PLEASE NOTE: Any book title starting with "The" - the second word of the title is used to list by.
8 Battery. An Enduring Force.
Major Ronald Cutten RFD.
ISBN 978-0-85905-990-9, (New, 2023), A4, french flaps, well illustrated, 276 pages, ~800 grams, $66.00*
The first artillery unit in Western Australia was formed in 1872 with the formation of the WA Troop of Horse Artillery (formerly the Union Troop of Mounted Volunteers). This was followed by frequent name and equipment changes, even after Federation in 1901. At the outbreak of war in 1914, Western Australia was allocated a field artillery battery. From August 1914, the existing 37 Battery militia became 8 Battery AIF.
This book tells the story of 8 Battery, a unit that made its name in World War 1 but whose influence was felt long after the cessation of this conflict.
8 Battery served from Gallipoli on through to the Western Front. While the official unit war diaries and other sources give detailed descriptions of action on the war front it is thanks to the letters and diaries left behind by two remarkable soldiers, namely Hector Roy McLarty and William (Bill) Lyall that the author has been able to capture personal stories of victories and losses, of tragedies and heroic acts, and of comradeship and service to country.
8 Battery’s influence did not end at the finish of the Great War. After World War 1 it was the basis of the continuing service of artillery in Western Australia, Members of 8 Battery also served in World War 2 units, in particular 6 Battery of 2/3 Australian Field Artillery (Greece) and in the 14thBattery of 2/7th Australian Field Regiment (Middle East). Soldiers who had been leaders in World War 1 continued their leadership in the Second World War.
The 8th Battery Association continued the strong bonds formed on the battlefield and was active right up until the 1950s.
8 Battery’s example of continuing service is reflected in today’s former and currently serving gunners. 8 Battery’s story is one that deserves to be told.
The E.P. 9 Story
by Mike Sasin and J B Norman
ISBN 085905 326 1, (2003 new), soft cover, 54pp, illustrated, A4 wire bound, 190grams
$22.00 + POST
An aero engineer's life in the NW where his business was shattered by lies and manipulation involving an illegal and unsound pilot, a millionaire megalomaniac pastoralist and DCA investigations.
Eager for Labour
The Swan River Indenture
by Valerie Fitch
ISBN 085905 314 8, (2003 new), soft cover, 190 pp, illustrated, 260grams
$26.00 + POST
Eager For Labour could be described as a story of avarice, exploitation and retribution, of anticipation, deception and disillusionment, of hardship, determination and success, of disappointment, disease or death. For all of these are manifest in this account of emigration to the British settlement at Swan River, Western Australia between 1829 and 1832. But although the lives of several individuals and families are woven through this book, it is not a novel. It is a history of events connected by a single thread that runs throughout: that of indentured labour.
The Eagle's Nest
Larkinville, the Golden Eagle and the Great Depression
by Peter J. Bridge
ISBN 085905 274 5, (1999 new), Hard Cover, laminated, 160 mm x 240mm, 320 pages, richly illustrated, 700 grams
SC $40.00, HC $60.00 + POST
Western Australia's last great traditional gold rush occurred at Larkinville during the depths of the 1930s depression.
The largest gold nugget found in Australia in the 20th century, the Golden Eagle, was discovered in the Larkinville rush.
The Early Days of the Yilgarn District
edited by Peter J Bridge and Angela Teague
ISBN 978-0-85905-445-4, (2008, New), Saddle Stiched A4, Soft Cover, 69pp, illus., 225 grams
$22.00* + POST
This collection forms part of a series of biographies and reminiscences of the earliest prospectors of the Yilgarn Goldfields. While the answers as to priority, were to a certain extent, answered long ago, this information has become scattered and lost to all but the most determined researchers.
The Early History of Cue and the Murchison Goldfields
ISBN 978-0-85905-610-6, (1937, R2015), A4, 46 pages, 165 grams
$22.00* + POST
A different and personal view of early Cue and the Murchison area.
Early Memories of the Great Nor-West
and
A Chapter in History of W.A.
by A. R. Richardson
ISBN 978-0-85905-079-1, (1914, 2008), A4, 56 pp, Soft Cover, 180 grams
$22.00* + POST
Richardson was a pioneer of the NW. His book is a mainstay of information on the early settlements and the people of the north.
