PLEASE NOTE: Any book title starting with "The" - the second word of the title is used to list by.

All prices quoted are in Australian currency and include GST.
* Short trade discount.

wanderings

The Wanderings of a Simple Child.

A record of Australian life

by A.G. 'Smiler' Hales.

ISBN 978-0-85905-783-7 (NR, 2020), A4, 69 pages, 270 grams, $30.00*


The early days of Broken Hill were the teething ground for many at Coolgardie. This autobiog details many later famous characters in training.

wheat_thievesThe Wheat Thieves

by James Downie.

ISBN 978-0-85905-817-9 (1934 R 2020), A5,  9 pages, $10.00* 


A 1930s tale of the wheat gangs stealing bagged wheat during the depression.

The Wild Nor'-West 

by Crosscut Wilson

ISBN 978-0-85905-692-2, (R, 2018), A5, $10.00*

the-winds-of-changeThe Winds of Change

by Gary Mentiplay

ISBN 978 0 85905 931 2. (New, 2022) A4 size, Soft Cover (French Flaps), 302 pages, illustrated colour, 1.2kg,

$60.00 AUD; Postage within Australia $15.00 AUD.


Sub-titled "Memories of BMC Leyland Australia" this book's main focus is on the people that had a close connection with the company. There are 42 accounts from people that were involved at the main BMC Leyland Australia manufacturing plant in Zetland (NSW); the Dealers that sold and serviced the cars; and the owners that bought the cars new.

The company's products are covered, from the early post-war CKD assembled models to the locally manufactured Austin, Morris and Wolseley cars of the late 1950s; the front wheel drive era of the 1960s with the Mini, Morris 1100, Austin 1800, Morris 1500 and Nomad; and on into the 1970s with the Austin Kimberley, Marina and P76. There are in-depth accounts on the Leyland Marina, P76 Targa Florio, Force 7 coupe, plus information on the P76 in Australia's taxi fleets.

Also featured are the stories of two marathon long distance trips. From the United Kingdom to New Zealand in 1950 driving a Morris Oxford overland (with a couple of sea journeys included, of course) and an epic around-Australia drive in the 1979 REPCO Trial by members of the HMAS Cerberus Car Club.

General coverage includes details on the ethnic mix of employees at Zetland; the testing of prototypes in New South Wales and Queensland; Press reports on the future of Leyland Australia from early 1973 and late 1974, and a detailed account of the negotiations between the federal government and Leyland Australia in late 1974 on the closure of the Zetland plant and the company's restructure.


Contact:  Gary Mentiplay;    This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ; Mob: 0420 448 036

wa_digger_cvrThe W.A. Digger Book

ISBN 978-0-85905-595-6, (1929, 2015), A4, 163 pages, illustrated, 430 grams.

$40.00* + POST


The W.A. Digger Book was published by the West Australian branch of the RSL in 1929, and expressed with picture and story the thoughts and experiences of the A.I.F. Over 160 A4 pages of reminiscence, story, verse, drawings and photographs, with a few contemporary supporting adverts from leading companies, make this a very interesting book. It contains forewords and articles by Monash, Chauvel, Hobbs, and Collett with contributions by Dryblower Murphy, Cyril Longmore, James Pollard, ‘Jean Dell’, and others writing under pen names familiar to readers of the Diggers Diary of the old Western Mail, which are a delight to read.

wadjelas_coverWadjelas

The memoirs of a 1950s Patrol Officer

by Adrian Day

ISBN 978-0-85905-475-1, (2010), A4, illustrated, soft cover,  276pp, 765grams

$50.00* + POST


This story is about a very young man with noble intent, a lack of maturity and no training whatsoever who is sent out by government to deal with what it sees as a disintegrating and dying race. It is about the ineptitude of government in dealing with a giant problem the average citizens, if they concern themselves at all, think is being attended to by experts. That within some grand plan there are dove­tailed notions which will bring about a solution, if not now, then at some stage in the future.

Read more...

waiting_for_rainWaiting for Rain

by Janet Wells

ISBN 0 85905 155 2, (1991 new), Soft Cover, 36pp, 70grams

$10.00* + POST


Prize-winning poetry of the North.


waldeck_storyThe Waldeck Story

Swan River Colony - Greenough 1836-1905

by Norma King

ISBN 0 85905 141 2, (1990 reprint of 1980 edition with new material), Soft Cover, 140mm x 215mm, 120pp, illustrated, 180grams

$22.00 + POST


The story of the Waldeck family of Greenough.

walker_brothersDiary. Walker Brothers Prospecting Expedition 1913.

