lamdha books -
catalogue of books on the Blue Mountains

39736
Adams, Peter & Lloyd, Alan
The Street Wise A Portrait of the People of the Blue Mountains
Lettuce Spray Productions, Katoomba, 2008.
New quarto hardcover, 207 pp. Colour and monochrome plates. An essay in words and pictures of a disparate group of people living within the City of the Blue Mountains and intended as a journey into the heart of a community operating on the fringes of mainstream urban society.
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$60
33759
Armitage, Audrey
The Katoomba-Leura Story
Rotary Club, Katoomba, 1998.
New. Quarto hardcover in dustwrapper. Black and white plates. The history and personality of the two towns.
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$34
12301
Baker, Margaret & Corringham, Robin
Birds of the Blue Mountains
Three Sisters Publications, 2002.
Stapled paperback. New book. Colour plates. 56 species individually described with details on appearance, voice, breeding, identifying behaviour, food and distribution.
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$12
12303
Baker, Margaret & Corringham, Robin
Native Plants of the Blue Mountains
Bower Bird/Three Sisters Publication, 2004.
Paperback. New book. Colour plates. The major vegetation communities of the region: from the Eucalypt forests to the fragile plant assemblages of the cliff faces.
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$20
58339
Barrett, Jim
Cox's River Discovery, History and Development.
Neville Bush Holdings, Glenbrook, 2009.
Paperback, 117pp., b/w illustrations. New.
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$15
60300
Barrett, Jim
The First Bushwalker The Story of Fred Eden
The author, 1995.
Paperback, 90pp., b/w illustrations. New.
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$15
42445
Barrett, Jim
Kanangra Walls Discovery and History
Neville Bush Holdings, Glenbrook, 2009.
Paperback, 58pp., b/w illustrations. New.
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$15
60301
Barrett, Jim
The Kills of Kedumba The Story of a Blue Mountains Pioneering Family
Neville Bush Holdings, Glenbrook, 2008.
Paperback, 54pp., b/w illustrations. New. Including a short history of the Kedumba Valley.
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$15
58340
Barrett, Jim
Kowmung River Discovery, History and Development
Neville Bush Holdings, Glenbrook, 2009.
Paperback, 86pp., b/w illustrations. Newm
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$15
60299
Barrett, Jim
Life in the Burragorang
The author, 1995.
Paperback, 122pp., b/w illustrations. New.
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$15
57840
Barrett, Jim
Narrow Neck and the Birth of Katoomba
Author, 1996.
Paperback, 64pp., b/w illustrations. New.
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$15
42449
Barrett, Jim
Place Names of the Blue Mountains and Burragorang Valley From Aboriginal and Convict Origins
H H Stephenson, Armadale, 1994.
Paperback. Minor wear, sunning; else very good.
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$10
60298
Barrett, Jim
Place Names of the Blue Mountains and Burragorang Valley . . . from Aboriginal and Convict Origins
Neville Bush Holdings, Glenbrook, 2009.
Paperback, 106pp., b/w illustrations. New.
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$15
42446
Barrett, Jim
Shack Country . . . and The Old Burragorang
Guntawang Catholic Youth Centres, Emu Plains, 2009.
Paperback, 80pp., b/w illustrations. New.
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$15
42444
Barrett, Jim
Yerranderie Story of a Ghost Town
The author, 2005.
Paperback, 72pp., b/w illustrations. New.
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$15
59301
BAYLEY, William A
The Great Zig Zag Railway at Lithgow
Bulli, Austrail Publications, 1977.
Card covers, illus., small 8vo., fair condition, previous owners name fep., maps, black & white photographs, 129pp. Newspaper accounts.
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$20
42460
Blue Mountains Family History Society
Wood Coffill (Katoomba) Burial Index 1916 to 1945 Volume I
Blue Mountains Family History Society, Springwood, 2004.
Paperback, 146pp. Slightly soiled cover with edge and corner wear. Very good.
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$24
35343
Brownscombe, Ross
Blue Rivers A Narrative of Time in the Blue Mountains
Forever Wild Press, Kingsdene, 1997.
