Stanley Smith was an Australian businessman, WWII operative in China and expert horticulturalist. His life took him from a comfortable Brisbane upbringing to the danger of war and finally to a life half-way across the world. His Chinese-born wife, May Wong, grew up during the civil war in China and the fighting against Japanese occupation. May and Stanley met through their work … [Read more...] about War, Business and Orchids – the Smith Story
Biography
Review: The Riddle of Father Hackett by Brenda Niall
Brenda Niall’s biography of Irish-Australian Jesuit priest, Father Hackett, is absorbing from the start. Niall starts by sharing her musings as she walks through Kew cemetery in Melbourne where Father Hackett is buried. She shares some memories of the cleric who often visited her home when she was a child and her thoughts as she sifts through that third cemetery in which the … [Read more...] about Review: The Riddle of Father Hackett by Brenda Niall
Reading in 2013: some reflections
During 2013 I participated in the Australian Women Writers' Challenge. This Challenge encourages people to read and review books written by Australian women. It is a response to the lack of attention women writers receive from major reviewing publications both in Australia and elsewhere in the western world. I like the fact that instead of whinging about yet another example of … [Read more...] about Reading in 2013: some reflections
Books at the Australian Historical Association Conference 2013
This week I'm blogging and tweeting from Wollongong. It is the annual festival of history also known as the Australian Historical Association conference or #OzHA2013 on Twitter. Historians from Australia, New Zealand and further afield have gathered here to share and discuss their exciting work. I came to the conference on the search for new books to share with the … [Read more...] about Books at the Australian Historical Association Conference 2013
Kitty’s War by Janet Butler
This is the kind of history I want to read. Thorough research, deep analysis and compelling writing, Kitty’s War by Janet Butler engaged me from cover to cover. In Kitty’s War author, Janet Butler, does not merely recount what she has learned from the diary of World War I nurse, Kit McNaughton, she interrogates McNaughton’s diary, draws heavily on a myriad of contemporary … [Read more...] about Kitty’s War by Janet Butler