Edited and annotated by by Jeremy Long and David Nash.

ISBN 978-0-85905-727-1, (New, 2022), 165 x 240, casebound, 180 pages, well illustrated in colour, with maps, indexed, 600grams, $90.00*


The annals of Australian land exploration include many expeditions remembered for misfortune, inexperience, or poor bushcraft. None of this applies to the eight months in 1913 when Chris Walker (1861–1930) led his brother Arthur and two other men (Crofts and Everett) prospecting by camel from Ryan’s Well (north of Alice Springs) west and southwest to Wiluna. The aim was to investigate ‘unknown country’ between the routes of previous desert explorers.  The party proceeded carefully, by scouting ahead for water before moving all the camels and equipment on from a known water source. They had no serious misadventures, and Chris Walker sent his diary and map to Canberra with its negative findings of any ‘mining or pastoral worth’. Their only backers were themselves and the Commonwealth Government, and both apparently had no interest in self-promotion. The report was eclipsed by the Great War (WWI), and although the WA section was serialised in a Perth newspaper in 1934, it has been largely overlooked.

Yet Walker’s competent journal includes numerous geological and natural history observations, and several interesting particular notes relating to Aborigines. Walker’s records are the earliest of what was later called Lake Mackay, well before the 1930 sighting by Mackay’s aerial survey.

The book includes maps, and photographs illustrating the route and the people. There are seven appendices, with biographies of the expedition members, a history of the recognition of Lake Mackay, a summary of the flora mentioned, and three indexes.

walker_in_the_wildernessWalker in the Wilderness

The Life of R.J. Anketell

by Judith Anketell

ISBN 0 85905 243 5, (1988 new), Soft Cover, 196pp illustrated, HC 485grams, SC 340grams,

HC $40.00 SC $30.00 + POST  (An edition limited to 500 copies)


"We built no heroes, but we left no bones."

This remark, said by a colleague, sums up the meticulous planning and execution of the expeditions led by Richard John Anketell.

In Walker in the Wilderness the exploits of this engineer/surveyor are traced as he opened up large tracts of Australia.   He is one of a band of intrepid public servants who lived and worked in inhospitable country beyond the bounds of civilisation.   His efforts, and those of other public servants engaged in similar pioneering work, have been undeservedly overlooked.

Read more...

wallabongWallabong. The life of James Harvie Greig, on The Road to Nullagine.

ISBN 978-0-85905-874-2, (1949 R 2021), $10.00*


A brief biography of Grieg and his popular poem, On the Road to Nullagine.

wanderings_didoThe Wanderings of Dido – E A Church

 by Peter J. Bridge with Gail Dreezens

ISBN 0 85905 365 2, (2007 New), Soft Cover, A4, 40 pp, saddle, 160grams

$20* + POST


Ted Church was a prospector and raconteur of the Kalgoorlie area who recorded many of the incidents of goldfields life.

Wanjina_cvrWANJINA

Notes on Some Iconic Ancestral Beings of the Northern Kimberley

by Kim Akerman

ISBN 978-0-85905-628-1, (2016, New), A4, French flap stiffened soft cover,193pp, full colour illust. 885grams

$85.00 + POST


Wanjina Beings – among the most distinctive of all the Aboriginal Ancestral Beings depicted in Australian rock art – have been a topic of conjecture among Western scholars since their discovery by the explorer George Grey in the northwest Kimberley Region of Australia, in 1838. Their origins have at various times been ascribed to travellers from other continents and even extraterrestrial sources.

Read more...

waterbag_joeWaterbag Joe Lyons

by Peter J. Bridge.

