Australia & Oceania Audiobooks | History

From Simpson's donkey and the Emu War to Vietnam and Ben Roberts-Smith, Australian military history is full of events that didn't happen the way most people think they did. In his inimitable style, award-winning author Mark Dapin sets the record straight. Australia's war tales could be said to be the closest thing we have to sacred stories: ANZAC, Simpson and his donkey, Changi, the wronged diggers in Vietnam, Ben Roberts-Smith. Millions of dollars are spent enshrining these stories in the War Memorial in Canberra and the Australian National Memorial in France, amongst others. But did what we're celebrating actually happen? In this book, award-winning author and historian Mark Dapin shows that often the reality was completely different from the myth - and that by celebrating the wrong people, we often forget about the real heroes. With deep research and a sharp wit, Lest reclaims the truth about our military history.

Mark Dapin (Author), Henry Nixon, TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

Aid State: Elite Panic, Disaster Capitalism, and the Battle to Control Haiti

Haiti’s state is near-collapse: armed groups have overrun the country, many government officials have fled after the 2021 assassination of President Moise, refugees desperately set out on boats to reach the US and Latin America, and the economy reels from the after-effects of disasters, both man-made and natural, that destroyed much of Haiti’s infrastructure. How did a nation founded on liberation—a people that successfully revolted against their colonizers and enslavers—come to such a precipice? In Aid State, Jake Johnston, researcher and writer at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, reveals how US and European capitalist goals re-enslaved Haiti under the guise of helping it. To the global West, Haiti has always been a place where labor is cheap, politicians are compliant, and profits are to be made. Over the course of nearly 100 years, the US has sought to control Haiti with occupying police, military, and euphemistically-called peacekeeping forces, as well as hand-picked leaders meant to quell uprisings and protect corporate interests. Earthquakes and hurricanes only further hurt a state already decimated by the aid industrial complex. Based on years of on-the-ground reporting in Haiti and interviews with politicians in the US and Haiti, UN officials, and Haitians who struggle for their lives, homes, and families, Aid State is a conscience-searing book of witness.

Jake Johnston (Author), James Lurie (Narrator)

Audiobook

History of New Zealand: A Captivating Guide to the History of the Land of the Long White Cloud, from

Did you know New Zealand was the first country to offer universal suffrage? Many people today only started dreaming of visiting New Zealand after discovering it was the beautiful filming place of the Lord of the Rings series. However, ignoring the two islands in the Pacific Ocean is not a modern thing. The remote lands of New Zealand were the last large, livable lands to be discovered, inhabited, and colonized. Since the Polynesians (the first humans in New Zealand who would become known as the Māori) were the most modern humans to settle in an uninhabited land, it is no surprise New Zealand has always been ahead of its time. Despite its late settlement, New Zealand has been one of the most rapidly modernizing nations in the world. New Zealand was the first country to introduce full democracy, women’s suffrage, state pensions, and state housing. New Zealand has a history unlike any other nation, from its late inhabitation to its unusually respectful colonization, involving hundreds of Māori chiefs signing an agreement to allow European settlement. Although New Zealand was the last inhabited country and one of the most isolated developed regions in the world, it has been significantly involved in historical events, adding even more interest to its complex and rich history. Intrigued? Pick up this audiobook to learn more about the following: - Extinct animals that used to call New Zealand home; - The arrival of the Polynesians and what that meant for the region; - The early European explorations and who is credited with discovering the island nation; - Colonization efforts and their impact on the Māori; - How New Zealand was run under European control; - The progressive changes that took place; - And so much more! Scroll up and click the “add to cart” button to begin learning about New Zealand!

Captivating History (Author), Jason Zenobia (Narrator)

Audiobook

New Zealand: A Captivating Guide to the History of the Land of the Long White Cloud and Māori People

Two manuscripts in one audiobook: - History of New Zealand: A Captivating Guide to the History of the Land of the Long White Cloud, from the Polynesians Through the Māori Musket Wars to the Present - Māori History: A Captivating Guide to the History of the Indigenous Polynesian People of New Zealand In the first part of this audiobook, you will learn about: - Extinct animals that used to call New Zealand home; - The arrival of the Polynesians and what that meant for the region; - The early European explorations and who is credited with discovering the island nation; - Colonization efforts and their impact on the Māori; - How New Zealand was run under European control; - The progressive changes that took place; In the second part of this audiobook, you will discover: - The origins of the Māori people. - How the Māori civilization developed in seclusion from the rest of the world. - What Māori life was like before European contact. - How and when the Māori isolation period ended. - How the European presence changed the Māori civilization. - Why the Māori-European relations soured. - The Māori heroes in the struggles against the colonial settlers. - What happened during the New Zealand Wars. - How the Māori survived the European challenges. - Who led the Māori into modernity and newfound prosperity. Scroll up and click the “add to cart” button to begin learning about New Zealand and Māori History!

