Hesperian Press

The Odyssey of a Digger

by F.D. Burdett

ISBN 0 85905 334 2, (2004 reprint of 1936  edition), soft cover, 170 pp, 220grams

$30.00 + POST

Fred Burdett was one of the earliest diggers at the Kimberley goldrush of the 1880s. His reminiscences cover pastoral life in NSW and the men and incidents of the early Kimberley. Gold strikes, murders, massacres, cannibals and diamonds in The Odyssey of a Digger.

Okinawans Reaching Australia

by John Lamb.

ISBN 978-0-85905-747-9, (New, 2019), A4, 142 pp, heavily illustrated, indexed, 400 grams, $40.00*

$40.00* + POST

This publication fills a large gap in research into aspects of the pearl-shell fishing industry and Japanese immigration to Australia in general. Through careful research, and with over 200 photographs, John provides a comprehensive record of all Okinawans known to have ever reached Australia up until the early 1960s. He fleshes out how and why Okinawans came to be chosen over mainland Japanese in the post-war period and challenges some of the misconceptions that have arisen around their role and performance. Through identifying the stories of many individuals, including some who spent most of their working lives in Australia, he brings to life this little-known history of northern Australia. In detailing the deaths of some forty men and a half dozen births, he creates a very detailed picture of their circumstances and creates a valuable record for their families and descendants, as well as for those interested to understand more about indentured Asian labour during the time of restricted immigration.

We have only published a small run of this book, so please be early if you are interested. 

The Old Coach Roads to Cue and Beyond

by Alex Palmer

ISBN 0 85905 183 8, (1993 new), Soft Cover, 103pp, illustrated, 175grams

$22.00 + POST

These timeless tracks to goldfields hundreds of kilometres inland from Geraldton, started by the sheepmen, scored with the footprints of man and animal, deepened by the wheels of wagon and coach and then made redundant by the rail, linger on as monuments to the stout-hearted folk who travelled them in the golden years of the roaring nineties.

The Old North Road

by William de Burgh

ISBN 0 85905 272 9, (2002 reprint of 1986 edition), Soft Cover, 198pp, illustrated, 225grams

$26.00 + POST

In the late 1840s it was becoming evident that the settled districts around Perth were being overstocked. This situation led to Government and settler-financed expeditions being sent south, east and north in search of new grazing areas.  One such sortie, led by Augustus Gregory, reported the discovery of  extensive grazing land and promising mineral deposits some 480 kilometres to the north.

However, the hazards to travelling stock were many, since access was across barren, scrub-covered plains with long waterless stretches and with  numerous toxic plants to be found along the route.

How these problems were overcome and who solved them forms the heart of the fascinating story of the Old North Road.

Old Scarborough. A Destiny fulfilled.
by Chris Holyday.

ISBN 978-1-875778-29-4. (New, 2024), 166 pages, A4, french flaps, heavily illustrated, B&W and colour, Personal names indexed, 700 grams, $40.00*

Old Scarborough describes in words, and many never seen before photos, ‘the way we were’ when the Scarborough beachfront sands were much wider; life was much simpler; the buildings were basic; the community spirit was strong, and Scarborough was regarded as a ‘fun place’ to go. It is also the story of a much stronger community emerging after WWII, and Scarborough becoming a premier beach location, with icons such as Luna Park, the Scarborough Hotel, the Snake Pit and Kool Korner Kafe.

It is still seen as a great place to live following major State Government and City of Stirling investment in its future. It will still be a fun place to go in years to come, with its many new attractions, its shops and wide range of restaurants. Its community clubs, such as the long-serving Scarboro’ Surf Life Saving Club, and the Scarborough District Sportsmen’s Club, still flourish, and that old Scarborough community vibe is still alive.

This book, in chronicling the people and places that have defined Scarborough, will ensure their stories are preserved, and can be enjoyed by future generations.  

The Old Sixteenth

by Cyril Longmore

ISBN 0 85905 409 8, (1929 reprint 2007), Hard Cover, 286 pp, illust, 695grams

$85.00* + POST

The unit history of the mainly West Australian 16th Battalion during WWI, with fold out plates and nominal list. 

Old Time Memories and Adventures

by Charles Edward Gaunt

ISBN 978-0-85905-643-4, (1930s R 2016), A4, indexed, 148 pages, 410 grams

$35.00* + POST

Charlie Gaunt arrived in the Northern Territory in 1878 as a young teenager. His adventurous life there and in NQ is detailed with many bloody meetings with the tribesmen. Pearling, prospecting, soldiering, tall ships, dog musher, hobo, ranch manager, customs officer were some of the occupations of an adventurous life in the Boer War, Alaska, Nevada & USA generally, Mexico, China, Trinidad, British Guiana, Burma., etc. He died in Brisbane in 1938.

Oldest Perth. The days before the white men won 

Daisy Bates.

