Collection: -History

In 1788 Watkin Tench stepped ashore at Sydney Cove with the First Fleet. This curious young captain of the marines was a natural storyteller. His account of the infant colony is the first classic of Australian literature.

Set against the backdrop of Georgian England, the story of the First Fleet is one of courage, short-sightedness, tragedy, but above all of extraordinary resilience. Using diaries, letters and official records, David Hill reconstructs the experiences of these famous & infamous men and women of Aus...

"With the founding of Melbourne in 1835, a flood of settlers began spreading out across the Australian continent. In three years more land and more people were conquered than in the preceding fifty. In 1835 James Boyce brings this pivotal moment to life. He traces the power plays in Hobart, Sydne...

With the founding of Melbourne in 1835, a flood of settlers began spreading out across the Australian continent. In three years more land - and more people - were conquered than in the preceding fifty. In 1835 James Boyce brings this pivotal moment to life. He traces the power plays in Hobart, Sy...

1913: The World before the Great War proposes a different and more expansive portrait of 1913, returning this world to its contemporary freshness. It brings key elements u the way it was ordered, its presumptions, its expectations for the future u back to life. It paints a coherent picture withou...

"An absolute gem of a book." --"The Observer "Just before one of its darkest moments came the twentieth century's most exciting year . . . It was the year Henry Ford first put a conveyer belt in his car factory, and the year Louis Armstrong first picked up a trumpet. It was the year Charlie Chapl...

1922 was a year of great turbulence and upheaval. Its events reverberated throughout the rest of the twentieth century and still affect us today, 100 years later. Empires fell. The Ottoman Empire collapsed after more than six centuries. The British Empire had reached its greatest extent but its h...

1923 was one of the most remarkable years of modern European history. In January, France and Belgium militarily occupied Germany's economic heartland, the Ruhr; triggering a series of crises that almost spiralled out of control. Hyperinflation plunged millions into poverty. The search for scapego...

In 1942 there was a domestic crisis in Britain. Public morale collapsed with a widespread feeling that Winston Churchill was no longer the right man to lead the nation. In the course of the crisis, motions of No-Confidence were debated in Parliament. A credible rival for Prime Minister emerged. T...

"As the fate of the world is decided, so too is that of the British, Dutch and French empires. In India a generation committed to independence must decide whether to support 'the Raj' or fight alongside the Japanese. One military family is bitterly divided. Will it be the brother who serves under...