Tony Mack Books

05/06/2024

A review copy - with a note from one of the authors - of a history of Wudinna and surrounding schools in South Australia. It was published to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Wudinna Area School. https://ebay.us/nz659o

23/05/2024

An original hand-typed manual, worn and with a great patina, produced by Lt. Col. H.A. Johnson for the Royal Australian Survey Corps.

The Royal Australian Survey Corps (RA Svy) was a Corps of the Australian Army that was formed on 1 July 1915 and disbanded on 1 July 1996. The role of the Royal Australian Survey Corps was to provide the maps, aeronautical charts, hydrographical charts and geodetic and control survey data required for land combat operations. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/326135618608

19/05/2024

Explore the rich history of Adelaide Hills' railways with "Railways in the Adelaide Hills" by Roger Sallis 🚂🌳 A wonderful resource detailing the oft-neglected history of railways in this region. 📚 🚆https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/395405515688

16/05/2024

Dive into the rich history of South Australia's jetties with this signed copy of "The Jetties of South Australia: Past and Present" by Neville Collins. 🌊📚 Discover the stories behind these iconic structures and their significance to the state's coastal communities. Perfect for history buffs and beach lovers alike! https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/395407792959

22/04/2023

George Coles, founder of the G. J. Coles chain of retail stores, was the eldest of six brothers. From his early involvement in two stores in rural Victoria, George Coles build a nationwide chain of over 200 stores, familiarly known throughout Australia as 'Coles'. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/394580385420?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&ssspo=gbzzpoCJTOu&ssuid=gbzzpoCJTOu&media=FB&mkrid=705-154756-20017-0&widget_ver=freya&sssrc=4256139

22/04/2023

The first Australian girl guides began meeting in 1909 - the same year in which companies of girl guides began to form in England.
By the 1920s guiding in Australia was established in every state, and soon became a national organisation. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/394580147283?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&ssspo=gbzzpoCJTOu&ssuid=gbzzpoCJTOu&media=FB&mkrid=705-154756-20017-0&widget_ver=freya&sssrc=4256139

19/04/2023

The Shire of Waranga was a local government area about 165 kilometres north of Melbourne. The shire covered an area of 1,644.19 square kilometres and existed from 1863 until 1994. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/394576064341?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&ssspo=gbzzpoCJTOu&ssuid=gbzzpoCJTOu&media=FB&widget_ver=freya&mkrid=705-154756-20017-0&sssrc=4256139

16/04/2023

The First Century of Missionary Adventure, 1855-1955 - J W Burton (1955).

Written to commemorate the centenary year of Australian Methodist missions in the South Pacific. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/325619114809?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&ssspo=gbzzpoCJTOu&ssuid=gbzzpoCJTOu&media=FB&widget_ver=freya&mkrid=705-154756-20017-0&sssrc=4256139

16/04/2023

The Big Box of Biggles - W E Johns, limited ed. boxed set of 3, #601 of 1500

02/05/2022

Quite a scarce work on early Tasmania by the journalist Harold Wilberton Tilley, with fascinating photos. "The Wild West of Tasmania Being a Description of the Silver Fields of Zeehan and Dundas" appeared to have been made more scarce by a flood. While this copy has battered covers but good pages, most remaining copies are water damaged. Some sort of accident at the publisher, or while stored for the author?

Published: Evershed Bros., Zeehan and Dundas, 1891. Hardback, b/w ill., 92pp. + 25 pages of period ads. Condition: Heavy edgewear to covers, good inside - handling wear and heavy edgewear to lower right corner of covers, binding ok (no loose pages), and good pages with occasional minor marks.

29/04/2022

WJ White came to Australia in the early 1900s as a carpenter, tasked with building a house for his uncle, RJ White – a wealthy businessman and part-owner of Harris Scarfe, merchants of windmills, farm machinery, and general goods. WJ completed the house on King Williams Road at Wayville, South Australia in about 1920 and then worked at Harris Scarfe and studied engineering at Adelaide University. Taking an interest in refrigeration from the beginning, by 1928 he had completed his 332-page book, Refrigeration – An Essential to National Health, Security and Progress.

Published: Adelaide : Gillingham & Co., 1929. This very rare book is almost impossible to find and a labour of love by the author. Refrigeration: An Essential to National Health, Security and Progress.

28/04/2022

In Australia in the early 1950s there was a notable spate of cases of murder or attempted murder by thallium poisoning. At this time, due to the chronic rat infestation problems in overcrowded inner-city suburbs (notably in Sydney), and thallium's effectiveness as a rat poison, it was still readily available over the counter in New South Wales, where thallium sulphate was marketed as a commercial rat bait, under the brand "Thall-rat".

In September 1952 Yvonne Gladys Fletcher, a housewife and mother of two from the inner Sydney suburb of Newtown, was charged and tried for the murders of both her first husband, Desmond Butler (who died in 1948) and her abusive second husband, Bertrand "Bluey" Fletcher, a rat bait layer, from whom Yvonne had obtained the thallium poison that she used to kill him earlier that year.

In Australia in the early 1950s there was a notable spate of cases of murder or attempted murder by thallium poisoning. Published: 1953.