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.

shepherd-of-the-plainsA Shepherd of the Plains. The life of William Bashford

by F W Gunning

ISBN 978-0-85905-787-5, (2020), A5, 11 pages, $10.00*


Bushman, pastoralist, of Moora, Dandaragan.

saddle_in_the_kitchenSaddle in the Kitchen

by Enga Smith

ISBN 0 85905 191 9, (1993 reprint of 1979 edition), Soft Cover, 140mm x 215mm, 91pp, illustrated, 150grams

$22.00 + POST


Saddle in the Kitchen will appeal to people of all ages who value a happy home and the simple pleasures of country life.

Enga Smith's 'Memories of a Childhood' evokes an atmosphere of love and tranquillity, while filling the days with a sense of wonder and adventure.

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sailor_and_commandoSailor & Commando

by A.E. (Ted) JONES

ISBN 0 85905 253 2, (1998 new), Soft Cover, 182pp, illustrated, 245grams

$22.00 + POST


As a young Royal Australian Navy sailor, one of just one hundred and twenty, Ted Jones trained at a secret base in New South Wales to become a Special Service Beach Commando.  He saw active service in the Netherlands East Indies and Borneo with the Australian and American armies.

Sailor and Commando is a story of extraordinary training and active service.  It includes a nominal roll of personnel. 

sailor-soldier-surgeonSailor, Soldier, Surgeon

The life of George W. Barber

by Simon Doyle and Jenny Mills

ISBN 978-0-85905-823-0, (2020 New), Soft Cover, French flaps, 240pp, illustrated, 590grams, $40.00* + Post


An exceptional medical officer during World War I, George Walter Barber had a wayfaring early life. As a teenager he worked as a merchant marine on a clipper serving the England – Australia route. He went on to study medicine and after graduating became a P&O ship doctor sailing the England-India-China route. He met his wife Jess on his final voyage, and they moved to the Kalgoorlie goldfields at the commencement of the goldrush. At the outbreak of the war he was mobilised to assess the fitness of Western Australian recruits. In 1916 he became Assistant Director Medical Services of the 4th Australian Division and in 1918 was appointed Deputy Director Medical Services, Australian Corps. He ran a venereal disease hospital in Egypt and served on a number of gruesome hospital ships during the Gallipoli campaign. As DDMS he was in charge of medical administration for the Australian troops in France and through his Standing Orders enacted a number of significant innovations which reflected the shift towards mobile warfare. He then went on to becomeDirector General Medical Services in Australia after the war (1925-1934).

Available direct from the author (MOB: 0405 956 679, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

sailors_in_slouch_hatsSailors In Slouch Hats

From a Sea of Memories

Recorded by the Men of 42 Australian Landing Craft Company RAE, AIF

edited by W.W. Rice

ISBN 0 85905 299 0, (2001 reprint of 1999 edition), Soft Cover, 140mm x 215mm, 168pp, illustrated, 245grams

$22.00 + POST


This story of the men of 42 Australian Landing Craft Company is a stirring and fitting tribute to the magnificent soldiers who risked and often gave their lives in Operation Porton in 1945. In the true tradition of the ANZACs these are stories of ordinary men who did extraordinary things. Operating in the very real danger of battle, the men of 42 ALC faced unpredictable seas and sustained enemy fire to land, support and then evacuate the soldiers of a company of 31/51 Bn. These stories are told with a frankness and affection in aw way that only a soldier can. 'Sailors in Slouch Hats' is a superb collection of personal experiences of mateship, ingenuity, larrikinism and bravery. We are fortunate to have this record of some of our heroes.

Lieutenant General P.J. Cosgrove, AC, MC

Chief of Army

Hubbe_cvrSamuel Grau Hubbe and the South Australia to Western Australia Stock Route Expedition 1895-1896.

SG Hubbe. Edited by Andrew Guy Peake.
(WAEDP series.)

ISBN 978-0-85905-680-9, (New, 2018), casebound, section sewn, illustrated, maps, indexed, 296 pages, .855 kg

$95.00* + POST


Contains the official and private journals of Hubbe and John Mahar. Biographical notes on the men of the expedition.

