God Bless Little Sister

by Patsy Crawford

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The Alphabet of Light & Dark

by Danielle Wood

After her grandfather dies, Essie Lewis returns to Tasmania from Western Australia, and to the lighthouse on Bruny Island, to try to piece together her family history.  All she has are half-memories, her grandfather's stories, and a collection of heirlooms.  While she writes, Essie shares the island with Pete, who has ghosts in his own past and things he must deal with.  But as time moves on, Essie begins to reconcile her past and her present, and both she and Pete realise that it is their pasts which will affect their future together.  This novel has been warmly received in Tasmania, and was the recipient of the 2003 Vogel/ Australian Literary Award.

The Alphabet of Light & Dark has just won the Dobbie Encouragement Award for a first published work by an Australian woman writer.  The judging panel described the novel as "a beguiling first novel, at once sinewy and sensuous".

Hugo, Armstrong & Me

by John Briggs

Wild Life

by John Dale

Cape Grimm

by Carmel Bird

When Caleb Mean is born, his grandmother has a vision telling her that he is the Chosen One.  On Caleb's thirty-third birthday, he locks the whole community of Skye into the meeting hall and incinerates them.  The only survivors are Caleb, his lover Virginia, and their baby daughter, Golden.  How could such a thing happen?  Cape Grimm is a chilling novel about the power of faith, coming from one of the foremost Australian writers of our time.

Snowleg

by Nicholas Shakespeare

During a trip to Cold War Leipzig, a young Englishman falls for an East German girl who is only just beginning to wake up to the way her society is governed.  He spends the next 19 years pretending that he is not in love until one day, with Germany now reunited, he decides to go back to search for her.  But all he knows of her identity is the nickname he gave to her - Snowleg.  This love story explores the close, fraught relationship between Germany and England ; between this man and this woman.  It is a powerful novel from the Tasmanian author of The Dancer Upstairs.  

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The Philosopher's Doll

by Amanda Lohrey

Shack Life
by Matthew Newton

One to watch is Matthew Newton's photographic odyssey, Shack Life.   This full-colour publication details in pictures the life behind that truly Tasmanian icon, the Shack.  It is an ode to Tasmanian life and Tasmanian personalities.

Shacks in Tasmania are perhaps one of the most endearing symbols of Tasmanian life.  Shack culture is ingenious, warm, colourful, peripheral, eccentric, often rough, sometimes funny and occasionally brilliant.

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Art Works

by George Callaghan

William Sorell in Van Diemen's Land

by Leonie Mickleborough

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On Your Bike, Son!

by Geoff Haw

Steps to the Scaffold

by Robert Cox

The Last Ladies

By Christine Woods

These are the stories of the female convicts transported from England to Tasmania , on the Duchess of Northumberland , between November 1852 and April 1853. There were 216 female convicts on this ship, and accompanying them were 27 of their children, however three women and seven children had died on the rough voyage to Tasmania . This book has compiled a family history for each of the 216 women, including information such as names, offences, marital status, family and literacy. It makes an interesting read, particularly for Tasmanians who may have ancestors among these women.

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Dancing on the Edge of the World

by Donald Knowler

We Your Immigrants

by Jozsef Schmidt sen

Letters From the Outside: The History of the Friends of the Prisoners

by Kate Elizabeth Gross and Darien Jane Rozentals

The Friends of the Prisoners ecumenical society was established in Tasmania in 1980 and continued to operate until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The desire of the group was to sustain those wrongly imprisoned under the Soviet Regime, by writing to such people. This book seeks to document the history of the group to ensure that these events are not forgotten and remain accessible to those interested in the struggle for human rights.

Landscape
by Crawford, Faircloth, Moyle & Stringer

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In this collection of photographs, with subjects ranging from Nature's grandeur to its more intimate face, photographer Chris Bell takes us on a visual journey through the temperate landscapes of Tasmania.  His text, based on notes made during his field trips, reveals his passion for the natural world and reminds us that maintaining out fragile alliance with Nature is paramount if there is to be a world worth inhabiting.  