Paperback. New. The record of the author's solo raft trips down the five wild rivers of the Blue Mountains.
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$15
10711
Brownscombe, Ross
On Suspect Terrain Journals of Exploration in the Blue Mountains 1795-1820
Forever Wild Press, Brighton, 2004.
New book. Small quarto paperback. A comprehensive study of early colonial exploration which includes the journals of all the explorers, such as Sir Joseph Banks' eccentric botanical collector George Caley and the French surveyor and map-maker Francis Barrallier, who first probed the sandstone ramparts of the Blue Mountains.
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$65
10790
Carcoar Historic Village Society
Carcoar and District
Carcoar Historic Village Society, 1981.
Revised edition. 16pp. Stapled. Owner's name; else fine.
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$15
42495
Cuneo, Rev, William A
Hunters of God A Brief History of St Bernard's Church, Hartley 1838-1979.
The Author.
Hardcover, 55pp., colour & b&w illustrations. Minor edge and corner wear to dustwrapper with slight scuffing. Otherwise, near fine.
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$30
42459
Cunningham, Chris
The Blue Mountains Rediscovered Beyond the Myths of Early Australian Exploration
Kangaroo Press, Sydney, 1999
Small quarto paperback. Owner's name on prelim. Minor wear to card covers; else very good. A reconsideration of the exploration of the Blue Mountains, arguing that the currently accepted account is, in fact, the product of a tenacious myth fed by geographic misunderstanding and the needs of a social elite to take credit for national development.
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$45
57521
Duvollet, Mindah
A Place Called Weatherboard Old Wentworth Falls
Blue Mountains Historical Society, Wentworth Falls, 2001.
New stapled paperback. Black and white plates.
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$10
33876
Hampshire, Carole
Artists Observed: signed copy Blue Mountains Artists Close Up.
UNSW, Sydney, 2007.
Quarto paperback. Colour plates. New. Over a period of two years, photographer and writer Carole Hampshire met the sculptors, painters, photographers and potters of the Blue Mountains, some famous and others less so. The resultant book of interviews together with her portraits of the artists themselves, as well as photographs of their homes, studios and art works, is an insider's view of the creative process and the relationship between place and artist.
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$50
55497
Hawkins, Elizabeth
Sydney to Bathurst in 1822
Bathurst Regional Art Gallery Society, 1985.
Stapled booklet, 21pp. Minor soiling of white cover, otherwise, near fine. This is a letter written in 1822 by Elizabeth Hawkins to her sister, Ann Bowling, in England.
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$12
58692
Horne, Julia
The Pursuit of Wonder How Australia's Landscape was Explored, Nature Discovered and Tourism Unleashed.
Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2005.
Hardcover, square quarto, 351pp., colour & b&w illustrations. New. Remainder. Follows colonial tourists as they rolled up their sleeves, loosened their corsets, and set out in the pursuit of nature. The beginnings of environmental tourism together with the influence of European ideas of travel, nature and art on the perception of the Australian landscape. A chapter on the Blue Mountains and many other references.
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$25
10968
Johnson, Dianne
Sacred Waters The Story of the Blue Mountains Gully Traditional Owners.
Halstead Press, Broadway, 2007.
Hardcover, quarto, 237 pp. New book. Colour plates. The moving story of the Gundungurra people of the Burragorang Valley and the Darug people of the lower Hawkesbury, celebrating their survival in a changing world and their ongoing struggle to protect their sacred lands and waters. The emotions and impact of history are conveyed through the voices of those who lived through the loss of their traditional lands, and through their descendants. Their story can also be traced through the history of Sydney: from Governor Arthur Phillip's first meeting with the Gully people's direct ancestors at Pitt Town Bottoms in 1791, through to the diaspora of familiar surnames throughout Richmond, Blacktown and Parramatta.
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$60
52848
Kala, Ilmar 'Mark'
What's In a Name A Look at the Scientific Names of the Birds of the Blue Mountains.
Blue Mountain Bird Observers, Springwood, 2008.
Paperback, 85pp., b&w illustrations. New. Background and illustrative information on the Latin names.
