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ANZ women’s stories
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Stories from women in Australia and New Zealand
Updated February 27, 2023
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Wyndham Library
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Fight like a girl
Ford, Clementine
Paper Book
Personal and fearless - a call to arms for feminists new, old and as yet unrealised by one of our most outspoken feminist writers.
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Not Now, Not Ever: ; Ten years on from the misogyny speech
Gillard, Julia
Paper Book
Ten years on from the speech that stopped us all in our tracks - Julia Gillard' s misogyny speech. Where were you then? And where are we now?This is a barnburning piece of Australian feminist history in the making.MATILDA, BETTER READ THAN DEADThen it was done. After staying silent, I' d had my say....
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Accidental feminists
Caro, Jane
Paper Book
Women over fifty-five are of the generation that changed everything. We didn't expect to. Or intend to. We weren't brought up much differently from the women who came before us, and we rarely identified as feminists, although almost all of us do now. Accidental Feminists is our story. It...
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Dissolve
Gemmell, Nikki
Paper Book
'Every woman on Earth should read it' Caroline Overington, Weekend Australian Having lived through the humiliation and bewildering complexity of heartbreak in her twenties, Nikki Gemmell eventually resurfaced, reclaimed space for herself and found her voice. Decades...
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Not just lucky : why women do the work but don't take the credit
Rizvi, Jamila
Paper Book
'Feisty and inquisitive - a fresh take on modern feminist issues.' Julia Gillard Australian women are suffering from a crisis of confidence about work. Accustomed to being overlooked and undervalued, even when women do get to the top, they explain their success away as 'luck'....
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Taking the lead : how Jacinda Ardern wowed the world
Hill, David
Paper Book
An inspiring illustrated story for children about Jacinda Ardern, and her meteoric rise to become the world's youngest female leader. Nobody is too young to start changing the world. When Jacinda was little, she wanted to be a clown. But when she saw...
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#metoo : stories from the Australian movement
Kon-yu, Natalie
Paper Book
'An extremely important anthology' Tracey SpicerIn October 2017, the hashtag MeToo went viral. Since then we've watched controversy erupt around Geoffrey Rush, Germaine Greer and Junot Díaz. We've talked about tracking the movement back via Helen Garner, Rosie Batty and Hannah Gadsby. We've...
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The female eunuch
Greer, Germaine
Paper Book
"Like a woman, this book gets better with age. Greer's punchy prose and all-too-true observations motivate you to go out and do something to liberate yourself-and other women." -- Leora Tanenbaum, author of Slut! Growing Up Female with a Bad Reputation A ground...
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Behind the sun
Challinor, Deborah
Paper Book
Four women on a perilous journey to a new world, can rely only on their wits to survive ... and each other Irreverent and streetwise prostitute Friday Woolfe is in London's notorious Newgate gaol, awaiting transportation. there, she meets three other girls: intelligent and opportunistic...
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Big Love: Reclaiming myself, my people, my country
Blurton, Brooke.
Paper Book
A raw, moving and uplifting memoir about courage, resilience and the transformative power of love, from one of Australia's most captivating personalities 'Powerful, heartbreaking and beautiful ... a story of incredible triumph fuelled by love and compassion' Osher Gunsberg 'Brooke...
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Barty : Arise, Queen of Oz
Reed, Ron
Paper Book
In this new edition of the top seller, award-winning sports writer Ron Reed and journalist Chris McLeod pay tribute to the Australian champion and women's tennis World No. 1. With up-to-date statistics and analysis of all her games including her Wimbledon win, Tokyo Olympics campaign and the 2021 US...
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Black and blue : a memoir of racism and resilience
Gorrie, Veronica
Paper Book
The story of an Aboriginal woman who worked as a police officer and fought for justice both within and beyond the Australian police force. Black and Blue is a memoir of remarkable fortitude and resilience, told with wit, wisdom, and great heart. A proud Gunai/Kurnai woman, Veronica...