Captivating History (Author), Jason Zenobia (Narrator)

Audiobook

Bennelong and Phillip: A History Unravelled

The first joint biography of Bennelong and Governor Arthur Phillip, two pivotal figures in Australian history - the colonised and coloniser - and a bold and innovative new portrait of both. Bennelong and Phillip were leaders of their two sides in the first encounters between Britain and Indigenous Australians, Phillip the colony's first governor, and Bennelong the Yiyura leader. The pair have come to represent the conflict that flared and has never settled. Fullagar's account is also the first full biography of Bennelong of any kind and it challenges many misconceptions, among them that he became alienated from his people and that Phillip was a paragon of Enlightenment benevolence. It tells the story of the men's marriages, including Bennelong's best-known wife, Barangaroo, and Phillip's unusual domestic arrangements, and places the period in the context of the Aboriginal world and the demands of empire. To present this history afresh, Bennelong & Phillip relates events in reverse, moving beyond the limitations of typical Western ways of writing about the past, which have long privileged the coloniser over the colonised. Bennelong's world was hardly linear at all, and in Fullagar's approach his and Phillip's histories now share an equally unfamiliar framing.

Kate Fullagar (Author), Arianwen Parkes-Lockwood (Narrator)

Audiobook

Our Voices From The Heart: The authorised story of the community campaign that changed Australia

A behind-the-scenes book about the Uluru Statement From The Heart, from the co-chairs of the Uluru Dialogue, Professor Megan Davis and Patricia Anderson, AO. The Australian story began long before the arrival of the First Fleet. We Australians all know this. We have always known this. Australia finds itself standing on the edge of a 60,000-year-old precipice. The Uluru Statement From The Heart respectfully asks for First Nations people to finally be given a Voice - but what path led us here? The story of the twelve Regional Dialogues and the Uluru National Constitutional Convention has never been told. It is a yarn borne from centuries of struggle, full of vision, determination and courage. These community gatherings, led and attended by fifteen hundred everyday First Peoples, represent the largest ever consultation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in history. The unanimous result was the Uluru Statement From The Heart, and its call for Voice and Makarrata. Our Voices From The Heart is the official celebration of the grassroots campaign that guided us to this inspiring moment in Australia's history. It is a profound call to action for the nation, but is also an offering of peace and unity that recognises the past and reconciles it with the truth. Filled with powerful never-before-seen photography and helpful information to share with friends and family alike, this book charts the world's oldest living civilisation's ongoing fight for constitutional recognition and is destined to become a treasured keepsake for years to come. It's time, Australia. History is calling.

Patricia Anderson Ao, Professor Megan Davis (Author), Patricia Anderson Ao, Professor Megan Davis (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Frontier Wars and the New Zealand Wars: The History of the British Empire’s Conflicts against In

Inevitably, as the British settled in Australia and New Zealand, they entered into conflicts with the indigenous people, and they would learn quite quickly that the Māori were quite bellicose. As such, the New Zealand Wars would last over 30 years. The history of the indigenous inhabitants of Australia, known in contemporary anthropology as the “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia,” is a complex and continually evolving field of study, and it has been colored by politics. For generations after the arrival of whites in Australia, the Aboriginal people were disregarded and marginalized, largely because they offered little in the way of a labor resource, and they occupied land required for European settlement. At the same time, it is a misconception that indigenous Australians meekly accepted the invasion of their country by the British, for they did not. They certainly resisted, but as far as colonial wars during that era went, the frontier conflicts of Australia did not warrant a great deal of attention. Indigenous Australians were hardly a warlike people, and without central organization, or political cohesion beyond scattered family groups, they succumbed to the orchestrated advance of white settlement with passionate, but futile resistance. In many instances, aggressive clashes between the two groups simply gave the white colonists reasonable cause to inflict a style of genocide on the Aborigines that stood in the way of progress. In any case, their fate had largely been sealed by the first European sneeze in the Terra Australis, which preceded the importation of the two signature mediums of social destruction. The first was a collection of alien diseases, chief among smallpox, but also cholera, influenza, measles, tuberculosis, syphilis and the common cold.

