The Big Book of Australian Racing Stories

The Big Book of Australian Racing Stories PDF Author: Jim Haynes
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1925266974
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 627

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Book Description
Jim Haynes, Australia's favourite tale teller, loves the sport of kings as much as he loves Aussie yarns and bush verse. From country picnic tracks to the thoroughbred racecourses of Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, from Archer to Black Caviar, from the mysterious punter Louis the Possum to the great trainer Bart Cummings, he brings these two great loves together in the biggest book of Australian racing stories ever. In these stories, full of the humour and romance of the track, Jim reminds us of the great champions, the tragedies, and the unique characters (equine and human) of racing. Here are stories of famous races and jockeys, touts and urgers, nose-to-nose battles and a rort or two, as well as country race meeting where anything can happen. This rich collection captures the heart and soul of the turf and reminds us exactly why a day at the races and having a punt are such an important part of the Australian spirit. Jim Haynes lives ten minutes' walk from Randwick Racecourse and his favourite television channel is Thoroughbred Central.

The Big Book of Australian Racing Stories

The Big Book of Australian Racing Stories PDF Author: Jim Haynes
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1925266974
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 627

Get Book Here

Book Description
Jim Haynes, Australia's favourite tale teller, loves the sport of kings as much as he loves Aussie yarns and bush verse. From country picnic tracks to the thoroughbred racecourses of Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, from Archer to Black Caviar, from the mysterious punter Louis the Possum to the great trainer Bart Cummings, he brings these two great loves together in the biggest book of Australian racing stories ever. In these stories, full of the humour and romance of the track, Jim reminds us of the great champions, the tragedies, and the unique characters (equine and human) of racing. Here are stories of famous races and jockeys, touts and urgers, nose-to-nose battles and a rort or two, as well as country race meeting where anything can happen. This rich collection captures the heart and soul of the turf and reminds us exactly why a day at the races and having a punt are such an important part of the Australian spirit. Jim Haynes lives ten minutes' walk from Randwick Racecourse and his favourite television channel is Thoroughbred Central.

The Big Book of Australia's War Stories

The Big Book of Australia's War Stories PDF Author: Jim Haynes
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1760872660
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 777

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Book Description
A unique collection of poignant, horrific, sad and sometimes dryly humorous stories and tales about wartime experiences of Australian's on the front lines, in the air and on the sea. 'The bravest thing God ever made,' said a British officer of the insubordinate Aussies at Gallipoli. And before the Normandy invasion, Field Marshal Montgomery's chief of staff remarked, 'I only wish we had the Australian 9th Division with us this morning'. But there is more to the Australian experience of war than heroic endeavour and bravery. Jim Haynes has rediscovered stories that are as harrowing as they are uplifting, as strange as they are brutal and as heart-breaking as they are humorous. From Federation to the Vietnam War, from our first VC winner to our hundredth, this sweeping overview of Australia's military adventures both overseas and at home is a guide to understanding how this nation's role in the twentieth century's major conflicts unfolded as each war ebbed and flowed. These stories have formed Australia's collective memory of war. Some battles and campaigns are household names, although their historical significance may have been lost. Others are barely remembered now but are part of our history and deserve to be retold. These are the accounts, recollections and legends that explain Australia's wartime reputation. They demonstrate the extraordinary courage, resilience, stoic humour, personal heroism and sacrifice that created the mythology of the Aussie 'digger' - the soldiers, sailors, nurses and flyers who did things their own way and earned the undying respect of both their allies and their enemies.

Great Australian Rascals, Rogues and Ratbags

Great Australian Rascals, Rogues and Ratbags PDF Author: Jim Haynes
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1761185586
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
An incredible collection of true crime characters from Australia's master storyteller. The bold, the bad, and the slightly mad... Criminality, some say, is part of Australia's national identity, and in Great Australian Rascals, Rogues and Ratbags Jim Haynes profiles fifteen larger-than-life Aussie rogues - some of our greatest ne'er-do-wells from colonial times to the modern era. These stories uncover the truth and expose the myths about characters ranging from the most despicable examples of humanity, to those whose courage has to be admired and whose so-called 'crimes' were unjustly punished. This fascinating collection features felons who have sprung from Australia's underbelly since 1788, such as the infamous Kate Leigh of the razor gangs; the convict Mary Bryant, who in 1791 escaped from the Sydney penal settlement and somehow made it back to England; James Hardy Vaux, who was sent to Australia no less than three times; Henry James O'Farrell, the madman who attempted to murder Prince Alfred in Sydney in 1868; and John Leak, who was repeatedly charged with insolence, disobedience and being absent without leave in World War I - and awarded the Victoria Cross. Told with Jim's inimitable combination of history and humour, Great Australian Rascals, Rogues and Ratbags is packed with murders, mystery and miscreants: true stories of true criminals from Australia's past. 'entertaining . . . highly readable . . . you will find some genuinely amazing new facts and insights.' ArtsHub

Adventurers, Pioneers and Misfits

Adventurers, Pioneers and Misfits PDF Author: Jim Haynes
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1761060538
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
From an eccentric musical genius to an escaped convict who ended up Japan, Jim Haynes reveals some of Australia's most amazing, and sometimes unbelievable, true life stories The petty thief... who escaped Van Diemen's Land, twice, stole the government brig and set sail for Japan, where, by the Shogun's decree, all foreigners were to be executed. The world's best cricketer a champion of Aboriginal people who 'invented' Aussie Rules, survived the worst massacre of white settlers in Australia's history and killed himself with a pair of scissors. The eccentric musical genius ...who played in the greatest concert halls in the world but pushed his favourite piano stool between venues in a wheelbarrow. Over the many years Jim Haynes has spent exploring and writing about the quirkier events and people in Australia's history, he has discovered characters who have amazed, surprised and simply baffled him. This is a book about some of those men and women and their remarkable, out-of-the-ordinary and almost unbelievable lives. As he always does, Jim has discovered that there is more to the story than first meets the eye. Who knew that the first man hanged in Australia made an artefact now valued at over one million dollars? Or that an Australian swimmer was the highest-paid act on the American vaudeville circuit and the star of the first million-dollar movie ever made? And that the father of the first Australian woman to serve in parliament was hanged for murder? With a light touch, a wry eye and his gifts as a master storyteller, Jim shares the tales and adventures of a group of heroic, feisty, flawed and pioneering characters who have shaped our nation and introduced Australia to the world.

