Böcker av Ion Idriess

First published in 1934, here are more classic tales from Ion Idriess, who explored Australia, chasing down the stories of a changing continent: "The stories in this volume record happenings or incidents in men's lives which interested me during years of wandering among the bushmen and natives of Cape York Peninsula; the pearlers, trochus and beche-de-mer getters of the Coral Sea; the native islanders of Torres Strait; the "beachcombers" of the Great Barrier Reef; and along the eastern coast and in the Arafura Sea towards the west."With authenticity that sometimes surprises the reader, Idriess introduces us to Aboriginals from Northern Australia, Papuan head-hunters, and Islanders around the Great Barrier Reef, all still in the colonial phase of European contact. Chinese gold diggers appear too, well before the rise of China. Idriess knew these individuals; he met them, lived with them, before the contemporary world had a chance to make so much difference. The first peoples in the stories are in their tribal state, infused with age-old traditions and behavioral norms, proud but fearful of the white colonialists. It wasn't so long ago - barely three generations. That closeness in time can be said to offer a benefit to the reader; to some extent it helps us understand better their descendants who are alive today and within our society's reach.- Tony Grey, from his Introduction.

'I felt certain there must be gold in those hills, Jack', wrote a prospector to Ion Idriess, 'but I know very little about the game.' And so Jack Idriess wrote Prospecting for Gold in 1931. This is the 21st edition and known throughout Australia as the classic self-help manual for would-be prospectors.This book is written to help the new hand who ventures into the bush seeking gold... The "towny" prospector, with this book as a guide, will soon master methods of prospecting and the working of his find.In an easy conversational tone, the author of Lasseter's Last Ride, Gold-Dust and Ashes and Flynn of the Inland sets many a hopeful prospector on the road to discovering gold.

The story of the capture of the two Lamars (reincarnated natives), as the white boys were called, is one that has been handed down in legend among the Torres Strait islanders. After Idriess, years later, learned in civilised society the other part of the story - that the two boys, Jack Ireland and Will D'Oyly, were survivors from the wreck of the Charles Eaton on the Barrier Reef in 1834 - he sets it down in story form. It is a most entertaining yarn, the greater part of which comes from the Torres Strait islanders themselves. It deals with the many and varied adventures experienced by the boys before their eventual rescue. It tells how they were brought up with the native lads, learnt from them to work on the island, and to fight, and later how, when they had 'won their spurs', they accompanied the men on the long fishing trips... It is one of the best Australian adventure stories yet issued. - Adelaide Mail

Leaves from the Diary of an Australian Trooper in Gallipoli, Sinai, and Palestine during WW1The Desert Column is based on the diaries that Idriess kept throughout the war. Published in 1932, it is one of Idriess' earliest works. Harry Chauvel noted in the foreword that it was the only book of the campaign that to his knowledge was "viewed entirely from the private soldier's point of view..."Idriess served as a sniper with the 5th Australian Light Horse. Enlisting in 1914, he began his diary "as we crowded the decks off Gallipoli" and he continued writing until returning to Australia...The diaries cover his experience of some of the war's major events from life in the trenches at Gallipoli to the battles at Romani and Beersheba. One of Idriess' strengths as a writer is his ability to place the reader at the scene of the action...- Australian War MemorialIllustrated edition.

First published in 1931, and now in its 51st edition. With extracts from Lasseter's Diary and Letters and maps and photographs of the C.A.G.E. Expedition.Morning Post (London) - "Perhaps the greatest of Australia's real life epics."Otago Daily Times (NZ) - "One almost finds it difficult to believe that the story is modern and true."Sydney Mail - "One of the most graphic, most poignant, and most absorbingly interesting tales that the chronicles of Australian exploration - those treasure stores of dramatic adventure - have ever revealed."The Herald (Melbourne) - "A true story that for sheer excitement, thrills, and sustained suspense, cannot be surpassed by even the most imaginative novelist."

