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.

odyssey_digger_theThe 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-reacing-australia

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. 

old_coach_roadsThe 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.

Read more...

old_north_roadThe 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_sixteenthThe 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_cvrOld 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_aus_rimOn 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_goldOn 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_native_waOn 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-SwanOn 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_lifes_journeyOne 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_mans_goldOne 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-agatesOpals 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_western_australia_cvrOur 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.

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out_and_about_coverOut 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.

Toutback_trailhe Outback Trail

by A.J. Luck

ISBN 0 85905 081 5, (1988 new), Soft Cover, 140mm x 216mm, 155pp, illustrated, 315grams

SC $22.00 + POST


Gus Luck was one of Western Australia's most experienced bushmen when he met David Carnegie, who later wrote the classic Spinifex and Sand.

He taught Carnegie his bushmanship and in The Outback Trail he writes of his life and experiences in the bush, camels, natives, prospecting, people, and more, in a fascinating story of the 1880s to 1930s. 

outpost_peopleOutpost People of the Outback.

W. Sprague Holden.

ISBN 978-0-85905-969-5, (1957 R 2022), A4, illustrated, 12 pages, 80 grams, $22.00*


Holden, an American professor studying aspects of Australian culture was part of a tour of business people through the NW of WA just before the iron ore business changed that ‘timeless land’ forever. 

over_the_hillOver the Hills. A History of York 1834 - 1880

by Roger Jennings

ISBN 978-85905-712-7, (New, 2020), 160 x 240mm, 360pp, French flap cover, 840 grams, $72.00* + POST $12.45. 


A detailed history of York in its first 50 years. An important book of the first inland settlement.

otp-resizedOver the Plates

Edited by Peter J. Bridge and Graeme Blake 

Each 45-53 pages, A4, ~170 grams each. Total weight 6 vols = 1kg, $25.00 each volume.

Panning Off. ISBN 978-0-85905-700-4., Weight Chasing. ISBN 978-0-85905-699-1., The Ore Bin. ISBN 978-0-85905-696-0., Retorted Gold. ISBN 978-0-85905-695-3., In the Sands. ISBN 978-0-85905-698-4., The Old State Battery. ISBN 978-0-85905-697-7.


Six volumes of the best true stories and reminiscences of the early goldfields from the 1890s to the 1930s. 

overlanders-coverThe Overlanders

Crossing the Nullarbor
1870s – 1970s

by Peter J Bridge with Ian Murray

ISBN 978-0-85905-496-6, 2011, illust., indexed, A4, 313pp, 850grams

$55.00* + POST


This collection contains all the pre WWII material on Nullarbor crossings that could be found. The emphasis is on those who travelled by boot, bicycle, camel, horse, wheelbarrow, covered wagon, and early cars and motorbikes.

It covers a century in time, but is not a history of the Nullarbor, which is yet to come.

See: Nullarbor Biographical Survey in DOLLYPOT.

outback-tripThe Outback Trip

by Anon

ISBN 978-0-85905-775-2, (1902 R 2019), A5, 7pp, 20grams, $5.00* + POST


“The Curse of Bewick Moreing dark upon the mulga hangs…”