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Bold Types : How Australia's First Women Journalists Blazed a Trail
Clarke, Patricia
Paper Book
In Bold Types, Patricia Clarke recounts the chequered journey of women journalists in the fight for gender equality from 1860 to the end of World War II. These were independent, adventurous women who ventured far and wide in search of news, relevance and equality.<...
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Boys will be boys
Ford, Clementine
Paper Book
The incendiary new book about toxic masculinity and misogyny from Clementine Ford, author of the best-selling feminist manifesto, Fight Like A Girl.
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Bridge burning : & other hobbies
Flanagan, Kitty
Paper Book
One of Australia's favourite and most multi-talented entertainers, Kitty Flanagan, provides hilarious and honest life advice in this candid collection of cautionary tales.
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City girl, country girl : the inspiring true stories of courageous women forging new lives in the Australian bush
Harfull, Liz
Paper Book
Extraordinary stories from Australian women who have moved to the country to forge new lives. From the bestselling author of Women of the Land.
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The first stone : some questions about sex and power
Garner, Helen
Paper Book
In the autumn of 1992, two young women students at Melbourne University went to the police claiming that they had been indecently assaulted at a party. The man they accused was the head of their co-ed residential college. The controversial book that Helen Garner wrote about the resulting Ormond...
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This is what a feminist looks like : the rise and rise of Australian feminism
Maguire, Emily
Paper Book
Women must quit theirjobs when they marry.They are barred fromtrade unions and universities.Their husbands canlegally rape them.And they are notallowed to vote. This could be the reality in Australia today -- if it weren'tfor the many women who, over more than a...
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Through her eyes
Watson, Trevor
Paper Book
In Through Her Eyes Australian women correspondents tell their own stories from the frontline - covering the breaking news, the issues and the events that are changing the world. They tell of Russian tanks and Ukrainian mothers fleeing with their children, vicious Afghan warlords,...
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True Spirit: The True Story of a 16-Year-Old Australian Who Sailed Solo, Nonstop, and Unassisted Around the World
Jessica Watson
Paper Book
There is something different about adventurers; about the way their minds work. They look at the world as a place of challenges and though they know what fear is, they refuse to be hindered by it. 'Inspiring, personal and heartfelt' HEARALD SUN 'A simple yet...
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Unbreakable
Đokić, Jelena, 1983-
Paper Book
This is a story of Jelena Dokic's survival. How she survived as a refugee, twice. How she survived on the tennis court to become world No. 4. But, most importantly, how she survived her father, Damir Dokic, the tennis dad from hell. Jelena was a prodigious talent, heralded as...
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Unknown
Anyieth, Akuch Kuol
Paper Book
A moving, confronting and ultimately uplifting story about a young girl's escape, with her family, from war-torn South Sudan to Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya, and then to Australia. In 1996, when Akuch Kuol Anyieth is five, her mother flees to Kakuma with her children, intent on finding...
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Unmasked
Pitt, Turia
Paper Book
Whether via the numerous media reports, 60 Minutes specials, Women's Weekly cover stories or her first book, Everything To Live For, we know about the why, how and what of that fateful day in September 2011. We know how she died four times on the operating table and her tortuous...
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What do we want! : the story of protest in Australia
Hamilton, Clive
Paper Book
In What Do We Want! Clive Hamilton explores the colourful, enthralling and stirring forms of protest used in the big social movements that define modern Australia. He includes dedicated chapters on the peace movement, women's liberation, Indigenous rights, gay rights and the environmental...
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Women and leadership : real lives, real lessons
Gillard, Julia
Paper Book
'Much-needed, frank talk from exceptional female leaders about how they've dealt with sexism in the line of duty.' Kirkus Reviews 'The authors' truth-telling will forewarn the next generation of leaders.' Natasha Stott Despoja, The Age 'Who...
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Women kind : unlocking the power of women supporting women
Ferguson, Kirstin
Paper Book
Women Kind is a reminder that brilliant things happen when smart women get fed up.
