The Big Book of Australian Yarns
and amazing true stories
Published on 29. October 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
544 pages
978-1-76147-186-5 (ISBN)
Description
'Aussies love a good story and entertainer Jim Haynes has been telling them for decades.' - Courier-Mail
The Big Book of Australian Yarns is master storyteller Jim Haynes' comprehensive collection of factual and fascinating stories and humour. The yarns range from the poignant to the hilarious, from the ridiculously Australian to the unexplained and spooky. There are heroic and inspiring characters, as well as larrikins and crooks, and everyday humorous events told with a refreshing understatement that vividly evokes a vanishing Australia.
There are tall stories from the bush, yarns from our colourful colonial past and more modern times, railway stories, sporting legends and many other things you never knew about our amazing history and the people who made it - men and women whose astonishing lives and achievements created the Aussie spirit.
The result of decades of research into popular culture and history from all parts of the country, unearthing little-known facts and tales long-buried, The Big Book of Australian Yarns will have you smiling for days and spinning yarns to all your mates.
'It's fair to say that Jim certainly knows how to pull together a collection of ripping good yarns.' - Australian Rural & Regional News
The Big Book of Australian Yarns is master storyteller Jim Haynes' comprehensive collection of factual and fascinating stories and humour. The yarns range from the poignant to the hilarious, from the ridiculously Australian to the unexplained and spooky. There are heroic and inspiring characters, as well as larrikins and crooks, and everyday humorous events told with a refreshing understatement that vividly evokes a vanishing Australia.
There are tall stories from the bush, yarns from our colourful colonial past and more modern times, railway stories, sporting legends and many other things you never knew about our amazing history and the people who made it - men and women whose astonishing lives and achievements created the Aussie spirit.
The result of decades of research into popular culture and history from all parts of the country, unearthing little-known facts and tales long-buried, The Big Book of Australian Yarns will have you smiling for days and spinning yarns to all your mates.
'It's fair to say that Jim certainly knows how to pull together a collection of ripping good yarns.' - Australian Rural & Regional News
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Sydney
Australia
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 153 mm
Weight
654 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-76147-186-5 (9781761471865)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Jim Haynes OAM is one of Australia's most prolific and successful authors. Before becoming a professional entertainer, song writer and verse writer in 1988, Jim taught writing, literature, history and drama in schools and universities from outback New South Wales to Britain and back again. In 2016, he was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for 'services to the performing arts as an entertainer, author, broadcaster and historian'.
Content
Preface
Part One-Uniquely Australian
Introduction
Prickly Pear
First Shots
Sporting Highlights and Lowlights
The Love Boat
The Act that Brought the House Down
Aussie Ups and Downs
The Flying Van Tassels Scandal
The Very Expensive Penny
The First Act of War on Australian Soil
The Red Baron's Aussie Send-off
The Second Act of War on Australian Soil
'Westralia Shall be Free'
April and Other Fools
When the End of the World Was Nigh
Keep on Truckin'
Confessions of a Wheat Dumper (Frank Daniel)
Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!-Blame Frank Ifield
Part Two-Colourful Characters
Introduction
The Man Who Went Overboard
The Man They Couldn't Hang
The Evangelising Blacksmith
The Old Commodore
The Arrogant Convict Architect
Criminal or Insane?
The Flying Pieman
Blind Freddy
Our Only Chinese Bushranger
Unaarrimin-Johnny Mullagh
The Father of Aussie Boxing
'Professor Miller'
Australia's Silent Film Cowboy
A Mandarin of the Fourth Degree
The Princess and the Pie
Jack O'Hagan-Along the Road to Bundaberg?
Mr Eternity
Bea Miles-Sydney's Favourite Eccentric
Big Chief Little Wolf
The Adventures of Smoky Dawson
Part Three-Mysterious and Spooky
Introduction
Frederici-The Ghost of The Princess Theatre
Fisher's Ghost
The Haunting of Sydney Town Hall
Ghosts of Darlinghurst Gaol
The Lonely Ghost of Lady Elliot Island
The Mystery of the S.S. Waratah
The Princes Who Saw a Ghost Ship
The Yowie
Bunyips
The Tantanoola Tiger and Other Big Cats
The Girl with Peculiar Dark Eyes
Stones from Nowhere
Part Four-Courageous Women
Introduction
Esther Abrahams-First Lady of the Colony of New South Wales
The First Five-The Sisters of Charity
Lucy Osburn-Hospital Reformer
Louisa Lawson-Pioneer of Women's Suffrage
Helen Porter Mitchell-Dame Nellie Melba
Lesbia Harford-Voice of the Invisible People
Amy Johnson-'She's There!' (Jillian Dellit and Jim Haynes)
Flying Females
Nancy, Andree, Helene, Die Weiss Maus
Part Five-Aussie Humour
Introduction
Laconic Aussie Humour
Tall Tales
Dad And Dave
Graveyard Humour
Humorous Memories
Sporting Clangers
Racetrack Humour
Lennie Lower-The Funniest Bastard in Australia
Laugh With Lower (Lennie Lower)
Part Six-Here's Cheers!-Our Alcoholic History
Introduction
Phillip Schaffer-Our First Free Settler and Vigneron
The Enterprise of Peter Degraves
The th Regiment Are Revolting
The Oldest Pubs in Australia
The Oldest Pub in Sydney?
Young And Jackson's-Home of Chloe
What's The Difference?
Pub Names
Booze and Sport
The Tragic Life of Henry Lawson-Why Does a Man Drink?
