Hesperian Press

The Millendon Memoirs

George Fletcher Moore's Western Australian Diaries and Letters,
1830 - 1841

edited by J M R Cameron

ISBN 0 85905 388 1, (2006 New), Hard Cover,  536pp, illustrated, 1020grams

$80.00* + POST

This is probably the most important colonial work to be published in WA. There are no other diary or letter sequences of such content from such a central figure in the early colony. Dr Cameron has assiduously bought together the documents that were omitted from the “Diary of Ten Years”, together with that material, to form an altogether different volume, with three times the content of ‘Ten Years’. The correct order and full expression of the letters gives quite a different picture to that previously portrayed. This is an absolutely essential volume for anyone interested in, or studying, colonial history,  policy, or the lives of the colonists and the land around them.

Mineral and Locality Index to the Publications of the W.A.

Government Chemical Laboratories 1922-1970

by P.J. Bridge

ISBN 0 85905 001 7, (1971-72 New), Soft Cover, 122pp, 600grams, $50.00* (Direct from Publisher only)  

Minerals of Western Australia

by E.S. Simpson

ISBN 0 85905 053 X, (1984 reprint of 1948-52 editions with new material), Hard Cover, illustrated, 2054pp, 3.5kg

$300.00* + POST

This is a magnificent 2,000 page, three-volume work on Western Australian minerals.

Many a fortune made from prospecting and mining has been due to careful study of its contents.

The previously-out-of-print Locality–Mineral Index by P.J. Bridge is incorporated into Simpson's definitive reference.

Miracle of Fairbridge

by Joan Halls

The Misfortunes of Phoebe

by Rica Erickson

ISBN 0 85905 238 9, (1997 new), Soft Cover, 180pp, illustrated, 220grams

$22.00 + POST

The author's great grandmother in the Victorian gold rush and the story of her descendants.

Moondyne Joe

The Man and the Myth

by Ian Elliot

ISBN 085905 244 3, (1998 reprint of 1978 edition with new material), Soft Cover, 148pp, 27 illustrations, 205 grams

$22.00 + POST

Joseph Bolitho Johns, 'Moondyne Joe' (or 'Moonie' to his mates), was a good badman who gallops across the pages of Western Australian history with all the spirit of a wild bush brumby.

Moondyne Joe Poster

A poster with only known extant photo of Moondyne Joe

The unique photo of Moondyne Joe in kangaroo skin booka, as it appears on the cover of the book, has been produced as a poster, 59.5 x 84 cm. These have a RRP of $10.00.

Postage is a problem as they must be rolled in a tube. POA.

More Lonely Graves of Western Australia

by Yvonne and Kevin Coate

ISBN 0 85905 276 1, (wrongley numbered 275), (2000 new), Hard Cover, laminated, section sewn, 160mm x 245mm, 542pp, illustrated, 1080grams

$85.00* + POST

This magnificent compilation is the culmination of some twenty years of research and lists all details of lonely graves of Western Australia collected since the 1986 publication Lonely Graves of Western Australia and Burials at Sea.

Mother  O’Neill

Widow of the Kimberley Goldfield

by Yvonne Coate

ISBN 978-0-85905-518-5, (2012, New), Full colour, illustrated, 245 x 160, 135pp, 330 grams

$35.00 + POST

Sarah O’Neill was a widow on the Kimberley Goldfield, in the 1880s, the same time as Russian Jack, the famous wheelbarrow man who became legendary throughout the goldfields of WA.

The Mount Minnie Mystery

&

A Midnight Melee

Edited by Peter J Bridge with Gail Dreezens

 ISBN 978-0-85905-425-6, (2008 New), Soft Cover, 36 pages, A4, 125grams

$22.00* + POST

The Mount Minnie Mystery. In late 1925 Moorish horse dealer, Alexander Hughes, and his aboriginal assistant, Sailor, disappeared from Mount Minnie Station near Onslow in the North West of Western Australia. What followed in the police investigation stunned the normally unflappable Nor’westers. The investigation by Detective O’Brien was a masterpiece of police work in an environment not conducive to such careful forensic analysis.

A Midnight Melee. In 1920 a well-known Nor’ Wester, Charles Athelstone Park, was arrested for the murder of Big Bob, an aboriginal drover. The investigation covered territory from the Kimberley to the Upper Gascoyne. The trial, its revelations, and its aftermath brought the reality of dangerous bush life to the city dwellers, and was a harbinger of the current situation where more city people are attacked and murdered by “aboriginals” than they were in the goldrush days of the 1890s.  

Mountain View Gold - Day Dawn

&
The Italians who made it Happen

by Alex Palmer

ISBN 978-0-85905-514-7, (2012N), illust., 125pp, 240g'

$25.00 + POST

A new day dawned for Day Dawn WA, following a rich strike at Mountain View.

