Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Publisher: Black Inc Books Genre: Non-fiction, autobiography, Australian history, SE Asia. Review in one word: Witty This is vivid story of a family of migrants who flee from the killing fields of Cambodia to the inner west of Melbourne to find sanctuary in the early 80’s. Told from the perspective of the narratorContinue reading “Book Review: Unpolished Gem by Alice Pung”
Tag Archives: australian history
10 Interesting Things I Found on the Internet #75
It’s edition #75, and witamy to this groovy, time-warping trip into the deep 70’s reverant funk music and then on to the forests of Borneo for a jungle symphony of gibbons Enjoy some spicy cauliflower along the way and play with a curious cockatoo sparring with a plastic dinosaur. Yummy cauliflower fried rice with WillContinue reading “10 Interesting Things I Found on the Internet #75”
Book Review: Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe
Publisher: Magabala Books Genre: Non-Fiction, History, Australian History, Aboriginal History, Archaeology Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 This is a hidden book about hidden Australian history. Written by esteemed and respected Aboriginal elder, historian and author Bruce Pascoe, Dark Emu tells an alternative version of how pre-European Australia looked according to the original and rightful owners and custodians ofContinue reading “Book Review: Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe”
10 Interesting Things I Found on the Internet:Christmas Edition!
Ho-ho-ho and a bottle of LSD spiked egg nog…welcome to another edition of 10 Interesting Things, featuring maurauding evil elves, rainbow coloured tinsel, yuletide kitsch and ephemera to tickle your fancy and hopefully make you chuckle (as if you haven’t been exposed to enough Christmas BS already)…perhaps you may blow chunks instead of chuckle…let meContinue reading “10 Interesting Things I Found on the Internet:Christmas Edition!”
Ancient Australian megafauna: Procoptodon goliah
I don’t know about you, but large Australian mammals and marsupials have got a special place in my heart. However of all of the large beasties to have lurched around in Australia I am most besotted with animals that have long ago passed into the dusts of yesteryear such as the behemoth 200 kilo ProcoptodonContinue reading “Ancient Australian megafauna: Procoptodon goliah”
A brief and enchanting history of Australian milk bars
Originally the concept of the milk bar in America was also a spin-off from the ever-popular apotheke-style pharmacists who dispensed medicines and often refreshing milk-infused tinctures to waiting customers. The customers often milled around or sat on bar stools at a long galley-style counter top. Originally, the pharmacists mixed the medicine with their backs turnedContinue reading “A brief and enchanting history of Australian milk bars”
Book Review: The Memory Code by Lynne Kelly
Genre: Non-fiction, archaeology, history. Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Publisher: Pegasus Books Historian and writer Lynne Kelly has created a fascinating book with a realistic theory its heart – that ancient monuments – Stonehenge, the Ring of Brodgar and also smaller hand-held objects (Lukasa, Coolamon) are actually memory aids. She believes that these objects largeContinue reading “Book Review: The Memory Code by Lynne Kelly”
Ancient Australian Megafauna: Diprotodon optatum
Diprotodon optatum was the largest marsupial to ever roam Australia, weighing over two tonnes. We rarely find its whole skeleton preserved in caves because it’s sheer size prevented it from falling through crevices into the oblivion. Although phylogenetically Diprotodon optatum was closely related to the extant wombat and koala, in terms of its physiology in appearance itContinue reading “Ancient Australian Megafauna: Diprotodon optatum”
Book Review: Animals Make Us Human: Edited by Leah Kaminsky and Meg Keneally
Genre: Non-fiction, nature, animals Publisher: Penguin Life Rating: 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 The Christmas/New Year of 2019/2020 bush fires scorched through enormous swathes of land across the whole of Australia and killed many millions of native animals. Afterwards, there was a huge outpouring of collective grief from people not only in Australia, but throughout theContinue reading “Book Review: Animals Make Us Human: Edited by Leah Kaminsky and Meg Keneally”
Book Review: The Trauma Cleaner: One woman’s extraordinary life in decay and disaster by Sarah Krasnostein
This is quite possibly the most incredible non-fiction memoir that I have ever read in my life. I know that sounds big, but this book was a real knock-out. It has won countless awards including the Victorian Prize for Literature. Originally a fantastic long-form essay on Narrative.ly, author Sarah Krasnostein then developed the story ofContinue reading “Book Review: The Trauma Cleaner: One woman’s extraordinary life in decay and disaster by Sarah Krasnostein”
Content Catnip 