Design Island: Contemporary Design from Tasmania

Edited by Brian Parkes

Thylacine
by David Owens

Hardback $29.95

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Thylacine Consipracy

by Bill Cromer

In London , in a box of books bequeathed to him by his uncle, Bayes Cunningham is incredulous to discover a 1970s photograph of a live Tasmanian Tiger. Perhaps the species is not extinct? Bayes immediately returns to Tasmania with his wife and four-year-old son, intent on tracking down the animal and making his fortune. Rakowski, New York millionaire and passionate collector of rare animals, has obtained a six-month-old pelt of a thylacine from a Southeast Asian Bazaar. He commissions an experienced but menacing Dutch smuggler to travel to Tasmania to travel to Tasmania and return with a live specimen for Rakowski's private but illegal zoo. From such coincidental but unrelated origins, the hunt for the Tasmanian Tiger is on…

The Turning Wind

by Joan Goodrick

Pete Hay is one of Tasmania's leading Environmentalists and thinkers.  This collection of essays brings together some of his most powerful pieces of rhetoric.  They are thought-provoking and concerned with a Tasmanian's view of the wider world.  Hay examines politics, economics and culture and his prose is beautiful.

Before We Eat - A Delicious Slice of Tasmania's Culinary Life

By Paul County and Bernard Lloyd

Twelve Principles

by Martin Hawes

These times of change challenge us to reconsider the values by which we live. Many people are questioning the wisdom of the prevailing ethos. Martin Hawes, a Tasmanian author, proposes twelve principles by which we can live responsibly in the world today. Inspired by the teachings of the humanist thinker Krishnamurti, these ideals are applicable at both global and personal levels. They are based on living with awareness, acting with integrity and appreciating the interrelationship with all life, and Hawes illustrates these examples with case studies of people living the principles.

On the Tide: Stories of the Tamar

On the Tide 2: More Stories of the Tamar

Edited by Peter Richardson

Clarence has been inhabited for tens of thousands of years, first by Aborigines and since 1803 by Europeans as well.  This book tells the absorbing story of life in Clarence over the centuries.  Illustrated with over 240 photographs, and written in a lively style, this book is an invaluable story of life in a major district of Tasmania.  It includes information provided by over 200 residents of Clarence, about their own or their families' lives - a panorama of a fascinating history.

The Settlement of Hobart
Kathryn Evans

Skulduggery Books: The Arch Villains, Where There's Smoke… and Forgery for Fools

by John James

Settled in 1829 by the Van Dieman's Land Co., the Woolnorth property at Cape Grim has all he elements of early Tasmanian history.  Winds of Change traces the history of the Woolnorth property from its beginning to the present time, which has seen major developments including one of the largest dairying operations in the Southern Hemisphere and the beginning of Tasmania's biggest Wind Farm.

During World War two, from 1939-45, 40,000 elite young Australians, many of them Tasmanian, joined the RAAF as air crew.  They had no idea of where they would go or what they would do, but they knew that their task would be demanding and dangerous.  None of them forecast that one in four would die, or that in the 'hot spots' three out of four would never see home, mum and dad, or their girl friends again.  This is a selection of their heroic experiences told in their own words.  This is their book.

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The Usurper relates the story of Jorgen Jorgenson’s strange and turbulent life in Iceland and Van Diemen’s Land, 1780-1841. In Van Diemen’s Land Jorgenson wrote A Shred of autobiography in which he placed himself in the best possible light and made claims which cannot be substantiated. Most writings about Jorgenson have been based on A Shred and hence an accretion of romanticism has been built up around his name. The Usurper however is a documentary history – original documents are presented linked by a detailed text; the whole being supported by notes, illustrations, maps, bibliographies an index. This approach not only corrects past fanciful accounts of Jorgen Jorgenson’s activities but (his exploits being so extraordinary and so interesting) the factual account of his life published here exceeds in interest the semi-fictional accounts previously given.

Significant historical work and a major achievement from talented historian Dan Sprod.

Jacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardiere was one of the great traveller-naturalists of the eighteenth century.  He is most famous for his account of his voyage to the South Seas with Bruny d'Entrecasteaux in 1791-93 in search of La Perouse.  During his visit to the south-western coast of New Holland and his two sojourns in Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), Labillardiere also laid the foundations for his magnificent Novae Hollandiae plantarum specimen (1804-06), which is justly recognised as the 'first general flora of Australia'.  

In researching this exciting and elegantly written biography, Edward Duyker revisited many of the naturalist's landfalls around the world.  He also examined a wide range of archival and museum collections to piece together Labillardiere's correspondence and observations.  The result is the first comprehensive study of the naturalist, revealing a committed republican who was shaped by the turbulent years of revolutionary and Napoleonic France.

This is a story of science, survival and a grand adventure.

