Showing results by publisher "Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd" in Biographies & Memoirs

Aged six, Robert Drewe moved with his family from Melbourne to Perth, the world's most isolated city: and proud of it. This sun-baked coast was innocently proud, too, of its tranquility and friendliness. Then a man he knew murdered a boy he also knew.

In this remarkable memoir, Anna Goldsworthy recalls her first steps towards a life in music, from childhood piano lessons with a local jazz muso to international success as a concert pianist. As she discovers passion and ambition and confronts doubt and disappointment, she learns about much more than tone and technique. This is a story of the getting of wisdom, tender and bittersweet.

Steve Austin isn't your average dog trainer. In this feel-good, yarn-laden memoir he shares amazing stories from a career of rescuing and training shelter dogs to become a crack force of K9s, culminating in his work for the Young Diggers program, which pairs specially trained dogs with returned Diggers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and more, with astonishing results.

On an afternoon bike ride in the Blue Mountains Janine Shepherd's life was altered irrevocably. When the champion cross country skier in training for the Winter Olympics was hit by a truck, doctors warned her parents that she was not expected to survive. Even if she recovered, she would never walk again. Coming to terms with her shattered Olympic dreams, Janine focused every sinew of her being on healing. Her fighting spirit was rekindled watching small planes flying overhead. She said to herself, 'If I can't walk, I'll fly.' And fly she did.

Christo Brand was an 18-year-old recruit to the South African prison service when he was sent to work at the Robben Island prison. He was assigned to guard Nelson Mandela, who he was told was a dangerous terrorist. Over time, he became friendly with Mandela, even helping his wife Winnie bring in their grandchild for Mandela to hold for the first time.

Very early one morning, Samantha Barlow, mother of two young children, was brutally attacked with a brick on her way to work as a policewoman in Kings Cross. She was left for dead in a park. She could have been any young woman - the attack was completely random. Samantha's husband, Laurence, an inspector used to managing huge police operations, was thrown into the role of caregiver. She went through 22 months of rehab for both physical and head-trauma injuries, and triumphantly returned to work. The couple speak candidly of Samantha's journey over the last four years, and the personal price they've paid to be in the police force.

Viral video producer Briony Benjamin was a few months into a new job when she started feeling not quite right—All. The. Time. Doctors told her she was just stressed and should rest more and learn to meditate. But it turns out she had cancer all through her body. Briony shares some of the important lessons learnt through her illness and recovery—everything from how to assemble your A Team in times of crisis to learning happy hacks for cutting yourself some slack and some great tips on being a good supportive human when a friend is going through the rough stuff.

Margaret Harrod shared a unique bond with her twin brother, Michael. As children they were inseparable, and at age 22, together, they gave their lives to the Catholic Church. Margaret became a nun and Michael a Salesian priest - it was the proudest day of their deeply religious parents' lives. Margaret cherishes those carefree childhood memories because the brother she adored is now in jail. Father Michael Aulsebrook pleaded guilty to multiple charges of molesting children, some as young as seven. And the unlikely whistle-blower was his courageous twin sister.

In 1996, when Akuch Kuol Anyieth is five, her mother flees to Kakuma with her children, intent on finding safety and freedom for her family, while her husband stays behind in South Sudan to fight in the civil war. The family spends nine years in the camp, eking out an existence amidst famine, disease, unbearable heat and chronic violence. Despite their suffering, Akuch never loses hope or her sense of humour. She’s a bright student who loves learning and does well at the local school.

There was a place far worse than Changi - Singapore's Outram Road Gaol. Deprivation here was so extreme that there really was a fate worse than death. Stubborn Buggers is the story of 12 Australian POWs who fought and survived the battle for Malaya, then captivity and slave labour, followed by the unimaginable hardships of Outram Road Gaol.

It is a story of how they dealt with the brutality of the Japanese military police, the feared Kempeitai.

Next year is the fiftieth anniversary of the making of the Leyland Brothers' groundbreaking documentary, Down the Darling, which records Mike and Mal Leyland travelling down the Darling. Their film was sold to Channel 9 and later to the BBC. It was shown in 65 countries and selected by the Australian government to be shown at Expo 67 in Canada.

A footloose city slicker who couldn′t tell a bull from a cow was hardly the ideal candidate to answer an ad for a governess on a Mackay cattle station. But Alice Greenup was game for anything, until she was bowled over by a handsome young jackeroo with a devastating smile. It was the start of a whole new way of life as Alice gave up her city life to embrace the bush and all that came with it: horses, cattle, the obsession with rain - and the correct way to wear a hat.

This is a story about living your truth, embracing who you are and living the life you were meant to live. Whether you're gay or straight, a Christian or a non believer, you'll find relevance in Anthony's tale.

On the last, cold Sunday of February 1859, Daniel Sickles shot his wife's lover in Washington's Lafayette Square, just across from the White House. This is the story of that killing and its repercussions. Thomas Keneally brilliantly recreates an extraordinary period, when women were punished for violating codes of society that did not bind men. And the caddish, good-looking Dan Sickles personifies the extremes of the era.

The first full-length biography of George Ingle Finch - maverick Australian mountaineer, scientist, concert pianist and father of actor Peter Finch. George Ingle Finch, mountaineer, soldier, scientist, rebellious spirit, boy from the bush, was in his day one of the most famous men in the world. In 1922 he stood at the highest point on Everest, a feat not bettered for 30 years. He invented the predecessor to the puffer jacket and pioneered the use of oxygen in climbing.

"It isn't easy to reminisce, alone, into a tape recorder. Yet that is what I asked my father, John Bowden, to do when, in the late 1980s I suggested he should not only record our family history, but reflect on a life that embraced almost the entire twentieth century. Then in 1998, at the age of 91, Father 'woke up dead' in his own bed, in his own house (which he never wanted to leave), not long after adding a postscript - a final chapter to his life story.…"

As a young soldier in the battlefields of Gallipolia, Sydney Loch witnessed the horror of war first-hand. On his return to Australia he detailed what he saw in his book The Straits Impregnable. Hoping to avoid military censorship his publishers dubbed Sydney's book a novel. But as the war ground on and the numbers of casualties grew the publisher inserted a note saying the story was factual.

At the age of 82, Rupert Murdoch is divorcing his third wife Wendi Deng and gearing up for the toughest challenge of his life: to hand his empire on to his children. But is this the end of the Murdoch dynasty? Lachlan doesn't want to succeed him. James is in disgrace. And Elisabeth is not a serious contender. His grip on the group has also been weakened by scandal. His British tabloids have been caught hacking phones and bribing officials on an industrial scale.

There's another side to Australian Football League legends such as Jason Dunstall, Shane Crawford, and James Hird, not to mention Kevin Sheedy's little quirks. Have you heard the story about the time Sheeds had to play the part of one of the Three Little Pigs? Or how hysterical chickens found their way into Bomber Thompson's new car during training? Who put white powder in the Essendon doctor's bag that was then detected at the airport? And why is John Platten a 'footy-trip legend'?

Bill 'Swampy' March has been on another adventure, this time gathering stories from outback towns and pubs across this wide brown land.The people you meet will touch your heart as 'Swampy' brings to life all the drama and delight of life in outback Australia. Find out how the population of Rabbit Flat doubled overnight and became an international headline; be part of the Australia-wide search for the mystery bloke who sells 'Johnson's Paw Paw Magic', an ointment that cures almost everything (including you-know-what!).... If there's a good story out there, 'Swampy's' captured it for this collection.