ISBN 978-0-85905-721-9, A5, $10.00*

On Australia's Rim

by W.J. de Burgh

ISBN 0 85905 361 X, (2006 new), Soft Cover, A4, 142pp 400grams

$30.00* + POST

Jean Christopher de Lancourt, an enigmatic "French" traveller, raconteur, and soldier, wrote of his experiences while walking around Australia for a wager. Bill de Burgh has collected and annotated the articles commissioned by his uncle at The West Australian. Accused of being a bludger, rogue and spy, in language today reserved for erring historians, he eventually fell out with his companion in N Q. This resulted in some surprising revelations. It is still not known who he really was, or what was his eventual fate. De Lancourt is one of those many mystery characters of the bush. Included are his Arnhem Land Aboriginal legends.

On Gold!

edited by Peter Bridge

ISBN 0 85905 116 1, (1993 new), Soft Cover, 140mm x 215mm, 128pp, illustrated, 175grams

$22.00 + POST

A collection of prospectors’ and miners’ stories with magnificent photographs of mining life now long past.

On the Aborigines of Australia

by Augustus Oldfield with introduction by H. Henderson

ISBN 0 85905 359 8, (1861+2006 new) Hardcover, 132pp, 290grams $55.00*. Softcover $30.00* + POST.

A limited casebound numbered edition of 250 copies.

Oldfield was a botanical collector with a great interest in Aboriginals. This 1864 work with an extensive introduction by H.H. is virtually unknown to anthropologists and is not known in most libraries. It describes the natives of the Port Gregory area at the mouth of the Murchison River in a detail that few others aspired to until the 1890s. Graphic descriptions of customs and incidents of life (and death).

On the Natives of Central and Western Australia

by John Forrest.

ISBN 978-0-85905-901-5, (1876, R, 2021), A5, 8 pages, 30 grams, $10.00*

On the Swan.

A History of the Swan District, Western Australia

by Michael J. Bourke.

ISBN 978-0-85905-893-3. (1987,R, 2021), 180 x 245, French flaps, Section sewn, heavily illustrated B&W & colour, 385 pages,  1.2kg, $75.00*

One of the best local histories published in WA and a beautiful book. A new edition with some upgrading. Essential reading.

One Life's Journey

by Edward Holthouse

ISBN 0 85905 107 2, (1987 new),  Hard Cover, 161pp, illustrated, 450grams

$33.00 + POST

Holthouse's autobiography and the history of Muccan Station, in the Pilbara of Western Australia.

One Man's Gold

by H Cooper

ISBN 978-0-85905-451-5, (1934), A4, 49pp Soft Cover, 165grams

$22.00* + POST

Footloose in the years after WW1 Cooper sets out to find a gold mine of his own in the Eastern Goldfields. How he succeeded in the middle of the Great Depression.

The ontology of book burning.

Burnt, shredded, pulped, censored, suppressed, stolen and destroyed books, documents and artefacts in Western Australia.

by Peter J Bridge

ISBN 978-0-85905-476-8, (2009), 17pp, A4, 90 grams

$10.00* + POST

The subtitle says it all without the adjectives! Details of the criminal rorts by the ‘keepers’ of our records and heritage. A wave of these lowlifes has flooded our institutions and destroyed much of the records. Without knowledge of the past one cannot understand the present, or plan the future. 

Dedicated to Prof Leslie R Marchant, 1924 – 2004. A doughty fighter for the integrity of historical archives. 

See Dollypot for onscreen version

Opals and Agates. The McNamara's gem hunting in the West. 

by Peter J. Bridge.

ISBN 978-0-85905-920-0, (New, 2022), A4, 16 pages, illustrated. 130 grams, $22.00*

Jack Mcnamara and his cousin prospected some beautiful gem deposits in the 1960s. This is the story of them and that of Jack's son, Max, an long time associate and now a rare book dealer in Perth.

Our Adventures in Queensland.
by Mrs C.A. Nott.
ISBN 978-0-85905-940-4, A4, 12 pages, illustrated, 70 grams, $22.00*

Murder and suicide in 1897 in north Queensland, with depredations of the savages upon a new station.

Our Western Australian Home

Being Sketches of Scenery and Society in the Colony

by George J. Webb, Esq., D.A.C.G. (edited and annotated by Geoff Blackburn, Steve Errington and Peter J. Bridge)

ISBN 978-0-85905-636-6, (New, 2016), A4, 44pages, 150 grams

$22 + POST

George Webb lived in Perth from April 1839 until January 1848, working in the commissariat building (where the Supreme Court now stands), and progressing from Assistant Clerk to D.A.C.G (Deputy Assistant Commissary General) by December 1845. He was a ‘young man about town’, organising Assembly balls and Foundation Day regattas, singing at St Patrick’s Day dinners and taking part in Perth’s first amateur theatricals.

Out and About with Tommy and Me 

by C. Fitzgerald Fraser

ISBN 978 0 85905 256 6, (R2008), A4, 82 pp, Soft Cover, 240grams

$22.00* + POST

Fraser loved the bush. Leaving his farm he reported on the new places of the wheat belt to as far north as Geraldton and on the bush areas to the north of Southern Cross, in the years before and after WW1.