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Australia had sporting champions before it had self-government. The earliest champions were watermen. A waterman’s trade was working small boats, and a waterman’s sport was racing them. In the many splendid bays and coves of Port Jackson, and along reaches of the Parramatta River, ‘pullers’ won their rowing laurels and (sometimes) made their fortune. Australia’s first six champion oarsmen are the stars of Port Jackson Pullers. These men led the way to the nation’s future dominance of the World Sculling Championship. Until now, any history of Australian sculling began in the year 1876, when Edward Trickett won the Championship of the Thames. But Trickett emerged from a well-organised aquatic sport which was flourishing on the waters of Port Jackson decades before he first stepped into a boat. John Brennan, George Mulhall, Thomas McGrath, Richard Green, William Hickey, and James Punch: six names that deserve honour in the world of rowing. Champions all, and all of humble origin, they fathered and furthered Australian professional sculling. Richard Green took it furthest of all, to the River Thames where, in 1863, he raced Britain’s best for the Championship of the World. Professional rowing was not established in Port Jackson without colour or controversy. In rough-and-tumble colonial times, good sportsmanship was an optional extra. Port Jackson Pullers revives and explores this vigorous, and occasionally villainous scene.
Michael Rush (1844-1922) was an Irish immigrant. In 1863, he settled on the Clarence River in northern New South Wales. Rush soon became Champion Sculler of the district, and then Champion of Australia. Rush never achieved the World Title, though he competed for it in 1877, drawing to Sydney’s foreshores the largest crowd of spectators Australia had ever seen. The opportunities of colonial Australia overwhelmed immigrants like Michael Rush, Irishmen of impoverished background. Rush devoted his energy to the getting of wealth and glory, but was incapable of keeping it. Money ran between his fingers like water and he fell on hard times, not through dissipation, but from his hearty, live-for-the-day gaiety. His unshakeable honesty and unfailing geniality won Michael Rush a trove of friendships that outlasted his sporting days, and fathered a rich legend that his family keeps alive. Other Australian champion scullers have monuments in stone and steel, but not Michael Rush. He came to prominence just too late to join the move towards sport as a profession, though he and others showed the way for Australians to earn a living from athletics. This biography explores the life and career of Michael Rush: his endeavours in athletics and in commerce; the men against whom he competed and those who backed and benefited from his sculling races; his business colleagues and his large and happy family. We see Sydney in its wild, colonial exuberance, see struggling Clarence River selectors and their proud and growing towns, see Sydney in its sober post-Federation days, when wowsers brow–beat governments into joyless reforms. We see a heroic Michael Rush in action at the oars, and a humbled Michael Rush facing bankruptcy court. Michael Rush is remembered for his unfailing courage, humour, warmth, and true sportsmanship. Michael Rush was an immigrant who strove and triumphed and became a credit to his adopted nation. Australians love a winner. Michael Rush will win your heart.
Once Upon A Hume Volume 3 pursues our journey down the ‘Great South Road’, as the Hume Highway was once known. We follow the original route, moving from personality to personality, catching up with some of the intriguing folk who lived near, or preyed upon, or prospered there, from the earliest days. Few of these folk or features are well-known. All have a story to share. Four Captains of Goulburn Town… Mary Clarke, and the chapel at Run o’ Waters… Dr de Lisle Hammond, Yarra weather prophet… Stella Franklin, schoolgirl novelist… Marion Bell, who drove a motor car right around Australia. Because she could… The Kangaroo March… The Breadalbane Triangle… The Cullerin Food Riots… Herbert Rose, who sold shares in his Perpetual Motion machine to several Goulburn folk… ‘Fighting John’ Cooper of Gunning… Three Gunning scribes... … and many other persons and prominences. Once Upon a Hume is a travellers’ companion. Anecdotal, informative, and chatty, it peoples the Hume Highway landscape with vivid characters and occurrences, profiles prominences, explains place-names, and makes an absorbing panorama of the passing show. This is the third of several volumes about the colourful humanity who dwelt Once Upon A Hume.
Once Upon A Hume Volume Five concludes our journey down the ‘Great South Road’, as the Hume Highway was once known. We follow the original route, moving from personality to personality, catching up with some of the intriguing folk who lived near, or preyed upon, or prospered there, from the earliest days. Few of these folk or features are well-known. All have a story to share. The feuding Stuckey brothers of South Gundagai Brave Mary Andrews and ‘the Siege of Kimo’ Mysterious ‘Sylvia’ of Sylvia’s Gap A ‘Little Sydney Harbour Bridge’ Philandering James Hillas, shot dead at Yabtree Station Freight hijackers on the Hume Highway Tarcutta’s haunted milking machine The strange Splatt family of Woomargama Fiendish James Feeney and the saintly Father Therry A suicide-note scratched on a billycan The curious testament of Peter Stuckey Mitchell ... and many other persons and places. Once Upon a Hume is a traveller’s companion. Anecdotal, informative and chatty, it peoples the Hume Highway landscape with vivid characters and occurrences, profiles prominences, explains place-names, and makes an absorbing panorama of the passing show. This is the final volume of the Once Upon A Hume series. It includes an Index to all five books in the series.
