Australian Special

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.

This book takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the exciting and dangerous world of Australian Clearance Divers - the Navy's Frogmen. Trained in all forms of military diving, weapons handling, explosive ordnance disposal (EOD), sabotage, explosive demolitions, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), combat swimming, ship attack, counter terrorism, covert tactical operations and numerous other military skill sets, these sailors are the elite of the Royal Australian Navy. From one of the most mentally and physically demanding training regimes in the military world, to diving the most...

Mark Wales thought his life would end in a cornfield in Afghanistan. Mark and his SAS troops emerged from that scorched battlefield 12 hours later, his mentor gunned down, his dream career now a nightmare. Over four deployments of intense warfighting, Mark watched the line between right and wrong become blurred. When he left the SAS he was adrift, crippled by guilt. On a mission to rebuild himself, Mark turned his life around. He fought his way into the gates of a US Ivy League business school and into the boardrooms of top-tier international corporations.

From the age of 12, Scott Ryder knew he wanted to join the army, and he signed up as soon as he could. After serving as a paratrooper and in East Timor with 3 RAR, he wanted more. He trained all summer and took the grueling selection course for the commandos, earning the prized green beret on his second attempt. Forged in Fire takes us inside the secretive world of the commandos. Ryder shares battlefield stories from his tours to Afghanistan, where his regiment saw some of the heaviest fighting Australian forces have experienced since the Vietnam War.

"A pulse-pounding thriller of terrorism in Northern Ireland, threats to the Royal Family, confrontations, all leading towards just retribution." Jack, Mick, Mahaney, and Walking Bear are all enjoying a respite from their career pressures when they are alerted to a possible strike on the Royal Family. Mahaney's recent trip to Northern Ireland to investigate a string of brutal bank robberies has left him suspicious of the SAS and the robberies’ motivations. Possible action against the Royals by the military has everyone running scared. The horrors created by those trying to break the Easter...

A fascinating look at a neglected Allied front in the Southern hemisphere, Instructions for American Servicemen in Australia, 1942 follows its successful predecessors as a captivating historical document of a pivotal era in history.

Through the intimate writing of critically acclaimed autistic author Kay Kerr, Love & Autism presents an uplifting celebration of neurodivergent love, the search for it and a deeper look into the lives of autistic Australians.

‘Stop screaming, I'm scared too!' is not what you'd expect to see on the back of a loadmaster's helmet in a Chinook helicopter flying over southern Afghanistan, but for Rod Henderson it sums up his 22 years of service as a soldier in the Australian Army. This is not the story of a general or a Special Forces hero. It is the extraordinary memoir of a regular Australian soldier. Like so many others who have served their country with honour and distinction, the little-known stories of ordinary soldiers deserve to be told.

Get ready for a thrilling ride with Josephine Dakota Modeen, a woman who is anything but average. She's beautiful, noble ... and deadly. Her journey begins in this boxed set of the first three books in the pulse-pounding series. The setting is Australia, where Jo has returned to civilian life after becoming the first woman to be accepted into the country's elite Special Forces, and serving with distinction. While still deciding what's next for her, she's unexpectedly contacted by her old CO. It’s not a social call. Ben Logan VC is about to change her life forever. As a decorated ex-...

Havoc-06 is the call sign of former Australian Combat Controller Troy Knight. As a Royal Australian Air Force Airfield Defence Guard, Troy had not found the military adventure he sought: combat operations. His thirst for overseas deployment saw him privately contract his services in Iraq and South East Asia, but when he got whiff that the Australian Defence Force was raising a new defence capability, he couldn’t help but want to be part of it.

In mid-2017, whispers from Australia's most secretive and elite military unit reached Walkley Award-winning journalist Nick McKenzie. McKenzie and veteran reporter Chris Masters began an investigation that would not only reveal shocking information about Australia's most famous and revered SAS soldier but plunge the two reporters into the defamation trial of the century.

Soon after the declaration of war on Japan, a secret military reconnaissance unit was established, based on the British Special Operations Executive (known as SOE) and called the Inter-allied Services Department. The unit was tasked with the role to "obtain and report information of the enemy...weaken the enemy by sabotage and destruction of morale and to lend aid and assistance to local efforts to the same end in enemy occupied territories."

An increasing number of Australian children are being diagnosed with variations in their brain development. These can include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism and dyslexia. Authors Madonna King and Rebecca Sparrow have surveyed and interviewed almost 2000 Australians, including medical experts, educators, neurodivergent children and their parents, to gather together the best and most useful advice to ensure neurodivergent (ND) children take their rightful place in classrooms and workplaces.

Kate Jones and Mandy Hose have experienced the highs and lows of parenting - and they wouldn't change a thing. The pair met a decade ago and bonded over their premature twins with additional needs and their remarkable capacity for love, laughter and swearing like a trooper. As the mothers grew closer, however, they confided that they felt 'on-the-floor lonely' sometimes because nobody was talking about what it was like for families like theirs. It was time to give their community a voice.

Emma Memma invites you into her world to meet her mates. Come along and wave hello to Waffles the Wombat, Elvin Melvin and many more fun friends.