20th Century History

These are some of Australia's finest thinkers analysing the key issues that have had a major impact on Australia over the last turbulent decade, collated by our most influential think...

A work of local history chronicling the life and death of the rural township of Lyonville, a sawmilling settlement in the Wombat Forest region of Victoria's Central Highlands, Charlie's Book...

On the streets, under the ground and on the information superhighway, radicals and rebels have made this town their own. The acclaimed Radical Melbourne revealed the hidden history of the...

Geoffrey Serle is a graduate of the University of Melbourne where he taught history before moving to Monash and the Australian National universities. He was general editor of the "Australian...

On the 11th of November 1934 over 300,000 people gathered on the slopes of Melbourne's Domain to witness the dedication of the Shrine. It was the largest state war memorial...

The Australian Liberal Party is in deep crisis. Losing the 'unloseable' election in 1993 gave it an unenviable record of five successive losses, nearly reversing the record of successes set...

On Remembrance Day, 1975, the Governor-General of Australia, Sir John Kerr, sacked the Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam. The Dismissal was the culmination of almost three years of political conflict, as...

A family's sacrifice - A nation's struggle A family's sacrifice ... A nation's struggle In the 1970s and 1980s, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese families set out on perilous journeys...

Men at War takes an intimate look at the Australian 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion, which was formed in Victoria in 1940 as Australia entered the Second World War. In 1941 and...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE VICTORIAN PREMIER'S AWARD FOR FICTION 2023 'This is a great novel of enduring significance and enormous beauty.' - Sydney Morning Herald Sometimes you need to delve into...

'An extraordinarily vivid yet authentic account of the birthpangs of a nation. A work of real distinction' Philip Ziegler An award-winning epic on the birth of Australia In 1787, the...

Malouf invites us on an intimate, beautifully described journey into his own past, beginning in his childhood home. Each house, like each place, has its own topography, its own lore....

An extraordinary piece of history - the Scottish Highlanders on the frontier of Australia - with introduction from Inga Clendinnen. An extraordinary piece of history - the Scottish Highlanders on...

A compelling account of Australia's bloodiest and most significant battle of the Vietnam War, in time for the battle's 50th anniversary, by critically-acclaimed war writer David Cameron. On the afternoon...

A special Vintage Classics edition of the beloved Australian bestseller In 1902, newly-married Jeannie Gunn (Mrs Aeneas Gunn) left the security and comfort of her Melbourne home to travel to...

'A loving history of the Australian people' - Sydney Morning Herald '...displays historical literacy, and plenty of humanity, empathy and compassion, all qualities rare in our public culture to be...

'Deeply researched with keen judgements, Traitors and Spies is a devastating indictment of Australia's security services and their political masters in the decades before the formation of ASIO.' - Professor...

They were thrown into a hopeless fight against an overwhelming enemy. Later, hundreds died as prisoners of war on the Thai-Burma Railway and in the freezing coal mines of Taiwan...

'Donald Mackay was not just an innocent victim tragically struck down by a criminal act. He was a casualty of the actual fight against organised crime ... killed on active...

Australia was born with its eyes wide open. Although politicians spoke publicly of loyalty to Britain and the empire, in secret they immediately set about protecting Australia's interests from the...

Between 1942 and 1943, Qantas lost eight aircraft during its involvement in Australia's war against the Japanese. Over sixty passengers and crew died as a result. Yet Qantas' exemplary contribution...

Monash and Chauvel follows the extraordinary campaigns of the two most outstanding battlefield commanders of the First World War across all the Allied armies: John Monash and Harry Chauvel. John...

'Karen McCartney's Iconic Australian Houses books are re-imagined so cleverly in this freshly redesigned, encyclopaedic book, which brings together in one volume the best of 50 years of Australian residential...

'Grose's compassionate, honest and vivid account . deserves to be widely read.'- Sun-Herald The bombing of Darwin on 19 February 1942 is the battle Australia tries to forget. Although there...

By 1963, Robert Menzies had been prime minister for thirteen years, Australia had its first troops in Vietnam, and change was in the air. There would soon be street protests...

Winner of the Prime Minister's Prize for Australian History For the first time, ASIO has opened its archives to an independent historian. With unfettered access to the records, David Horner...

Winner of the 2015 Queensland Premier's Award for a work of State Significance Winner of the 2016 Magarey Medal for Biography 'Connors lays down the hard truth. Not all our...

They were frequently not just on the front line, but right at the sharp end of the action. They were the legendary sappers, the army engineers, who were literally everywhere...

To the convicts arriving in Van Diemen's Land, it must have felt as though they'd been sent to the very ends of the earth. In Tasmania's Convicts Alison Alexander tells...

'All I could do was prod the earth with my bayonet and shine the light to see if I could find anything. It doesn't matter how small the tunnel is...

'This is an important, well researched book: challenging, compelling and controversial. It is a must read for anyone interested in Australian history.' - Henry Reynolds The Queensland frontier was more...

In this companion volume of Thomas Keneally's widely acclaimed history of the Australian people, the vast range of characters who have formed our national story are brought vividly to life....

'If I'd have been a Vietcong you'd be dead.' - Len Opie 'Len was a soldier above soldiers.' - Keith Payne VC Through three wars across 30 years, Len Opie...

Winner of the 2010 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Non-Fiction 'Grace Karskens writes with the passion and insight of a novelist, and the accuracy of a historian. To read it...

THE #1 TRUE CRIME BESTSELLER. Serial killings, child abductions, organised crime hits and domestic murders. This is the memoir of a homicide detective. WINNER OF 2021 DANGER PRIZE FOR NON-FICTIONHere...

The Greeks have made an enormous contribution to Australian cultural and social life, and this book vividly tells their story. Beginning with an examination of the conditions in Europe that...

From the bestselling author of The Nurses' War comes this charming, funny, pointed look at the golden years of radio broadcasting in post-war Australia, celebrating the extraordinary unseen women who...