It’s 1972, and across Australia the catchcry is ‘It’s time’. Time for old folk, time for young folk, time for a new, idealistic Labor government. In Gibber's Creek, it's time for Jed Kelly to choose between past love, Nicholas, the local Labor member, and Sam from the Halfway to Eternity commune. And for Scarlett O'Hara, it's time to dream that one day she becomes a doctor - despite being in a wheelchair. It's also time for matriarch Matilda Thompson to reflect on the life that took her from the slums of Grinder's Alley to the events that began a nation at a billabong in 1894. The 1970s was a time of extraordinary ideals of a better world, but as the ideals drifted from disaster to the Dismissal there were deep conflicts about what that better world might be. Jackie French, author of the bestselling To Love a Sunburnt Country, has woven her own experience of that period into an unforgettable story of a small rural community and a nation swept into the social and political tumult of the early 1970s.

In 1972 in Gibber's Creek, and across the nation, the catchcry is, 'It's time'. 'And we must sing a rebel song And join in rebel chorus.' In 1972 in Gibber's Creek, and across the nation, the catchcry is, 'It's time'. Time for old folk, time for young folk, time for everyone to welcome a renewed Australia with a new, idealistic Labor Government. It's also time for Jed Kelly to choose between past love, Nicholas, the Labor member for Gibber's Creek, and Sam from the Halfway to Eternity commune. It's time for Scarlett O'Hara to dream that one day she might walk - and become a doctor - despite being in a wheelchair. And for Leafsong, the commune's 'mute monster', it's time for others to see her true beauty as she opens their eyes and changes their lives with the exact food that someone will love and need. It's also time for Matilda Thompson to face her ghosts and reflect on an extraordinary life that began by a billabong in 1894. A life that took a young girl from the slums of Grinder's Alley to formidable matriarch of the district. But as political ideals drift from disaster to the Dismissal, Ra Zacharia plots a new world led by aliens. And he will sacrifice whoever he must to achieve it. The 1970s was a time of extraordinary idealism, when anything seemed possible. A nation filled with dreams of a better world, but deep conflicts about exactly what that better world might be. Jackie French, author of the best-selling To Love a Sunburnt Country, has drawn on her personal experiences and memories of that time and woven them into a sweeping story of a small rural community which, like all of Australia, was affected by the tumultuous political events of 1972 to 1975. Events that are still being debated to this day.

War is traditionally considered a male experience. By extension, the genre of war literature is a male-dominated field, and the tale of the battlefield remains the privileged (and only canonised) war story. In Australia, although women have written extensively about their wartime experiences, their voices have been distinctively silenced. Shooting Blanks at the Anzac Legend calls for a re-definition of war literature to include the numerous voices of women writers, and further recommends a re-reading of Australian national literatures, with women’s war writing foregrounded, to break the hold of a male-dominated literary tradition and pass on a vital, but unexplored, women’s tradition. Shooting Blanks at the Anzac Legend examines the rich body of World Wars I and II and Vietnam War literature by Australian women, providing the critical attention and treatment that they deserve. Donna Coates records the reaction of Australian women writers to these conflicts, illuminating the complex role of gender in the interpretation of war and in the cultural history of twentieth-century Australia. By visiting an astonishing number of unfamiliar, non-canonical texts, Shooting Blanks at the Anzac Legend profoundly alters our understanding of how Australian women writers have interpreted war, especially in a nation where the experience of colonising a frontier has spawned enduring myths of identity and statehood.

'Banjo' Paterson's 'Waltzing Matilda' is the one song that has been bringing people together spontaneously since 1895, and the one song that belongs to all Australians.Generations of experts have argued about the original story that Paterson immortalised, about the origins of the tune, and about what Paterson meant by his almost parodic over-use of Australian colloquialisms.Once a Jolly Swagman takes readers off the score sheet into the story of the song, and tells of its evolution up until the twenty-first century. It tries to answer the riddles within the song, and unpick its inherent contradictions: where's the heroism in a suicidal thief? What was jolly about the jumbuck? Is 'Waltzing Matilda' the key to Australian values? What does it mean that a beloved song about Australia's pioneering past is written by a city lawyer?In this age of economic rationalism and a globalised world, how does a voice from the billabong saying, 'You'll come a waltzing matilda with me' still matter, and what does it tell us about ourselves?

In the tradition of The Man from Snowy River comes a gripping and courageous sequel to A Waltz for Matilda The year is 1919. Thirty years have passed since the man from Snowy River made his famous ride. But World War I still casts its shadow across a valley in the heart of Australia, particularly for orphaned sixteen-year-old Flinty McAlpine, who lost a brother when the Snowy River men marched away to war. Why has the man Flinty loves returned from the war so changed and distant? Why has her brother Andy 'gone with cattle', leaving Flinty in charge of their younger brother and sister and with the threat of eviction from the farm she loves so dearly? A brumby muster held under the watchful eye of the legendary Clancy of the Overflow offers hope. Now Flinty must ride to save her farm, her family and the valley she loves. Set among the landscapes of the great poems of Australia, this book is a love song to the Snowy Mountains and a tribute to Australia's poets who immortalised so much of our land. The Girl from Snowy River combines passion, heartbreak, history and an enduring love and rich understanding of our land. PRAISE FOR A WALTZ FOR MATILDA '... this absorbing saga abounds in social and historical detail' -- Magpies