Hesperian Press

To the Savage Land

The life of John Costello

by M.J. Costello

ISBN 0 85905 287 7, (2002 reprint), Soft Cover, 161pp, illustrated, 225gms

$26.00 + POST

In the 1880s John Costello, a pastoralist from Yass who has settled on Coopers Creek, purchased Lake Nash Station. He then opened up the wild country on the Limmen River of the Northern Territory, fighting disease, drought, malaria, hostile natives and cattle thieves. Eventually he lost the battle but never forgot the promise of his savage land.

To Wallal … and Back. The story of a Mullewa Drover.

by Joan Ridley.

ISBN 978-0-85905-772-1, (1999, R 2019), A4, illustrated, indexed, 42 pages, 130 grams, $22.00*

Ned Ridley was well known WA drover. This trip during WWII was blighted by disaster for the sheep, but is a good record of a traditional droving trip.

Tom's Story

An Autobiography

by Thomas Fisher.

ISBN 978-0-85905-519-2, (2012, New), A4, 113pp. illustrated, indexed, 450 grams

$30.00* + POST

When Tom Fisher was growing up on a farm in Western Australia in the 1920's, and during the Depression of the 1930's, he could never have imagined that he would take part in some of the toughest naval battles of World War II. Able Seaman Tom Fisher commenced his war service on 3 September 1939 and, except for a brief period in late 1945, served at sea throughout the war.

Tommy Ningebong

by Phil Bianchi

ISBN 978-0-85905-599-4, (2015, New), A4, 71 pp, illustrated, 190 grms.

$25.00* + POST

Bushman, tracker, drover, stockman, pastoralist, Aboriginal Ningebong was an extraordinary individual. C1904-1978 he spent most of his life in the wider Wiluna area. He was a favourite of the local people and many are the stories of his solidity and of course his little quirks. This biography places on record his life and peoples appreciation of him. He was the principal witness in the trial of the murderers of trapper Joe Wilkins in 1937 and in a rustling trial in the 1970s. He was one of the first Aboriginals to have his own pastoral Lease.

Toodyay

the good old days

by Wally Chitty (edited by Chris Martin)

ISBN 0 85905 342 3, (2004), 248 pages, 240x160mm, 150+ photos, maps, 415grams

$35.00 + POST

A magnificent new book on Toodyay - an anecdotal snapshot of life in times gone by.

Features more than 1000 people.  Illustrated with over 150 photographs. Includes reference maps. Easy to read and of great interest.

The author is a fourth generation member of a well known local pioneering family.

Toodyay Gold

compiled by Peter J Bridge and Angela Teague

ISBN 978-0-85905-443-0, (2008 New), A4, Soft Cover, 62pp, illustrated, 200 grams

$22.00*+ POST

Toodyay, one of the earliest settlements in Western Australia, dating from the 1830s, and the scene of many interesting incidents, showed that after a century of occupation it had more secrets to reveal, when in 1931, early in the first Great Depression, Brown and party discovered payable gold in Yinniding Creek, eight miles south-west of the town. This is an example of resources expanding to fill the needs.

This systematic collection of items in chronological order shows how the finds supported a small community of diggers during the difficult years of high unemployment and minimal incomes.

Toodyay Homesteads

by Rica Erickson and Robyn Taylor

ISBN 0 85905 362 8, (2006 New), Soft Cover, 196 pages, 260grams

$30.00 + POST

Toodyay Homesteads, Past and Present is an invaluable book for anyone interested in Western Australia's rural heritage. It describes the evolution of the Toodyay District and the farming properties that have operated since the 1830s and 1840s. The book takes the reader on a journey from Morby Cottage in Northam to the Berkshire Valley homestead in Moora. Individual chapters reveal the social, administrative, and economic forces that shaped the early development of the Swan River colony, while the homesteads provide insights into the use of local materials, and construction and farming methods up to the present day. Solid archival research by Rica Erickson is given life through her own experiences and early conversations with original settlers and their descendants.

Top Camp, Soldiers Secret
and the Ashburton Gold Rush

by Peter J Bridge

ISBN 978-0-85905-601-4, (New, 2015), A4, 222 pages, Illustrated, Indexed, 590 grams.

$50.00* + POST

The history of the Ashburton Gold Rush of 1890 with details of the pastoral stations, aboriginal conflict, lonely deaths, and all the adventures of the distant bush. This is a companion volume to the earlier, Bangemall.

The Top of the Hill

Ed by PJ Bridge

ISBN 978-0-85905-608-3, (2015, R 1930s), A4, 110 pages, 315 grams

$30.00* + POST

The letters to The Western Mail in the late 1930s cover reminiscences and observations of bush life by men and women, farmers, drovers, sailors, fishermen and represent the land as it once was before the influx of aliens changed our life. Essential reading to grasp how the nation has changed and why so many are unhappy with the current trends.

Touch Me Not

by Pat Studdy-Clift

ISBN 978-0-85905-654-0, (New, 2017), A4, 86 pages, well illustrated, 255 grams.

$30.00* + POST

This is an historical novel, based on fact and brimful of the adventures, trials and triumphs of one pioneering family – the Gadens. In 1923 with two small babies, aboard the lugger "Chantress", their adventurous father and his brave-hearted wife headed into the uncivilised part of Australia now known as Kakadu National Park, only to find themselves living in "bough sheds" at the mercy of tropical cyclones, buffalo bulls, fierce snakes and primeval crocodiles, to mention a few of their hazards.  Add to this a daughter Madge, who was not only a gifted pianist, but also a "darling".  She touched the hearts of many, world-wide, when leprosy struck both her and her father.  Top this with the inferno of World War Two as Madge, the mixed-race patients and their carers on Channel Island in Darwin Harbour faced the bombing of Darwin.  History leads us through a record of man's inhumanity, but also man's humanity to man.