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$25
32488
Keats, Michael
Day Walks in the Lower Grose River and Tributaries (with particular reference to the Engineers Track).
The author, 2004.
New. Paperback. Black and white plates.
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$18
32487
Keats, Michael
Day Walks in the Therabulat Country also known as the Wild Dog Mountains in the Greater Blue Mountains National Park
The author, 2006.
Paperback. New. Colour plates. The author has made particular cause with the region and here offers the fruits of his explorations: a guide to the walks, together with sections on the geology, flora and fauna, and history.
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$30
38062
Keats, Michael & Fox, Brian
The Passes of Narrow Neck
Keats, Pymble, nd. (2008).
New, paperback, colour illustrations, 126pp. The authors engaged in a series of walks to find, identify and record all the passes, each with its own challenges, each with its own beauty.
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$28
56885
Keats, Michael and Fox, Brian
The Upper Grose Valley Bushwalkers Business
The author, 2010.
New. Paperback. Colour plates. An 'off the beaten track' guide.
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$47
32416
Lindsay, Norman (preface; commentary); Stewart, Douglas (foreword); Davis, Quinton F. (photography)
Norman Linday's Ship Models
Angus & Robertson, 1966.
Hardcover quarto, 100pp., numerous monochrome illustrations. Foxed prelims, spotted page edges; decorated boards show some wear, slightly rubbed/discoloured at edges, corners bumped; dustwrapper sunned, upper edge creased/frayed. Very good in like dustwrapper (professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film). Norman Lindsay's models of sailing ships are kept at the artist's mountain retreat at Springwood, New South Wales, still generally unknown except to visitors. This book allows most of the models to be seen for what was (when the book was published) the first time. Norman Lindsday made models, in the intervals of painting, throughout his working life. They range from the war galley of the Greeks, with its rowers and fighting men complete, through Elizabethan times to the clippers of the nineteenth century, and on to the "Joseph Conrad" sailed by Alan Villiers.
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$75
56604
Lord, S. and Daniel, G. (eds.)
Bushwalks in the Sydney Region: Volume 1, edition 6
National Parks Association of NSW, 2007.
New. Paperback. Maps. Includes a number of walks in the Blue Mountains National Park.
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$27
56605
Lord, S. and Daniel, G. (eds)
Bushwalks in the Sydney Region, volume 2, edition 4
National Parks Association of NSW, 2006.
Paperback. New. Maps. Includes a number of walks in the Blue Mountains and Kanangra Boyd National Parks.
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$27
9772
Low, John
Blue Mountains Pictorial Memories
Kingsclear Books, Sydney, 2005.
Revised, enlarged edition. Oblong quarto paperback. New. Black and white photographs. Historical images of the environs, townships and residents.
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$25
36749
Low, John & Smith, Jim
The Prince of Whips The Life and Works of the Blue Mountains Pioneer Harry Peckman.
Den Fenella Press, Wentworth Falls, 1993.
Paperback, 112pp., b&w illustrations. New. Author's remaining copies. The 'whips' were the men who drove horse teams along the roads of the developing colonies. Peckman, 'Prince' of them, was witness to many of the changes that affected the mountains, whose beauty he celebrated in verse "tuned to the beat of his horses' hooves".
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$5.5
10592
Macqueen, Andy
Back from the Brink: Second Edition Blue Gum Forest and the Grose Wilderness
The author, 1997.
Quarto paperback. New. Black and white photographs. The forest stands as the Cradle of Conservation in New South Wales. This is its story from when it was first reserved in 1875 as a national spectacle, the threats to its existence and those who have preserved and been part of it.
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$40
60032
Macqueen, Andy
Frederick Robert D'Arcy colonial surveyor, explorer and artist, c1809-1875
The author, Wentworth Falls, 2010.
New. Hardback. Illustrated boards. 265 pp. + index. Colour and b&w plates.
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$45
11199
Macqueen, Andy
Somewhat Perilous The journeys of Singleton, Parr, Howe, Myles & Blaxland in the Northern Blue Mountains
Andy Macqueen, Wentworth Falls, 2004.
