Hesperian Press

PLEASE NOTE: Any book title starting with "The" - the second word of the title is used to list by.

   All prices quoted are in Australian currency and include GST. * Short trade discount.

   If you are unsure of a title use the search facility on the left hand side of this page.

The shop will be closed on Friday May 27 2022. 

We apologise for any inconvenience. 

FREE BOOKS

When you visit the shop you can choose from the 'free book shelf'. Mail order - we will try to add in a free book if it does not increase the postage.

It is important that we get support for our books from our readers. Hesperian does not get taxpayer funding.

Many millions of dollars have been mis-spent on unreadable novels and plainly irrelevant and obnoxious propaganda.

There is no other publisher like us in Australia concentrating on REAL Australian history and people.

Hesperian books will stand the test of time.

But if we do not get buyer support we may not be around too long after our 50 years anniversary.  

Black Swans Over Java
 

by Ian Duggan.
 

ISBN 978-0-85905-898-8, (New, 2021), A4, 139 pages, heavily illustrated, French flaps, 430grams, $40.00*

The story of the Corunna WWII secret air base south of Marble Bar Western Australia, the men that worked there under unbearable conditions to provide fuel, and armaments to American and Australian B.24 Liberator bombers, and the heroic flight crews that flew missions bombing Japanese bases in Java and Bali.

Commandant of Solitude. The Journals of Captain Collet Barker 1828-1831.

Edited by John Mulvaney & Neville Green.

ISBN 978-0-85905-893-3, (1992, R 2021), 240 x 170,   illustrated- colour plates, Section sewn, French flap soft cover, 466 pages, 1.2kg, $80.00*

After seeing service in the Peninsular War, Canada and Ireland, Captain Collet Barker (1784-1831) was posted to New South Wales, but he spent less than a month in the relative comfort of Sydney Town. He was sent to command the isolated settlement at Raffles Bay (near modern Darwin) for just over a year and was then transferred to King George Sound (Albany), both tiny military detachments on the furthest frontiers of empire.

Prehistorian D. J. Mulvaney and historian Dr Neville Green with E.W.F. (Ted) Street laboriously transcribed Barker's journals, revealing the texture of life in the frontier settlements. 

The combined Raffles Bay and King George Sound manuscripts were 586 folio pages of almost indecipherable script. The Raffles Bay folio was deciphered by E.W.F. Street and similarly the 250 King George Sound (Albany) pages by Dr Green that engaged him for 12 years.

Here is Barker's account of his day-to-day problems in the most remote settlements in the continent. He had to deal with difficult officials, unruly soldiers and escaping convicts. He had to try to meet the inflexible demands of the Colonial Office, and at the same time struggle to raise crops and animals in unfamiliar soil and climate. He took an enlightened interest in the Aborigines, who were familiar with European visitors and his journals provide a unique account of the friendly relationships that he achieved with them. 

Barker emerges as an excellent administrator, kind-hearted, zealous and firm. His untimely death is movingly recounted in Chapter 1. As solitary in his death as in his Australian commands, Barker at some time penned a sadly percipient epitaph consisting of the first lines of Alexander Pope's Ode on Solitude. The last stanza of this ode reads:

Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;

Thus unlamented let me dye;

Steal from the world and not a stone

Tell where I lye.

On 30^th April 1831 Barker was fatally speared in South Australia.

This book details the early years of the military settlements at Raffles Bay and Albany. It is essential for the understanding of both colonial outposts. The publishers gt gt g/father, William Thacker, was present at Albany, courtesy of HMG.

Don’s Adventure. Invasion of Balikpapan. ‘F’ Day – Sunday 1 July 1945.

The diaries of Corporal Donald Briggs (WX 16865) of 1 Australian Armoured Regiment, ‘A’ Squadron and Japanese Sailor Katsuichi Kitao. Compiled by Donald (Don) Charles Briggs.

ISBN 978-0-85905-923-7, (New 2022), A4, 56 pages, illustrated, 180 grams, $22.00*

Contains the Japanese diary as well as Briggs’ war diary. 