Early Woodlines of the Goldfields
The untold story of the Woodlines to World War II
edited by Phil Bianchi, Peter Bridge and Ray Tovey
NEW EXPANDED SECOND EDITION
ISBN 0 85905 432 2, soft cover, A4 perfect bound,140 pp, illustrated, 380grams
$40.00* + POST
When reading the history of gold in Western Australian and in particular the Eastern Goldfields, we hear of rich gold finds, deep mines, so many ounces of gold per ton, lucrative profits, booming towns with numerous hotels, breweries, stock exchanges, newspapers. None of this would have been possible without wood to fuel steam boilers and gas producers for lighting, pumping and ore treatment. Large quantities of firewood were also used by the Goldfields Water Supply pumps to bring the preciously needed water to the goldfields. Timber was also used in construction of buildings and railways and for structural supports in mines.
East is East
by WC Charnley
ISBN 978-0-85905-007-4, (2010, R), 21 pp, illust, SC, B5, 50grams
$10.00* + POST
A white woman was mysteriously murdered in an Indian garden, and the police were completely baffled owing to the apparent lack of motive for the crime. Far away in Australia, however, a few people knew that a sixteen-year-old feud - a tragedy of the mating of East and West had reached its culmination.
“Eastward Ho!”
A trip through the Murchison Goldfields in 1894
by A Special Reporter
ISBN 978-0-85905-759-2, (1894 R 2019), A4, Indexed, 30pp, 100 grams, $22.00*
Eggs-a-Cook!
The story of the Forty-fourth.
War – as the Digger Fought It.
by Captain C. Longmore
ISBN 978-0-85905-049-4, (1921, 2010 R N), illustrated, casebound, 115gsm paper, section sewn, dust jacket, head & tail bands, ribbon, 216pp, 550 grams
RRP $75.00 + POST*
With a Foreword and full nominal roll by Neville Browning.
The facsimile master was Cyril Longmore's personal copy and contains his ms annotations - information not appearing in the printed text.
Eggs-a-Cook! relates the experience of the 44th Battalion of the Third Division in France during 1916-1918. Formed at Claremont in early 1916 they landed in England in July 1916, via Egypt, where they collected their cognomen, arriving in France in November 1916.
Eliza. Malice, Corruption and Mrs Tracey’s Case.
Rod Moncrieff.
ISBN 978-1-875778-14-0, 110 pages, A4, Illustrated, 350 grams, $35.00*
This lively and detailed biography of one of Western Australia’s most colourful identities covers the time of her arrival in the Swan River Colony in 1859, until her death in 1917. It documents the life and times of an aggrieved woman in her self-proclaimed quest for fair play, equity and justice.
Eliza Tracey revelled in numerous appearances before an assortment of audiences – from the riverside Esplanade to the stage of the Perth Town Hall; from soapboxes in the metropolis to platforms out in the backblocks; and, most memorable of all, the various inferior and superior courts of Western Australia which she graced over a lifetime of litigation. Along the way she was imprisoned, then hospitalised, and her case was investigated by two parliamentary Select Committees.
Over a controversial and event-filled life, Eliza Tracey never took a backward step. She was unafraid to spruik her views on suffragettes and the franchise for women, prostitution and the red-light district on Roe Street, political interference and the Federation issue. However, she reserved her spiciest vitriol for the burgeoning list of magistrates, judges and lawyers who, she believed, had connived to rob her by malice and corruption in her “fight for right against might”.
Enemy subjects. A detailed description of enemy aliens at Fremantle Police Station in WWI.
Edited by Lorraine Clarke.
ISBN 978-0-85905-826-1, (New 2020), A4, 15 pages, 80 grams, $20.00*
Detailed descriptions of internees which have overall been missed in other compilations and so not recorded or referenced in publications on internees.
Ernest Giles - Explorer & Traveller 1835-1897
by Ray Ericksen
ISBN 0 85905 240 0, (1997 reprint of 1978 edition with new material), Soft Cover, 336pp, illustrated, 510grams
$45.00 + POST
Between 1872 and 1876 Ernest Giles led five expeditions into Australia's western interior, during which he discovered more land than any other explorer of this continent.
Escape from Rottnest Prison: William Slee - out of the pan and into the fire.
Compiled by Peter J. Bridge.
ISBN 978-0-85905-958-9, (New, 2022), A4, 24 pages, 100 grams, $22.00*
A luckless prisoner finds freedom as much as he can bear.
