Our Country: Where History Happened
The second title in the OUR COUNTRY series, celebrating and contextualising the richness of Australia's history, and where it happened.
In every corner of Australia, history happened. The pages of this book are a journey through tens of thousands of years. Our history is recorded in ancient rock art, in the flag flown at the Eureka Stockade, by Burke and Wills' tree. All around our coastline history unfolded in shipwrecks and ship arrivals. Sometimes tragic, often regrettable, always formative, history is commemorated from Tasmania and throughout the mainland at the sites of prisons and massacres. From the birthplace of a new federated nation at the beginning of the twentieth century in Sydney's Centennial Park to Eddie Mabo's struggle for acknowledgement of land rights in the 1990s, history happened all around Our Country.
Creators
Mark Greenwood is a history hunter. His award-winning books include The Legend of Lasseter’s Reef and The Legend of Moondyne Joe, both winners of the West Australian Premier’s Book Award. Mark often teams with his wife, illustrator Frané Lessac, to produce titles such as Midnight – the story of a light horse, Ned Kelly & The Green Sash and Simpson and His Donkey, a CBCA Honour Book and a USBBY Outstanding International Book. Jandamarra, illustrated by Terry Denton, was shortlisted for the CBCA Eve Pownall Award, the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature and the West Australian Young Readers’ Book Awards. The Happiness Box, illustrated by Andrew McLean, was a 2019 CBCA Honour book.
Frané Lessac is an author and illustrator of international renown, having nearly fifty children’s books published throughout the world. She was born in the USA and lived on the Caribbean island of Montserrat, as well as in London, before moving to Australia. Frané loves to travel and create books based on her worldwide journeys. She has contributed her distinctive paintings to many critically acclaimed children’s picture books including, The Legend of Moondyne Joe which won the West Australian Premier’s Children’s Book Award, and Simpson and His Donkey, a CBCA Honour Book that was also selected as a USBBY Outstanding International Book. In 2019, We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga, written by Traci Sorell, was awarded the Robert F. Sibert Honor Book Honor medal, the Orbis Pictus Honor Book medal and the Boston Globe Horn Book Honor medal.
Reviews
I see books like this as a way of bringing us together and helping us understand everyone and where they have come from. It is an important series
Ashleigh Meikle
The talented team of Greenwood and Frane Lessac have again created a stunning book of value on the history of our country. It is accessible in language and visuals to a young and older age group, even adults, interested in extended study. A must-have for school, public, and home libraries.
Kids Book Review
Eye-opening, challenging and sure to arouse curiosity, Where History Happened needs to be in all classrooms, libraries and homes.
A Word About Books
History in the form of facts and figures, dates long gone and people long dead, can be greeted with a groan by many, but this series with its engaging format and just the right amount of information to bring it into the realm of the reader has the power and potential to grab the imagination and spark a desire to learn more. It epitomises the theme Australia.
The Bottom Shelf
This series with its engaging format and just the right amount of information to bring it into the realm of the reader has the power and potential to grab the imagination and spark a desire to learn more. It epitomises the theme Australia: Story Country.
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