The Daybooks and Journals of Eric Mjoberg & Cyrus Viddell

of the Swedish Scientific Expedition to Australia 1910-1911.

Translated & edited by Margarita Luotsinen, Gunnar Syren and Kim Akerman.

ISBN 978-0-85905-905-3, (New, 2022), A4, 290 pages, illustrated, 1.1 kg, $65.00*

This is a companion to our previously published Among Wild Animals and People in Australia by Eric Mjoberg. Hesperian Press, 2012.

An exceptionally informative volume covering aspects of the expedition not mentioned in the 2012 book. Finer details of the personalities, the specimens, and the localities visited as well as an important collection of previously unpublished aboriginal photographs.  A unique record of the Frontier Kimberley through the eyes of non-Anglo European scientists. An important Kimberley reference.

Experiences & adventures in Western Australia. Nathaniel William Cooke. 

Edited by Peter J. Bridge, Annelle Perotti 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. 

The Great Nor’ West and its Resources.

L. van Praagh & Reginald Lloyd.

ISBN 978-0-85905-912-1, (1904, R, 2022), A3, 116 pp, heavily illustrated, indexed, 1kg, $70.00*

A magnificent reprint of the very rare 1904 book. This A3 book of 116 pages (=232pp A4) has hundreds of photos of the NW before 1904 together with good descriptive text. Period adverts also abound for the enterprises that helped develop the country. Mining, pastoral, agricultural, shipping, transport, pearling, aborigines are well covered.

This is a companion volume to our earlier publications, Nor’ West of West (1908), History of the North West (1915), Nor’ Westers of the Pilbara Breed (1981), Due North (2020), Experiences and Adventures of NW Cooke (2021), and many smaller books.

These are fundamental sources of information on the people and businesses that have developed the North West into the powerhouse of the national economy. They are the foundation for future projects such as our Biographical Dictionary of the North West 1860-1960.

The unusual size of this book creates problems for mailing. Resolution at reasonable costs is being examined.

Map and Gazetteer of Western Australia.

Prepared by Celene Bridge.

ISBN 978-0-85905-555-0, (2013, R), A3, 17 pages colour map, 33 pages text. grams $50.00*

The 1969 1:2,250,000 map modified with 1:250,000 sheets marked and the gazeteer included.

Some 7000 localities marked. This is the best map available of WA. An essential research tool.

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.

Potjostler.

The life of William Carr Boyd. Explorer, Prospector, and Raconteur.

By Peter J Bridge, Ian Elliot, Ian Murray, and Gail Dreezens.

ISBN 978-0-85905-854-4, (2021), A4, french flaps, illustrated, 453 pages, 1.3kg, $80.00*

A documentary biography and history of one of Australia’s most interesting and amusing explorers and bushmen (1852-1925).

Published jointly with the Laverton Shire and under the aegis of the Western Australian Explorers’ Diaries Project as an ancillary volume. Laverton Great Beyond shop. HP for mail order.

Ramillies.

Tales of Western Australia's Convicts. Volume 1. The story of 277 convicts who arrived at the Swan Colony in 1854.

Researched and compiled by Glennis Sewell.

ISBN 978-0-86905-914-5, (New, 2021), A4, 228 pages, 650 grams, $50.00*

Since giving a talk to the Convict Group of the WA Genealogical Society in October, 2017 I had been expecting a collection of scattered convict biographies to publish in a proposed book. Irma Walter had produced her Stout Hearted but there was little indication that the good intentions of members were going to result in anything solid. 

However when Glennis Sewell’s manuscript arrived in October 2021 I was both very surprised and greatly impressed.

So opening Glennis’ magnificent contribution was a hearkening back to Rica Erickson and the early days of the great projects that resulted in the Dictionary of West Australians.

Now Glennis, working alone, and far from Perth, has produced this great offering of ancestor worship.

Such dedication and competence is now rarely seen, and certainly not from our degraded academic institutions or from those leech swamps involuntarily funded by the taxpayers.

This shows what can be done with dedication and a belief in ones capabilities when distractions and negativity are cast aside.

