A 32pp illustrated children's book celebrating our nation's capital, Canberra, from the viewpoint of a child.

The Australian Capital Territory is a treasure trove for naturalists, despite being without a coastline, without rainforest or without deserts. A wealth of biodiversity is found there, due to the close proximity of three major habitat types: the great western woodland grassy plains bump up against the inland edge of the coastal hinterland mountain forests, while the whole south-eastern Australian Alps system reaches its northern limit in the Brindabella Ranges. Each of these habitats has its own rich suite of plants and animals, so a great diversity of life can be found within an hour’s drive of Parliament House. A Bush Capital Year introduces the fauna, flora, habitats and reserves of the Australian Capital Territory and includes the most recent research available. It also emphasises often unappreciated or even unrecognised urban wildlife. For each month of the year there are 10 stories which discuss either a species or a group of species, such as mosses and mountain grasshoppers. While never anthropomorphic, many of the stories are written from the organism’s point of view, while others are from that of an observer. Beautiful paintings complement the text and allow better visualisation of the stories and the subjects. 2011 Whitley Award Commendation for Regional Natural History.

Most Australians live in cities and cling to the coastal fringe, yet our sense of what an Australian is – or should be – is drawn from the vast and varied inland called the bush. But what do we mean by 'the bush', and how has it shaped us? Starting with his forebears' battle to drive back nature and eke a living from the land, Don Watson explores the bush as it was and as it now is: the triumphs and the ruination, the commonplace and the bizarre, the stories we like to tell about ourselves and the national character, and those we don't. Via mountain ash and mallee, the birds and the beasts, slaughter, fire, flood and drought, swagmen, sheep and their shepherds, the strange and the familiar, the tragedies and the follies, the crimes and the myths and the hope – here is a journey that only our leading writer of non-fiction could take us on. At once magisterial in scope and alive with telling, wry detail, The Bush lets us see our landscape and its inhabitants afresh, examining what we have made, what we have destroyed, and what we have become in the process. No one who reads it will look at this country the same way again. 'Nothing he has written quite matches the wonders of The Bush . . . There is no dull page or even lifeless sentence between its covers and my urge is that if anyone wants a full blast of what Australia is, was, or might be, thrust The Bush into their hands. Watson seems to have been preparing to write it all his life, from when he was a small boy (born 1949) open to wonders on his family's Gippsland dairy farm . . . It's the unalloyed wonder of that small boy . . . that guides the reader most of all . . . a fountaining freshness of spirit that gives everything he sees and does the vivacity of being sighted for the first time.' Roger McDonald, The Age 'Flawlessly elegant writing . . . But this is excellent, hard-headed history, too . . . Utterly mesmerising and entrancing . . . A challenge to contemplate what it really is about this country that makes us who we think we are . . . A literary-historical odyssey.' Paul Daley, The Guardian (Australia) 'A loving rumination on Australia, the landmass, and those who live on it and from it . . . Watson refuses to be captured by easy categorisations or received opinion . . . The writing is crisp, witty and sardonic . . . Watson is an original, with an authentic, prophetic voice.' John Hirst, The Monthly 'An overwhelmingly affectionate portrait, one that's never sentimental or indulgently nostalgic, and one that defiantly resists lamentation . . . There is no doubt that The Bush stands with Bill Gammage's The Biggest Estate on Earth as one of the most important books published on the history of this country in recent years . . . The Bush is the crown in Watson's oeuvre, a magnificent, sprawling ode to the best in Australia, a challenge to us all to find new ways of loving the country.' The Saturday Paper 'Don Watson's magnificent, celebratory, contradictory study of the Australian bush will challenge the national imagination . . . An amiable, learned, playful and engrossing book . . . [A] great, succulent magic pudding of a book . . . Most of what we read is nothing like we would have expected . . . There is a sense that an amiable and eloquent uncle is telling us everything piquant he knows about theology and culture and land use and the beasts and flora and families of the bush.' Thomas Keneally, Weekend Australian 'The power of this book does come from the way Watson positions himself as both an insider and outsider to the Australian bush . . . A meditation on Australia itself through a reflection on the bush.' Frank Bongiorno, Australian Book Review 'A sprawling, fascinating book . . . Watson has pulled off a marvel, a book that educates and fascinates at the same time as it calls for action to preserve some things before they're lost. The best part, though, is his prose: bare and dry, with a dark sense of humour. A bit like the country he's describing.' Margot Lloyd, The Advertiser (Adelaide) 'Every now and again a book comes out that is so groundbreaking it causes you to think about a particular subject in a radically different light. Don Watson's The Bush: Travels in The Heart of Australia is one such work; a masterpiece of research, inquiry and poetry that challenges our basic assumptions of the Outback. Watson . . . has pulled off a dazzling achievement with The Bush, blending philosophy with science and storytelling . . . A beautifully written and thoughtful book.' Johanna Leggatt, Weekly Times 'Elegant, intricate, sprawling and sometimes harsh . . . [Watson] explores the bush with a mix of academic insight and campfire yarn . . . In a word: hypnotic.' Jeff Maynard, Herald Sun 'His romantic prose moves seamlessly through autobiographical tales to discuss the landscapes and histories that have shaped Australia.' National Geographic 'One of my favourite reads this year. What a writer he is . . . You find yourself sneaking off from others to be with it.' Kathleen Noonan, Courier-Mail 'Vast in scope, richly sourced, soaring and poetic, this journey to the heart of Australia has been rightly compared in significance to Bill Gammage's The Biggest Estate on Earth.' Barbara Farrelly, South Coast Register 'The Bush is his homage to Australia's mythic hinterland. Watson travels through the Mallee and the Murray-Darling, to WA's wheat belt and beyond, meeting people, talking, listening. Good writing that engages with Australia's past is a rare beast, too often bound up in the need for ''balance''. Watson has the freedom to ignore the rules; he allows himself to opine and he yarns at will. A delightful read.' Mark MacLean, Newcastle Herald