A group of Italian prospectors at Day Dawn in the 1940s, down to their uppers, defying the advice of experts, persevered for four years before they finally struck it rich.

Moving Mountains

The Evolution of Port Hedland Harbour

by Murray Shaw

ISBN 0 85905 389 X, (2007 new), Soft Cover, A4, 98pp, Illustrated in colour, 285grams

$30* + POST

Contains 21 colour and 24 black and white illustrations.

Port Hedland is the biggest tonnage port in Australia. This is its story!

Mulga Fred. From stock camp to sartorial icon and down-and-out again.

Peter J Bridge

ISBN 978-0-85905-930-5, (New, 2022), A4, 46 pages, well illustrated, 150 grams, $25.00*

Fred, a NW aboriginal became a bush circus horse rider and ended up in Victoria where he was long thought to be the model for Pelaco's "Mine tinkit they fit" shirt advertisements. He was killed by a train in 1948.

"Mum’s Grey Hair"

by Rod Dickson

ISBN 978-0-85905-584-0, (2014), A4, 198pp, illustrated, 555grams

$40.00* + POST

Rod Dickson’s idiosyncratic memoirs cover his early childhood in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, his years at Tyler St. Primary and Reservoir and Northcote High Schools and after leaving the hallowed halls of learning pursued a 51 year career at sea. On all types of vessels ranging from a crayfishing boat to tugs, oil rig tenders, cargo ships, tankers to finally a 128,000 ton L.N.G. Tanker from which he retired. The title of this autobiography comes from his mother’s favourite saying - "Rodney you gave me all my Grey Hairs."

Mungilli : Poor Little Fella

by Maureen Herbert

ISBN 978-0-85905-588-8, (2014, new), Softcover, A4, well illustrated - some colour, 111pp, 325g

$30.00* + POST

Maureen and Trevor Herbert, on a desert expedition with Dr Bill Peasley, found a half starved desert dingo and he adopted them.

This is the story of their times together, enlightened by the correspondence of Mungilli and Dr Bill.

A good read for those interested in desert travel, wildlife, and people.

The Murchison in 1887

William Frear Forster & Frank Wittenoom

ISBN 978-0-85905-716-5, (New, 2018), A4, Indexed, 57 pp, 170 grams

$30.00* + POST

The newly created stations in the Upper Murchison became a byword for enterprise and have remained important pastoral properties to the present. A visit by a group of government officials and business people recorded much that was otherwise lost.

Murder and Mayhem on the Nullagine. The joys of multiculturalism.

by Peter J. Bridge.

ISBN 978-0-85905-897-1, (New, 2021), A4, 38 pages, indexed, 150 grams, $22.00*

Nullagine probably has had more murders per head of population than any other place in Western Australia. The latest openly recorded being that of ‘Old Otto’ in 1983.

Nullagine, the blistering god-forsaken outpost of a sun-blasted Empire. From its primeval days as the kingdom of the cannibals where untold generations of piccaninnies were immolated for the indigenous epicures, to the gold and diamond rushes that introduced a bit of colour into the mix, raising tempers, and laying a solid foundation for the joys of multiculturalism, Nullagine is celebrated for its blood curdling hotel and the highest ratio of murders per head of population in Australia. 

There are no doubt a few more forgotten bodies buried in the outliers of Nullagine such as Mosquito Creek, 20 Mile Sandy Creek, Shark Creek and Skull Springs, but this small collation will serve to give the flavour of the local culture.

Murder at Maylands

Executed under an alias

W.C. Charnley & Peter J. Bridge

ISBN 978-0-85905-670-0, (New, 2017), 22 pages, illustrated, A4, 70 grams

$15.00* + POST

For 90 years the true identity and fate of a murderer has been hidden.

Murder on the Rabbit Proof Fence

The Strange Case of Arthur Upfield and Snowy Rowles

by Terry Walker

ISBN 0 85905 189 7, (1993 new), 140mm x 215mm, Soft Cover, 152pp, illustrated, 210grams

$26.00 + POST

It was a murder mystery writer's worst nightmare come true.  In 1929 Arthur Upfield, Australia's premier crime writer, plotted a perfect murder for his novel The Sands of Windee.

To his horror, one of his friends, Snowy Rowles, put the scheme into deadly effect even before the book was published.  The result was Western Australia's most sensational murder trials of the 1930s.

My First Eighty Years. It all turned out for the best son.

Trevor Percival

ISBN 978-0-85905-928-2, (New, 2022), A4, 175 pages, illustrated, soft cover, limited print run, grams, $50.00*

The life of a Queensland man of varied experiences grew up in the country town of Wondai in SE Queensland, and spent time as an apprentice electrician, sawmill labourer, postman, navy for nine years, police civilian, prospector, and did fostering for six years.

Available only direct from the author 24 Suffolk Street, Caboolture South, 4510. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.