Charles River Editors (Author), Michelle Humphries (Narrator)

Audiobook

Carnage: A succulent Chinese meal, Mr Rent-a-Kill and the Australian Manson murders

Millions have been entertained by the viral video of a man being arrested after a 'succulent Chinese meal'. But when Mark Dapin investigated, it emerged that this man's story went to the heart of the Australian underworld. A true crime cult classic in the making. Whether you know it as the 'succulent Chinese meal' video, or 'democracy manifest', chances are you have seen the video of baritone larrikin Jack Karlson getting arrested outside a Brisbane Chinese restaurant in 1991. The Guardian called it 'perhaps the pre-eminent Australian meme of the last 10 years'. When Karlson called crime writer Mark Dapin out of the blue, though, Dapin hadn't heard of him. But there was enough that intrigued him about this theatrical outlaw to continue the conversation. Over the following months emerged a dark and complex past. It turned out that Karlson had been in the background of many notorious incidents in late-twentieth century Australian crime, from collaborating with infamous prison-playwright Jim McNeil to befriending hitman Christopher Dale Flannery (Mr Rent-a-Kill). But most shockingly of all, Karlson's life story led Dapin to shed new light on a number of unsolved murders, by two serial killers. The result is an extraordinary, deeply revealing portrait of Australian crime from the 60s to the 2010s - a portrait of carnage. 'Mark Dapin could never be accused of glorifying crime, but he is guilty as sin for understanding it. Inhabited by flawed humans, filled with violence, humour, tears and dreams, Carnage is a classic Australian crime story.' Gary Jubelin, author of I Catch Killers 'True crime at its grim and richly entertaining best, and - let's face it - its truest.' Robert Drewe, author of The Shark Net 'If ever there was a book crammed with colourful villains who are "mad, bad and dangerous to know," it's definitely Mark Dapin's extraordinary book, Carnage.' Kate McClymont, author of He Who Must Be Obeid 'Carnage is a window into Australian mayhem, killingly funny and beautifully told. Dapin finds pathos in a twisted world.' Matthew Spencer, author of Black River 'Carnage begins by probing what seems a minor curiosity - an internet meme centred on a colourful character - then takes a turn into the lives of traumatised youths hurled without care or thought into brutalising reformatories. From there they graduate to rorts, robberies, violence. Bleak lives interspersed with occasional forays into squaresville - spouses, kids, even jobs - and attempts at betterment via theatre and literature. A unique, deeply felt take on the Australian underworld.' Peter Doyle, author of Crooks Like Us 'The moment I start reading anything by Mark Dapin I'm captivated, intrigued and engaged for the entire journey. There is no finer writer documenting the history and characters of Australian criminality.' Stuart Coupe

Mark Dapin (Author), Henry Nixon (Narrator)

Audiobook

The New Zealand Wars: The History and Legacy of the British Empire’s Conflicts with the Indigenous M

In 1769, Captain James Cook’s historic expedition in the region would lead to an English claim on Australia, but before he reached Australia, he sailed near New Zealand and spent weeks mapping part of New Zealand’s coast. Thus, he was also one of the first to observe and take note of the indigenous peoples of the two islands. His instructions from the Admiralty were to endeavor at all costs to cultivate friendly relations with tribes and peoples he might encounter, and to regard any native people as the natural and legal possessors of any land they were found to occupy. Cook, of course, was not engaged on an expedition of colonization, so when he encountered for the first time a war party of Māori, he certainly had no intention of challenging their overlordship of Aotearoa, although he certainly was interested in discovering more about them. Taking into account similarities of appearance, customs and languages spread across a vast region of scattered islands, it was obvious that the Polynesian race emerged from a single origin, and that origin Cook speculated was somewhere in the Malay Peninsula or the “East Indies.” In this regard, he was not too far from the truth. The origins of the Polynesian race have been fiercely debated since then, and it was only relatively recently, through genetic and linguistic research, that it can now be stated with certainty that the Polynesian race originated on the Chinese mainland and the islands of Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. Oceania was, indeed, the last major region of the Earth to be penetrated and settled by people, and Polynesia was the last region of Oceania to be inhabited. The vehicle of this expansion was the outrigger canoe, and aided by tides and wind patterns, a migration along the Malay Archipelago, and across the wide expanses of the South Pacific, began sometime between 3000 and 1000 BCE, reaching the western Polynesian Islands in about 900 BCE.