Esther Austin
Adventures on the Goldfields
by Hadah
ISBN 0 85905 412 8, (1899 reprint 2007, e-published 2006, in the Dollypot, Greenhide and Spindrift column Vol.4 No.4.), 18 pp, illust, saddle, Soft Cover, A4, 95 grams
$12.00* + POST
The experiences of a Salvation Army girl on the Eastern and Murchison fields in the 1890s.
Ethno-Pornography. Male and female Aboriginal initiation and customs.
by Walter E. Roth.
ISBN 978-0-85905-852-0, (1897 R 2020), A4, 23 pages, illustrated, 110 grams, $22.00*
Despite the unfortunate title, a serious study.
Ethnological notes and phallic rites of the Aboriginal tribes of Western and South Australia.
by R.H. Matthews.
ISBN 978-0-85905-859-9, (1904 R 2020), A4, 54 pages, illustrated, 185 grams, $35.00*
Important reference for all seriously interested in the real background to native tribal customs.
THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN EXPLORERS’ DIARIES PROJECT INC.
Evidences of an Inland Sea
by George Fletcher Moore with an introduction by JMR Cameron
ISBN 978-0-85905-407-2, (2008 R+N 1837), 80pp, illust., Hard Cover, dj, 310grams
$60.00*+ POST
George Fletcher Moore's Evidences of an Inland Sea, published in Dublin in January 1837, details an important chapter in the history of Australian exploration. Its purpose was to demonstrate the existence of a large sea or lake inland from Perth. Moore, Western Australia's advocate-general, based his claim on evidence gathered during explorations beyond the Avon River to the east and as far north as the Moore River in the previous year. He also drew heavily on information provided by his Aboriginal companions for they had seen and heard of country he had yet to explore.
The Expedition Eastward from Northam
by the Dempster brothers, Clarkson, Harper and Correll, July-August, 1861
by Lesley Brooker
ISBN 0 85905 390 3, (2006 New), Soft Cover, 92pp, A4, 285g, full colour, 43 sketch maps, 59 colour photos, a total of 162 illustrations
$35.00* + POST
It was idle curiosity that first led Lesley Brooker, an ex-CSIRO scientist, to find out who might have been the first Europeans to visit a bush property near Sandford Rocks, Westonia, recently purchased by Lesley and her husband Michael from the National Trust under the BushBank scheme. Her initial enquiries eventually led to many months of research among the archives of the State Records Office and the Battye Library, as well as hundreds of kilometres travel in the Central Wheatbelt searching for long-forgotten landmarks.
Expeditions in Western Australia
1837-1839
Vols. I & II
by George Grey
ISBN 0 85905 046 7, (1983 reprint of 1841 edition), Hard Cover, 916pp, illustrated, maps, 1680grams
$90.00 + POST
This classic of Western Australian exploration in two volumes details Grey’s discoveries.
It contains extensive details of natural history, aboriginal life, culture, language, and more. Grey’s party suffered shipwreck, starvation and thirst in their long travels from Gantheaume Bay to Perth.
Experiences & adventures in Western Australia. Nathaniel William Cooke.
Edited by Peter J. Bridge, Annelle Pero
tti and Gail Dreezens.
ISBN 978-0-85905-749-3, (2021), A4, French flaps, Illustrated, indexed, 275 pages, **grams, $75.00*
The Reminiscences and Diaries of explorer Nathaniel Cooke (1838 – 1922) with those of his son, Lewin. They cover decades of NW exploration and mining. An important source for early NW history.
Discoverer of Nullagine, Marble Bar, Roy Hill Station, Ethel Creek, and other NW places.
Published under the aegis of the Western Australian Explorers’ Diaries Project as an ancillary volume.
Exploration Eastwards 1860-1869
Edited by Peter Bridge and Kim Epton. (WAEDP series.)
ISBN 978-0-85905-701-1, (New, 2018), casebound, section sewn, illustrated, maps, indexed, 576 pages, 1.5kg
$115.00* + POST
Contains some 30 expeditions including Lefroy and CC Hunt with appendices on the plants by Alex George and animals by Ian Abbott. Biographical notes on all known expedition members. Resolves the problems of the 'convicts gold' and Hunt's unknown convict helpers.
This is a very small run which will ensure future scarcity.
The companion volume 1869-1896 will go to the printers in July.
