The HTAV receives books and other educational materials on a regular basis for the purpose of reviewing in Agora. We are always looking for teachers willing to offer their services as reviewers of these resources. If you are interested in reviewing on of the titles listed here please contact Ingrid Purnell at the HTAV. Of course, all our reviewers are invited to keep books reviewed with our compliments.

Writing your review
Reviews should be between 500 and 1000 words long and should be submitted as a Word document within two months of receiving the book.

Your review should cover: title, author, publisher, year of publication, brief summary of book, range of topics covered, usefulness of images/illustrations etc, items of interest to teachers, accessability of language, usefulness for particular history subjects, strengths and limitations. Contributors are asked to adopt a respectful and fair-minded approach when discussing the work of others and this should be evident in the tone of the writing. Writers of reviews are expected to cite specific examples to support judgements made and to discuss the merits of the work as a whole. Contributors with close links to institutions or companies should avoid reviewing work published by these bodies.

The HTAV endeavours to publish all reviews received in their original form. However, we reserve the right to edit or reject submissions, or hold items over for later publication.

TITLES CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW:

Aboriginal Australians: A history since 1788
4th edition
Richard Broome
Allen & Unwin, 2010
Since its first edition in 1982, Broome's Aboriginal Australians has won acclaim as a classic account of race relations in Australia. This fully rewritten fourth edition continues the story, covering the uneven implementation of native title, the plight of remote Aboriginal communities, the 'Intervention' and the landmark apology to the 'stolen generations' by Federal Parliament.

Drawing the Line: Using Cartoons as Historical Evidence
Edited by Richard Scully and Marian Quartly
Monash University ePress, 2009
This book includes more than 100 examples of the most brilliant cartoon art of the past, from eighteenth-century satirical prints to the formalised satire of 'Punch', to the new and ever-evolving medium of webcomics. An essential resource for students and teachers of history.

Oxford Big Ideas Humanities 3
Taylor, Carrodus, Casley, Leahy, Ramsdale, Smith, Spurr, Ward
Oxford University Press, 2010
Oxford Big Ideas Humanities 3 is an innovative Humanities resource written for the Victorian Essential Learning Standards.
Based on a big ideas framework, the underlying pedagogy enables students to develop deep, transferable understandings and skills.

Oxford Big Ideas Humanities 4
Taylor, Casley, Easton, Ramsdale, Smith, Spurr, Sweeney
Oxford University Press, 2010
Oxford Big Ideas Humanities 4 is an innovative Humanities resource written for the Victorian Essential Learning Standards. Based on a big ideas framework, the underlying pedagogy enables students to develop deep, transferable understandings and skills.

Gallipoli: Reckless Valour
Nicolas Brasch
Black Dog Books, 2009
They were young men full of practical jokes and hell-bent on having a good time. The English commanding officers were in despair. What would become of these larrikins?
But when the Australian and New Zealand soldiers landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, they were bold and brave, loyal to their mates and daring in their fighting. Find out how these young men displayed such reckless valour that they wrote themselves into the pages of history and made 25 April forever remembered as ANZAC day.

Warrandyte: a Community with a Heart of Gold
By Murray Houghton
Penfolk, 2009
Where was gold found years before the first official discovery in Victoria? Where was the Yarra diverted through a tunnel? An illustrated centenary tribute compiled from official government documents in the Public Record Office Victoria, the photographic and map collections of the Warrandyte Historical Society and contemporary press reports.

Oxford Big Ideas: History Level 6
Taylor, Carrodus, Casley, Smith, Spurr, Sweeney
Oxford University Press, 2009
An innovative history resource written for the VELS. Based on a big ideas framework, the underlying pedagogy enables students to develop deep, transferable understandings and skills. The book explicitly teaches thinking skills in conjunction with content and includes a multitude of activities catering to different learning styles. Supported by online support materials at www.oxfordbigideas.com.

Men of Mont St Quentin: Between Victory and Death
By Peter Stanley
Scribe, 2009
At exactly 1.30pm on 1 September 1918, the dozen men of Nine Platoon, 21st Australian Infantry Battalion, rose from Elsa Trench and walked across a weedy beet-field towards the German defenders of Mont St Quentin. Within hours, three were dead and five more were wounded, one of whom died six weeks later. The survivors returned from war, more or less intact, to live through the next sixty-odd years in the shadow of that traumatic event.

KPA Investigations: Key to Port Arthur (DVD)
Port Arthur Historic Site, 2007
KPA Investigations is a rich multi-media education program for middle-school students. It allows students to select a key life from Port Arthur and follow that life through a series of tasks and philosophical challenges. The program is entertaining and interactive, with over an hour of video images and over 100 pages of research material.

Days of my Youth
By Charles Napier Hemy
Peleus Press, 2009
These are the personal memoirs of the artist and Royal Academian, Charles Napier Hemy, as a ten-year-old boy travelling to and from Australia, and of his adverntures in the Victorian goldfields in 1851; they were recorded later in life on board his yacht in Plymouth Harbour in 1904. These writings are one of the few first accounts of life in early Melbourne and the goldfields from a child's perspective.

