When Madeleine is shipped off to stay with her eccentric grandmother for the holidays, she expects the usual: politics, early-morning yoga, extreme health food, and lots of hard work. Instead, Madeleine tumbles back in time to 1900, where the wealthy Williamson family takes her into their home, Lyrebird Muse. At a time when young girls have no power and no voice, set against a backdrop of the struggles for emancipation, federation and Aboriginal rights, Madeleine must find a way to fit in with the Williamson family's four sisters - beautiful, cold Bea; clever, awkward Gert; adventurous, rebellious Charlie; and darling baby Imo - as she searches desperately for a way home. Meanwhile, the Williamson girls' enchanting German cousin, Elfriede, arrives on the scene on a heavenly wave of smoke and cinnamon, and threatens to shatter everything... 'I found myself magically transported to a time gone by ... This is a novel about feminism: about where we have been and where we are now. Written with elegance, humour, intelligence and originality, When the Lyrebird Calls is as precious as the lyrebird itself.' SOFIE LAGUNA, Miles Franklin Literary Award winner 'When the Lyrebird Calls is truly beautiful, a wonderful book. I have no doubt it will be widely read and loved for many years to come.' FIONA WOOD

Discover the fascinating world of the lyrebird in Lyrebird: The Great Mimicry Artist. This comprehensive book delves into the remarkable abilities of the lyrebird, nature’s most skilled mimic, known for its extraordinary capacity to replicate both natural and man-made sounds with stunning accuracy. Explore the lyrebird's unique anatomy, complex vocalizations, and vital role in ecosystems, as well as its cultural significance and conservation challenges. Perfect for bird enthusiasts, nature lovers, and anyone intrigued by the wonders of evolution and biodiversity, this detailed guide uncovers the secrets behind one of the world's most captivating birds.

Winner of the 2015 Miles Franklin Literary Award Shortlisted for the 2015 Voss Literary Prize and the 2015 Stella Prize Longlisted for the 2016 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award Meet Jimmy Flick. He's not like other kids - he's both too fast and too slow. He sees too much, and too little. Jimmy's mother Paula is the only one who can manage him. She teaches him how to count sheep so that he can fall asleep. She holds him tight enough to stop his cells spinning. It is only Paula who can keep Jimmy out of his father's way. But when Jimmy's world falls apart, he has to navigate the unfathomable world on his own, and make things right.

The Message of the Lyrebird is a photographic odyssey into one of the world's most mysterious creatures, the pristine lands that it inhabits, and the native forest friends it imitates.This companion guide to the feature-length film examines the lyrebird's unique abilities and sophisticated song and dance routines, which date back to the Early Miocene epoch, 18 million years ago.Australian filmmaker Mark B Pearce has compiled this beautiful book using screenplay extracts, homages to poets and writers, and the scribed knowledge from the film's multi-character narrative. Fascinating information and world-class photography of lyrebird imitation, courtship, habitat, plumage and reproduction is weaved with the behind-the-scenes story of a film that took 11 years to create.The book profiles D'harawal Dreaming law stories of the bird as well as modern-day understandings of its behaviours from a cinematographer, a scientist, a lyrebird sound recordist, a lyrebird keeper, a study group, an activist, and a Knowledge-Holder. In their attempts to observe and conserve nature, the characters of the film call for an end to the deliberate erosion of lyrebird habitats from commercial and industrial developments.The Foreword is written by Dr Anastasia Dalziell; with a background in behavioural ecology, Anastasia investigated the ecology of vocal mimicry in the Superb Lyrebird for her PhD research at the Australian National University and continues to write ground-breaking science on Menura novaehollandiae.In our modern age of spiritual confusion, the lyrebird stands as a symbol of sacred harmony - the speaker of all languages and the dancer of life. Lyrebird invites us to re-member our place in the natural world, and inspires us to cultivate the peace and reverence necessary for humanity's salvation.

Birds are among the most extensively studied of all animal groups. Hundreds of academic journals and thousands of scientists are devoted to bird research, while amateur enthusiasts (called birdwatchers or, more commonly, birders) probably number in the millions. Birds are categorised as a biological class, Aves. The earliest known species of this class is Archaeopteryx lithographica, from the Late Jurassic period. According to the most recent consensus, Aves and a sister group, the order Crocodilia, together form a group of unnamed rank, the Archosauria. Phylogenetically, Aves is usually defined as all descendants of the most recent common ancestor of modern birds (or of a specific modern bird species like Passer domesticus), and Archaeopteryx. Modern phylogenies place birds in the dinosaur clade Theropoda. Modern birds are divided into two superorders, the Paleognathae (mostly flightless birds like ostriches), and the wildly diverse Neognathae, containing all other birds.

An authoritative and entertaining exploration of Australia’s distinctive birds and their unheralded role in global evolution Renowned for its gallery of unusual mammals, Australia is also a land of extraordinary birds. But unlike the mammals, the birds of Australia flew beyond the continent’s boundaries and around the globe many millions of years ago. This eye-opening book tells the dynamic but little-known story of how Australia provided the world with songbirds and parrots, among other bird groups, why Australian birds wield surprising ecological power, how Australia became a major evolutionary center, and why scientific biases have hindered recognition of these discoveries. From violent, swooping magpies to tool-making cockatoos, Australia’s birds are strikingly different from birds of other lands—often more intelligent and aggressive, often larger and longer-lived. Tim Low, a renowned biologist with a rare storytelling gift, here presents the amazing evolutionary history of Australia’s birds. The story of the birds, it turns out, is inseparable from the story of the continent itself and also the people who inhabit it.