ISBN 978-0-85905-741-7, (New, 2020), A5. 21 pages, $10.00*


Joe Lyons, a successful prospector made his name immortal on the goldfields by going in search, on foot, with 8 waterbags, for a lost prospector. Like Russian Jack, his humanity not his gold, marked him as real man.

way_we_were_the_cvrThe Way We Were

Ed by PJ Bridge

ISBN 978-0-85905-609-0, (2015, R 1930s), A4, 107 pages, 310 grams

$30.00* + POST


The letters to The Western Mail in the early 1940s 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.

we_came_homeWe Came Home

or

Return from the Land of Milk and Honey

A True Story of Living Hell

by Richard J. Armstrong

ISBN 085905 352 0, (2005 new) 211pp, A4, Perfect bound, illust., 585grams

$30.00* + POST


The author was in Changi and on the Burma railway and this is his reminiscences of men and murderers, good men and bad, with neither fear nor favour. The author is now 85 and in failing health, but all his old comrades will remember this as vintage Richard. 

wealth_wildcatsWealth and Wildcats

by Raymond Radcliffe

ISBN 0 85905 309 1, (2004, reprint of 1898),129 pages, Illustrated, 190grams

$22.00 + POST


Raymond Radclyffe, journalist for the London Financial Times traveled through the goldfields of Western Australia and New Zealand in the late 1890s.

No other contemporary writers match his astute and cynically amusing observations of the miners and their mines, the social scene, politics and resources.

The description of places such as Dandalup, Yalgoo, and Mt Magnet also illuminates obscure gold rushes and their characters. Wealth and Wildcats is a nugget in the wilderness of words on Australia’s greatest gold rush. 


well_drilling_cover

Well Drilling Plants and Gasoline Engines

by the Goldfields Diamond Drilling Coy. Pty. Ltd.

ISBN 978-0-85905-454-6, (?1920s, 2008), Soft Cover, 78 pages, A4, 235grams

$25.00* + POST


This heavily illustrated catalogue and descriptive booklet of ?1920s diamond drilling equipment for water and oil is invaluable for machinery collectors and historians of the pastoral and oil drilling industry in Australia. The Foreword details it’s approach:-

"In the following pages we submit illustrations with brief descriptions of Boring Plants, tools, and accessories, manufactured by us at Melbourne. If you are interested in boring, a careful perusal will repay you.

Read more...

wa_gold_towns_ab

West Australian Gold Towns and Settlements

by Ian Murray with Phil Bianchi, Maria Bloomfield and Celene Bridge

ISBN 978-0-85905-094-4, (2012, New), A4, 520pp, 1.72kg

$110.00* + POST


Two huge volumes with 199 pages of text on the establishment history and 403 pages of original surveys and town maps.

Fully indexed with the names of the first inhabitants.

Published with the help of the Leonora Shire.

Only sold as the two volume set. Don’t lend and lose as we printed small matching numbers and will not supply individual volumes.



west_pilbara_cover_aThe West Pilbara

Sail and Teams to Bulk Carriers and Bitumen

by Doug Gordon

ISBN 978-0-85905-444-7, (2008 Reprint), 162pp, softcover, A4, illustrated, 410grams

$35.00* + POST                   

 Reprinted with index


Doug’s memoirs cover his families involvement in the early NW and Millstream Station. It is very well illustrated. Contains biographical sketches of N.W. characters such as Jack Edney An important book on the N.W.why none of his four children has embarked on the same course!

A new edition of this popular book, now indexed. The Gordon family were pioneers of the Pilbara. Covers the early history and the development of Millstream Station, together with Doug’s life at Wittenoom and many of the NW personalities.

west_tempestoriousWestern Australia's Tempestuous History

by John Nairn

ISBN 0 85905 088 2, (1986 reprint of 1976 edition with new material), Soft Cover, illustrated by Frank Pash, Three Volumes, 158pp, Large Format, 380grams each

3 volumes $60.00 for 3 volumes or $22.00 per volume + POST


Incidents of Western Aaustralian history brought to life.

maritime-matters-coverThe Western Australian Coastal History Series

by Rod Dickson

All are (2012, New), Soft Cover, A4. Sold only as the 7 vol set.

$477.00* + POST


With the Maritime Heritage Association of Western Australia as a set of 50 copies only. This series encompasses the Maritime History of the coastal regions of Western Australia from 1800 to 1900. It includes all known incidents and accidents along the coast and all the ships and boats that entered and left the various ports. The cargo carried by these vessels east and west and also north and south and the passengers carried in and out.

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wa_explor_vol1

THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN EXPLORERS’ DIARIES PROJECT INC.

Western Australian Exploration

1826-1835 Volume 1

Ed. by Joanne Shoobert et. al.

