Any good books about............OZ, of course?

[tony and sheena]

Hi
Can anyone recommend a good read about Oz?
I've just finished Down Under by Bill Bryson (brilliant, think I'll read it again), and Ten Pound Poms.
Any others???

Cheers
Sheena

[gilliantay]

Have you tried Anglo-Australian Attitudes by Michael Davie ?

Didn't think I would enjoy it but found out that I couldn't put it down.........it describes the relationship between the good old UK and Oz through the years (quite an eye opener to say the least).

Gill

[Rickard Family]

Originally Posted by tony and sheena

Hi
Can anyone recommend a good read about Oz?
I've just finished Down Under by Bill Bryson (brilliant, think I'll read it again), and Ten Pound Poms.
Any others???

Cheers
Sheena

hi who wrote the ten pound poms and was it any good? sorry have not read any myself so no recommendations thanks for yours i am just scouring amazon as we speak. Lou

[Stuju]

A great read is "The Forgotten Children"
written by David Hill, it is a true story & a heartbreaker about children from poor british familes in the 20th century that were transported to Australia -
a quick summary is

When David Hill was a young boy of 12, he was brought with his two brothers from his home in England to live at Fairbridge Farm School at Molong in New South Wales. His mother, like so many other British parents, had been led to believe that in signing away guardianship to Fairbridge Farm, she was entreating her children to a new and better way of life.

In Australia, she thought that her kids would be privileged to grow up in wide open spaces and be educated to a high standard. The reality was completely different. While David acknowledges that he had an easier time than most because in a rare situation his mother was permitted to live nearby, in this extraordinary book he reveals how so many Fairbridge childhoods were ruined by hardship, physical and sexual abuse, loneliness, malnutrition and educational neglect.

Based on the testimonies of ex-Fairbridge children, many of whom have been interviewed by David himself, this moving and compelling account of the failure of a misguided and myopic project -- to relieve the poverty problems in the UK and populate Australia at the same time -- is one of duplicity and misconduct on behalf of the Fairbridge Farm Schools and the British government.

Part memoir, part history, part investigation, it is a story that needed to be told.

David is/has been chairman then m d of ABC, chairman of australian football association, chief executive of the state rail authority nsw, chairman of railways australia CREATE foundation - so he has done alright for himself & lives now in Sydney.

[tony and sheena]

Thanks folks.

Lou, Ten Pound Poms - The Invisible Migrants is by A. James Hammerton and Alistair Thomson. To be honest, it's not really as good as it sounds, full of tables and figures, more like a history text book, but there are plenty of accounts from people. I would have liked it better if it had been one person's complete journey, but that's just me. Your library should be able to order it for you.

Gizmo, That looks great, I'll order that for my hols! (I know it doesn't look very cheery for hols, last year I lay at the pool reading Angela's Ashes!)

Thanks
Sheena

[Megss]

I've just finished Bill Bryson too, and it was AWSOME! I loved it so much, i don't think i've ever enjoyed reading a book so much, and plan to read it again whilst in Oz at the end of the month!!! (never read a book twice before!).

Just wanted add that! Thanks for the good thread, i'm making a note of some of these!

Meg
xx

[Stuju]

Gizmo, That looks great, I'll order that for my hols! (I know it doesn't look very cheery for hols, last year I lay at the pool reading Angela's Ashes!)

Thanks
Sheena[/quote]

Sheena,
Another good read is "No Turning Back" by Joanne Lees (the pommie backpacker whos boyfriend was murdered) brill book
gizmo

[mandisfam]

Sheena,
Another good read is "No Turning Back" by Joanne Lees (the pommie backpacker whos boyfriend was murdered) brill book
gizmo [/quote]

Hi, This sounds like a good book just requested it from the local library. Thanks for that gizmo.

Mandisfam

[EvieB]

I posted a book recommendation on the News forum last week - about a brilliant book by David Hampshire called Culture Wise Australia. Not ficition but very useful and fascinating info about everyday life in Australia. The chapter on Culture Shock and the effects of moving to a new country on migrants is alone worth the cover price of £9.99 and should be compulsory reading for anyone thinking of emigrating. David Hampshire has written two other excellent books 'Living and Working Australia' and 'Buying a Home in Australia'. For anyone interested in the history of Australia around the time of the new settlers/convicts you can't beat The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes. For fiction, Kate Grenville, Tim Winton and Bryce Courtenay are superb Aussie authors. Bryce Courtenay wrote a great trilogy about some people deported to Australia for petty crimes and how their lives changed and worked out when they got there. I'm an obsessive reader - can you tell?

[tony and sheena]

Hi Gill
Thank you, I didn't realise I hadn't thanked you earlier!

EvieB, Is the Bruce Courtenay trilogy fact or fiction?

Thanks again everyone, plenty of reading to be done after this.

Sheena