Great Furphies of Australian History

Great Furphies of Australian History PDF Author: Jim Haynes
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1761063219
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
Jim Haynes upturns some of the long-held myths of Australian history with surprising results. With all the skills of the master storyteller that he is, Jim Haynes exposes some of the great myths of Australian history. Did you know that Portuguese and Spanish explorers probably found the east coast of Australia before Captain Cook, and that the Rum Rebellion was not caused by rum? And what about Banjo Paterson writing Waltzing Matilda? As for Ned Kelly being a brave freedom-fighting rebel, in truth he was a thief, a thug and a murderer. The Ashes have nothing to do with cricket, the Ghan is not named after Afghan cameleers and Hargraves lied about discovering gold in New South Wales. Surprising, confounding, revealing and fun, Jim Haynes takes us on another great journey through Australian history and folklore.

Heroes, Rebels and Radicals of Convict Australia

Heroes, Rebels and Radicals of Convict Australia PDF Author: Jim Haynes
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 176118797X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 407

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Book Description
Australia's most amazing characters of the convict age. 'Aussies love a good story and entertainer Jim Haynes has been telling them for decades' —Courier-Mail In Heroes, Rebels and Radicals of Convict Australia, our master storyteller Jim Haynes has collected a fascinating cast of characters who embody the resourcefulness, bravery, defiance, successes and tragedies of the convict era, the men and women who forged the nation we would one day become. There's Joseph Banks, the true founder of the colony; Surgeon John White, the saviour of the First Fleet; Pemulwuy, the Bidjigal freedom fighter; Mary Reiby, the horse thief who made good; Sapy Lovell, the Eora gypsy convict; John Donohue, the wild colonial boy; Lady Jane Franklin, the true leader of Van Diemen's Land – and many more! Why did transportation occur, why did it end, and what was it like living in Australia from 1788 to 1870? Skilfully researched and told in Jim's warm and witty style, Heroes, Rebels and Radicals of Convict Australia answers these questions and brings to life well-known and unknown figures from Australia's history as a penal settlement. This is the true story of the colonisation of Australia. 'In a year when we could all use a different perspective Jim Haynes came to the rescue with his latest sojourn into history . . . a cast of colourful characters.' —Spectator

The Best Australian Bush Stories

The Best Australian Bush Stories PDF Author: Jim Haynes
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1743314396
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 418

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Book Description
Stories that take us from the Mallee to the back of Bourke and beyond . an indispensable collection about the enduring appeal of the Australian bush.

Good Losers Die Broke

Good Losers Die Broke PDF Author: Max Presnell
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780369314765
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 428

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Book Description
Melbourne Mick Bartley wasn't big noting when he described $6000 in 1976 as toilet paper. To call him a punter wasn't sufficient. Nobody played horses better in roles as a commission agent, SP bookmaker and master architect of betting coups. But the punt giveth and the punt taketh away... From copy boy at the Sydney Sun to his current weekly column for Fairfax, Max Presnell has lived, breathed and written about horse racing for more than 60 years. Good Losers Die Broke gives us his best, most colourful stories from a lifetime's observation of the turf. Starting with Max's own unique upbringing at Kensington's legendary Doncaster Hotel, where his father was publican, Good Losers Die Broke takes us on journey into the heart and soul of Australian racing. It brilliantly captures not only the famous racing names like Tommy Smith, Bart Cummings, and Gai Waterhouse, and legendary punters like Kerry Packer, but a marvellous parade of crook bookies, pimps, pickpockets, dopers, plonkers, lobbers and the downright disreputable. Written with Max's trademark humour and encyclopaedic knowledge of the sport, Good Losers Die Broke is the distillation of more than six decades worth of racing's greatest characters and stories.

Great Australian Scams, Cons and Rorts

Great Australian Scams, Cons and Rorts PDF Author: Jim Haynes
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1760639699
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
'Australian history is...so curious and strange, that it...does not read like history, but like the most beautiful lies... It is full of surprises, and adventures, and incongruities, and contradictions, and incredibilities; but they are all true, they all happened.' - Mark Twain Australia is the birthplace and setting of some of the wildest, craziest and least-likely-to-succeed cons and rorts in history. From the cleverest double-crosses to the most unlikely and maddest schemes, master storyteller Jim Haynes reminds us that we've never been shy of pulling a trick or two. So how did a clever bushman who 'couldn't lie straight in bed' steal a thousand head of cattle and get away with it even though he was caught 'red handed'? And what about the disappearing work of art that suddenly dissolved only to reappear at an auction years later? Or how about the butcher from Wagga who passed himself off as a French-born English duke to inherit a small fortune. And then there was the small matter of a horse, a tin of paint and a million dollar double-cross that became known as the Fine Cotton Affair. In only the way he can, Jim Haynes has collected a veritable 'Gullible's Tales' of unexpected and surprising true stories that may seem hard to believe!

Off the Track

Off the Track PDF Author: Barry Wood
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781743460269
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 406

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Book Description
Carefully chosen from the racing lore found around the world, Off the Track features compelling stories written, selected and meticulously honed by two brothers who are passionate about the subject.