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.

westminsterThe Westminster Tradition and Australia

The parliamentary democratic system inherited from Britain

by Leslie R. Marchant

ISBN 0 85905 273 7, (1999 new), Soft Cover, section sewn, 140mm x 215mm, 175 pages, 235grams

$22.00+ POST


Leslie R. Marchant

Visiting Professor University of Notre Dame Australia
Resident Scholar State Library of Western Australia (LISWA)

This book is essential reading for all Australians who now regularly face proposals for constitutional change, and is useful for those who live in other British dominions. For it provides a ready guide to the "Westminster System of Government" which grew over centuries, unplanned like Topsy, which Britain uses and the dominions inherited.

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westralia_giftbook_cvrWestralia Gift Book

ISBN 978-0-85905-596-3, (1916, 2015), A4, 234 pp, well illustrated, 750grms
$40.00*+ POST
Produced to aid YMCA military work and the returned nurses’ fund in 1916, it contains the writings, drawings and 7 colour plates from Westralian authors and artists. Originally funded by interesting advertising from the leading manufacturers and retailers of the day, this brilliant collection shows the intellectual and philosophical attitudes of a century ago. Such a true expression of the nation would not be possible today from our termite ridden ‘nation.’

wa_goldfields_burtonThe Westralian Goldfields

by Burton S. James

ISBN 978-085905-536-9, (1897, 2012 reset), 27pp, 65 gms

$16.50* + POST


An 1890s overview of the goldfields which concisely lays out the most advanced views of the time on the occurrence of gold for prospectors. Many apply today.

 

westward

Westward, the Course of Empire. Western Australia.

by Gilbert Parker.

ISBN 978-0-85905-921-3, [1890 R 2022], A4, 44 pages, 150 grams, $22.00*


A sometimes scathing but honest overview of the West before its fortunes changed with the discovery of gold. How we were in our bucolic isolation. A century later we are the economic powerhouse of the nation.

whaleback_talesWhaleback Tales

by Peter Eckhart

ISBN 0 85905 230 3, (1996 New), Soft Cover, 119pp, illustrated, 160grams

$22.00 + POST


Dr Peter Eckhart was appointed to the staff of Mt Newman Mining Company in 1968 while the mine was still under construction.  He took the job for two years and remained for nineteen years.

During his time there he saw many changes.  The town changed from a virtual construction site with a few demountable houses to a substantial town with three suburbs, two primary schools, a senior high school, and the largest kindergarten in the State.  The population increased from a modest 700 mainly construction workers to a settled 7500 persons in modern housing.

The hospital facilities started as a three bedroom house and became a well-constructed 29 bed fully equipped hospital with a well qualified staff.

In 1987 he left to semi-retire as a part time locum practicing in country areas.

what_happened_braesideWhat Happened at Braeside

by WC Charnley

ISBN 978-0-85905-034-0,(2010, R), 25 pp, illust, SC, B5,50grams

$10.00* + POST


In 1899 Braeside Station was the 'furthest out' in the Eastern Pilbara. A vicious native night attack resulted in the

death of Doctor Edward Vines and the spearing of Herbert Hodgson. A heavily pregnant Isabella Hodgson single

handedly fought off the murderers. Her now little known action, was an inspiration for generations of pioneers.

what-the-hellWhat the hell was that? A conservation biologist’s journey in Australia & Asia.

Darrell Kitchener.

ISBN 978-0-85905-899-5, (2021), A4, French flaps, illustrated, 205 pages, 600 grams, $55.00*


Raised in a wild Tasmanian timber town, this book traces the authors experiences as a biologist in Tasmania, Western Australia, and Asia. It provides examples of the constant wrestle between conservationists and resource developers in these regions. He spent his last 30 years working on a variety of projects, including conservation of Sumatran Orangutan, Javanese Rhinoceros, national parks, forests and watersheds in a many Indonesian landscapes. He built a heritage hotel beneath a smoking volcano in Java and published on Javanese painters and ancient trade ceramics found beneath the Musi River in Sumatra.

 The first part, highlights stories of modern exploration on those islands visited by Alfred Wallace in southern Indonesia at the interface of the Australian and Indomalayan Biogeographic realms, and in the Western Australian Wheatbelt and Kimberley Regions. The second part provides readers insights on the effectiveness of work done by international NGOs in Indonesia and the nature of the enabling environment for expatriate conservationists. 

kangaroo_kate_coverWhatever happened to Kangaroo Kate?

