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| ABORIGINAL PLANT COLLECTORS : Botanists & Australian Aboriginal People in the Nineteenth Century [Philip A Clarke] Explores the impact of indigenous people upon the European discovery of Australian plants, spanning the period from the expansion of world exploration in the seventeenth century to the beginning of systematic scientific studies in the late nineteenth century. Observations of Australian Aboriginal hunting and gathering practices provided Europeans with important clues concerning the productivity of the land. British colonists who came in 1788 to establish themselves in the 'new' country of Australia found indigenous land 'owners' to be both a physical threat and an important source of information about the environment. Plant hunters were a hardy breed of men primarily employed to make collections of dried and living plants in the fledging colonies and to send them back to Europe. They led exciting but dangerous lives on the fringes of the empire, a few of them dying while field collecting. Aboriginal guides accompanied plant collectors into the field. This book presents investigates the role of particular Aboriginal groups and individuals in the botanical discovery of Australia. The bulk of this book is a detailed description of the interaction between particular plant collectors and Aboriginal people through the nineteenth century. There are chapters on the work of George Caley, Allan Cunningham, Von Mueller and the resident plant collectors in WA, SA and Tasmania. { 192pp, 210x285mm, February 2008; HB, £17.30, 1877058688:9781877058684 , Rosenberg Publishing Pty Ltd } |
| BEYOND THE BREAKWATER : Short Stories 1948-1998 by O.E. Middleton [Lawrence Jones (ed)] "Beyond the Breakwater" brings together twenty-six outstanding short stories spanning half a century by an acclaimed master of the genre, O.E. Middleton. While Middleton has been linked with the masculine realist New Zealand tradition of Frank Sargeson and Roderick Finlayson, "Beyond the Breakwater" also contains a diverse range of international settings and characters, from Berthe Albrecht's postwar experiences of Paris in 'For Once in Your Life' to the secular London Eucharist of 'The Doss-house and the Duchess'. At his best, Middleton's attention to detail and fully realised context brings to mind earlier masters such as Yukio Mishima and Guy de Maupassant; in a typical Middleton story, carefully observed detail builds an impressionistic platform on which the destinies of his characters unravel. { 368pp, 140x210mm, June 2008; HB, £19.50, 1877372560:9781877372568 , Otago University Press } |
| CONCISE COMPANION TO ABORIGINAL HISTORY [Dr Malcolm Prentis] Provides an overview of Australian Aboriginal history from creation stories involving the Dreaming through to Aboriginal cultural and political activity in the 21st century. Its alphabetically arranged entries include biographies, historical events, pioneering work by anthropologists, historical controversies, literature and sport, and a number of social issues. Malcolm Prentis has paid a particular attention to covering all regions of Australia and the Torres Strait Islands, and all periods of recorded history. As well, the book includes photographs, maps, population tables, a chronology and bibliography. { 264pp, 135x210mm, February 2008; HB, £13.00, 1877058629:9781877058622 , Rosenberg Publishing Pty Ltd } |
| SHIP OF DREAMS : Masculinity in contemporary Pakeha & Maori fiction of Aotearoa/New Zealand [Alistair Fox] The first critical study to investigate at length how masculine subjectivities are represented in contemporary New Zealand fiction. Notoriously self-contained and private, Kiwi men are often reluctant to talk about their personal feelings and embarrassed at the thought that any private emotional difficulties could be exposed to critical examination. One must go to their imaginative literature to make contact with the reality that underlies the (often calculatedly deceptive) surface. In his investigation of these issues, Fox demonstrates the crucial importance of Pakeha and Maori cultural predispositions influencing masculine identity in this country -- often at the cost of great psychic pain for the men involved. { 192pp, 155x235mm, May 2008; PB, £17.50, 1877372544:9781877372544 , Otago University Press } |