Australian Backyard Explorer
Peter Macinnis
National Library, 2009
Learn how to explore in your own backyard! Would you know how to find water and food, collect plants, make a shelter and stay alive? As you delve into this book full of the advertures of the European explorers of Australia, you will experience with them many challenges such as finding their way, mapping an area, trapping animals and coping with drought. Filled with paintings, photos, drawings, journal extracts, fact boxes and practical projects.

A Study in Black and White: Aborigines in Australian History
Malcolm Prentis
Rosenberg Publishing, 2009
This book traces the evolution of relations between black and white Australians from 1788 to the present but with a unique approach. It divides the story into two parts: the first examines Aboriginal reactions to the non-indigenous; and the second examines policies of governments and non-indigenous attitudes to indigenous people. Revised third edition.

Roman Diary: The Journal of Iliona of Mytilini, AD 107
Richard Platt and David Parkins
Walker Books, 2009
‘The fifth day of our voyage. Pity us! My brother and I have lost everything we loved. Now we are orphans to be bought and sold like goats. The pirates took everything but my ink, pens and parchment. Now we begin another journey, to the very centre of the world...Rome.’ Step back nearly 2000 years and join Iliona on an amazing history adventure.

Human Rights Overboard
Linda Briskman, Susie Latham and Chris Goddard
Scribe, 2009
This book draws together, for the first time, the oral testimony and written submissions from the inquiry into Australia's immigration detention centres in 2005. It draws together the accounts of immigration detainees, refugee advocates, lawyers, doctors, psychiatrists, former detention centre staff. It stands as an indictment of Australia's refugee policy. With a foreword by Julian Burnside.

The Visconti House
Elsbeth Edgar
Walker Books, 2009
Laura and Leon are both outsiders. They both have secrets. And they are both drawn to the mystery hidden in the walls of the Visconti House. As Laura begins to piece together the fragments of the puzzle, she and Leon take an unexpected journey into the past - one that will change their lives forever.

Defence 2020
Robert Lewis and Tim Gurry
Ryebuck Media, 2009
An interactive educational program to help students investigate the relevance of defence issues to their own lives. A middle-secondary curriculum resource for SOSE, English and Civics and Citizenship.

Outlaw Son: The Story of Ned Kelly
Paula Hunt, Black Dog Books 2009
At twelve years of age he was in trouble with the police. As a teenager he rescued a boy from drowning. He was a bank robber, a thief and a murderer. But those who knew him described him as a 'kind man' and a 'gentleman'. There is one thing most people would now agree on. Ned Kelly is the most famous bushranger in Australia's history. Here is his story.

HMAS Sydney
Mike Lefroy, Black Dog Books 2009
On 19 November 1941 the HMAS Sydney sank. On board were 645 Australian sailors. None survived. The location of the wreck was a mystery. This is the story of the battle that sank the Sydney, of World War II, and of wartime tricks. It is the story of the clues that were pieced together to lead to the discovery of the watery grave of the young Australians.

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Volume 2: Kingdom on the Waves
M.T. Anderson, Walker Books
Fearing a death sentence, Octavian and his tutor, Dr Trefusis, escape through rising tides and puring rain to find shelter in British-occupied Boston. Removed from all he knows - the College of Lucidity, the rebel cause - Octavian hopes to find safe harbour. Instead, he is soon to learn of Lord Dunmore's proclamation offering freedom to slaves who join the counter-revolutionary forces. In Volume 2 of his masterwork, M.T Anderson recounts Octavian's experiences as the Revolutionary War explodes around him, thrusting him into intense battles and tantalising him with elusive visions of liberty.

Riding the Black Cockatoo: a True Story
John Danalis, Allen and Unwin
As a boy, John Danalis never thought to ask why an Aboriginals skull sat on the mantlepiece at home. The skull was just 'Mary', and had always been there. Years later he asked whose skull it was and where it belonged. Finding out took him on an extraordinary journey, ending with a ceremonial handover and Mary's return to Wamba Wamba country.

The Goldsmith's Daughter
Tanya Landman, Walker Books
A young girl's struggle to change her destiny, set against the destruction of the Aztec empire. In the golden city of Tenochtitlan, Emperor Montezuma rules with an iron rod and people live in fear of the gods. Itacate is destined for a life of submission and domestic drudgery. But when her father, a goldsmith, discovers her talent for his craft, she starts to work as his secret apprentice. Can Itacate change her destiny and survive in this harsh new world?

The Boy from Bowral: the Story of Don Bradman
Robert Ingpen, Walker Books
A beautifully illustrated and inspiring account of the life of Donald Bradman, marking the centenary of his birth. Robert Ingpen charts the history of the legend, from his early years playing cricket in a Bowral backyard, through the infamous Bodyline series, to his post-war comeback. Packed with facts, statistics and illustrations, this is the perfect book for aspiring cricketers, young and old!

The Forgotten Tyabb Secret: A Rediscovery and Exploration
M.P Duncan, self-published 2008
This online book is an account of the author’s adventures with his teenage grandsons, as they set about discovering first-hand the experiences of early explorers of Westernport. The book, which is historically accurate, contains chapters using first-person narratives of Bass, Murray, Barrallier, Milius and King. It breathes action and immediacy into the study of history. Available online only – go to www.earlyaustralianadventures.com.au.