever present sense of humour and their willingness to confront life-threatening danger head on, were all fundamental ingredients of what made these men stand out from the crowd.

2024 Revision The story of an Australian Family beginning in 1808 and up to 1998. “William Charker, for your part in the burglary of the dwelling of Thomas Evans at St. Mary Lambeth and stealing goods to the value of £33.60 you are hereby sentenced, along with your accomplice, to 7 years transportation in the colony of New South Wales.” And so, starts the saga of an Australian Family. Although this is the story of my ancestors it is also the story of Australia. William Chalker arrived in Australia aboard the convict ship Perseus on 13th of July 1808 and became the first member of the ...

Dramatic action stories from Australia’s past: The Lachlan Bushrangers – Frank Gardiner got out of Cockatoo Island Prison with no intention of going straight. He created a gang of bushrangers that included Ben Hall, Johnny Gilbert, and John O’Meally. They lived violently and died violently. The Lambing Flat Riots – The gold rush brought anti-Chinese riots which would culminate in a deadly clash between diggers and police troopers. Captain Moonlite – From pastor to bushranger. Andrew Scott, obsessed with a need for recognition, led a gang of young men in a vain attempt at ...

In November 1943, while on war patrol in the Makassar Strait, the USS Billfish submarine was spotted by the Japanese, who launched a vicious depth-charge attack. Explosions wracked the sub for 15 straight hours. With his senior officers incapacitated, diving officer Charlie Rush boldly assumed command and led key members of the crew in a heroic effort to keep their ship intact as they tried to escape.