In these pages Ion Idriess has brought together stories gathered and lived in his happy battling years in the wild lands of Australia's Far North and the islands beyond. Stories of gold and pearls, of land and cattle, of the search for wealth in dangerous and lonely places. Stories of unnamed men and women, white and brown and black, of primitive passions unleashed far beyond the curb of law and order, of bravery and hope and grim determination, of the strange powers of the mind, of human comedy and tragedy. Together they picture a life of colour and adventure that with the development of the continent is rapidly passing away.

This new Idriess book tells of stirring episodes in the pursuit, of lawbreakers in the primitive lands. Every chapter is authentic. Patrols through the Kimberleys, the wild Fitzmaurice River country, the nor'-west of Western Australia, the Northern Territory, and Central Australia; each incident recorded from the lips of the pursuers and pursued whether white, black, or brown. Here are given for the first time the romantic stories of Nemarluk and Minmara, Tuckiar and Mepara, Chugulla, Tiger, Moodoprish, Natchelma - Aboriginal leaders so much lately before the public eye. Here, too, will be found details of the spearing of Constable McColl, the ambushing of Hemming's patrol, the killing of the Japanese of the luggers' Ouida, The Myrtle, Olga and The Raff, the spearing of Stephens and Cook, of Tetlow, Nichols, Renouf, Traynor and Fagan. The inner story of the most intriguing murder in the rugged fastnesses of northern South Australia, the big mail robbery on the little Centralian railway...The book contains remarkable stories of the methods of aboriginal trackers, given exactly as they worked on each case. Nothing like these tracking chapters has ever been attempted in book form before. - Port Macquarie News, 1935

In Crocodile Land is principally the story of travels by lugger through northern waters and into slimy creeks where the huge crocodiles abound. The author took part in many hunting expeditions and enlightens us on the various methods adopted for catching these fearsome creatures. The party had more than a little success, to the great glee of the blackfellows who accompanied them.We journey next into the country of the buffaloes. Here on sunlit clearings through thickets of pandanus palms the buffaloes were to be found in hundreds... There is plenty of risk in hunting the buffalo... Once the shooting starts, the horse must continue his gallop, faster than the buffaloes and alongside them, keeping them going. One stumble and the end is near for horse and rider. - Western Mail, Perth 1946Although it has the thrill of crocodile shooting and trapping as its central theme, the book also affords a sympathetic and fascinating study of the aborigines and their tribal customs, slants on the dangerous sport of buffalo hunting, and vivid pen pictures of Wyndham, Darwin and other far northern towns. - Adelaide Advertiser, 1946Introduced by Tony McKenna

In 1932, Ion Idriess was one of those who set out from tiny port of Derby with the ending of the Wet season, moving through the rugger Kimberleys towards the developing goldfield of Tennant's Creek. This is the story of his wanderings in the 1930s and what he heard and saw along the way; at a time when wireless and air and motor transport were rapidly changing life in the North and North-west: but when the age of pioneers, of heroic journeys, terrifying loneliness, and violent death, had not yet passed away.Back in print after 60 years.

Throughout all the game of war, in every Age, there has been no task so fascinating, so alive with thrills, as that of the scout. Against an enemy army he plays a lone hand as does the sniper. But the scout's job is not to hide and kill, his is to press forward and see, but never be seen. And - he must return.Ion Idriess's Australian guerrilla manual presents a rare insight into one of the most vital functions of small-unit combat intelligence - scouting. Despite great technical achievements in modern military science, the small-unit commander must still rely heavily on the eyes, ears and stealth of his scouts. Details obscure techniques often overlooked in most U.S. Army and Marine scouting texts.The sixth book of the Australian Guerrilla series, The Scout, by Ion Idriess is now available. It is packed with knowledge and bush lore, and gives to any soldier who studies it most of the data necessary for the job of scouting. With the rest of the series it provides a small compact little work that, carried in the haversack, is a means of learning as you go. - Hobart Mercury, 1943.

