The Staples South West Region Publications Fund

The Charles and Joy Staples South West Region Publications Fund was established in 1984 on the basis of a generous donation to The University of Western Australia by Charles and Joy Staples.

The purpose of the Fund is to make the results of the research on the South West region of Western Australia widely available so as to assist the people of the South West region. It is also hoped the fund will help those in government and private organisations concerned with South West projects to appreciate the needs and possibilities of the regoin in the widest possible historical perspective.

All prices are GST inclusive.

Alexander Collie: Colonial Surgeon, Naturalist & Explorer

Gwen Chessell
2008
978 0 980296 53 2 $39.95 Pb  Add to cart

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.

Contested Country

Patricia Crawford and Ian Crawford
2003
978 1 920694 005 $38.95 Pb Add to cart

2004 NSW Premier's History Award For Regional & Community History (Winner)

Whose country is it? Who decides how the land should be managed? In exploring these fundamental questions, Contested Country presents divergent views on Aboriginal land rights, environmental issues and, in particular, the future of our forests.

Focusing on the area surrounding Northcliffe, a small country town deep in the cool, rainy karri country of Western Australia’s southwest coastal plain, Patricia and Ian Crawford argue that differing attitudes to the land underlie many of the current divisions between Aboriginal and European, city and country. Northcliffe is here presented as a microcosm of Australian society through which the authors seek to understand the land, the conflicting views over its use and the way people have sought to shape it to their own purposes – all with a view to preserving one of the most botanically diverse areas in Australia.

‘A very interesting book.’ - History West

‘Contested Country gives us good insights into the ways various people have utilised and contested the karri forest.’ - JAS Review of Books

For Their Own Good
Aborigines and Government in the South West of Western Australia 1900-1940

Anna Haebich1998
978 1 875560 14 9 Paperback $32.95 Add to cart

The story of relations between the governments of the day and the Aboriginal people of the South West.

Orchard and Mill
The Story of Bill Lee, South–West Pioneer

Lyn Adams
2004
978 1 920694 24 2 Paperback $24.95 Add to cart

Orchard and Mill chronicles local communities now scattered, and practices and processes now obsolete and otherwise lost to us. It is a marvellous insight into the daily workings of the orchards and timber mills of the South West in their heyday.

Rica Erickson
A Naturalist's Life

Rica Erickson2004
978 1 920694 27 7 PB $34.95 Add to cart
Deluxe signed edition: 978 1 920694 43 2 HB $49.95 Add to cart

Many of Rica Erickson's works remain standard references. In Rica Erickson, we have Rica's own account of how she became interested in natural history, who were her guides, mentors and assocaites, and how she did her research. Through these pages we meet many other naturalists of the century, as well as some who came before.

Rica Erickson Notebook

Rica Erickson
2006
978 1 920694 73 0 HB $19.95 Add to cart

Rica Erickson Notebook is a beautifully designed journal that invites anyone wishing to record their precious thoughts, dreams or daily events in this charming notebook. The notebook can be purchased singularly or as a combined set with Rica’s previous title Rica Erickson: A Naturalist’s Life, an account of how she became interested in natural history, who were her guides, mentors and associates, and how she did her research. The notebook is interspersed with reproductions of Rica’s line drawings.

Richard Spencer
Napoleonic Naval Hero and Australian Pioneer

Gwen Chessell
2005
978 1 920694 40 4 HB $45 Add to cart

Gwen Chessell has uncovered the richly varied life and career of an important figure in Australia's early colonial history. She tells his story with authority, understanding and vivacity, whether she is describing activity aboard a fighting ship or the domesiticity of the Spencer household.

The South West – from Dawn till Dusk

Rob Olver
2002
978 1 876268 84 0 HB $45.00 Add to cart
978 1 876238 85 9 PB $29.95 Add to cart

The South West–from Dawn till Dusk takes readers on a journey, in words, maps and stunning photographs, through the diverse landscapes of Western Australia's south-west corner from Mandurah to Albany.

A Story to Tell

Laurel Nannup
2006
978 1 920694 70 6 Hardback $24.95 Add to cart

In A Story to Tell, Laurel Nannup brings to life a childhood in a large Aboriginal family. While her stories include time spent at the Wandering Mission, their main focus is on memories of family life: picnics, roaming through the bush, sharing campfire tales, and events such as buying a new dress and first communion.

Western Australia as it is today, 1906

The intriging travalogue of Italian Leopaldo Zunini as he stuggles to describe the strange land he came to when he landed in Albany in 1906.

Previous Staples Fund Titles (no longer in print)

A Tribute to the Group Settlers
by Philip E M Blond

Dearest Isabella
by Prue Joske

Portraits of the South West
by B K de Garis

A Guide to Sources for the History of South Western Australia
compiled by Ron Richards

Jardee: The Mill that Cheated Time
by Doreen Owens

Blacklegs: The Scottish Colliery Strike of 1911
by Bill Latter

Barefoot in the Creek
by L C Burton

Ritualist on a Tricycle: Frederick Goldsmith
Church, Nationalism and Society in Western Australia
by Colin Holden