One of the British Empire's most troubling colonial exports in the 19th-century, James Busby is known as the father of the Australian wine industry, the author of New Zealand's Declaration of Independence and a central figure in the early history of independent New Zealand as its British Resident from 1833 to 1840. Officially the man on the ground for the British government in the volatile society of New Zealand in the 1830s, Busby endeavoured to create his own parliament and act independently of his superiors in London. This put him on a collision course with the British Government, and ultimately destroyed his career. With a reputation as an inept, conceited and increasingly embittered person, this caricature of Busby's character has slipped into the historical bloodstream where it remains to the present day. This book draws on an extensive range of previously-unused archival records to reconstruct Busby's life in much more intimate form, and exposes the back-room plotting that ultimately destroyed his plans for New Zealand. It will alter the way that Britain's colonisation of New Zealand is understood, and will leave readers with an appreciation of how individuals, more than policies, shaped the Empire and its rule.

This is an engaging autobiographical account of a young American woman's life in her Samoan husband's native home. Fay Calkins, a descendant of Puritan settlers, met Vai Ala'ilima, a descendant of Samoan chiefs, while working on her doctoral dissertation in the Library of Congress. After an unconventional courtship and a typical American wedding, they set out for Western Samoa, where Fay was to find a way of life totally new and charming, if at times frustrating and confusing. Soon after her arrival in the islands, the bride of a few months found herself with a family of seven boys in a wide range of ages, sent by relatives to live with the new couple. She was stymied by the economics of trying to support numerous guests, relatives, and a growing family, and still contribute to the lavish feasts that were given on any pretext--feasts, where the guests brought baskets in which to take home as much of the largesse as they could carry. Fay tried to introduce American institutions: a credit union, a co-op, a work schedule, and hourly wages on the banana plantation begun by her and her husband. In each instance, she quickly learned that Samoans were unwilling or unable to grasp her Western ideas of input equaling output, of personal property, or of payment received for work done. Despite these frustrations and disappointments, however, life among the people of her Samoan chief was for Fay happy and productive.

In the best Rabelaisian tradition, this brilliant satire weaves a tale of improbabilities around the seat of the last great taboo. Oilei Bomboki wakes one morning with an excruciating pain that sends him anxiously searching for a cure. Unsuccessful treatments at the hands of various healers and doctors, culminating in a bizarre operation, lead the desperate Oilei to seek the help of Babu Vivekanand--sage, yogi, and conman. Through Babu's teachings, Oilei learns to love and respect the source of his own complaint. By turns savage and absurdly comic, this brilliant satire allows Hau'ofa to comment on aspects of life in a small Pacific community perched precariously between traditional and modern ways.

This stimulating account of an attempt to build an intellectual bridge between the ancient navigators of the Pacific Ocean and present-day practitioners of the art and science of navigation... achieves the recording of several successful experiments... The descriptions and the comparisons made between methods make good reading."" - Journal of Navigation

Few novelists of the Pacific islands could be less derivative in terms of the real vision into the life and character of non-Western society.... Even fewer novels, Western or Third World, can reach the strength and artistic power of Pouliuli."" - World Literature Today

Sir Ernest Edward 'Weary' Dunlop was the type of rare individual who inspires others to impossible feats by example. Born and raised in Victoria, Australia, he qualified as a pharmacist and surgeon. When World War II broke out, he was appointed a surgeon to the Emergency Medical Unit, spending time in Greece and Africa before he was transferred to Java. As commanding officer and surgeon in the POW camps of the Japanese, he became a legend to thousands of Allied prisoners whose lives were saved with meager medical supplies. In those camps, at great personal risk, he recorded the deprivation and despair of the men under his command. When Weary's secret War Diaries were published in 1986, they became a best seller overnight and Sue Ebury's biography, written with his total cooperation, was released with similar success in 1994, ten months after he died. New information and time to consider the impact of Weary's life on Australian society, in schools, institutions and homes across the nation, have showed a need for this new, illustrated edition. This is new, fully updated illustrated edition of the 1994 bestseller. Original biography was written with the full cooperation of its subject. It covers Weary's remarkable life from his early childhood and medical training, to his experiences as a prisoner of war on the notorious Thai-Burma railway, to his later distinguished career as a surgeon and humanitarian. It features 100 black and white images throughout the text, including photographs, maps and drawings.

Australia's most eminent judge was regarded as the greatest exponent of the common law of his generation anywhere in the world. Through his private diaries, the author gives the text a strong sense of momentum, interiority and continuing drama. He focuses on the most interesting cases and involves the reader closely regarding his trips and wartime.

This definitive account explores the treaties made between white settlers and Aboriginal people in Australia and the different ways in which the two groups interpreted those acts of possession. Questions such as "Why were these agreements forged?" "How did the Aborigines understand the terms of the agreements?" and "On what basis did whites claim to be the rightful owners of the land?" are thoroughly discussed as well as the ways the settlers rewrote history to remove mention of the destruction and displacement of the Aborigines.