Old Days, Old Ways
Stories from my radio days in the bush
By Alex Nicol
Former ABC Radio presenter Alex Nicol brings back to life the voices and stories of regional Australia before television and the internet.Alex Nicol takes us back to the old days in the bush, when booking into a country pub was likely to turn into an adventure, and when radio was the glue that held far flung communities together.
Full of colourful characters and making do with what's at hand, these stories are classically Australian. There are the wartime mates who helped each other build farms on their soldier settler blocks, and the 'Adelady' keeping the farm running after her husband died. There is the young woman who ran down water buffalo in the Northern Territory, and Possum, the legendary bush hermit who lived off the land on his own for 60 years, quietly doing jobs for farmers without being asked. There is the neighbour caught 'fishing' in the chookyard with a long line and a small hook baited with bread, and the little girl who swallowed a sapphire she found on the side of the road.
With a bush yarn, it's all about the way you tell it. As the voice of rural Australia for over two decades on ABC radio, Alex Nicol can tell a yarn with a punchline that will keep you grinning for the rest of the day.
'Alex Nicol's Old Days, Old Ways evokes and celebrates those unmistakeable national qualities that set us apart and that reside in the common man and woman.' - Ian 'Macca' McNamara, Australia All Over
Alex Nicol was ABC's first rural radio presenter. He started at the ABC in 1967, and was presenter of the 'All Ways on Sunday' program, and later manager of ABC Orange. He has worked as a jackaroo, as a sheep and wool officer for the NSW Department of Agriculture, as an agriculture college teacher, and on the Australian Wheat Board. Alex is also a playwright, and his plays have been produced in London, New York, Melbourne and Sydney, with credits including an award at the Manchester International Writing Competition, the Wal Cherry Award, and The London International Playwriting Award.
Wildlife of the Otways and Shipwreck Coast
By Grant Palmer
A photographic field guide to the vertebrate wildlife of Victoria's south-west.
The Otways and Shipwreck Coast is known for its natural beauty and attracts millions of visitors each year, particularly along the Great Ocean Road. The value of the region's rich biodiversity is recognised at the national and global level and its wildlife is markedly different to other regions, including eastern Victoria which supports similar vegetation types.Wildlife of the Otways and Shipwreck Coast is a photographic field guide to the vertebrate wildlife of Victoria’s south-west. It covers all the mammals, birds, reptiles and frogs that occur in the region, including on land and in coastal waters. Each of the 288 species profiles includes a description and information on identification, range, conservation status, habitat use and ecology and is complemented by an exquisite colour photograph and a detailed distribution map. The book also includes chapters on habitat types, conservation and management, and on 14 key places in the region to view wildlife.
This book will allow those interested in wildlife, including residents and visitors, to identify vertebrate animals found in the region. Readers will also become more familiar with the distinct role the Otways has in conserving Australia’s biodiversity.
Australian Backyard Earth Scientist
By Peter Macinnis
Find out where rain comes from and what geysers look like! Read about soil becoming too salty and why greenhouse gases are increasing. Did you know that fog is a cloud sitting on the ground and that ice can tell you about the environment of millions of years ago? And what is lightning anyway? Australian Backyard Earth Scientist is full of fantastic photos and fascinating information that help explain different aspects of earth science - a science that discovered how old the Earth is, what fossils tell us, how mountains were created, what causes earthquakes, what the difference between weather and climate is, and why glaciers are melting.
From the beginnings of the planet through to climate change, 'Australian Backyard Earth Scientist' includes interesting and fun facts and projects help develop an understanding and appreciation - like making your own fossils, collecting cloud types, and using tree rings to find out about past weather. Young readers can discover the influences that have fashioned our earth - and are still acting to change it
D-Day New Guinea
The extraordinary story of the battle for Lae and the greatest combined airborne and amphibious operation of the Pacific War
By Phillip Bradley
The most complete telling of one of the most significant campaigns of the Pacific War and Australia's role in it.'Java is heaven, Burma is hell, but you never come back alive from New Guinea' - Japanese military saying
The capture of Lae was the most complex operation for the Australian army in the Second World War. In many ways it was also a rehearsal for the D-Day invasion of France, with an amphibious landing combined with the first successful large-scale Allied airborne operation of the war. D-Day New Guinea brings together the extraordinary stories of the Australian, American and Japanese participants in this battle, and of the fight against the cloying jungle, the raging rivers and the soaring mountain ranges that made New Guinea such a daunting battlefield.
Phillip Bradley brings a compelling clarity, humanity and new insight into a little known but crucial Australian battle of the Pacific War.
PHILLIP BRADLEY, author of the ground-breaking Hell's Battlefield, is a leading Australian military historian. He lived in Lae for two years and has spent many years since researching the battle for Lae.
Plankton
A Guide to Their Ecology and Monitoring for Water Quality
Second Edition
Edited by: Iain Suthers, David Rissik, Anthony Richardson
Illustrated descriptions of freshwater, coastal and marine phytoplankton and zooplankton.
Healthy waterways and oceans are essential for our increasingly urbanised world. Yet monitoring water quality in aquatic environments is a challenge, as it varies from hour to hour due to stormwater and currents. Being at the base of the aquatic food web and present in huge numbers, plankton are strongly influenced by changes in environment and provide an indication of water quality integrated over days and weeks. Plankton are the aquatic version of a canary in a coal mine. They are also vital for our existence, providing not only food for fish, seabirds, seals and sharks, but producing oxygen, cycling nutrients, processing pollutants, and removing carbon dioxide from our atmosphere.
This Second Edition of Plankton is a fully updated introduction to the biology, ecology and identification of plankton and their use in monitoring water quality. It includes expanded, illustrated descriptions of all major groups of freshwater, coastal and marine phytoplankton and zooplankton and a new chapter on teaching science using plankton. Best practice methods for plankton sampling and monitoring programs are presented using case studies, along with explanations of how to analyse and interpret sampling data.
Plankton is an invaluable reference for teachers and students, environmental managers, ecologists, estuary and catchment management committees, and coastal engineers.