Signed new book. Quarto paperback. Black and white plates. From 1817 to 1824 European explorers struggled to find ways from Windsor to the Hunter Valley. A full transcript of these explorers' journals and letters is included.
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$30
36267
Myers, Francis (with illustrations by J.C. Hoyte)
The Coastal Scenery, Harbours, Mountains, and Rivers, of New South Wales
Thomas Richards, Government Printer, Sydney, 1886.
Hardcover, large quarto, 77 pages. Foxing to endpapers and prelims. Scattered foxing throughout. Gilt-edged pages. Former owner's signature on front pastedown. Tear to lower end of front endpaper and upper end of title page at spine. Generally very good. Illustrated in black and white. Prepared specially for the Colonial and Indian Exhibition. A very personal, and sometimes admittedly very purple, response to the landscape. The author, tellingly, perceives the inhibiting prejudices of the European conception of landscape and its inability to truly engage with a vastly different environment.
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$320
58915
Pembroke, Michael
Trees of History and Romance Essays from a Mount Wilson Garden.
Bloomings Books, Melbourne, 2009.
Hardcover, 266pp., illustrations. New. The author's subjects are the deciduous trees and conifers thriving in the cool-climate, basalt soil and altitude of Mount Wilson. He draws from history, literature, poetry, mythology, botany, and folklore to meditate upon a deeply felt connection with the land and its nature.
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$35
33870
Powell, Greg
Pathways to History Exploring the Blue Mountains.
MacStyle Media, Sandringham, 1995.
Paperback. New. The many different routes used by the early explorers in attempts to find a crossing are described. The directions are augmented by photographs and sketches.
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$16
10594
Rotary Club of Blackheath
Blackheath Today from Yesterday
Rotary Club of Blackheath, Blackheath, 2005.
New book. Hardcover. Small quarto, 640 pp. Black and white plates. The development of the township from the time of the crossing of the Blue Mountains to the present day. Emphasis has been placed on sourcing the primary historic records.
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$65
57520
Silvey, Gwen
The Healing Mountains Tuberculosis in the Blue Mountains, 1882-1959.
Blue Mountains Historical Society, Wentworth Falls, 2009.
New paperback. Black and white plates.
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$15
42751
Smith, Jim
Lindeman Pass: The Blue Mountains Mystery Track
Three Sisters, Winmalee, 1990.
Small quarto paperback. New. Black and white plates. Author's remaining copies. Between 1909 and 1911 a 6 km walking track was built at the base of the cliffs between Wentworth Falls and Leura. It was never opened and long lay neglected. The book tells the story of its rediscovery and restoration.
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$5.50
14206
Speirs, Hugh
Landscape Art and the Blue Mountains: signed copy The Artistic, Historical, and Environmental Influences upon the Landscape Art of the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia; with An Introduction to the Ways in which Nature and Art may be linked in Painting
Alternative Publishing Co-operative, Sydney, 1981.
Quarto, 203 pp., b/w and colour illustrations. Very minor wear only; near fine in like dustwrapper, professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. As well as the geology and history of the Blue Mountains themselves, Speirs' book looks at the peculiar influence exerted by the ancient labyrinth of eroded valleys and vertical cliffs upon the art of the many Australian landscape artists who have worked in the area - particularly as a result of Man's changing attitudes to 'The Mountains' but also as a result of changing artistic influences.
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$75
10712
Stacker, Lorraine
Pictorial History: Penrith & St Marys
Kingsclear, Sydney, 2002.
New book. Oblong paperback. Black and white plates. Early photographs of the environs, historical buildings and personages.
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$25
57845
Steege, Joan
Emu Plains and Thereabouts
Nepean District Historical Society, 1988.
Stapled oblong paperback, 63pp. Minor wear; scuffing to covers. Very good
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$15
12247
Stickley, Christine
The Old Charm of Penrith
Christine Stickley, Penrith, 1984.
Quarto hardback. Owner's name, minor wear; very good in moderately worn dustwrapper (professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film), a few small tears. Colour and black and white plates. A commemoration of the many important buildings in the township, some of which have fallen victim to the bulldozer, others of which linger on.
