Author: Robyn Lee Burrows
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd, 2001
A man returns home to his wife & family in the small NSW coastal fishing village of Tea-tree Passage from WW1 carrying more scars on the inside than out. The first part of the novel details the gradual and inevitable downslide of the man’s marriage, through the post-war boom years of the 1920s, then the Depression years of the ’30s. His wife and children return to Tea-tree Passage while he becomes a vagrant. Each child deals with their own scarred upbringing against the backdrop of another looming world war. The characters find both turmoil and solace in their relationships & life events but Tea-tree Passage remains a tranquil sanctuary for the magnetic yet authentically flawed characters in this story.
Where did you grow up? Were you a city or a country kid?
Click here for extract on author's website
Author: Thomas Keneally
Read by: Paul English and Heather Bolton
Publisher: Melbourne, Vic.: Bolinda Publishing Pty, Limited, 2013
(CD Audio)
Thomas Keneally is a master story-teller who weaves richly character-driven tales. Set in war-time country Australia and inspired by the notorious Cowra break-out in 1944 the story interweaves the lives and attitudes of those living in and around a fictitious POW internment camp. An insightful examination of the impact of the war on those who are far removed from the fighting occurs in a diverse array of characters from prisoners and their keepers to local farmers & communities wrestling with their adherence to the Geneva Convention.
What did you hear or know about the Cowra break-out? What impact did the war have on your family?
Author: Toni Jordan
Publisher: Melbourne, Vic. The Text Publishing Company, 2012.
(Ebook online resource)
This story was birthed out of an archival image of a woman being hoisted up to a train window to kiss a departing soldier and is grounded in 1939 pre-war Melbourne but spans more than 60 years. An unusual feature of the story is that each chapter is written in the first person from nine different members of an extended family group skipping back & forth across this expanse of time. The story examines the innocent choices that shape each person and the way they are expressed in those around us.
Author: Kerry Greenwood
Publisher: Australian Broadcasting Corporation ; Pyrmont, N.S.W.: Roadshow Entertainment [distributor], c2012.
(DVD)
The suggested reading – or viewing – here is the fabulous flapper sleuth of 1920s & 1930s Melbourne high society, Miss Phryne Fisher. She is an independent and strong character who is renowned for her sharp wit, keen deductive reasoning, and of course her sensationally stylish attire. Additionally, she can fly a plane, drive a car, deftly metes justice with her pearl-handled pistol, and prefers lovers to marriage – she is a feminist James Bond long before 007’s time.
Author: Carrie Tiffany
Publisher: Sydney, N.S.W. : Picador/Pan Macmillan Australia, 2005
On board the “Better Farming Train” is an array of educators and resources representing the latest in 1930s scientific wisdom & advice for people living in rural Victoria. Two of these people are Robert, a scientist who tests the content & health of soil samples by tasting them, and Jean, a knowledge-hungry seamstress. They marry and settle in the Mallee intending to prove their scientific methodologies, but in the midst of the Depression, drought, and with WW2 looming they are confronted with their own fragility in the ancient land.
Author: Diane Armstrong
Read by: Deidre Rubenstein
Publisher: Melbourne, Vic. : Bolinda Publishing Pty, Limited, 2011
(CD Audio)
Originally commemorated throughout the British Empire on Queen Victoria’s birthday in May, Empire Day was more commonly known as Cracker Night and celebrated by bonfires and the lighting of fireworks. On Empire Day 1948 we meet the residents of a street in Bondi, half of whom are Australian–born and half who are European migrants searching for a new life after WW2. Each person has their own misconceptions about their neighbours and these are tested and challenged as relationships evolve.
How did you celebrate Empire Day?
Click here for a sample
Author: Geoffrey McGeachin
Read by: Peter Byrne
Publisher: Melbourne, Vic. : Bolinda Publishing Pty, Limited, 2010
(CD Audio)
This is the first novel in the Charlie Berlin Mystery Series and won the Ned Kelly Award for crime writing in 2011. Set in post-WW2 Melbourne & rural Victoria, the protagonist is a pre-war policeman returning to duty while bearing the internal and external scars of his military & POW experiences. It raises issues of the psychological effects of war on both those who served and those who remained at home, and artfully crafts images of a post-war Australian society including rationing, culinary habits, and attitudes to various social groups.
Anyone for a return to ‘Lambs fry Friday’??
Click here for a preview