The Trackmaster

Sig Schlam

by Bill Elkes

ISBN 0 85905 112 9, (1987 new), Soft Cover, 29pp, illustrated, 100grams

$10.00* + POST

The biography of one of the World’s greatest speedway motorcycle riders.

Tragedy Track

The Story of the Granites

by F.E. Baume

ISBN 0 85905 199 4, (1994 reprint of 1933 edition with new material), Soft Cover, 140mm x 215mm, 143pp, illustrated, 200grams

$22.00 + POST

The story of C.T. Madigan's 1932 Geological Expedition to the Tanami Desert in search of gold and the rush that followed.

The Tragic Pearl

by WC Charnley

ISBN 978-0-85905-019-7, (2010, R), 28pp, illustrated, SC, B5, 50grams

$10.00* + POST

Some people regard pearls as unlucky. However that may be, an uncanny fatality certainly seemed to attend the big 'stone' that figures in this remarkable narrative. First found off the coast of North-West Australia, it was stolen within a few hours of its discovery and almost immediately stolen again. Thenceforth it passed rapidly from hand to hand until it was lost to view, but during its travels it brought death to at least four men who had never even set eyes on it! "The story is absolutely true," writes Mr. Charnley. "The case is well known in the annals of Australian crime, and I can furnish authority for every detail, even of the ultimate sale of the pearl in London. I have thought it advisable to suppress certain of the names."

Travels among Gold and Cannibals in Western Australia

1870 – 1874

by Thomas Scott

ISBN 978-0-85905-025-8, (2010 new), A4, 42pp, 150gram

$22.00*+ POST

Intriguing material from Western Australia’s first gold rush to Peterwangy.

This idiosyncratic travelogue written for the author’s friends describes a journey from Albany, overland to Perth and eventually to Northampton. While the descriptions of travel, places and people – from convicts to governors, are of some interest it is his repeated references to gold, at Kendenup, Dandalup, and Peterwangy, as well as notes on the natives, including his near nemesis King Johny or Errinnoo of Northampton area, that create the greatest interest.

The covers feature colour sketches of Errinnoo the cannibal chief and a birds-eye view of Northampton from the manuscript.

Travels and Adventures of Ben Bridge Throughout Western Australia and Northern Territory

by Ben Bridge

ISBN 978-0-85905-540-6, (2012, 1915?), A4, 94pp, illustrated, 285 grams

$30.00* + POST

An intriguing story of one of the great and almost forgotten characters of the Australian bush.

Ben Bridge was one of Australia’s greatest horsemen at a time when nearly all Australians were familiar with the finer points of horses and their riders.

Travels in Western Australia

by May Vivienne

ISBN 0 85905 192 7, (1993 reprint of 1901 edition), Soft Cover, 212pp, illustrated, 275grams

$30.00 + POST

Travels in Western Australia is a delightful account of May Vivienne's tour through the South-West and the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia.

Written at a time when the Colony was astonishing the world with its riches, Travels continues to fascinate readers, showing a people with faith in their future and their new land.

Travels with a Lawbook

Memoirs of a Magistrate

by Ken ‘Lazarus’ Moore

ISBN 978 085 905 442 3, (2008 New), Soft cover, notch bound, A4, 384 pages, 1.1 kg

$50.00*+ POST

In this autobiography the author takes us on a roller-coaster journey from his birthplace in the Glens of Antrim to far distant places around the globe. Join him in the Royal Navy, where, like Nelson, he is sea-sick every day.

The Trenches in the Sky

by Dan Conway

ISBN 0 85905 205 2, (1995 new), Soft Cover, 140mm x 215mm, 248pp, illustrated, 400grams

$30.00 + POST

In The Trenches in the Sky Dan Conway covers the hazards arising from nature and enemy action, and the stratagems and tactics used by both sides during the air war of World War II.  He has kept rigidly to his aim to tell what it was really like flying in Bomber Command.

Dan's special concern is for the families who lost their loved ones with no word of their ultimate fate - just that horrible word "missing". He hopes that this account will give an understanding of the problems those gallant boys so resolutely faced.

Triangle

W.C. Charnley

ISBN 978-0-85905-729-5, A4, 100 grams

$16.00* + POST

A murder triangle at Day Dawn in 1908 with a wanton Delilah at the point.

Triumphs and Tragedies : Oombulgurri.

An Australian Aboriginal Community

by Neville Green

ISBN 978-0-85905-092-0, (New, 2011), 228pp, 160 x 240, illust., 530g

$35.00 + POST

Oombulgurri emerged from the remnants of Forrest River Mission to become one of the first independent Indigenous communities in Australia. During its 97 years its people have participated in events that captured national headlines; the search for the Southern Cross, the rescue of the crew of a German seaplane, reports of a massacre that sparked a Royal Commission, their service as guides to an elite military force preparing for the anticipated Japanese invasion of Australia and, in recent years, the community’s decline into poverty, depression and suicide. Sixty percent of the school children of 1967 are now dead. The missionaries and most of those they served are gone and so too is the lifestyle of that not so distant past, but in these pages we discover how church and government policies and failures shaped the present and the small achievements of Aboriginal people are soon lost in yet another wave of policies and practices that are presumed to be good for ‘them’.