Biographien / Autobiographien

Eigentlich keine Biographie, sondern chronikartig verfasst. Sein Inhalt bildet einen Querschnitt durch die Heimat, Genealogie, Zoologie, Botanik und Geographie, mal mehr, mal weniger. Schwerpunkte des Inhalts bilden: (siehe unter Details)

„Es ist doch sonderbar, daß ich in meinen Träumen fast jede Nacht jetzt nach Trebatsch geführt werde, obwohl meine Geschäfte mich den Tag über mit so verschiedenen Gegenständen in Berührung bringen; und immer ist es, als wenn ich zu Fusse angewandert käme, als wenn ich in der weiten Ebene Trebatsch und unsern Garten sähe, wie wenn man von Sawall oder dem Luche dem Dorfe sich nähert. Die vorletzte Nacht sah ich die Kirche in Ruinen und wie ich den Garten eintrat, schien es mir als wenn Barths Kinder Onkel Ludwig! riefen,…“ Ludwig Leichhardt an seinen Schwager Schmalfuß, London, den 27. Sept. 1841

This is the autobiography of an extraordinary life of an ordinary man. It is the story of Albert Facey, who lived with simple honesty, compassion and courage. A boy who started work at eight on the rough West Australian frontier, he struggled as an itinerant rural worker, survived the gore of Gallipoli, the loss of his farm in the Depression, the death of his son in World War II and that of his beloved wife after sixty devoted years - yet he felt that his life was fortunate.

Facey's life story, published when he was eighty-seven, inspired many as a play, a television series, and an award-winning book that has sold over 800,000 copies.

'I am stunned by the horror this man endured in his childhood. I am humbled by his gentle acceptance of the good and the bad... This is an extraordinary and moving book.' Adelaide Advertiser

Elsie Roughsey was born into the the Lardil tribe of Aborigines from Mornington Island or Goonana, in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria, in 1923. She tells of Aboriginal life soon after the first missionaries arrived in the tribe.

Raised in a dormitory mission and in the traditional life of her tribe, she writes about power, religion, love and marriage, childbirth, medicine, education, crime and punishment across both worlds.

This is a book of great charm - and a rare and significant portrait of an Aboriginal life during a period of acute and often traumatic change.

Cover art by the author's artist husband, Dick Roughsey.

One man's story of life as a shearer, a tearaway and a young father trying to make ends meet. Dennis McIntosh was always determined not to get stuck in a factory like his father, but it's only once he takes a job as a roustabout that he discovers what he really wants to be: a shearer. Travelling from station to station, he revels in the smell and feel of the sheds, and the freedom of being answerable to no man except his mates. And it's a thrilling time to be in this legendary occupation. There's a fight on: the union is defending its workers against scab labourers' use of the wide comb. But while shearing's a fine life for a nineteen-year-old, it's a hard one for a man. As the added weight of adulthood settles on Dennis's shoulders, the sheds take their unforgiving toll.

Beaten by a Blow shows us the reality behind the romance of the shearer. Most of all, it tells the story of a boy full of hope crashing headlong into life - into work, into drink, into responsibilities he isn't ready for, which come closer to breaking his back than shearing ever did.

Ned Kelly ist zwölf, als sein Vater verschwindet. Mit vierzehn kommt er zum ersten Mal mit dem Gesetz in Konflikt: Pferdediebstahl, Sabotage, Banküberfälle. Doch hinter der rauen Fassade verbirgt sich ein warmherziger und großzügiger Mensch. Dem zweifachen Booker-Preisträger Peter Carey gelang das Kunststück, der australischen Legende Ned Kelly eine Sprache voller Leidenschaft und unbändiger Wildheit zu geben. Eine grandiose Outlaw-Ballade.

53 Tage verschollen im australischen Busch: Hans Bertram schrieb den erschütternden und begeisternden Report seines erfolgreichen Überlebenskampfes.

Im Februar 1932 startete das Wasserflugzeug Atlantis von Köln zum Flug um die Erdteile Europa, Asien, Australien, Richtung Amerika, rund um die Welt.
Von den üblichen Schwierigkeiten einer solchen Expedition abgesehen, verlief der Flug planmäßig - bis zum 15. Mai. An diesem Tag startete die Atlantis von Java aus zum Flug über die Timorsee Richtung Australien. Die Maschine wird in Port Darwin erwartet - aber sie kommt nicht an. Als die Flugzeit, die sie mit ihrem Benzinvorrat in der Luft bleiben kann, verstrichen ist, besteht kein Zweifel mehr: die Atlantis, das erste deutsche Wasserflugzeug, das den Erdteil Australien besuchen will, ist notgelandet oder abgestürzt.

Sofort setzt die Suchaktion ein, zu Wasser, zu Lande und in der Luft. Erfolglos - die Atlantis ist und bleibt verschollen. Und dann geschieht das Unglaubliche - nach 53 Tagen größter Entbehrungen, Hunger und Durst kehren die Flieger Bertram und Klausmann zurück in die Zivilisation.

Es gibt verschiedene Ausgaben mit vom Bild abweichenden Covern.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-17/1932-kimberley-expedition-flight-into-hell-true-story/12984922

The autobiography of Waipuldanya, a full-blood Aboriginal of the Alawa tribe at Roper River in Australia's Northern Territory, as told to Douglas Lockwood.

In his youth, Waipuldanya was taught to track and hunt wild animals, to live off the land, to provide for his family with the aide only of his spears and woomeras.

This is the gripping story of his boyhood and youth, and how he trained as a skilled medical assistant, to become a citizen of both the Aboriginal and whitefella worlds.

Achtung bitte: Verschiedene Ausgaben werden geliefert, je nach dem, was gerade vorrätig ist.

Das Buch zum Film: Die wahre Geschichte einer Flucht quer durch die Wüste Australiens

Donald Friend - painter, sculptor, draughtsman, printmaker, writer, critic and traveller - was one of Australia's most flamboyant and gifted artists. Here, Gwen Friend creates an intimate and witty portrait of her famous brother, from their early family life on a rural property, through Donald's rebellious schooldays, to the bohemian world of prewar Sydney and beyond. Following the dramas of their wartime years, during which Donald finally became an Official War Artist, this elegantly told story traces his developing career, touching on famous feuds and feasts. Postcards and letters provide fascinating glimpses into Donald's adventures abroad, in England, Europe, Africa, Sri Lanka and later his beloved Bali.

On Our Selection (1899) is a series of stories written by Australian author Steele Rudd, the pseudonym of Arthur Hoey Davis, in the late 1890s, featuring the characters Dad and Dave Rudd.

Against the backdrop of the Australian landscape, these are the tales about the farmers of the area on their small selection farms. The hardships, sufferings and the tough lifestyle of those people is elucidated in these pages. The indomitable will of the people who stand in face of extreme adversity is also beautifully captured. Riveting!

Steele Rudd's books were also the basis for the famous "Dad and Dave" radio series of the 1950's and 1960's in Australia.

From Wikipedia: In Australian history, a selection was a "free selection before survey" of crown land under legislation introduced in the 1860s, similar to the United States Homestead Act. Selectors often came into conflict with squatters, who already occupied the land and often managed to circumvent the law.

The Bulletin magazine published the illustrated collection comprising 26 stories in 1899 as On Our Selection. Within four years 20,000 copies had been printed. It afterwards appeared in numerous low priced editions and by 1940 the number of copies sold had reached 250,000.