Books
New Great Australian Flying Doctor Stories
'Where's your thumb?' the doctor asked the injured ringer.
'Oh, we stuck it over there on the gatepost, fer safe keepin'.'
And just as the doctor turned around to the gatepost, he saw a crow heading skyward, thumb and all.
(ABC Books 2010)
Featuring the colourful and funny work of legendary Broken Hill artist Howard William Steer, master storyteller Bill 'Swampy' Marsh once again reaches into the heart and soul of outback Australia with stories of heroism and heartbreak and everything else it takes to live and work in this vast land of ours.
Through fog, lightning, thunder, flooding rains and dust storms, the Flying Doctor braves the elements to get to the remote outback landing strips where they're needed and the tales they live to tell will have you shaking your head in amazement. From the pilots, doctors and nurses who spread their 'mantle of safety' throughout the remote inland of Australia, as well as the men and women they treat on the ground, comes a brand-new collection of Flying Doctor yarns as told to master storyteller Bill 'Swampy' Marsh.
Available for order from the ABC Shop after October 2010
The ABC Book of Great Aussie Stories for Young People.
'If you've got a minute to spare I'll more than gladly relate to you the real, true, fair-dinkum, ridgy-didge, authentic story.'
(ABC Books 2010)
Imagine droving thousands of cattle across the vast outback for months, living under the stars without any parents around. Lots of people in this collection have done just that. You'll hear great stories about fast trains running away without drivers, learn how to shear a sheep (and how not to!) and read about the flying doctor service arriving just in the nick of time. Some stories need to be read to be believed.
Bill 'Swampy' Marsh is one of Australia's most popular storytellers - he knows a good story when he hears it and now he has gathered together a collection of real Aussie adventures for younger people.
Richard Baillie–2MCE Bathurst—'A ball-tearer of a book.'
Great Australian Stories: Outback Towns and Pubs
The people you'll meet will touch your heart as Swampy brings to life all the drama and delight of life in outback Australia.
"Long after the last tale has been told, you'll still hear the laughter from the pub and the crash of a drunken donkey falling into a trench, and recall the time…they found this bloke, sitting in the main street at 3 o'clock in the morning, hammering one of those survey pegs in the ground. So they said, 'What the hell are you doing?' And this drunken feller replies, 'I'm driving a peg into the arsehole of the world.'"
(ABC Books 2009)
Award-winning writer Bill 'Swampy' Marsh collects yarns that get us in, boots and all. He gives us back our childhood and shares those precious memories of an Australia that's passing into legend.
Radio National (Australia Wide)–Evenings with Christopher Lawrence–re: audio of Great Australian Stories: Outback Towns and Pubs—'Some good ones have come in already. One from Marshall, in Rosebery, who was listening to our Outback Towns and Pubs story…He says, 'That was the best bit of storytelling-poetry I have ever heard.' 'Thanks to school,' he said, 'I inherited a healthy loathing of poetry. I may have had a life-changing experience here.'
Goldie
'Like, I only thought he was joking. But the bore hole of the rifle's staring straight at me. Then I sees the look in his eyes. And it wasn't a good look, aye. I think, Gees this feller's fair dinkum…Just as I did there's this "Bang!"'
(ABC Books July 2008)
And Jack 'Goldie' Goldsmith is as fair dinkum as you can get, with a knack of always finding himself in some strife or other. Born during the worst year of the Depression he escaped an abusive stepmother and headed out to western New South Wales.
Times were tough for a young kid so for the next few years he tramped it from place to place, trapping rabbits, picking spuds, working on the railways and building fences, doing anything for a little money and a bit of tucker.
After a brief stint in the army during the Korean War he followed his real dream, to work on the big cattle runs in Queensland's Gulf Country. There he made a living from working in the stock camps, horse breaking, as a drover and from cattle duffing.
'Goldie' has now told his story to Bill 'Swampy' Marsh, one of Australia's best-loved storytellers. It's a rip-roaring yarn, full of adventure–sometimes funny, sad, surprising and even painful. Goldie draws us deep into a world that we should cherish before it passes forever.
Outback Magazine—'Goldie is an excellently told story that is cleverly crafted by the author to read like an autobiography. It is enchanting in its simplicity and touching in its rawness.'
Mudgee Guardian—'Bill 'Swampy' Marsh has written a real jewel of a book, about this tough young Aussie bloke who 'made do' during the tough days of the Depression. Pick up a copy. You'll really enjoy it, aye!'
During 2008 Goldie was nominated for the Prime Ministers Literary Awards and for Queensland Premier's Literary Awards.
More Great Australian Flying Doctor Stories
'The reverend John Flynn's dream was to create a "mantle of safety" across Australia for all remote and outback people. The Royal Flying Doctor Service does that.'
(ABC Books 2007)
Settle back with some of the toughest, bravest, most laconic and passionate people you're likely to meet–and those are just the doctors, nurses, and pilots!
Then there are the patients–like the Crook Cocky at Kajabbi or the Easter Bunny, found hopping down the highway near Tibooburra, stark naked, except for a pair of underpants on his head and a carrot stuck where the sun doesn't shine.
More Great Australian Flying Doctor Stories; these yarns are about life, death, fear, courage, tragedy, comedy, craziness, and everything it takes to live and work beyond the back stump.
ABC Books—New from master storyteller, Bill 'Swampy' Marsh. A collection of fantastic yarns from the heart and soul of the outback.