Charles River Editors (Author), Michelle Humphries (Narrator)

Audiobook

A History of Australia: From Colonization to the Present Day

Welcome to the land down under, where history is as rich and fascinating as the rugged landscapes that define this incredible nation. With the audiobook 'A History of Australia,' you'll embark on a journey through time, exploring the events, personalities, and struggles that have shaped this amazing country. Here are just a few of the reasons why 'A History of Australia' audiobook is a must-have for anyone who loves great storytelling and a deep dive into the past: - A comprehensive look at Australia's history: From the ancient indigenous civilizations to the arrival of the first European settlers, from the gold rushes to the wars that defined the 20th century, 'A History of Australia' covers it all. You'll come away with a rich understanding of the events that have made this nation what it is today. - A vivid, immersive experience: With a narrative style that draws you in and keeps you engaged, 'A History of Australia' feels more like a journey than a lecture. You'll feel like you're right there alongside the explorers, settlers, and rebels who have helped shape Australia's destiny. - Fascinating figures who changed the course of history: From Ned Kelly to Captain Cook, from the ANZAC soldiers to the women who fought for suffrage, 'A History of Australia' is populated with unforgettable characters who left an indelible mark on their country and the world. - A celebration of resilience and triumph: Through wars, natural disasters, economic booms and busts, the people of Australia have always found a way to endure and come out stronger on the other side. 'A History of Australia' is a testament to the spirit and resilience of a nation that has weathered countless challenges. Don't miss out on this epic journey through the history of Australia. Scroll up and buy this audibook today and discover the fascinating story of this incredible nation

Days Of History (Author), James Smith (Narrator)

Audiobook

Australia's History: a Comprehensive Guide on the history of Australia

Welcome to a fascinating journey through the history of the land down under. This audiobook takes you on an immersive experience that is both informative and enchanting, giving you a glimpse into the captivating past of Australia. Through the twists and turns of the country's history, you'll discover fascinating characters and captivating stories that are both unique and enthralling. It is sure to take you on a spellbinding adventure through time. What sets this audiobook apart is its narrative style that transports you to another world, where you'll feel like you're right there, watching history unfold before your very eyes. The writing style is as enchanting as it is informative, making for an immersive experience like no other. Through wars, natural disasters, economic booms and busts, the people of Australia have always found a way to endure and come out stronger on the other side. This audiobook celebrates the resilience and triumph of a nation that has weathered countless challenges. In addition to its captivating stories and characters, the audiobook explores the magical and mystical factors that have made this nation's history so unique and captivating. From the harsh climate to the rugged landscapes, from the isolation of the continent to the complexities of multiculturalism, the audiobook provides a fascinating look at Australia's unique challenges. In conclusion, this audiobook is a must-have for anyone who loves the magic of storytelling and is interested in the history of Australia. So why wait? Download this audiobook today, and let the magic begin!

History Retold (Author), Dean Ericson (Narrator)

Audiobook

Australia: A History Book of Australia

From the Aboriginal Dreamtime to the arrival of the First Fleet, from the gold rushes to the world wars, this audibook is a magical tale full of wonder and enchantment. And with a narrative style that will transport you to another world, you'll feel like you're right there, watching history unfold before your very eyes. The audibook consist of: - An immersive experience like no other: With a writing style that is as enchanting as it is informative, 'Australia' is a journey through time that will leave you spellbound. You'll feel like you're walking alongside the explorers, settlers, and rebels who helped shape Australia's destiny. - Fascinating characters and captivating stories: From the fierce warriors of the Dreamtime to the legendary bushrangers of the 19th century, from the brave ANZAC soldiers to the suffragettes who fought for women's rights, this audibook is filled with unforgettable characters and stories that will capture your imagination and leave you wanting more. - A magical look at Australia's unique challenges: From the harsh climate to the rugged landscapes, from the isolation of the continent to the complexities of multiculturalism, the audibook explores the magical and mystical factors that have made this nation's history so unique and captivating. - A celebration of resilience and triumph: Through wars, natural disasters, economic booms and busts, the people of Australia have always found a way to endure and come out stronger on the other side. The audiobook is a testament to the spirit and resilience of a nation that has weathered countless challenges. Purchase this audibook now and enter a world where history and storytelling converge to reveal the epic story of Australia.

Secrets Of History, Will Forrest (Author), Will Forrest (Narrator)

Audiobook

Australia & Oceania Audiobooks in History