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Daughters of Durga: Dowries, Gender Violence and Family in Australia
O'Connor, Manjula Datta.
Paper Book
In the early 2010s a spate of domestic violence-related murders in the Victorian Indian community compelled psychiatrist Manjula Datta O'Connor to investigate the causes of patriarchal abuse in South Asian families. As a practitioner with many decades experience in the field, Datta O'Connor...
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Destroying the joint : why women have to change the world
Caro, Jane
Paper Book
A fabulously provocative collection by women ready to destroy the joint. Early in September 2012, commentator Alan Jones, responding to a comment by Prime Minister Julia Gillard, said: 'She [Gillard] said that we know societies only reach their full potential if women are politically participating....
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Don't Be Too Polite, Girls
McCarthy, Wendy.
Paper Book
Educator, activist, agent of change - the life and career of one of Australia's most influential women.
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Edith Blake's war
Vane-Tempest, Krista
Paper Book
When Edith Blake missed out on joining the Australian Army, she was one of 130 Australian nurses allotted to the British Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service in early 1915. Her first posting was in Cairo where she nursed soldiers wounded at Gallipoli. In Edith's remarkable letters to...
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Esther : the extraordinary true story of the First Fleet girl who became First Lady of the colony
North, Jessica
Paper Book
The little-known rags to riches love story of a convict girl who arrived in Australia on the First Fleet. Much like another, better-known colonial woman, Elizabeth Macarthur, Esther successfully managed her husband's property and became a significant figure in the new colony.
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Evonne Goolagong
S©?nchez Vegara, Ma Isabel
Paper Book
In this book from the critically acclaimed, multimillion-copy best-selling Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the life of Evonne Goolagong, the inspiring indigenous Australian tennis player. Evonne grew up on a hot, dusty farm in Australia. She was...
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Women of a certain age
Moffat, Jodie
Paper Book
Anne Aly, Liz Byrski, Sarah Drummond, Mehreen Faruqi, Goldie Goldbloom, Krissy Kneen, Jeanine Leane, Brigid Lowry and Pat Mamanyjun Torres are among 15 voices recounting what it is like to be a woman on the other side of 40.
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Women to the front : the extraordinary Australian women doctors of the Great War
Sheard, Heather
Paper Book
At the outbreak of World War I, 129 women were registered as medical practitioners in Australia, and many of them were eager to contribute their skills and expertise to the war effort. For the military establishment, however, the notion of women doctors serving on the battlefield was unthinkable....
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Women, equality, power : selected speeches from a life of leadership
Clark, Helen
Paper Book
'Helen Clark has reshaped our views on women and politics and the right of women to take up the mantle of political leadership.' PROFESSOR JENNIFER CURTIN, UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND
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Work. love. body
Rizvi, Jamila
Paper Book
In 2020, the lives of Australian women changed irrevocably. With insight, intelligence and empathy, Jane Gilmore, Santilla Chingaipe and Emily J. Brooks explore this through the lenses of work, love and body, and ask: Will the Australia of tomorrow be more equal than the one...
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Work strife balance
Freedman, Mia
Paper Book
"Whenever women are honest about their struggles, they give other women a gift. Mia delivers." Elizabeth GilbertThis book is for every woman who's been told success is as simple as Lean In, Say Yes, Live Your Best Life, Beat Your Fear, Follow Your Dream... and then feel #soblessed.It's for guilty...
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You daughters of freedom : the Australians who won the vote and inspired the world
Wright, Clare
Paper Book
For the ten years from 1902, when Australia's suffrage campaigners won the vote for white women, the world looked to this trailblazing young democracy for inspiration. Clare Wright's epic new history tells the story of that victory - and of Australia's role in the subsequent international struggle -...
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The Stalking of Julia Gillard: How the Media and Team Rudd Brought down the Prime Minister
Walsh, Kerry-Anne
Paper Book
This is the story of one of the most extraordinary episodes in recent Australian political history, of how a powerful media pack, a vicious commentariat and some of those within her own party contrived to bring down Australia's first woman prime minister.