The Valentine's Day Mutiny
Six O'Clock Madness
Mr Sloove's Speech (abridged from Here's Luck, Lennie Lower)
Part Seven-All Aboard-Railway Tales
Introduction
John Whitton-The Man Who Conquered the Mountain
Train to Melbourne (Mark Twain)
Dark Day at Sunshine
Great Train Robberies
The Never Never Railway Line
Harold Clapp-The Man with the Spirit of Progress
Fare Evasion
Railway Women-The Great Triple R
The End of the Line
The Pub with No Railway
I'll Walk Beside You
The Granville Disaster
Part Eight-Fascinating Factual Aussie History
Introduction
Girt By Sea
The Mystery of the 'Mahogany Ship'
Runaways and Discoveries
Who Crossed the Blue Mountains?
The Colony That Couldn't Be Prevented
Safe Passage to Melbourne
The Colony that Never Was
Cobb & Co
Eureka Stockade
The Wreck that Modernised Sydney
The 'Tragic Comedy' of Burke and Wills
Lambing Flat
The 'Failure' That Succeeded-Mildura Irrigation Colony
The Man in Charge of Everything
How Sydney was Remodelled by The Plague
Paddleboat Problems
Those Magnificent Men-Our Pioneer Aviators
Captain Ross Smith and the Great Air Race
The Extraordinary Life of Hubert Wilkins
Shiploads of Migrants
Acknowledgements
Part One-Uniquely Australian
Introduction
Prickly Pear
First Shots
Sporting Highlights and Lowlights
The Love Boat
The Act that Brought the House Down
Aussie Ups and Downs
The Flying Van Tassels Scandal
The Very Expensive Penny
The First Act of War on Australian Soil
The Red Baron's Aussie Send-off
The Second Act of War on Australian Soil
'Westralia Shall be Free'
April and Other Fools
When the End of the World Was Nigh
Keep on Truckin'
Confessions of a Wheat Dumper (Frank Daniel)
Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!-Blame Frank Ifield
Part Two-Colourful Characters
Introduction
The Man Who Went Overboard
The Man They Couldn't Hang
The Evangelising Blacksmith
The Old Commodore
The Arrogant Convict Architect
Criminal or Insane?
The Flying Pieman
Blind Freddy
Our Only Chinese Bushranger
Unaarrimin-Johnny Mullagh
The Father of Aussie Boxing
'Professor Miller'
Australia's Silent Film Cowboy
A Mandarin of the Fourth Degree
The Princess and the Pie
Jack O'Hagan-Along the Road to Bundaberg?
Mr Eternity
Bea Miles-Sydney's Favourite Eccentric
Big Chief Little Wolf
The Adventures of Smoky Dawson
Part Three-Mysterious and Spooky
Introduction
Frederici-The Ghost of The Princess Theatre
Fisher's Ghost
The Haunting of Sydney Town Hall
Ghosts of Darlinghurst Gaol
The Lonely Ghost of Lady Elliot Island
The Mystery of the S.S. Waratah
The Princes Who Saw a Ghost Ship
The Yowie
Bunyips
The Tantanoola Tiger and Other Big Cats
The Girl with Peculiar Dark Eyes
Stones from Nowhere
Part Four-Courageous Women
Introduction
Esther Abrahams-First Lady of the Colony of New South Wales
The First Five-The Sisters of Charity
Lucy Osburn-Hospital Reformer
Louisa Lawson-Pioneer of Women's Suffrage
Helen Porter Mitchell-Dame Nellie Melba
Lesbia Harford-Voice of the Invisible People
Amy Johnson-'She's There!' (Jillian Dellit and Jim Haynes)
Flying Females
Nancy, Andree, Helene, Die Weiss Maus
Part Five-Aussie Humour
Introduction
Laconic Aussie Humour
Tall Tales
Dad And Dave
Graveyard Humour
Humorous Memories
Sporting Clangers
Racetrack Humour
Lennie Lower-The Funniest Bastard in Australia
Laugh With Lower (Lennie Lower)
Part Six-Here's Cheers!-Our Alcoholic History
Introduction
Phillip Schaffer-Our First Free Settler and Vigneron
The Enterprise of Peter Degraves
The th Regiment Are Revolting
The Oldest Pubs in Australia
The Oldest Pub in Sydney?
Young And Jackson's-Home of Chloe
What's The Difference?
Pub Names
Booze and Sport
The Tragic Life of Henry Lawson-Why Does a Man Drink?
The Valentine's Day Mutiny
Six O'Clock Madness
Mr Sloove's Speech (abridged from Here's Luck, Lennie Lower)
Part Seven-All Aboard-Railway Tales
Introduction
John Whitton-The Man Who Conquered the Mountain
Train to Melbourne (Mark Twain)
Dark Day at Sunshine
Great Train Robberies
The Never Never Railway Line
Harold Clapp-The Man with the Spirit of Progress
Fare Evasion
Railway Women-The Great Triple R
The End of the Line
The Pub with No Railway
I'll Walk Beside You
The Granville Disaster
Part Eight-Fascinating Factual Aussie History
Introduction
Girt By Sea
The Mystery of the 'Mahogany Ship'
Runaways and Discoveries
Who Crossed the Blue Mountains?
The Colony That Couldn't Be Prevented
Safe Passage to Melbourne
The Colony that Never Was
Cobb & Co
Eureka Stockade
The Wreck that Modernised Sydney
The 'Tragic Comedy' of Burke and Wills
Lambing Flat
The 'Failure' That Succeeded-Mildura Irrigation Colony
The Man in Charge of Everything
How Sydney was Remodelled by The Plague
Paddleboat Problems
Those Magnificent Men-Our Pioneer Aviators
Captain Ross Smith and the Great Air Race
The Extraordinary Life of Hubert Wilkins
Shiploads of Migrants
Acknowledgements