David Carnegie at Halls Creek

Moondyne Joe, his early life

 by Peter J. Bridge with Gail Dreezens and Drew Deveraux

ISBN 0 85905 416 0, (2007 New, e-published 2006, in the Dollypot, Greenhide and Spindrift column Vol 1 No 5) Soft Cover A4, 15pp, saddle, 90grams

$11.00* + POST


Kangaroo Kate and her namesakes intrigued bush people for many years. She disappeared in 1930. A letter from Carnegie to Forrest from halls Creek in 1897. The real facts on Moondyne Joe’s origins and early life.

wheel_tracksWheel Tracks

by W.W. Ammon

ISBN 0 85905 190 0, (1993 reprint of 1966 edition), Soft Cover, 140mm x 215mm, 144pp, illustrated, 190grams

$22.00 + POST


Wheel Tracks .... over the red sandhill, across the boggy claypans, into flooded rivers, cutting their lonely path through kilometres of wildflowers or desert blasted by the heat ... in the country of the wild turkey and the giant lizards, where a mob of kangaroos can be so big that it takes an hour to pass by; where Tom Davies perished of thirst, and Micky Brown rode the outlaw mule ... the land of Terrible Bill Cridlen, Gus the Swede, Brumby Pete, and the celebrated Musical Bogger.

Wheeltracks INDEX $10

when_fortune_smiledWhen Fortune Smiled and Other Tales of the Goldfields

by John Drayton. Prepared by Peter J Bridge, Angela Teague and Rina Ashcroft

ISBN 978-0-85905-563-5, (2014), Soft cover, A4, indexed, 136pp, 390g

$30.00* + POST


Contains 65 WA true tales of the goldfields, such as, The rush to Cow Camel, When thieves fall out, Rifles and axes for two, The lost show at Gregory Hills, Skull Creeks bloody baptism, and The patch at Double Cross.

nuns_coverWhen Nuns Wore Soldier's Trousers

by Pat Studdy-Clift

ISBN 978 0 85905 469 0, (2009 new), Soft Cover, Saddle Stitched, 59 pages, illustrated, 90grams

$16.50 + POST


During the murderous Japanese campaign in New Guinea missionaries of all denominations were killed and their flocks dispersed. This is the story of a small group of German Catholic Sisters of the Divine Word Mission at Marienberg on the north coast, near the lower Sepik.

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where_fortunes_layWhere Fortunes Lay

A Personal Story of the Birth of Kalgoorlie

by A.J. Macgeorge (edited by Michael Macgeorge)

ISBN 0 85905 194-3, (1993 new), Soft Cover, 140mm x 215mm, 186 pp, illustrated, 250grams,

$22.00 + POST


Where Fortunes Lay is the personal, first hand story of an adventurous young mans search for fortune in the vast dry interior of Australia in the 1890s.

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where_is_brown_hillWhere is Brown Hill?

by Amy Moore

ISBN 0 85905 128 5, (1989 new), Soft Cover, 60pp, 115grams

$16.50 + POST


Brown Hill was a small mining community t’other side of Kalgoorlie.  Now covered with mullock heaps of the new open cuts, this township and its people are recorded by Amy Moore, born and bred in this forgotten goldfield’s village.

where_on_the_coastWhere on the Coast is That?

 by Ian Murray with Marion Hercock

ISBN 978-0-85905-452-2, (2008 new), Soft Cover, 350 pp, 910 grams

$50.00* + POST


Contains the names, location, origin, namer, and description of **** coastal place names of Western Australia. "Owing to the geographical location of Western Australia at the eastern edge of the Indian Ocean, its coastal features have more than the expected Aboriginal and English place names. This is because the first European names were bestowed by Dutch navigators in the 1600s, then by English and French navigators before settlement by the English in the 1820s. The place names applied speak volumes about the motives of navigators in selecting names.

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where_theres_smokeWhere There's Smoke There's Fry

The true story of an amazing man - Alf Fry

by Chris Hales

ISBN 0 85905 259 1, (1999 new), Soft Cover, 196pp, illustrated, 270grams

$22.00 + POST


From the battlefields of Gallipoli to the Karri Country of the South West of Western Australia, Alfred Narroway Fry lived a remarkable life. So remarkable the reader will conclude that he had more lives than a cat.

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white_blacksWhite blacks and black whites

edited by P.J. Bridge A. Teague & G. Dreezens

ISBN 0 85905 436 5, (2008 new), A4, Soft Cover, 34pp, illustrated, 130grams

$22.00* + POST


From the 1830s to the 1890s many strange stories about whites amongst the blacks came in from the frontiers. Albinos, lost explorers or shipwreck survivors? This intriguing collection is from Western Australia.

white_featherWhite Feather

The Story of Kanowna

by Margaret Bull

ISBN 0 85905 111 0, (1987 reprint of 1981 edition with new material), 145mm x 210mm, Soft Cover, 111 pp, 180grams

$22.00 + POST


White Feather is the story of the old goldfield town of Kanowna, from the time gold was found by Jerry McAuliffe in October 1895 through to the 1980s.

Kanowna, originally known as White Feather, was in its heyday one of the richest goldfields in Western Australia outside the famous Kalgoorlie-Boulder golden mile.

White Feather is a social history concerned with the discovery of gold and the early years on the find, life and conditions at Kanowna during its rapid growth, the steady decline of the field after the end of the 1890s, and some of the more important figures involved in the town's history.


white_sails_coverWhite Sails & Charcoal. Stories of Coincidence, Bella Kelly and Carrolup.

Tony Davis.

