Robe Chinese Festival

This weekend is the Robe Chinese Festival, and launching at the festival is a new book by Liz Harful, author of Almost an Island. Guichen Bay and the Chinese Landings incorporates material from Almost an Island with new research. Both books will be available from the foreshore pavilion on Saturday 6 May, and Liz will be signing books from 10.30 am to 12.30 pm. After Victoria introduced a tax on Chinese passengers during the gold rush, some 15,000 migrants landed at the…

The sausage sizzle

With Tasting Australia upon us, we can once again consider that ongoing and highly contentious debate: does Australia have a national dish? In her history of Australia's gastronomic heritage, Bold Palates, Barbara Santich makes a case for the barbecue, more specifically the humble sausage sizzle. Howzat for gourmet? The sausage sizzle is a uniquely Australian variant of the barbecue and almost by definition a public event—no one would ever invite friends to a sausage sizzle at home,…

Furry friends, deadly pests or tasty treats?

The Easter Bunny may be cute and cuddly, but he's a real pest in Australia (which is why we recommend the Haigh's Easter Bilby instead – see below). A century ago Australia was home to 10 billion rabbits, thriving in their adopted home. Storyteller Bruce Munday finds the rabbit saga irresistible, and has collected it into his new book, Those Wild Rabbits. The book features this excerpt from the Age in 1925, including a recipe for baked rabbit…

The Easter Bilby: Enjoyed since 1993

Hopefully the Easter Bilby will be bringing you plenty of Haigh's chocolates this weekend. Here is the story of the Haigh's bilby, which has indeed been Enjoyed for Generations – if only they were still life-size! Wrapping moulded chocolate and eggs ready for Easter. Circa 1965. The idea came from Erwin Shulten, a ranger at Bundaleer Forest Reserve at Jamestown, who asked Haigh’s and a couple of other manufacturers to create a chocolate bilby to replace the traditional Easter rabbit in…

Australia's Muslim Cameleers

Australia's Muslim Cameleers is back in stock (and on its way to Canberra to be gifted by the Prime Minister to some special visiting guests). Between 1870 and 1920 as many as 2000 cameleers and 20,000 camels arrived in Australia from Afghanistan and northern India; each has their own fascinating story. Dost Mahomed Dost Mahomed was the son of Mullah Mohamed Jullah of Gaznee. A Pashtun, he served as a ‘Sepoy’ in the British-Indian army before being…

Ministers and the Media

Launching this week is Never a True Word, the debut political thriller from Michael McGuire. The book follows Jack, a journalist who thinks he's met every shade of nutter, narcissist and bully, until he enters the bizarre world of politics as a spin doctor. Perhaps Jack might have benefitted from reading John Hill's how-to, On Being a Minister – here John discusses his experiences with Adelaide's 'best informed, most intelligent and, at times, most offensive interviewers', Matt and Dave. My first Matt and Dave interview,…

The beginnings of a town like Atherreyurre

Publicist Ayesha is visiting Alice Springs at the moment. We've taken the opportunity to dip back into the history books, this time looking at the creation of the first permanent structure in Alice (or Atherreyurre, in Arrenrnte language): a 'fortress' telegraph station set against the 'stunning backdrop' of the MacDonnell ranges. You can still visit the Alice Springs Telegraph Station today. The following excerpt is from Stuart Traynor's Alice Springs: From singing wire to iconic outback…

Adelaide Entertainment Royalty

While most of Adelaide has settled down for a well-deserved nap following the end of festival season, one favourite festival venue has no time to rest. Her Majesty's Theatre is continuing its campaign to raise funds for its major upgrade, due to be completed in 2019. In 2013 Her Majesty's Theatre celebrated its centenary with a beautiful book, Her Majesty's Pleasure. What better time to look back on Adelaide's beginnings as a 'theatre town' and the birth…

Adrian Mitchell on blending fact and fiction

Adrian Mitchell is one of our most popular and prolific authors at Wakefield. From Plein Airs and Graces, the biography of George Collingridge that got Adrian shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Literary Awards, to Dampier's Monkey, on the south seas voyages of William Dampier, Adrian's skills at biography are well documented. But in his last couple of books he's moved a little left of centre, using historical figures as the basis of fictionalised work. It started with The…

The interesting case of Lesueur and the wombats

The Art of Science is one of those books that has something for everyone. The beautiful images created by Baudin's artists on the voyage to New Holland in 1800–1804 are fascinating for history buffs and art lovers, young and old. Here, art historian Sasha Grishin explains the evolution of depictions of wombats, from sketches during the voyage to final printed plates. Over the past three decades, the story of Baudin, his artists Charles-Alexandre Lesueur and Nicolas-Martin Petit,…