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The Secret : The behind-the-scenes story of the mighty rise and shocking fall of Gladys Berejiklian
Smith, Alexandra.
Paper Book
Gladys Berejiklian was Australia's rockstar premier. The first woman elected to lead NSW, she steered the state through devastating bushfires, drought and a once-in-a-generation pandemic with a steady hand. To many, she was 'The Woman Who Saved Australia' for the way in which she navigated the first...
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The wasp and the orchid : the remarkable life of Australian naturalist Edith Coleman
Clode, Danielle
Paper Book
SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY AWARD 2019'Have you met Mrs Edith Coleman? If not you must - I am sure you will like her - she's just A1 and a splendid naturalist.'In 1922, a 48-year-old housewife from Blackburn delivered her first paper, on native Australian orchids, to the Field Naturalists...
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Homecoming
Shiosaki, Elfie
Paper Book
*Shortlisted for the 2022 Stella Prize* *Shortlisted for the 2021 Queensland Literary Awards: Judith Wright Calanthe Award for a Poetry Collection* Our grandmothers' stories teach us...
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Jacinda Ardern : a new kind of leader
Chapman, Madeleine
Paper Book
She is a progressive and a social democrat. A millennial woman in leadership. Only the second elected leader in the world to give birth while in office. But who is the real Jacinda Ardern? And why does she inspire such global admiration? New Zealand's prime minister has been...
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Life as I know it
Payne, Michelle
Paper Book
In Life As I Know It, Michelle Payne tells her deeply moving story. It will lift your spirits, stir your heart and give you courage. Michelle was put on a horse aged four. At five years old her dream was to win the Melbourne Cup. At thirty she rode into history as the first female jockey to win the...
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My Dream Time: A memoir of tennis & teamwork
Barty, Ash.
Paper Book
It's a tennis story. It's a family story. It's a teamwork story. It's the story of how I got to where and who I am today. I'm only in my mid-twenties, and some might think that's young to write a memoir. Who does that, right? But for me and my team it's always been important...
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My Giddy Aunt and her sister comedians
Connolly, Sharon.
Paper Book
Whip-smart and fabulously funny, the women of vaudeville entertained Australia and challenged ideas of how women should behave. Opening a forgotten case of photographs, Sharon Connolly begins a search for the great aunt she never knew. Gladys Shaw was a whistling comedian,...
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My Peoplea's Songs: How an Indigenous Family Survived Colonial Tasmania
Birnie, Joel Stephen.
Paper Book
Tarenootairer (c.1806-58) was still a child when a band of white sealers bound her and forced her onto a boat. From there unfolded a life of immense cruelty inflicted by her colonial captors. As with so many Indigenous women of her time, even today the historical record of her life remains a scant...
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Ninu grandmother's law : the autobiography of Nura Nungalka Ward
Ward, Nura Nungalka
Paper Book
This is my knowledge. It has been handed down to me from my grandmothers and grandfathers, my mothers and my fathers. I am sharing it with you because I want people to know about my life. Ninu Grandmothers' Law is a definitive account of a traditional lifestyle and way of thinking. Accompanied by...
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Fixed it : violence and the representation of women in the media
Gilmore, Jane
Paper Book
On average, at least one woman is murdered by a current or former partner every week in Australia. Far too many Australian women have experienced physical or sexual violence. Only rarely do these women capture the attention of the media and the public. What can we do to stem the tide of violence and...
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Sex, lies and question time
Ellis, Kate
Paper Book
In Sex, Lies and Question Time, former MP Kate Ellis explores the good, the bad and the ugly of life as a woman in Australian politics. Seventy-seven years after the first woman entered Australian parliament, female politicians are still the minority. They cop...
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Sheilas: Badass Women of Australian History
Reilly, Eliza.
Paper Book
An entertaining romp through Australian history that celebrates the badass sheroes we were never taught about in school and who deserve to be printed on our money, goddamn it!It's been said that 'well-behaved women seldom make history', but the handful of white boys who wrote our history books...