ISBN 085905 351 2, (2005 new), Hard Cover, 638 pp, illustrated, maps, 1.3Kg

$96.00* [Print-run 1000.] + POST


This is one of the most significant volumes ever published in W.A. and the first of its type in Australia. Few have before attempted such a project.

It is the result of many years and tens of thousands of hours collecting, collating, typing and proofing. It will be an essential reference for all interested in W.A. history. Other volumes are in preparation.

Explorer's Diaries Webpage

Click here to view a copy of the Title and Contents pages

wae_1836-1845

THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN EXPLORERS’ DIARIES PROJECT INC.


Western Australian Exploration 1836 – 1845

The Letters, Reports and Journals of Exploration and Discovery in Western Australia

Ed. by Marion Hercock and Sheryl Milentis with Phil Bianchi

ISBN 978-0-85905-495-9, (2011 new),460 pages, illust, 1.4 kg

$95.00* + POST


Published by Hesperian Press with the Heritage Council of Western Australia.

Foreword by the Minister for Heritage, the Honourable Mr G.M. (John) Castrilli, MLA.

Companion volume to Western Australian Exploration Volume 1 1826–1835 and Evidences of an Inland Sea.

Read more...

wa_exporation_1846-1860Western Australian Exploration 1846-1860.

Edited by Sheryl Milentis.

ISBN 978-0-85905-888-9, (New, 2022), 165 x 240, Casebound, 648 pages, well illustrated, with maps, fully indexed, 1.7 kg, $170.00*


The long awaited volume completing the explorations of the southern portions of the state.

The third and largest companion volume to Western Australian Exploration Volume 1 1826–1835 and Volume 2 1836­­–1845. Volume 3 has been dedicated to the Gregory brothers who undertook many of the expeditions between Albany and Champion Bay and were instrumental in opening up the Murchison to agriculture.

Each expedition has a synopsis including participants, departure and finish dates and places, an outline of the route, a summary of the journey, topographical map references and the archival sources reproduced from original reports, letters and diaries with extensive maps and images.

Includes earlier land explorations by Menzies (1791) and Flinders (1802)

Short biographical notes on the participants and footnotes. Appendices for botany and zoology with notes on fishes. A brief history on the military influences in Shark Bay. Sailing directions for Shark Bay and a detailed account of the spearing of Governor Fitzgerald.

A comprehensive index of people, places, ships with a selected general index. 

roe_cvr

THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN EXPLORERS’ DIARIES PROJECT INC.


The Western Australian Explorations of John Septimus Roe 1829-1849

edited by Marion Hercock

ISBN 978-0-85905-527-7, (2014, New), Casebound, dj, 160x240, Illustrated, 726 pp, 1.9kg

$100.00* + POST


The long awaited complete collection of Surveyor General Roe’s expeditions from the Western Australian Explorers’ Diaries Project. Contains appendices on the plants, animals, and navigation. Fully indexed.

Read more...

western_aust_ghost_mining_tWestern Australian Ghost Mining towns, Business & Residence Areas, and Mining Camps

Ian Murray OAM.

ISBN 978-0-85905-827-8, (New, 2023), A4, french flaps, 427 pages, 270+ maps,  1.2kg, $110.00*


This volume is recommended to be used in conjunction with the two volume West Australian Gold Towns and Settlements, published in 2011, as many of the maps are applicable to both titles.

WA Lonely Graves VolumeWestern Australian Lonely Graves

Yvonne and Kevin Coate

ISBN 978-0-85905-682-3, A4, 1284 pages, 4 volumes, soft cover,  3.5 kg

$325.00* + POST


These magnificent volumes are the result of nearly 40 years research by Yvonne and Kevin Coate and their associates, and contain details of thousands of lonely or lost graves throughout Western Australia.

The information is from local and state histories and newspapers, police reports, correspondents, coroner's files, and government papers.

Books of this calibre are rare, as is the capacity for researchers to produce such volumes of useful data.

The volumes are also an important bibliography of bush history from the earliest colonial times to the near present.

There is nothing like this in any other state and probably not in any other country.

Read more...

western_pioneersWestern Pioneers

The Battle Well Fought

by Jesse E. Hammond

ISBN 0 85905 181 1, (1993 reprint of 1936 edition), Soft Cover, 134pp, illustrated, 180grams

$22.00 + POST


The reminiscences of a pioneer settler in Western Australia.  Descriptions of early Perth and Geraldton, natives, the South West, people, businesses and more.  A favourite.