Large-format popular history of Australian sport since 1870, first published in 1997. Style and design are based on the companion volume, 'Australian Through Time'. This third edition adds the events of 2000, including the Sydney Olympics and a table of the complete medal results. Presents sporting events year by year in the form of newspaper-style articles. Also includes yearly fact files, tables of events at a glance, quotes of the year, and odd spots. Includes colour and black-and-white contemporary illustrations throughout. Also includes an article by Richard Cashman on the origins of sport in Australia, a women's perspective by Dale Spender, and first-hand accounts by 15 sporting icons, selected by Olympic gold medallist Kevin Berry. Indexed.

This is the first single-volume book to deal comprehensively with Australia's sporting life. It covers the history of a range of individual sports in Australia, including cricket, horse-racing, netball, rowing, tennis, lawn bowls, swimming, surfing, and the various football codes. The book demonstrates the central role of sports in Australian popular culture and shows the ways in which sports reflect changing Australian society.

A sporting nation is only limited by its imagination. Every time this story is told it changes; something is always added, embellished or dropped from the run-on side. For more than thirty years, H.G. Nelson has been finding the poetry in the punt and humour during half-time. Now, he turns his keen eye for facts and folly to the illustrious history of our great sporting nation. In his trademark fast and furious style, H.G. dives deep into the moments that have truly made us who we are. He reminds us of our leaders' great sporting triumphs, from Harold Holt's swimming to John Howard's bowling; rewrites the record on legends such as 'Aussie Joe' Bugner and Jack Brabham; and explains why Australia's reality TV is the best in the world. The Fairytale is H.G. Nelson's magnum opus - an all-encompassing, no-holds-barred history of Australia at play, told through the stories of our sporting highs, lows and middles.