The twentieth century witnessed an unprecedented increase in the number of capital cities worldwide – in 1900 there were only about forty, but by 2000 there were more than two hundred. And this, surely, is reason enough for a book devoted to the planning and development of capital cities in the twentieth century. However, the focus here is not only on recently created capitals. Indeed, the case studies which make up the core of the book show that, while very different, the development of London or Rome presents as great a challenge to planners and politicians as the design and building of Brasília or Chandigarh. Put simply, this book sets out to explore what makes capital cities different from other cities, why their planning is unique, and why there is such variety from one city to another. Sir Peter Hall’s ‘Seven Types of Capital City’ and Lawrence Vale’s ‘The Urban Design of Twentieth Century Capital Cities’ provide the setting for the fifteen case studies which follow – Paris, Moscow and St Petersburg, Helsinki, London, Tokyo, Washington, Canberra, Ottawa-Hull, Brasília, New Delhi, Berlin, Rome, Chandigarh, Brussels, New York. To bring the book to a close Peter Hall looks to the future of capital cities in the twenty-first century. For anyone with an interest in urban planning and design, architectural, planning and urban history, urban geography, or simply capital cities and why they are what they are, Planning Twentieth Century Capital Cities will be the key source book for a long time to come.

This landmark book unveils the history of defending Australia's natural environment and examines the subject's legal and political contexts from the birth of the nation in 1901 until the advent of the so-called modern era of environmental regulation in the late 1960s. It rejects the mythology that Australia lacked environmental law before the late 1960s in revealing how many of today's environmental laws, from pollution control to nature conservation, emerged from precedents or events much earlier in the 20th century. This history however reveals a discrepancy between lawmakers' greater efficacy to exploit rather than protect the environment, a discrepancy that grew as nature's backlash intensified in a rapidly degrading continent colonised to build the Australian nation. In exploring these dynamics, the book offers a rich tapestry of case studies illustrated with historic photographs that show the origins of Australia's environmental laws and how they borrowed from international precedents or furnished lessons for other nations. Through its multi-disciplinary enquiry, the book offers scholars and students of environmental law, legal history and the environmental humanities a unique story about the failures and successes in the making of environmental law.

The Origins of Australia's Capital Cities is a comprehensive survey, well illustrated with maps and plans, which aims to answer two questions. First, why Australia's eight capital cities are situated where they are, and second, how they were established. Pairs of chapters on each of the State capitals - Sydney, Hobart, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane - are accompanied by studies of Canberra as the federal capital and Darwin as a territorial capital. A capital is the administrative centre of a political entity, and in Australia, unlike many overseas countries, a uniquely high proportion of the population resides in the capitals. Companion chapters examine the causes of initial European settlement in each area, and reasons for the actual establishment of each capital city. Attention is given to such topics as planning and layout, the basis of growth, potential rivals, the social nature of the cities and the nature of their spread. While there have been no other volume covering all the capitals to seek answers to the same basic questions. This will therefore be an invaluable source book, and provide a stimulus to further enquiry in the social history of Australia. An introduction by the editor pulls together the general strands which link the chapters, and highlights the ways in which the Australian experience contrasts with the urban experience overseas.

Nature has the power to restore us, but can it wash away our darkest truths? Set amid the red dust and heat of the Australian Kimberley wet season and the smoky backdrop of the holy river Ganges in India, this is a novel about rebirth and remembrance. Brian, a Vietnam veteran, has been missing for twenty years. Matt dreams of one day finding his own path like his heroic father, as Beth's religious fervour propagates a childhood of parental disappointment. Losing her battle with Cystic Fibrosis, Rachel Hudson asks her family for one last request: a journey to the exotic and the unknown. Ever the free spirit, she administers a dose of her notorious wanderlust. The Happiness Jar reveals the power of letting go of the memories that we think sustain us. It's a story about tightly held beliefs, the fragility of family and how quickly faith can fold when we release the burdens we place on ourselves and each other. Previously winning/shortlisted for the below awards this title is being republished: Winner, ACT Writing and Publishing Award for Fiction 2014; Runner Up, FAW Christina Stead Award 2013; Runner Up, FAW Jim Hamilton Award 2010; Shortlist, Penguin Varuna Scholarship 2011; Shortlist, HarperCollins Varuna Award 2011.