James1986 Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 Hi people, first post here so please be gentle! I'm planning to go on holiday to Australia at the end of the year (road trip between Melbourne and Brisbane). I've never been before, don't really know anyone from there, and don't really know much about the place (history / culture etc). I'm looking for a book(s) that will help me understand a little more about the place, so I don't turn up completely idle and miss out on learning some good things. I'm not looking for a travel guide, got plenty of those already. So far I have read "Down Under" by Bill Bryson, I thought this was a great book as he travelled all over and there were often several pages where he diverged off into a story of how a place got its name, why a town ended up in the place it did, accounts of early settlers etc. Thats the kind of thing I'm interested to read. I'm looking for an all rounder book that can hopefully cover some of the following : History - Who were the first settlers, why did the cities end up where they are etc. Indigenous peoples - Interested to learn more about their history. Famous (Australian) legends - Such as Ned Kelly, thats the only one I can think of but there must be more. Keen to find something on Kindle format too.. Many thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 I'm not sure if they're available on Kindle, but I would definitely recommend both Bruce Chatwin's Songlines and Doris Pilkington's Rabbit Proof Fence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladymacbeth Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 Bryce Courtenay has written a number of novels set in Australia. Four Fires is about a family and one sequence involves a large bush fire. He has also written the "Australia trilogy" The potato Factory, Tommo and Hawk and Solomon's Song. Jessica is also set in the outback and is probably one of his best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talisman Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 (edited) I would recommend the works of Kate Grenville for history - especially The Secret River. She is probably one of Australia's best known authors and has really done her research. Edited January 8, 2011 by Talisman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 For non-fiction, you could read The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes, which is a kind of classic text of Australian history. My biggest recommendations would be The Explorers and The Birth of Sydney, both edited by Tim Flannery. They are both brilliant compilations of first-hand accounts by people from different walks of life. The Explorers begins with first-hand accounts of Dutch sailors 'discovering' Australia in the 1600s and continues to 1977 and the expedition of a man to find the last of the remote Aboriginal communities in outback Australia. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It's truly fascinating to read the original stories of Europeans first encountering Aborigines and the rise and fall of their relationships through the years (yes, they did all get along at one point). The accounts detail both well-known and lesser-known events in Australian history, including lots of expeditions into the Australian outback in search of mythical water sources that resulted in death or near-death for many explorers. Little Australian maps appear for each entry showing whereabouts in the country each event occurred. The Birth of Sydney focuses solely on the settlement of Sydney. It begins with a diary entry of Captain James Cook in 1770 and ends in 1896. This book is just as fascinating because, although it's concentrated on a smaller area, it gives a much more in-depth account of the conditions faced by the settlers when they arrived in Australia, and how they started to build a new life for themselves. I know Tim Flannery has also written a similar book called The Birth of Melbourne, but I haven't read that myself. I'm sure it would be equally brilliant though. There are a couple of other hefty tomes that seem to be critically acclaimed and which I would love to read myself. One is the first volume of three (second volume is being released late 2011) by Thomas Keneally called Australians. According to the blurb, it 'brings to life the vast range of characters who have formed our national story. Volume 1 will tell the story of Australia's Aboriginal inhabitants and European settlers up to the early days of the Gold Rush and the Eureka rebellion.' The other is called Colony: A History of Early Sydney by Grace Karskens (sorry to be top-heavy on the Sydney stuff, but it's where I'm from so it's what I'm most interested in and have the most knowledge of). It's what it says on the box. As far as fiction goes, if you want a good taste of Australian literature, you could try something like Cloudstreet by Tim Winton. True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey is, I believe, a fictionalised account of Ned Kelly's life. It's supposed to be excellent but I haven't read it myself yet. I hope some of this helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James1986 Posted January 9, 2011 Author Share Posted January 9, 2011 Thanks a lot guys, plenty of suggestions here. I'll have to trawl amazon and see if I can pick up any on the kindle. Cheers again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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