Once Upon A Hume Volume 4 pursues our journey down the ‘Great South Road’, as the Hume Highway was once known. We follow the original route, moving from personality to personality, catching up with some of the intriguing folk who lived near, or preyed upon, or prospered there, from the earliest days. Few of these folk or features are well-known. All have a story to share. In this volume, we explore the stretch of Old Hume highway between Gunning and Gundagai. We meet odd and interesting people and investigate intriguing places and events. Mountain-tops and murderers. Suicides and spooks. Flivvers and floatplanes and floods. Bushfire, pandemics, bunyips and bridges. Persons colourful, admirable, execrable and astute. Locales remote, abandoned, busy and becalmed: * Rapine, revels and reverence at Jerrawa. * The eight bewhiskered sons of Henry Manton. * Two doughty Yass ladies not to be trifled with. * Mount Bowning. Unlicked. * Deep waters at Burrenjuck. * ‘Spider’ Martin and the Bookham Battler. * The Mystery of Mary Mathews. * The Flivver and the Monkey Nose. * The Jugiong Rioters. * Apocalypse at Coolac. * The Parable of the Warby Brothers at Mingay. * Gunda-guys, Gunda-gals. One night in the Niagara Café. … and many other persons and prominences. Once Upon a Hume is a travellers’ companion. Anecdotal, informative, and chatty, it peoples the Hume Highway landscape with vivid characters and occurrences, profiles prominences, explains place-names, and makes an absorbing panorama of the passing show. This is the fourth of several volumes about the colourful humanity who dwelt Once Upon A Hume.
The Port Jackson Paisans is a story about family, albeit an off-the-wall, dysfunctional, and slightly dangerous one. Narrated in a funeral home by octogenarian Franky DeRossi, it recounts how a bungling band of Italian-Americans stopped the Brooklyn mob from taking over their hometown in 1962. Gritty, poignant and woefully funny, it's the enduring story of family and friendship and the ties that bind. The paisans are well-meaning Goombahs who bet their paychecks on the ponies, concoct doomed stratagems that never make a nickel, run numbers, and live life to the fullest. The Port Jackson Paisans is funny, joyous and irreverent - a window into the lives of a close-knit, small town Italian-American family.
‘The finest harbour deserves the finest book … A colourful, fascinating and enduring account of the greatest waterway in the hemisphere.’Simon Winchester ‘This book is a joy to read. And essential for anyone who loves Sydney Harbour ... And who doesn’t?’Ken Done In the bestselling tradition of Peter Ackroyd's The Thames, a celebration of one of the world’s great waterways. Everyone knows Sydney Harbour. At least, we think we do. Everyone can see the harbour, whether we have ever been to Sydney or not. By as little as a word or two, the harbour floats into our mind’s eye. The Bridge. The Opera House. Fireworks on New Year’s Eve. When we see those images, we feel a sense of belonging. No matter who we are or where we’re from, we see the harbour and we feel good. In this beautiful, authoritative and meditative journey, Scott Bevan takes us from cove to cove, by kayak, yacht and barge to gather the harbour’s stories, past and present, from boat builders, ship captains and fishermen to artists, divers, historians and environmentalists, from signs of ancient life to the submarine invasion by the Japanese and the natural beauty that inspires people every day. This is the ultimate story of Sydney Harbour – a city’s heart and a country's soul.
Deep beneath the Arctic Ocean, a covert team of Chinese operatives uses stolen U.S. technology to capture Russia’s newest attack submarine. Loaded with massive torpedoes carrying city-destroying payloads, the sub is headed west. The Americans want to sink her, the Russians want her back, and the Chinese claim they’re not responsible. NCIS Special Ops agent Jon Shay is a former SEAL Team Two operator. Activated for a mission in the Arctic, he pairs with British scientist Kate Barrett to battle a ticking clock, trained operatives, and three naval armadas. Together, they must find and stop the world’s most lethal submarine. The stakes are raised when they learn that the Russian sub is controlled by an infected AI system bent on completing its mission to annihilate hundreds of millions. “W. Craig Reed’s Status-6 is my vote for ‘Thriller of the Year.’ The protagonist is Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan meets Lee Child’s Jack Reacher.” —Grant Blackwood, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Tom Clancy Under Fire “W. Craig Reed’s latest novel, Status-6, is the best book I’ve read this year—a ripped-from-the-headlines military technothriller that literally left me awake at night, fearful of where we’re headed as a nation and a species. If you thought the coronavirus was terrifying, wait until you read about this potential nightmare. Don’t miss this first book in the NCIS Special Ops series that promises to shatter the thriller genre.” —James Rollins, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Demon Crown (Sigma Force) “W. Craig Reed’s Status-6 grabs you from page one and doesn’t let you go. The global crisis revealed in this book is all-too-real and could well be tomorrow’s headlines. The characters are well nuanced and provide a powerful urge to root for or against them. Don’t read this thriller before going to bed—you’ll be awake all night!” —George Galdorisi, New York Times bestselling author of the Tom Clancy Op Center series
“You will know this thing when you see it,” the Boatman tells Connie, “and you must be finished by half past six.” As she floats above her hometown of Scheepersdorp, Constance West can’t tell how long it’s been since she died. Nor why the mysterious Boatman rowed her back here. Beneath her, all the people she loved appear to be thriving. But the house of her guardian, the town dentist and former mayor, seems suspiciously quiet. And then there is Marianne, the baby daughter she had to leave behind. In Beverly Rycroft’s beautifully crafted novel, a small South African town in 1995 forms the backdrop to Connie’s tale. With honesty, humour and tenderness, Connie unravels the stories of her loved ones, and allows a secret in her own past to emerge.