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

Scottish-born but a Queenslander to the bone, Jock McLaren was a true Australian hero. As a prisoner, he escaped twice, first from Changi and later from the infamous Sandakan POW camp in Borneo. After paddling a dugout canoe across open sea, he fought for two years with American-led Filipino guerrillas, his exploits so audacious the Japanese put a price on his head.

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.

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.

>Join Swampy for a laugh in Aramac as Old Jack attempts to leave the pub; be spooked by the vision of a nun in Kojonup; wrestle with crocs in Nhulunbuy and find out why a very drunk local from Normanton legs it at a pace from the hospital.... Long after the last tale has been told, you'll still hear laughter from the pub, the crash of a drunken donkey falling in a trench, and recall the time...they found this bloke, sitting in the main street at three o'clock in the morning, hammering one of those survey pegs in the ground. So they said, "What the hell are you doing?" And this drunk feller replies, "I'm driving a peg inta the arsehole of the world."

This audiobook chronicles the triumphs and failures of his surgical life. Having spent his childhood in the backstreets of a northern steel town, he went on to become one of the world's foremost heart surgeons. His drive for perfection in his profession took him to the world-renowned Harefield Hospital, the foremost heart surgery centre in Birmingham, Alabama and the newly-created Cardiothoracic Centre in Oxford. Then in 2019 in Wuhan he was the first Western doctor to learn about Covid-19 before the virus was identified.

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.

Conversations draws you deeper into the life story of someone you may, or may not, have heard about—someone who has seen and done amazing things. This compilation features a selection of six of the best interviews from the program.

This first book by the much-loved stars of TV's Village Vets is the unforgettable, hilarious, heartwarming and hair-raising adventures of two country vets, the animals they treat and the characters they meet. Best mates since they met on their first day at uni, Anthony Bennett and James Carroll both dreamed of working with animals from the time they were young. Committed to and passionate about caring for creatures great and small, they share a mischievous sense of humour and a wonder for life.

Growing up in Brisbane in the 1970s and 80s, Zoë Boccabella knew if you wanted to fit in, you did not bottle tomatoes, have plastic on the hallway carpet or a glory box of Italian linens. Though she tried to be like 'everyone else', refusing to learn Italian and even dyeing her dark hair blonde, Zoë couldn't shake the unsettling sense of feeling 'half-and-half' - half Australian, mezza italiana - unable to fit fully into either culture, or merge the two.

When writer Catherine Deveny faced the end of a 17-year relationship with the father of her children, she had no idea what lay on the other side of the months of tumult—she just knew she had to create space for a new life. But this wasn’t the first time Deveny had taken a plunge into the unknown or let go of conventional assumptions. In True North, she shares how she emerged from an oppressive Catholic upbringing in working-class Reservoir, found her tribe in Fitzroy’s share houses in the '80s and learnt to live life on her own terms.

Leaving the small village of Fossa in Italy in 1939 to meet a father he barely remembered in a place that was far from everything he knew, 15-year-old Annibale Boccabella arrived in Australia determined to make a go of it. It was a time when everything was changing, and anything seemed possible. Life was tough, but you could still chase your dreams.

More than 70 years later, in 2011, Zoe Boccabella and her family hurriedly try to save the treasured belongings of Annibale and his wife, Francesca.

This is the story of an evolution. It covers the dramatic change in Australian transport over the twenty five years after World War Two. In that time so many important changes occurred.They include the sorting out of the railway gauge problems; the dieselisation of the railways; the Hughes and Vale road tax decision; the arrival of containers and roll-on roll-off shipping. Best of all, the marriage of road and rail freight operations.

Horse-whispering, crocodile-hunting and single-handedly changing an 80-kilo flat tyre on a road train in 40-degree heat…there is nothing these modern-day outback women can't do. But when it comes to hardship and heartbreak, they've endured far more than their fair share. Living and working in some of the most remote spots in the world, they've had to become experts at turning tragedy into triumph.

In this tell-all audiobook, discover how the justice system works and why, at times, the innocent are convicted and the guilty set free. Bill Hosking looks back at his career as a criminal barrister in a candid account of his time at the bar. He tells the true story behind some of his most famous cases, including the Hilton bombings, 'Toecutter' Jimmy Driscoll's attempt to avoid prison time and the Anita Cobby trial.

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'?

When Ryan Campbell was six he fell in love with aeroplanes. It was a passion that was to dominate his childhood and it was no surprise when at 15 Ryan became the youngest pilot in Australia. Inspired by his father and grandfather who were also aviators, Ryan sought a challenge and, like adventurers before him, he found one that spoke to him more than the rest. He wanted to fly around the world, solo, in a single-engine aircraft.

This is an audiobook about the indestructability of love. Journalist and author Karina Machado spoke to over 60 Australians with stories of postdeath contact. She shares their life-shattering experiences of loss and shows how their spiritual contact with deceased lovers, friends or family members brought peace, hope and the solace of knowing that their connections live on.

Meet Shane Jenek. Raised in the Brisbane suburbs by loving parents, Shane realises from a young age that he's not like all the other boys. At a performing arts agency he discovers his passion for song, dance and performance, and makes a promise to himself: to find a bigger stage. Meet Courtney Act.

In his trademark charismatic and honest style, Richard Branson shares the inside track on some of his greatest achievements over 40 years in business as well as the lessons he has learned from his setbacks. In Business Stripped Bare he discusses why he took on one of the world's biggest superbrands, how he built Virgin Mobile USA into the fastest growing company in history, and how he is the only person to have built seven billion-dollar companies from scratch in seven different sectors.

A fascinating detective story and moving memoir of death and deceit. When Dr William Macbeth poisoned two of his sons in 1927, his wife and sister hid the murders in the intensely private realm of family secrets. Like the famous poisoner Dr Crippen, Macbeth behaved as if he were immune to consequences; unlike Crippen, he avoided detection and punishment...or did he? As time passed, the story of Dr William Macbeth, well-dressed poisoner, haunted and divided his descendants.