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The life of David Collins - judge, historian and governor - reflects the story of the European settlement of Australia. In 1787 he was appointed deputy judge-advocate of the impending expedition to Botany Bay.  In a remarkable trio of events, Collins was one of the founders of Sydney in 1788, began the first European settlement in Victoria in 1803, and founded Hobart Town the following year.

The journal he began on the First Fleet grew into the first substantial history of New South Wales, and his private letters - extensively quoted for the first time in John Currey's find biography - give a rare insight into the early colonial world.

This substantial and comprehensive biography is the first and only full-length account of David Collin's life. The previously unpublished documents in David Collins - including letters written from the First Fleet - will create great interest. 

John Currey has had a long career as an author and publisher. He has edited a number of books, including David Collin's Account of a Voyage, and the three-volume Records of the Port Phillip Expedition.

Stock Thieves and Golfers explores the social history of Kangaroo Bay and Bellerive, centred on Rosny Farm whose stone Barn and Cottage survive on the golf links and are among the oldest buildings in Tasmania.

Using New South Wales and Tasmanian archival records, Peter MacFie traces the evolution of Kangaroo Bay from frontier lawlessness through farming and emergence as a recreational escape, followed by post war development as a residential community.

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Hearts of Oak shows us the earliest days of settlement in Hobart, when convict timber gangs worked the slopes of Mount Wellington, when whaling flourished in Storm Bay, and boat building was forbidden.  It deals with the forest based industries from their beginning to modern times.

This book provides a catalogue of, and guide to, reserved lands: what to see and do, how to get there, where and when to go, and why they should be visited.

A book for everyone, whether you drive or walk, wish to visit briefly, or just want to know such places still exist.

This unique book combines David Leaman's understanding of the geology of Southern Tasmania with his wider interest in history. The blend is an affectionate, readable, and penetrating view of things we take for granted. The book is full of interesting titbits of information unified by place and history.  The book contains 65 walks or essays which bring out the special features of the place - some very familiar. Arm chair walkers will find the notes informative, often controversial, and of practical value. Real walkers can check out the beauty which hides both the past and the issues.

Dolerite has the power to amaze, confuse, enslave and ultimately to become 'Tasmania's Curse'.  It makes the images beloved by tourists, but its impact on the daily lives and taxes of Tasmanians has not been fully realised.  The economic future of Tasmania, Leaman argues, depends upon how we deal with this rock.  This book is for every Tasmanian, and any geologist or engineer who wishes to work with dolerite or needs to know the current state of our knowledge of it.  Leaman uses almost forty years of experience to assemble a plain language, technically sound outline.

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Whether you want some interesting conversation for dinner parties, a guidebook for a quirky tour of the Apple Isle, or just a good, fascinating read that takes you from modern myths and tragedies of Tasmania to its brutal colonial history, Secret Tasmania is the book for you.  With 77 secret stories about the people, places, events, shops, ships and 'stuff' that make Tasmania Australia's most different state, Secret Tasmania is the perfect gift for readers intrigued by urban myths and legends.  Use it as a companion to walks, drives, picnics, shopping expeditions and lunch breaks, or just curl up in an armchair with it.

With his keen blue eyes, husky drawl and quirky humour, Deny King made an indelible impression on everyone who met him. Christobel Mattingley's superb biography paints a vivid picture of this extraordinary man.  Born in 1909, King made his home at Melaleuca in Tasmania's remote South-West, one of the most spectacular and rugged terrains in the world. By the time of his death in 1991 he was truly the king of his remarkable  wilderness, and internationally celebrated for his unique lifestyle.

There seemed to be nothing Deny King couldn't do. He was a tin miner, an environmentalist, a painter and a collector who had species named after him. He built his own airstrip and regularly sailed round some of Australia's most treacherous coast. He served in New Guinea in World War II and it was during the war that he met Margaret Cadell, the nurse he would later woo by letter in a courtship as touching as it was unconventional.

King of the Wilderness is an inspirational story about a great Australian.

Tasmania's Offshore Islands: seabirds and other natural features highlights the uniqueness and importance of 280 of our islands as significant seabird breeding refuges and our wealth of natural resources.

This extensively researched book provides an invaluable addition to the body of knowledge on Australia's rich and diverse wildlife heritage.

This is a comprehensive colour guide to the nature of Tasmania 's midlands.  It has been compiled from narratives of the local population, as well as careful flora identification.  This book is useful for farmers, students and educators, as well as other interested parties.