One of a series of meticulously researched, historical novels in which each book
 is written in the form of a fictional diary of a young person living during an important event
or time period in Australian history.

They had been loading the tunnel face with gelignite when the storm came over. The lightning struck the mountain and went down through an underground watercourse to the wet rockface and set off some of the charges, exploding the rock.

Eva Fischer has moved to Cabramurra, the highest town in Australia. Eva feels on top of the world too. Surrounded by people of every nationality, Eva makes new friends and tries strange foreign food, such as pizza. Eva learns to ski and ride, and even learns that being half German isn’t so bad after all. But all around her momentous things are happening. The Snowy Mountains Scheme is under way, huge dams have been built, tunnels constructed, homes abandoned, people lost.

256-pp softcover. Middle/Upper Primary.

I do not think that anyone alive in our time will ever forget Ned Kelly, no matter who might wish us to do so. I know I never shall. Was he a hero? Was he a villain? I cannot say, even now. Perhaps he was neither. But he will live in my memory forever, the dark and the bright, together.

North-east Victoria, 1879. Jamie Ross and his older sister Ellen are alone in the world after the death of their father. Determined to make their fortune, they head to Beechworth and straight into the midst of the search for Ned Kelly, the most notorious bushranger of all time.

Jamie is fascinated by Ned. Is he a hero wronged by the police, as some people say, or a cold-blooded murderer? A chance encounter will bring Jamie closer to the answer than he could ever imagine.

Mel Gordon loves running, and watching Seinfeld, but mostly she loves Cathy Freeman. It's 2000 and the Olympics are going to be held in Australia. In a year of surprises, Mel finds out that Cathy Freeman is coming to talk to her school. And her family is heading to Sydney!

It becomes an unforgettable journey to Corroboree 2000, bringing together all Australians as they march and sing and celebrate Australia’s Indigenous heritage, and also acknowledge past wrongs.

Something is happening. I can hear bullets going off, and people are running down towards the Eureka field...

In 1854 Rosa Aarons and her family travel from London to the goldfields of Ballarat. She makes new friends, learns to ride a horse and helps her family get by. Soon Rosa becomes caught up in one of the most dramatic events in Australian history: the Eureka Stockade. As the battle between the miners and the soldiers rages around her, Rosa's main concern is the safety of her beloved Papa.

August 1854: At thirteen, Alf has just finished school and wants to make decisions about his future. But his mum has uprooted their life in Melbourne and insisted he help her set up a store in Ballarat on the goldfields. While Alf’s not sure what he wants to do, he definitely knows he doesn’t want to be a storekeeper for the rest of his life.

As Alf makes friends with Peter Lalor and the local diggers, he realises that gold fever is just one of many things ruling life on the goldfields. But how can Alf gain independence from his mother and help his friends? Rebellion is rumbling and is about to shake the goldfields to their core.

One of a series of meticulously researched, historical novels written in the form of a fictional diary of a young person living during an important event or time period in Australian history.

Eva Fischer has moved to Cabramurra, the highest town in Australia, where she is surrounded by people of every nationality. The Snowy Mountains Scheme is under way, huge dams have been built, tunnels constructed, homes abandoned, and people lost.

I woke up this morning and I couldn't stop crying, cos this place is not my home, even though everyone says it is. When I was a little girl Mum would always hug me when I cried and tell me everything would be all right. Who's gunna hug me here? 
Mary lives with the Burkes, but they're not her real family. She hasn't seen her real mum and dad since she was taken away from them five years ago. Everyone tells her to forget about them, but she can't. She wants to find out why she was taken, and where she really belongs.

One of a series of meticulously researched, historical novels in which each book is written in the form of a fictional diary of a young person living during an important event or time period in Australian history.

Lizzie Harvey, a convict transported to Sydney Cove, is starved and overworked. She has to fetch water, mend clothes, please her master, care for his china-doll daughter and tiptoe around his moody soldier son. She can barely find time to dream about the way things used to be, let alone write in her diary. But write she must. It is her only hope of reaching out to the home she has left behind, all those thousands of miles across the sea.

176-pp softcover. Middle/Upper Primary. 

I dared not move... I was a bread stealer. A chicken feather villain. A salted mutton thief. I guiltily recalled the paper, the ink, the leather pouch I had stolen. And even though I had not intended it so... I was a stowaway.

Julienne roams the fortress tunnels of Brest, France, cold, hungry and knowing only one thing about herself–her name. Soon she must abandon even that remnant of her identity. She becomes Jules, ship's boy, journeying to Botany Bay and beyond on a voyage of discovery for the glory of France, led by Commander Laperouse.

Jules/Julienne sees new and strange things on board the Boussole, but what she would most like to discover is her own history: who is Julienne Fulbert? 

The attack has been timed to the minute. Thirty minutes from now we’ll climb down the rope ladders in to the lighters and find our seat. I’m one of the lucky ones. I’ve been chosen as one of the 500 men from my battalion who will be in the first wave to land… The Turks won’t  know what’s hit them… Two miles inland is our goal.

Lying  about his age, and looking for adventure, 14-year-old Victor March enlists in the 10th Battalion of the AIF to fight in the Great War. Victor and his new mates, Fish, Needle and Robbo, are headed for the Gallipoli peninsula and into battle. He is among the first soldiers to land at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915, and the world as he knows it is about to change. In his diary, Victor records the horrors of war, his friendships, his  fears and the story of Australia’s most legendary military campaign. 

I said to Mum that the sky-workers must have really good heads for heights, but she said, 'either that, or they have a family to feed and will do anything for a job that pays.'

It is 1932 and Sydney has hit hard times, but the construction of a bridge that will reach across the harbour is setting spirits soaring. Both Alice and Billy tell the story of building the spectacular Harbour Bridge, which will link the north shore to the working class suburbs of the south–and unify a separated city.

The Diary of Jimmy Porter, Central Australia, 1927-1928

Jimmy Porter has moved to the middle of nowhere. His uncle's family live in a wattle-and-daub hut, days' walk away from even the nearest neighbour. Life in 1927 in the outback is tough, but the people who live there can cope with just about anything. But when disaster strikes, how can they get help?