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Biography

Alexander Collie: Colonial Surgeon, Naturalist & Explorer

Gwen Chessell
2008
978 0 980296 53 2 $39.95 Pb

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The first book-length biography of the remarkable Scottish pioneer, Alexander Collie, who made a pivotal contribution to Western Australia’s early colonisation.

Drawing on Collie’s long and lively correspondence with his brother, Gwen Chessell’s meticulous research provides new insights into the mind of a nineteenth-century world traveller and humanist.


Behind the News: A Biography of Peter Russo

Prue Torney-Parlicki
2005
978 1 920694 498 $39.95 Pb Add to cart

Commentator, linguist and Asia expert Peter Russo (1908-85), was one of the most controversial figures in 20th Century Australian journalism. While living in Japan in the late Thirties, Russo developed a close association with some of the country’s political leaders, earning him the enmity of Australian security officials.

After returning to Australia in 1941, Russo continued to inflame passions with his outspoken views in defense of Japan and over the next four decades used his regular columns and radio broadcasts to educate Australians about regional geo-politics - reserving his most ardent criticism for Western intervention against anti-colonial movements throughout Asia and American foreign policy throughout the quagmire that became the Vietnam War.

Behind the News: A Biography of Peter Russo
is the first full-length biography of this pioneering Australian media commentator.


James Stirling:
Admiral and Founding Governor of Western Australia

Pamela Statham-Drew
2005
978 1 876268 948 $59.95 Hb Add to cart

2003 Western Australian Premier's Book Awards (Shortlisted)
2004 National Biography Award (Shortlisted)

Man of action, naval officer, able administrator, skilled diplomat – James Stirling’s distinguished and multi-faceted career carried him to the four corners of the world in the service of the British Empire.

Seven years in the making, Statham-Drew’s new biography of Stirling documents his life’s journey: from his Scottish childhood through to being the Founding Governor of the Swan River Colony and, ultimately, Stirling’s promotion to Admiral and British Naval Chief in East Asia – all set against a post-Napoleonic backdrop of colonial opportunism, wars, British naval superiority and shifting political alliances.

‘Pamela Statham-Drew has filled one of the great gaps in Western Australian history by writing this biography of the founding Governor, Sir James Stirling... Her masterpiece... adds new insight into our early history.’ - Geoffrey Bolton

‘It will deservedly become the standard reference on James Stirling.’ - The Canberra Times

‘This well-written study is a powerful instance of how a well-established genre can offer much that is new.’ - Journal of Maritime Research


Jean Beadle:
A Life of Labor Activism

Bobbie Oliver
2007
978 0 980296 52 5 $24.95 Pb Add to cart

UWA presents the first-ever biography of Jean Beadle (1867-1942)–a tireless advocate for women's and children's rights. Historian Bobbie Oliver surveys the life and legacy of one of Australia's great unsung civic heroines, revealing a feisty and courageous proto-feminist who was the founder of Labor Women's Organisations in Fremantle and the Eastern Goldfields, as well as one of the Western Australia's first female Justices of the Peace and a keen writer and orator.


Richard Spencer:
Napoleonic Naval Hero and Australian Pioneer

Gwen Chessell
2005
978 1 920694 404 $45 Hb Add to cart

Remembered today as the first Government Resident of the fledgling settlement of Albany on the south coast of Western Australia, Captain Sir Richard Spencer (RN) was both a pioneer settler and, in his early years, a decorated hero under Lord Nelson’s command during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Gwen Chessell’s meticulously researched biography recreates Spencer’s time at Strawberry Farm in Albany and explores the intrepid mariner’s long and successful career in the Royal Navy.


Ride the Whirlpool:
Selected Speeches of Lieutenant General Sanderson AC, Governor of WA, 2000-2005

Lieutenant General John Sanderson
2005
978 1 920694 65X $49.95 Hb Add to cart

Ride the Whirlpool is a collection of forty speeches by former Governor of Western Australia, Lieutenant General John Sanderson, in which Lieutenant General Sanderson reflects on issues pertaining to the betterment and sustainability of Australian society within the twin contexts of our respect for human rights and democratic process.

Highlighting the Lieutenant General’s impassioned search for a shared vision for a future that embraces and unifies the entire Australian community, Ride the Whirlpool provides unique insights into the opinions and world-views of one of our most esteemed citizens.

‘I have seized on the metaphor of the boat in the whirlpool to emphasize the point that the chaos into which we are moving is a natural thing, far more natural than linear stability and order. We ride the whirlpool in many forms in nature, and we evolve personally and socially to do so.’ – Lieutenant General Sanderson, Leadership in a Complex Non-linear Environment - Advancing Western Australia’s Leaders Forum, February 2002


Sir Ronald Wilson:
A Matter of Conscience

Antonio Buti
2007
978 0980296 41 9 $39.95 Pb Add to cart

This biography is the first comprehensive biography of former High Court Justice, President of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Chancellor of Murdoch University, W.A. Inc. Royal Commissioner and President of the Uniting Church of Australia, the late Sir Ronald Wilson. Sir Ronald Wilson: A Matter of Conscience makes an important contribution to legal and political biography, one that will be of immense public significance and interest, containing, as it does, great insights into this highly complex, thoughtful and talented Australian.

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