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Shout out to the girls : a celebration of awesome Australian women
Paper Book
Shout-outs to 50 awesome Australian women with easy-to-read biographies of their incredible achievements. From Cathy Freeman to Turia Pitt, Edith Cowan to Julia Gillard, Mum Shirl to Vali Myers, plus rally car drivers, molecular biologists and more, this book is a celebration of women in all fields,...
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The Bodyline Fix : How Women Saved Cricket
Stell, Marion
Paper Book
'Not often in sport history do the events of men's and women's sport run parallel, adjacent and intertwined in importance. I could not think of another similar example anywhere in the world. Surprisingly, these women were key players in the Bodyline saga. This is their story.' ...
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The call of the outback : the remarkable story of Ernestine Hill, nomad, adventurer and trailblazer
Velzen, Marianne van
Paper Book
Long before Robyn Davidson wrote Tracks, the extraordinary Ernestine Hill was renowned for her intrepid travels across Australia's vast outback. After the birth of her illegitimate son, Ernestine Hill abandoned her comfortable urban life as a journalist for a nomadic one, writing about...
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Lisa: a memoir - 60 years of life, love & loss
Curry, Lisa
Paper Book
The long-awaited memoir of one of Australia's most enduring and inspiring sporting icons. Triple Olympian and wellness entrepreneur Lisa Curry has lived her life in the public eye for six decades. In this very personal memoir, she shares the untold story of being Lisa. ...
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Lowitja : the authorised biography of Lowitja O'Donoghue
Rintoul, Stuart
Paper Book
'I am sometimes identified as one of the "success stories" of the policies of removal of Aboriginal children. But for much of my childhood I was deeply unhappy. I feel I had been deprived of love and the ability to love in return. Like Lily, my mother, I felt totally powerless. And I think this...
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Rachel : Brumby hunter, medicine woman, bushrangers' ally and troublemaker for good . . . the remarkable pioneering life of Rachel Kennedy
McGill, Jeff.
Paper Book
Rachel Kennedy stood out on a wild frontier dominated by men . . . her extraordinary and unputdownable pioneering story is told for the first time
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Radio girl : the story of the extraordinary Mrs Mac, pioneering engineer and wartime legend
Dufty, David F.
Paper Book
All around Australia, former WRANs and navy men regard the woman they know as Mrs Mac with a level of reverence usually reserved for saints. Yet today no-one has any idea of who she was and how she rescued Australia's communication systems in World War II.
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Media tarts [revised and updated edition]
Baird, Julia
Paper Book
A powerful insight into how the media treats female politicians - now revised and updated with a new foreword by Annabel Crabb - from one of our foremost journalists and political commentators, Julia Baird. 'History is crucial. We need to know that treating women as decorations,...
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Mrs Kelly
Kieza, Grantlee
Paper Book
The astonishing life of Ned Kelly's mother While we know much about the iconic outlaw Ned Kelly, his mother Ellen Kelly has been largely overlooked by Australian writers and historians - until now, with this vivid and compelling portrait by Grantlee Kieza, one of Australia's most popular...
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Pictures from my memory : my story as a Ngaatjatjarra woman
Ellis, Elizabeth Marrkilyi
Paper Book
Pictures from my memory is a compelling and accessible autobiographical account of Lizzie Marrkilyi Ellis's life as a Ngaatjatjarra woman from the Australian Western Desert. Born in the bush at the time of first contact between her family and White Australians, Ellis's vivid...
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Power play
Banks, Julia
Paper Book
Power Play is an honest guide for women who aspire to leadership in the workplace and in the world, from the trailblazing Julia Banks. Having won the 'unwinnable' seat that secured the Coalition Government majority in 2016, Julia Banks shocked...
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Say yes : a story of friendship, fairness and a vote for hope
Castles, Jennifer
Paper Book
A story about how the events surrounding the historic 1967 Referendum played out in the everyday lives of two young girls.
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