ISBN 978-0-85905-984-8, (New, 2023), A4, French flap soft cover, illustrated, 428 pages. 1.7kg, $110.00*


A portrait of the social history of Southern Western Australia through the evolution of Noongar Art and the influences of European Settlement. Tony was a friend and mentor of Bella and her family. The detail of his research will stand this book tall above the politicised eructations on the subject of Carrolup art.

 Available directly from the author tel 9841 7436. Regional sales Paperbark bookshop Albany. Perth sales via Hesperian.   

wicked_wyndhamWicked Wyndham, and other warbles. The Kimberley port-towns as they were.

ISBN 978-1-875778-28-7, (New, 2024), A4, 24 pages, 100 grams, $22.00*


Verse and worse on Broome, Derby, Wyndham.

wilgie_mia_cvrWilgie Mia

Cave of Red Ochre and Raddled Ranters

By Peter J. Bridge.

ISBN 978-0-85905-702-8, (New, 2018), A4, illustrated, indexed, 100+ pages, ** grams

$30.00* + POST


A history of the discovery of the cave, early mining, and the industry that grew around it. Also an examination of the Wadgela myths of the sacred cave, which are less believable than those of the Aboriginal dreamtime. Wishful thinking guides government policy resulting in closure and restriction as the home for a red elephant.

william_benstead

William Benstead. Pioneer of Alice Springs and Coolgardie

by William Benstead with Peter J. Bridge and Ian Murray. 

ISBN 978-0-85905-764-6, (New, 2019), A4, illustrated, indexed, 69 pages, 200 grams, $25.00*


Bill Benstead, Cattleman, hotelier, explorer, butcher. Anna’s Reservoir & Coolgardie. His cattle interests were in Africa, Madagascar, Argentina, working for Vestys. His daughter Lulu was a very well known singer on the London stage.

charnley_cover

William Campbell Charnley, 1882-1966

A bibliography

Compiled by Peter J Bridge.

[ISBN 978-0-85905-227-6], (2011, New), 20pp, illust, 50grams

$10.00* + POST


Charnley was a prolific writer, from 1915 to 1966, primarily on Western Australian history, publishing “close to a million words” by 1951 in magazines and newspapers. In Australia these were The Bulletin, The Lone Hand, The Australian Journal, The Western Mail, The Countryman, The Western Mail, Famous Detective Stories, and the Australian Life. Overseas were the Wide World, Blackwood’s, History Today, and The Windsor Magazine. He wrote on subjects where he was close to those involved in incidents of bush history and so has a viewpoint that is not accessible to those who are solely working from archives, or are literary creationists.

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william_dugald_campbell_cvrWilliam Dugald Campbell

Western Australian Ethnographic Papers

by W. D. Campbell

ISBN 978-0-85905-622-9, (R, 2015), A4, 86pp, illustrated, 260grams

$35.00* + POST


W. D. Campbell, an English geologist working in New Zealand and Australia undertook pioneering ethnographic work in the Eastern Goldfields, North West and Murchison.

This collection is of rare and difficult to obtain papers that are little known to those interested in such material. The items on churingas and phallic objects are sure to 'raise' an interest in those so oriented.

william_rudall_cvrWilliam F. Rudall. Surveyor and Explorer

by Peter Bridge, Phil Bianchi, Alan Zweck, Gail Dreezens.

ISBN 978-0-85905-672-4, (New, 2019), A4, 176 pages, illustrated, maps, indexed, 490 grams

$45.00* + POST


The biography and expeditions of Rudall and the details of the death of Aubrey Newman.

This long awaited biography contains much previously unknown information from Rudall’s family papers, AZ being a distant relative. His surveys and explorations are treated in detail and are of especial interest due to his being the 2IC to Surveyor Newman who died on their expedition. Rudall named Mt Newman. His work in the desert searching for the lost Calvert explorers brought his name to the public. Unfortunately funding was not forthcoming from the expected Government and corporate sources and so both a two year delay and a shorter print run is the result. 

william_fordaWilliam Ford & Coolgardie

by Alice Kathleen Clemenson

ISBN 0 85905 118 8, (1988 new), Soft Cover, 151pp, illustrated, 340grams

$22.00 + POST


The biography of the discoverer of Coolgardie.  Copiously illustrated.

William Ford & Coolgardie. Index. 

Michael Lance, Gail Dreezens, Peter J. Bridge.

ISBN 978-0-85905-908-4, (2021), A5, 8 pages, 30 grams, $10.00*

william_white_coverWilliam White, Convict 9348

Discoverer of the Eastern Goldfields

by P J Bridge and Graham Gath

ISBN 978-0-85905-461-4, (2008), Soft Cover), A4, 35 pp, illustrated, 130grams

$22.00* + POST


William (Milky) White pegged the first gold claim in 1885 at Fraser Range.


willshireWillshire of Alice Springs

by Austin Stapleton

ISBN 0 85905 177 3, (1992 new), Soft Cover, 140mm x 215mm, 68pp, illustrated, 150grams,

$22.00 + POST


Alice Springs' Mounted Constable Willshire was tried at Port Augusta in 1891 for murder and honourably acquitted. The crown was widely criticised for the weakness of its case.

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