Some of Australia's best-known cricketers relive their childhood summers of playing cricket in their backyards.Australia has dominated test cricket over the last 130 years. But it's not the formal cricket academies or high-end coaching that are responsible for the Australian cricket team's winning ways. the backyard has been the real academy of Australian cricket. Don Bradman's unique grip, stance and backlift all evolved in response to the pace at which the golf ball rebounded off ...

In the tradition of his bestselling CURTIN and CHIFLEY, David Day's exhaustive biography of one of our most fascinating prime ministers.Paul Keating was one of the most significant political figures of the late twentieth century, firstly as treasurer for eight years and then Prime Minister for five years. Although he has spent all of his adult life in the public eye, Keating has eschewed the idea of publishing his memoirs and has discouraged biographers from writing about his life. ...

Why religion fell off the radar in Australia - and how it can get back onAt the time of Federation 98% of Australians identified themselves as Christians. Now only 8% say they regularly go to Church. What's changed? How did Australia become a post-Christian nation and what part did the Churches play in their own decline?Author Roy Williams (God, Actually, In God they trust?) has long been an impassioned defender of Christianity. Here, he tackles the decline of the church he...

Former Australian rugby union legend and World Cup winner, now acclaimed television sports pundit, on his glittering career in the game – and how close he came to losing his life.Few players in the history of the game have had as illustrious a career as Wallaby fly-half and captain Michael Lynagh.In an era when Australia took the rugby world by storm with their glittering array of mercurial talent, in chief orchestrator and courageous captain Lynagh they had a pivotal figur...

What are Australia's 'barbecue stopper' conversations right now? What are the things we talk and worry about?the 2009 ABC Boyer Lecturer is our best-known military officer, General Peter Cosgrove - an Australian Everyman whose interests are our own. As a father, General Cosgrove is concerned about the world we will leave to future generations. As a proud Australian, he is interested in how migration changed our sense of national identity. As an ex-soldier his life was about guarante...

A biography of unprecedented expedition under sailThe role of the sailor through history should never be underestimated. Over centuries battles were won and new lands discovered and settled by their skills and nerve. Rob Mundle is back on the ocean to tell one of the great stories of an expedition under sail: the extraordinary eight-month, 17-000-nautical mile voyage of the First Fleet. With customary sweep and swell, Mundle puts you alongside 48-year-old Captain Arthur Phillip on ...

This unique Indigenous man is one of the most inspiring music stories of our generation.From concert halls to recording studios and into Aboriginal heartlands, this is the story of Australia's Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu. This unique Indigenous man is one of the most inspiring music stories of our generation. Part road trip, part biography, Robert Hillman's account of Gurrumul's life and music offers rare insights into the sources of his inspiration. The book includes interviews wi...

In-depth, behind-the-scenes profiles of favourite Australian Story features from the last four years, as chosen by the Australian Story team."I am amazed that people remember the smallest details of the stories that have most touched them and which, in a surprising number of cases, have altered their own attitudes and choices in life." Caroline Jones Australian Story is without doubt one of the best-loved shows on the ABC. A cornerstone of Monday night viewing for 15 years, it has b...

The # 1 Bestselling Sport Autobiography of the greatest of all the Socceroos.It's an unlikely footballing fairy tale. Born in Sydney to a Samoan mother and Londoner father, Timothy Cahill grew up in the sprawling western suburbs, where cricket and rugby league ruled. It was a long way from his father's beloved West Ham and the English game that transfixed a young Tim with his own unlikely dreams of one day playing professionally.Growing up in the 1980s, life for Tim was abo...

Fabulous yarns and memories of going to school and teaching in the Outback.If your teacher commuted to school in a plane; if you had to watch out for rogue bulls rather than traffic; if your daily pick-up was done by a horse - you probably went to an outback school.this collection of more than sixty stories, gathered by Bill 'Swampy' Marsh in his travels across Australia, perfectly captures the experience of life growing up in the outback. Whether you loved school or not, these stor...

'This is a personal account of life at the top that will charm the general reader and the political tragic alike' Weekend AustralianAnna Bligh knows something about hard knocks and high walls. She was raised by a single mother in the working class Gold Coast, a young girl with a soon-to-be-estranged dad who struggled with alcoholism. She spent over 17 years in the rough and tumble of the Queensland Parliament (seven of them as either Deputy Premier or Premier) and she was the first...

A bold and provocative book about Australia's national identity and a plea to keep Australia's famed open-mindedness, Cater tracks the seismic changes in Australian culture and outlook since Donald Horne published THE LUCKY COUNTRY in 1964. 'A great book.' Rupert MurdochA bold and provocative book about Australia's national identity and how it is threatened by the rise of a ruling class. Nick Cater, senior editor at the Australian, tracks the seismic changes in Australian culture an...