Explorations in Australia 1858 - 62
by John McDouall Stuart
ISBN 0 85905 062 9, (1984 reprint of 1865 edition), Hard Cover, 538pp, illustrated, 1010grams
$80.00 + POST
Stuart was the first to reach Australia’s geographical centre and to traverse the continent. Thirst, scurvy, starvation and hostile natives hampered his expeditions. His route led to the construction of the overland telegraph and the opening up of Central Australia.
Explorers Routes Revisited
Roe Expedition 1836
Comp. & ed. by Lesley Brooker
A not-for-profit book published by the author under the auspices of Hesperian Press.
ISBN 978-0-85905-504-8, (2012, New), A4, 170 pp, 156 figures, 30+ maps.
$40 no trade discounts + POST
Please do not order from Hesperian Press available from author only
Contact author re collection Lesley Brooker PO Box 518 Kalamunda, 6926.
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
John Septimus Roe has been called the “father of Australian explorers”. In a career spanning 57 years, he served in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars; joined Phillip Parker King in circumnavigating Australia and mapping large sections of Australian coastline; and was appointed Surveyor General to the fledgling Swan River colony, in which capacity he served for almost 40 years. Roe made at least 16 journeys of land exploration in Western Australia.
H.W.B. Talbot
Exploring the Golden West
The biography of one of the best-known exploration geologists of Western Australia
by Len Talbot
ISBN 978-0-85905-418-8, (2008 New), Soft Cover, A4, 200 pages, illustrated, 560grams
$50.00* + POST
H.W.B. Talbot was born in Ireland in 1874. Eight years later his family emigrated to New Zealand and in 1894 he and his father joined the gold rush to Western Australia. In 1899 he joined the Geological Survey of WA and learned field geology from Andrew Gibb Maitland, the Government Geologist. During the next 21 years he mapped the topographical geology of vast tracts of the inland, including a strip of country from Wiluna to Sturt Creek up to 75 miles wide each side of the Canning Stock Route, using Canning’s camps as bases. He and his assistant then trekked overland from Halls Creek to Tanami across the border in South Australia to report on the recently discovered goldfield there.
Previously in 1901 he had been a member of Fred Brockman’s exploration party of the north Kimberley. In 1916 he led a geological expedition to the border, where he and one of his party were speared in a night attack at Mt Gosse. He also examined and mapped extensive areas of the inland country between the south coast and the Pilbara.
Forced to resign from the public service on medical grounds at the end of 1920 he joined Freney Kimberley Oil’s search for oil in the Fitzroy Valley as its field superintendent from 1922 to 1930. In 1931 he was navigator to the second Lasseter Reef expedition. This party located sites which Lasseter had alledgedly pegged, but found no auriferous country at all and both Talbot and Blatchford, the WA Government Geologist, were convinced that it was most unlikely that any would be found in the area. In the following year Talbot led an excursion into the Great Victoria Desert in search of Paddy Whelan’s Reef, which turned out to be another ghost El Dorado. In 1933 he joined Western Mining Corporation as its first senior geologist. He remained with WMC until he retired in 1947 aged 73.
Len Talbot, eldest grandchild of H.W.B. Talbot, was born in 1926 and spent his childhood at Nannup, leaving school at 15 to work at the local sawmill, until 1946. He spent the next seven years travelling throughout Australia before returning to Nannup and joining the Forests Department. Except for a break of six years from 1963 to 1969 he continued with the Forests Department until retirement in 1991. From 1963 he accepted an offer from the Commonwealth Forestry and Timber Bureau as supervisor on forest projects on Aboriginal Reserves in Arnhem Land and on Melville Island. After four years he resigned to work as a volunteer at the Bathurst Island Catholic Mission before returning to W.A. at the end of 1969 and rejoining the Forests Department.
His published works include Nannup: A Place to Stop and Rest published by Hesperian Press; several articles on forest and Aboriginal history published in Forests Department and CALM publications – Forest Notes, Forest Focus and Landscope. In 1988 he won the Royal Western Australian Historical Society Lee Steere Award for an essay on the history of the sandalwood industry.
The Edneys, A Family of the North
by Peter J. Bridge
ISBN 978-0-85905-816-2, (2020 New), A5, 17pp, illustrated, 45 grams, $10.00
For well over a century the Edney's of the NW were well-known as residents of Cossack and as horsemen and pastoralists in the Pilbarra. Interesting tales are all that survive of the first three generations. Time goes and blood flows. The NW Edneys are now represented by their aboriginal descendants.