This is a very small run which will ensure future scarcity.

s_s_p1_2Sand and Stone

Pt 1. Colonists and Convicts

Pt 2. Pastoralists and Prospectors

By Kevin Moran

ISBN 978-0-85905-572-7, ISBN 978-0-85905-573-4, (2000, 2013), A4, 730 pp, Soft cover, illustrated, indexed, 2kg.

$140.00*. + POST

Sold only as a set.


A magnificent overview of the colony from a police perspective. Contains a great deal not available elsewhere.

s_s_cattle_coverSand and Stone – Cattle and Conflict

by Kevin Moran

ISBN 978-0- 85905-449-2, (2010, new), illust., A4, 436pp, 2Vols, 1.2kg

$80.00* + POST

NB. This book is in two parts, of 232 and 204 pages respectively. The parts will not be sold separately. Matching numbers are printed and there will not be any extras available for replacements if a volume is loaned and lost


Sand and Stone continues to chronicle the story of the violent hidden history of Western Australia’s Kimberley Region in this two part volume ‘Cattle and Conflict’.

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s_s_foreign_foot_coverSand and Stone – Foreign Footprints

Police in the Kimberley 1880–1890s

by  Kevin Moran

ISBN 978‑0‑85905‑447‑8, (2009), fully indexed, A4, Soft Cover, 271pp, 735grams

$40.00*+ POST


The author retired from the West Australian Police Force as Superintendent in 1994 when acting Chief Superintendent Perth Region.

Following on from his earlier Sand and Stone volumes, the author has systematically combed the police files to uncover these Kimberley stories. They are absolutely essential for all interested in the area. This is the first of 3 volumes on the Kimberley.

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ss_pigeon_coverSand and Stone – Pigeon

by Kevin Moran (With a Foreword by Peter Conole)

ISBN 978-0-85905-448-5, (2011, New), 126pp, illustrated, 360grams

$30.00* + POST


This is Pigeon's story and of those who suffered his reign of terror and the men who hunted him.

It is without academe historians' fashionable fabrications and elaborations, which in recent times have dissembled the past to rewrite history as they would like it, not as it was. They attack any historical writing that questions their spurious promotion of utopian aboriginal culture. They will not welcome this work.

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savagery_swan_river_settlemSavagery on the Swan River Settlement:

The aboriginal murder cycle and the 1839 killing of Sarah Cook

Collected and edited by Peter J Bridge

ISBN 978-0-85905-246-7, (New 2010), A4, 36pp, 135grams

$22.00* + POST


This report draws on material that has been suppressed or has been ‘disappeared’.

Savagery on the Swan River Settlement has two primary threads.

That the government and media of 1839 suppressed the publication of the true facts of several vicious murders of Europeans to protect the native tribes from the retaliation of concerned settlers.

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save-the-unionSave the Union

ed. by John C. Rice.

ISBN 978-0-85905-853-7, (c1920 R 2020), 160x240, illustrated, 80 pages, 150 grams, $30.00*


A very small reprint of a Franklin G. Rice’s memoir of life, and death, in the Michigan Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War of 1862-65.

scales_of_the_serpentScales of the Serpent. Kimberley Pearlshell in Aboriginal Australia. 
by Kim Akerman. 

ISBN 978-0-85905-987-9, (New, 2023), A4, Fully colour illustrated, french flap soft cover, section sewn, 190 pages, 750 grams, $110.00* Postage Australia wide is $14.50 for a single copy.


A magnificent volume presenting a detailed study of the Aboriginal use of pearl shell in both the traditional and contemporary worlds. This is already a classic. The jaded and faux art of the desert drawings is already rolling over with the freshness and strictly limited availability of pearl shell art.

To obtain the trade price, and hence for resale, there is a minimum order of 3 books. If a single copy is purchased then there is no trade discount. This does not apply to our regular trade customers. Postage will be advised on ordering. Do not pay until you receive our invoice.


scarlet_pillows_coverScarlet Pillows - an Australian nurse's tale of long ago

by Mrs Arthur H. Garnsey

ISBN 978-0-85905-039-5, (2009 reprint), 151pp, illustrated, 220grams

$22.00 + POST


Mrs Garnsey was a nurse at Coolgardie amidst the rush and typhoid. A bush classic

Tscarlet_stains_thehe Scarlet Stain

Harlots, Harridans and Hellholes of Old Kalgoorlie

edited by Sheryl Milentis and Peter J. Bridge

ISBN 085905 350 4, (2004 new), Soft Cover, 188 pages, illustrated, 255grams

$30.00 + POST


By the late 1890s the Kalgoorlie brothels had become a byword for degradation and the most flagrant in the English-speaking world.