Abdul the Sniper was the pride of the Turkish Army. They named his rifle 'The Mother of Death'. Because, so declared the Ottoman Guard, 'her breech gave birth to bullets which destroy the lives of men'... Idriess was a trooper with the Light Horse at Gallipoli, all the way to Beersheba, and his diary was published as The Desert Column. Drawing on his military experience, this is one of six manuals written for soldiers and civilians in 1942, when invasion by the Japanese seemed imminent. This volume includes the full story of the duel between Australian sniper Billy Sing and his opposite number, Abdul the Terrible in the trenches at Gallipoli. A believer in guerrilla warfare in the open spaces of Australia, Mr. Idriess seeks, by thrilling narrative and advice, to teach young men and people of the back country how to use the rifle to the best advantage. To be a guerrilla one has to be a good rifleman - a sniper - acting independently of other troops, clever at camouflage, with keen ears, and with eyes that are observant and sharp. - Newcastle Herald

'To attack and ambush, to snipe and raid is the job of the Australian Guerrilla. By rifle and grenade, by machine-gun and mortar to kill them, harry them, trap them, grant them not one moment's peace day or night. Break their hearts! Smash their outposts, blow up their tanks, bomb their communications, burn their airfields. To be a hawk by day and a shadow by night, to be a killer by day or night is the sworn job of the Australian Guerrilla on his native soil.' These Australian guerrilla manuals were written by Ion Idriess at the time of imminent invasion by the Japanese. Following the massive bomb attack on Darwin in early 1942, Idriess wrote six manuals in one year to help aid the local militia, based on his extensive experience in guerrilla tactics in World War 1. As the Japanese continued to raid Sydney Harbour, Newcastle, Broome and Toowoomba, Idriess offered his knowledge on the art of warfare to Australians at home.

Idriess was a trooper with the Light Horse at Gallipoli, all the way to Beersheba, and his diary was published as The Desert Column. Drawing on his military experience, this is one of six manuals written for soldiers and civilians in 1942, when invasion by the Japanese seemed imminent. Here Mr Idriess gives in illustrative detail the technique of guerrilla warfare under Australian conditions. As will be seen by the subject headings, every phase is dealt with. Here is the complete vade-mecum for the guerrilla fighter, a forceful, vivid book that teaches how, in Australia, he may play a part as vital as that played by the Russian guerrilla in aiding his army.

(from The Spectator, May 1936)In his introduction to Lasseter's Last Ride (Cape, 7s. 6d.) Field-Marshal Sir William Birdwood writes : The annals of Central Australian exploration are tragic and heroic, but it is long indeed since I read a more moving story of endurance and heroism in the face of terrific odds than the epic which Mr. Ion Idriess has woven out of the last few months of the life of L. H. B. Lasseter. The reader will agree with this, and wonder why he has not heard of Mr. Idriess before. He is well known in Australia, but this is his first book to be published in England. It will not be his last, if the present one meets with the success it deserves. Having himself been a prospector, the story he has constructed out of the fragments of documentary evidence - a few reports, the barely legible diary and letters found buried near Lasseter's last camps - is probably very close to what actually happened. Harry Lasseter had once discovered a rich gold reef in unexplored west Central Australia. Owing to a faulty watch, the bearings he took were useless. An expedition was fitted out to locate it. From the first, misfortune dogged the steps of the party. Food ran short and they returned to the base-camp - all except Lasseter, who went on alone. When his two camels bolted he was left waterless in the desert. Blinded by sand and tortured by dysentry, he found the reef, but died shortly afterwards, deserted by a tribe of aborigines with whom he had tried to make friends. Mr. Idriess tells this story in a simple, virile style which is, in its intense economy, comparable to Hemingway at his best.

(Author Note)Forty Fathoms Deep is part of the story of the pearl seas of north-western Australia. In all but a few instances, I have used names well known in the pearl world of Broome, but have taken care not to hurt susceptibilities. I am conscious I have only gleaned in a field rich with romance. There is material for many books in the adventurous lives of the men who have built up the history and industry of Broome. It is to be hoped that someone more persuasive than I will induce them to sit down and write, or, failing that, sit and talk for the enlightenment and entertainment of fellow Australians. I am greatly indebted to numerous friends in Broome who have helped me with material and who went to such pains to get for me authentic data. Hail and farewell, with a warm heart, to Con and old Sebaro, and to all the divers and tenders and seamen who were so patient at explaining the many things I desired to see and know. To all, a fair wind and a hungry market when the fleets put to sea! ION L. IDRIESS.