In this volume, Drake focuses on the famous pastoral explorers, drovers and trail drivers; the poddydodgers, horse-thieves and rustlers; the wars of the land grabbers with Australian Aborigines and the American Indians; the clashes of lawless western entrepreneurs with the laws of the bit cities in the east; the colourful females who ventured our into a man¿s world and made thier names, the transport by puffing billies and famous stage coach lines and buckjumpers, roughriders and rodeos.

Meet Cowboy Joel and Blackbeard the lizard. Both are missin' some parts, but will that keep 'em from standin' up to El Maton and winnin' the wild wild west?

The bestselling story of a real-life Crocodile Dundee. the bestselling story of a real-life Crocodile Dundee. In this remarkable memoir, tom Cole tells the stories of his life in the outback during the 1920s and 1930s. With great humour and drama, he recounts his adventures as a drover and stockman in the toughest country in Australia and later on as a buffalo shooter and crocodile hunter in the Northern territory before the war. First published in 1988 and having sold over 100 000 copies, Hell West and Crooked is perfect for anyone who enjoys a classic outback yarn. 'A real-life story of the pioneering days of the top End that out-adventures anything fiction writers could hope to produce.' - tHE WESt AUStRALIAN 'tom Cole is a living legend, a real-life Crocodile Dundee. His stories paint a vivid picture of wild and exciting times in the Australian outback.' - MELBOURNE SUNDAY EXPRESS 'A story of the outback and cattlemen and women, stripped of glamour, that will become an Australian classic to rub covers with authors like Ion Idriess.' - GOLD COASt BULLEtIN

In this volume of The Wild West, Drake tells stories about the squattocracy, the cattle kings and the land barons; mounted police, sheriffs and posses in the pursuit of their elusive prey; bushrangers and outlaws and why they are so loved in popular fantasy; stockmen, ringers and cowboys; early white settlement and both friendly and hostile contact with indigenous peoples; and six shooters, gun slingers, snider rifles and infamous shoutouts.

The story of a man wanting to move forward by travelling back to where he was born, the Northern Territory. Finding himself on a merciless cattle station where you weren't taught to be a stockman but broken to fit into the mould, he is caught in the middle of race wars and deadly violence between white station managers and Aboriginal traditional land owners. As black power surges, his sympathy grows for an Indigenous elder and his besieged community... "It was like reading parts of Alex Haley's Roots, only it happened in Australia. The tale of brutality and injustice in an indifferent country." - Geoff McDonald, author of Red Over Black "The writer looked death in the face to protect his Aboriginal friends, we owe it to put our hands up and support his story. Made me angry, sad and proud but couldn't put it down. A must read for all Australian's as it exposes a dark, mostly unknown part of our race relations most people would rather not know, but need to see to remind them standing up to racism demands constant vigil." - Reggie Jobuda, Council of Aboriginal Elders and Indigenous Advancement.

The vast continent of Australia was settled in two main streams, far apart in time and origin. The first came ashore some 50,000 years ago when the islands of Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea were one. The second began to arrive from Europe at the end of the eighteenth century. Each had to come to terms with the land they found, and each had to make sense of the other. The long Aboriginal occupation of Australia witnessed spectacular changes. The rising of the seas isolated the continent and preserved a nomadic way of life, while agriculture was revolutionising other parts of the world. Over millennia, the Aboriginal people mastered the land's climates, seasons and resources. Traditional Aboriginal life came under threat the moment Europeans crossed the world to plant a new society in an unknown land. That land in turn rewarded, tricked, tantalised and often defeated the new arrivals. The meeting of the two cultures is one of the most difficult and complex meetings in recorded history. In this book Professor Geoffrey Blainey returns first to the subject of his celebrated works on Australian history, Triumph of the Nomads (1975) and A Land Half Won (1980), retelling the story of our history up until 1850 in light of the latest research. He has changed his view about vital aspects of the Indigenous and early British history of this land, and looked at other aspects for the first time. Compelling, groundbreaking and brilliantly readable, The Story of Australia's People: The Rise and Fall of Ancient Australia is the first instalment of an ambitious two-part work, and the culmination of the lifework of Australia's most prolific and wide-ranging historian. 'Absorbing and important ... the first volume of an ambitious work on the peopling of this continent from its human origins to our own day...bold, rich, wise, authioritative and questioning.' Peter Stanley, The Age 'The Story of Australia's People: The Rise and Fall of Ancient Australia situates pre-invasion Aboriginal society as a triumphant culture with much to celebrate.' John Maynard, The Age 'Blainey has produced a book that all Australians could and, dare I say it, should read . . . I very much look forward to the next instalment of his bold, rich, wise, wry, authoritative and questioning trilogy.' Canberra Times 'This is the real story of Australia, at last.' Courier Mail 'Blainey delivers a brilliant narrative on Australia's settlement.' Australian Geographic