The Sun newspaper campaigned against the outrageous displays by the prostitutes, the activities of their bludgers and the vested interests of the landlords and sly grog traders.

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sealed_soulsSealed Souls:  

A Colonial history of Sealing and Whaling on the southern coasts of Australasia from 1798 to 1852.

By John Robertson.

$80.00 plus P&H. Available online at

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or www.sealedsouls.com


A 540 page lavishly illustrated book with adapted depictions of locations, boats, scenes, people, and maps that will take the reader there, plus a glossary that’s extensive enough to captivate and refer to in years to come.

A new West Australian publication (2022) that pulls the curtain on the darker side of colonial life. Sealed Souls is an historic journey back to colonial times when every player was in it for themselves, from top bureaucrats to lowly escaped convicts, and everyone in between. It was a time when displaced people were forcibly transported half a world away, only to displace others.

This fascinating book chronicles many of the sordid activities of these expired convicts who, as intrepid sealers and sailors, cut a frugal existence on the wild frontiers of Bass Strait, New Zealand, southern Australia and across the broader South Pacific, in many cases surviving with the help of Aboriginal women they had either abducted or bartered for. In 1831, many of these daring characters were chased out of Bass Strait by the Protector of Aborigines and headed westward, island-hopping to the fledgling settlement of Albany in Western Australia where they resurrected a new life hidden behind aliases and deceit.

 

A thought-provoking history about the beginnings of a young colony on the other side of the world.
 

This is not a Hesperian Press book but it is highly reccommended to anyone interested in WA beginnings. 

separate_path_coverSeparate Pathways

by R. Rolfe

ISBN 978-9-85905-552-9, (New, 2013), A4, 102pp, 300grams

$30.00* + POST


A study examining the attempts at assimilation of Aborigines within the larger white society in Western Australia during the administration of A.O. Neville.

shark_repellantShark Repellant

by George Herbert Payne.

ISBN 978-0-85905-815-5, (1947 R 2020), A4, 13 pages, 80 grams, $15.00*


RAAF research at Shark Bay in WWII with descriptions of the area and a biography of GH Payne.

shes_no_milkmaidShe's No Milkmaid

by Rica Erickson & Rona Hayward

ISBN 0 85905 152 8, (1991 new), Soft Cover, 96pp, illustrated, 178grams

$10.00 + POST


The biography of Dame Raigh Roe, President of the Country Womans Association, and the story of her fight for the rural women of Australia and the World.

shearers_war_cvrThe Shearers' War

by Stuart Svensen

ISBN 978-0-85905-434-8, (1989, 2008), 325pp, illustrated, 550grams

$45.00 + POST


The first exhaustively researched history of the legendary strike, and the definitive history of one of the most significant industrial disputes in Australian history. The book breaks new ground by disproving accepted myths, such as the commonly accepted view that pastoralists were motivated to take action because of falling wool prices.

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shrew_horse_thief_cvrThe Shrew and the Horsethief

by Peter J Bridge & Sheryl Milentis

ISBN 978-0-85905-538-3, (new, 2012), A4, 88pp, illustd., 270 grams

$30.00* + POST


James Cody was a charismatic young WA bushranger in the 1880s. He was shot by the police at Esperance. Research showed a strange colonial background with his mother hung for murder in the old Perth gaol. A long forgotten but interesting story.

signallerSignaller at the Front

by Arthur G. Howell, MM (Edited by Dr John Coe)

ISBN 0 85905 305 9, (2001 new), A4, 82 pages, 250grams

$22.00* + POST


The war diary of Gunner Howell, 1st Australian Field Artillery Brigade and his impressions of the Great War 1915-1918.

