The Complete Book of Heroic Australian Women: Twenty-one Pioneering Women Whose Stories Changed History

Description

Providing inspiration for today's women, in this book of profiles Susanna de Vries examines what it takes to be a truly heroic Australian. Women of grit and courage, women of integrity, resilience and resourcefulness, the 21 individuals whose stories make up The Complete Book of Heroic Australian Women were a rare breed. They faced different tests - harshness as pioneers in outback Australia; the turmoil of war - but when encountering adversity, even death, each proved her mettle. From Olive King, who saved countless lives in the war-ravaged Balkans, to Vivian Bullwinkel, who survived the Bangka Island Massacre only to endure three tragedy-filled years in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, to Jeannie Gunn, who turned her experiences of hostile outback conditions into a classic book. We of the Never-Never, these are women who displayed extraordinary determination in often terrible circumstances.

Susanna de Vries is the author more than 15 books, most about women in history, including Desert Queen: The Many Lives and Loves of Daisy Bates, Great Pioneer Women of the Outback, Heroic Australian Women in War and To Hell and Back. Her book Blue Ribbons, Bitter Bread: The Life of Joice NanKivell Loch, an acclaimed biography of Australia's most decorated woman, won Ireland's Sligo Non-fiction Prize and was short-listed for the Queensland Premier's Non-Fiction Award. An art historian by training, Susanna was made a Member of the order of Australia in 1996 for services to art and literature.