The 10,000 plus convicts who were sent to Western Australia included my great grandfather on the Corona, and his father in law who had arrived on the Amity in 1826.   William Thacker was the only person on that little ship who stayed on, and so becomes the first British settler of Western Australia.  

It amuses me that there are so many descendants of the 10,000. Many seem to have had some success in marrying female migrants and free settlers. This says something about many of the latter males.

I see that England had two classes: Those that had been caught, and those that had not. Any examination of society will show that among the latter were many of the greatest criminals of their time, who occupied positions of great power. Similarly today, some of the wealthiest and politically powerful deserve swift application of the hemp rope.

The law goes hard on man or woman, Who steals the goose from off the common. But lets the greater sinner loose, Who steals the common from the goose.

While we are now inundated with stories of the hard lives of aboriginal citizens, little consideration has been given to the lives of the convicts, dragooned from a thriving European society, and left in a strange land without the support of family or society. 

Barrington’s refrain, ‘True patriots they, let it be understood. They left their country for their countries good’ may have been said ruefully, but seeing how these true born Englishmen prospered it can be truthfully said that they were England’s loss.

Descendants of the convicts, who are proud to claim their ancestry, have risen to the highest honours, and of wealth and political power.

They're Racing at Landor

by P.R. Heydon

ISBN 0 85905 169 2, (1992 new), Soft Cover, 272pp, illustrated, 350grams

$30.00 + POST

The history of the people, horses and place of the fabled Landor bush races of the North West of Western Australia.  A racing classic.

Now available again.

Last year our stock got buried in the warehouse. Just found.

Those customer’s whose orders we could not fill can now re-order.
 

THE AUTHOR

Phil Heydon commenced his working life in the Post Office at Cue, in 1935, as a Telegraph Messenger. He worked in most Murchison goldfield towns, returning to Big Bell as Postmaster in 1947 and retired as Postmaster at the General Post Office, Perth. He was awarded the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977, and the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1979.

What the hell was that? A conservation biologist’s journey in Australia & Asia.

Darrell Kitchener.

ISBN 978-0-85905-899-5, (2021), A4, French flaps, illustrated, 205 pages, 600 grams, $55.00*

Raised in a wild Tasmanian timber town, this book traces the authors experiences as a biologist in Tasmania, Western Australia, and Asia. It provides examples of the constant wrestle between conservationists and resource developers in these regions. He spent his last 30 years working on a variety of projects, including conservation of Sumatran Orangutan, Javanese Rhinoceros, national parks, forests and watersheds in a many Indonesian landscapes. He built a heritage hotel beneath a smoking volcano in Java and published on Javanese painters and ancient trade ceramics found beneath the Musi River in Sumatra.

 The first part, highlights stories of modern exploration on those islands visited by Alfred Wallace in southern Indonesia at the interface of the Australian and Indomalayan Biogeographic realms, and in the Western Australian Wheatbelt and Kimberley Regions. The second part provides readers insights on the effectiveness of work done by international NGOs in Indonesia and the nature of the enabling environment for expatriate conservationists. 

Geological and mining library for sale.

My library of some 60 years of collecting must be disseminated to the wider world.

I can categorically state that this is the best privately held library in Australia of this material.

Such items will never come on the market again.

It covers many countries from America, north and south, Africa, Europe, Asia, and especially Australia. Much Australian material goes back to the 1850s, while the world wide items go back to the 1890s. Covers all aspects of geology and mineralogy. Much is general. Much is collectable.

With lighting installed in my new shed and raring to go, I am at present unpacking the mountain of cartons which have been stored for several decades.

The extent is too large to list. Perhaps if anyone has a specific interest in a country or subject they can query me. Offers accepted for the bulk collection.

Peter J. Bridge, mineralogist.

Editorial and Proofreading Services for Real Australian Writers of Non-Fiction
 

Assistance with preparing your writing for publication. Services include editing, indexing and proofreading. No job too modest or too academic.
 

The Australian Government Publishing Service standard used for normal editing work.
 

Qualifications and experience: PhD, BA Hons (Geography). Over 16 years as a proof reader and editor with the Western Australian Explorers' Diaries Project.
 

Marion Hercock

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0404 036 109