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$35
42132
Stockton, Eugene & Merriman, John (eds.)
Blue Mountains Dreaming The Aboriginal Heritage.
Blue Mountains Education & Research Trust, Lawson, 2009.
Quarto paperback. New. Colour and black and white plates. In 1788 the Aborigines of the Blue Mountains had had no contact with Europeans: within 30 years their traditional way of life had been irrevocably changed. Of the generations of new Mountains dwellers who followed, few appreciated the Aboriginal heritage of the region, even though evidence of their presence was known from the Nepean River and the adjacent escarpment. Increasingly however, widespread discoveries of art sites, occupation sites, stone tools, axe-grinding grooves and stone arrangements, research into the journals and early writings of European explorers and settlers, and the compilation of oral histories, are providing a rich, if incomplete, account of the traditional lifestyles and environment of the Gundungurra and Darug people. This new edition gathers together new research and information about the original inhabitants of the Blue Mountains. It provides a fascinating account of histories, languages, legends and European contact.
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$60
56419
Stuart, Veechi
Blue Mountains Best Bushwalks: 2nd edition
Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, 2009.
New book. Over 150 colour plates and maps. Graded walks with detailed directions. Information about Blue Mountains history and environment.
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$30
41869
Taylor, G. J.
The Carrington Hotel, Katoomba Grand Lady of the Mountains.
The author, 2008.
Stapled quarto paperback, 54 pp. New. Colour and black and white plates. Opened in 1882, the hotel symbolised the romantic era of elegant Victorian tourism.
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$15
42628
Taylor, G. J.
Newnes History of a Blue Mountains Oil-Shale Town.
The author, nd.
Quarto stapled paperback. New. Black and white photographs and maps. A history of the one time unique village and industrial complex which existed at Newnes from 1906 until 1940.
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$12
42627
Taylor, G.J.
The Glen Davis Story History of the Capertree Valley Shale Oil Project.
The author, nd.
Quarto stapled paperback. New. Black and white photographs. When the industrial site at Newnes was closed, much of the plant of equipment was transferred to the neighbouring Capertee Valley where, following the war years, a similar decline lead to the abandonment of the project.
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$13
41388
Thomas, Martin
The Artificial Horizon Imagining the Blue Mountains.
Melbourne University, 2004.
Small quarto paperback. New. Colour and black and white plates. Exploring the myths that form the meanings of the Blue Mountains, Thomas' book takes the reader on a journey through culture, landscape and mythology to probe the 'dreamwork of imperialism'. For both Aboriginal people and their colonisers, the rugged and dramatic landscape of the Mountains has stood as an intriguing riddle and a stimulus to the imagination.
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$28
42481
Thomas, Martin
The Artificial Horizon: signed copy Imagining the Blue Mountains
Melbourne University, 2004.
Signed hardcover, 313pp., mainly b&w illustrations. Owner's name on endpaper. Minor edge and corner wear to dustwrapper. "Autographed copy" sticker on front cover. Very good to near fine. Pamphlets and review photocopies of the book enclosed.
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$50
10973
Wiley, Rebecca
Rebecca Wiley's Visit to Norman Lindsay at Springwood, May 1918
Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1986.
Hardcover quarto, 130 pp. Illustrated with reproductions, photos. Dustjacket slightly turned at upper edge; otherwise very good. In 1918, Rebecca Wiley was sent by her employer, publisher George Robertson, to visit Norman Lindsay at his home at Springwood in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. On her return she excitedly described her observations and the conversations she had had with Lindsay. This is her account of the visit. Rediscovered after nearly seventy years and now published for the first time, this work gives a fascinating glimpse into the life of one of the most extraordinary and controversial figures in Australian art and literature.
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$35
59898
Williams, Michael and Lang, Rebecca
Australian Big Cats An Unnatural History of Panthers.
Strange Nation Publishing, Hazelbrook, 2010.
Small quarto paperback, 436 pp., black and white plates. New. A chapter on Blue Mountains sightings.
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$35