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st_james_mitchellSir James Mitchell

Premier and Governor of Western Australia

By Bruce Devenish

ISBN 978-0-85905-528-4, (2014), 227pp, Soft Cover, French flaps, illustrated, 550 grams

$35.00 + POST


Available direct from the author at 60 Dyson street, Kensington, 6151, Tel 93676531, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

This first definitive biography of one of the State's notable historical figures is well overdue. Foremost in promoting the wheat industry, Sir James Mitchell served his State wearing many hats, being at various times banker, farmer, parliamentarian, Premier, Lieutenant Governor and universally acclaimed Governor.

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six_black_murderersSix Black Murderers

by WC Charnley

[ISBN 978-0-85905-884-1], (1935, 2021), A4, 17 pages, illustrated, 105 grams. $22.00*


Tribal natives murdered Japanese fishermen on the NT coast in 1932. A great manhunt followed to capture the murderers.

six_mile_murderThe Six-Mile Murder

Rifles and Rotgut, Mary Jane Wain and James Conley

Peter J Bridge

ISBN 978-0-85905-669-4, (New, 2017), 41 pages, illustrated, A4, 115 grams

$22.00* + POST


The murder and trial that created a sensation in WA in 1897.

sketches_sw_cvrSketches from the South West

Louis Cox in Peace and War

Ed. by Peter J Bridge & Gail Dreezens

ISBN 978-0-85905-439-3, (2015, New), A4, 74pp, illustrated, 230grms.

$22.00* + POST


Louis Cox (1878-1975) was a returned soldier of the 16th Bn, who had, after working as a survey hand, started clearing a block near Kojonup. His reminiscences about the land and its people together with his own drawings make this a delightful read. More sombre is the second part where as a soldier, he was captured and imprisoned in Germany in 1917.

slash-and-burn

Slash and Burn - Flint or firestick: Subincision and kindred rites of the Australian Aboriginal.


by Herbert Basedow.


ISBN 978-0-85905-850-6, (1927 R 2020), A4, 39 pages, illustrated, 150 grams, $30.00*


Those who survived the initiations could survive anything.

small_scale_miningSmall Scale Underground Mining

by F.W. Bojesen

ISBN 085905 292 3, (2003 new), A4, wire spiral bound, 170 pp, illustrated, 480+grams

$40.00* + POST

Appendix (Reopening Old Mines) in PDF DOWNLOAD


Frank Bojesen has worked in underground mining in Australia and overseas for more than thirty years. He has prospected and worked his own mines as well as other people's - taught, supervised, managed and lectured, and spent years as a machine miner, carrying out every type and phase of underground development and production. He is still hunting for gold in the Eastern Goldfields, where he lives.

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some-account

Some account of the New Colony of Western Australia etc.
 

by William Milligan.


ISBN 978-0-85905-844-5, (1837 R 2020), A4, 38 pages, illustrated, 150 grams, $30.00*


An important colonial description of the colony and the natives.

Some_ghostsSome Ghosts Some Not

by Eloise I Sharp

ISBN 978-0-85905-503-1, (1979, R2011), 225pp, illustrated, 420 grams

$35.00 + POST


This book was first published privately in 1979 and has never been easy to obtain. Now a new edition with minor updates and with the colour photos on a gloss paper is available.

Eloise and her husband were post war English migrants who took to the Australian bush as the proverbial duck to water. They lived in many places - Dirk Hartog Island and Deepdale Station being just two, and Eloise’s passion was bush history. She would stop anywhere to talk to bush people and enjoy a cup of tea, a characteristic passed on to her daughter, Mary Taylor of Northampton, who has produced several local histories and Volume 1 of The Bushman’s Directory.

Some Ghosts was the first of a series of books written by Eloise. This one covers the histories of an area in the Pilbara region - Deepdale, Yarraloola, Mardie, Chinginarra, Warramboo, Red Hill, Yathala, Yalleen, Mt Enid, and Millstream are the stations and their people in this book.

some-notes-on-scientificSome notes on scientific travel amongst the black population of tropical Australia, 1904-1906.
 

by Hermaan Klaatsch.
 

ISBN 978-0-85905-861-2. (1907 R 2020), A4, 43 pages, heavily illustrated, 160 grams, $35.00*


A valuable, interesting and entertaining work.