Graham Seal writes ripper, fair dinkum, true-blue Aussie yarns.' - The Weekly TimesAustralians traditionally like their humour irreverent, crude and with very sharp teeth.Perhaps you've heard of the vicious drop bears that fall on unsuspecting tourists as they walk through the bush? Or the hoop snakes that put their tails in their mouths as they roll down the hill towards you? Or how about the Citizenship Test for Aspiring Australians which begins with this question about an essential life skill: 'How many slabs can you fit in the back of a Falcon ute while also allowing room for your cattle dog?'The bush is the source of traditional Aussie humour. Pioneering, settlement and battling fire, flood and drought have produced yarns of tough cocky farmers, shearers, bush workers, swaggies and dreadful cooks. Much of this humour relates to the resilience and fortitude necessary to endure the realities of rural life. Australians took this sensibility with them to war...

Tall tales and colourful characters, from ancient times to today; these are the stories that reveal what makes us distinctively Australian.Some of the world's oldest stories are told beneath Australian skies. Master storyteller Graham Seal takes us on a journey through time, from ancient narratives recounted across generations to the symbols and myths that resonate with Australians today.He uncovers tales of ancient floods and volcanic eruptions, and shows us Australia's own silk road. He locates the real Crocodile Dundee, and explores the truth behind the legend of the Pilliga Princess. There are old favourites like the great flood at Gundagai, the boundary rider's wife, and the Australian who invented the first military tank. There are little known figures like mailman Jimmy, who carried the post barefoot across the Nullarbor Plain, architect Edith Emery and Paddy the Poet, as well as the unusual sporting techniques of the Gumboot Tortoise.These yarns of...

Stories of heroism, suffering and endurance - and also humour - from the main wars in which Australians have fought.These stories show the overwhelming blood and honour, heroism and horror that was the Australian experience on our cruellest shores.' - Peter FitzSimons'Accessible, short, often fresh tales capture the spirit and sentiment of Anzac.' - Roland PerryOver the years, the experiences of soldiers at war become the stuff of legend: tales of great bravery, battlefield wins, and also the tragic losses and poignant moments. Great Anzac Stories gathers iconic stories of Australians at war-on the front line and at home.Here we relive the horror of the first day on Gallipoli, acutely aware of what was to come. We admire the courage of the men who fought at Fromelles, the Rats of Tobruk, the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels and the secret submariners. We remember the nurses working in impossible conditions, support efforts on the home front, and some of the...

Yarns, legends, myths, jokes and anecdotes are our national lifeblood. The home-grown and borrowed tales, told and re-told over generations, offer an insight into the larger national story of which every Australian has a part.Was Breaker Morant the Gatton murderer? What happened to Sniffling Jimmy and Black Mary? We revisit some of the most colourful characters in Australia's past, and the stories that have grown around them. We go looking for the real illywhacker and find out what happened after the execution of our most famous outlaw, Ned Kelly.It takes a certain character to make a living in the Australian bush. In the most difficult situations, laughter often comes to the rescue. Here are pioneers and battlers, convicts and settler's children, and a land that tests them with fire, flood and drought, all in stories resonant with Australia's distinctive wry humour. Dip into Larrikins, Bush Tales and Other Great Australian Stories for a taste of Australia's rich...

The search for the great south land began in ancient times and was a matter of colourful myth and cartographical fantasy until the Dutch East India Company started sending ships in the early seventeenth century.Graham Seal tells stories from the centuries it took to discover Australia through many voyages by the Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Macassans. Captain Cook arrived long after the continent had been found. This is a gripping account of danger at sea, dramatic shipwrecks, courageous castaways, murder, much missing gold, and terrible loss of life. It is also a period of amazing feats of navigation and survival against the odds.We now know the Dutch were far more active in the early exploration of Australia than is generally understood, and were most likely the first European settlers of the continent.'It is great to have a book that covers the whole, truly amazing, story of the maritime discovery of Australia. It also adds great insight into the mostly...

From pioneer tales to urban myths, folklore expert Graham Seal has gathered some of the best Australian stories from around the country. Tall tales and true, these are the stories we tell ourselves over and over again.'Great Australian Stories is true to its title as it wanders from bush track to spooky hollow, follows the path of yowies and bunyips, searches for Lasseter's Reef, meets Dad and Dave and, on a different path, Henny-Penny, and then rambles into the cities where just as many entertaining characters are ready to tell their stories.' - From the foreword by Warren FaheyAustralia has a rich tradition of storytelling that reflects our unique history and experience. Great Australian Stories gathers some of the best of our stories from colonial times to the present, with bush yarns, tall stories, urban myths, and tales of the mysterious and downright weird.With ten new stories, this second edition of the bestselling Great Australian...