Great Australian Railway Stories
'So what's yer name?' asked the train driver.
'Charlie, sir.'
'I don't address my firemen by their Christian names, son. Give me your surname.'
'Darling, sir.'
'Okay, Charlie, start shovelling.'
(ABC Books 2005, new edition June 2008)
ABC Books—'Where explorers and settlers went in Australia, the railways followed. Small towns were linked like beads on a string by the railways: it was the way these communities stayed alive. Bill' Swampy' Marsh has brought together another enthralling collection of first-hand accounts, of tales from the tracks and the railway sidings, from the engines and the guard boxes, the pubs and the carriages.'
Peter Goers (arts critic and broadcaster)—'Beautiful stories; little vignettes of people's lives ... and that's what (Bill's) cleverness is, in the way (he) tells these tales, or re-tells them, that, just in a couple of pages you get the sense of the person and that person's whole life goes into that one yarn.'
Justine Bashford (Limelight)—'This is a collection of stories about people who thought rules were meant to be broken, who were suspicious of bureaucracy. It's about the spirit of the Australians who simply made things happen.'
Great Australian Droving Stories
So yes, I did have the smarty ones that came out droving. But though I might be a woman, I can still pack a punch. Too right I can. And what's more I knew where to hit, too–Bang–right on the chin and down they'd go. Oh, I've decked a few blokes. By jeez I have.
(ABC Books 2003 and new 2007 edition)
Peter Brewer (Canberra Times)—'This book sets the record straight; and in the process (Bill 'Swampy' Marsh's) subjects' insight gives us, the modern-day readers, a greater respect for life on the road. There are dozens of gems here.'
Steve Hodder (Weekend Liberal–Dubbo and the Orana Region)—'Bill 'Swampy' Marsh has a passion for Australiana, evident in this compilation.'
Barrier Daily Truth (Broken Hill)—'(Bill 'Swampy' Marsh)–'One of Australia's most popular storyteller-writers.'
John Wright/Russell Barnsley (Radio Bay–FM QLD)—'The result is a fascinating view of a lifestyle most of us know little about. Bill tells the tales with a wry humour…also, it's not nostalgic–it happens every day in our great country.'
Christopher Bantick (Country Living–Albury, Horsham, Swan Hill)—'Bill 'Swampy' Marsh is one of a band of writers and singers striving to keep Australian bush history alive. This saddle bag of tales will delight and move readers and make them laugh out loud.'
Merry Wickes (Bonzer!–Online Monthly Journal)—'Bill Marsh has done us a great service…and as a result we get some very frank reports about the harshness and isolation of droving life, as well as the good times…it's a book that's very easy to dip into but once I got started I found it hard to put down.'
Great Australian Shearing Stories
The boss comes over and he says to the learner, "Hey, you should've cleaned those bloody sheep up better, they've still got a lotta wool on their legs."
"But boss," the learner replies, "it's gonna be a bad year for snakes so if there's still wool on their legs they won't get bitten."
And the boss says to the learner, "Well, if you took a bit of bloody wool off their eyes they'd be able to see the bloody snakes!" '
(ABC Books 2001 and new 2007 edition)
Christopher Bantick (Canberra Times)—'…shearers have been, since the blade days, the subject of poems, ballads, stories and films…Great Australian Shearing Stories by Bill Marsh, provides a valuable addition to the crop of (this) shearing literature.'
Midland Express—'Shear reading enjoyment! Yes, award-winning writer/preformer of stories, songs and plays, Bill "Swampy" Marsh has produced a beaut collection of shearing stories.'
Telegraph—'…brings to life the Australian outback in this wonderful collection.'
The Chronicle—'Swampy offers some great little Aussie yarns.'
Don Petersen (The Courier Mail)—'Great Australian Shearing Stories…you can't get more fair dinkum than that. These (stories) are guidebooks to his country. Go find him.'
Tony Maniaty (Weekend Australian)—'…the blokes that Bill 'Swampy' Marsh talks about aren't clumsy; some have been shearing since they were fourteen. What's fascinating is how little has changed: the Chips Rafferty doubles, the heat and flies and–in the inimitable poetry of one character–"those iron-fleeced bastards of sheep".'
Great Flying Doctor Stories
'"What can we do now?" we were thinking (now that one of the pack of dogs had eaten the chap's amputated finger). "Okay, we can knock these dogs out, open them up one by one. Then, when we find the finger we can assess the situation and take it from there."
But the fellow must have read our minds. "Ah," he said, "take me word fer it. The finger was pretty much stuffed. What's more, there's no bloody way yer gonna cut open any of my dogs just to look fer me missing finger. I got nine of the buggers left, anyways."'
(ABC Books 1999 and new 2007 edition)
David Harris (reviewer & writer)—'Bill Marsh has crafted an enthralling swag of first-hand accounts from all walks of life just in time, before reality vanishes into urban myth. With fascination we eavesdrop on wonderful, frightening, hilarious, tragic and poignant true stories, but we have more than just a remarkable anecdotal record–we have a chronicle that keeps us in touch with the independent, inspired, and often larrikin-spirited pioneers of our inland.'
Looking for Dad
'When I reach the (crematorium) wall I don't want to leave. Something holds me. I move closer to Dad's space. Then I'm overcome by the need to touch the brass plate, just like Mum did. When I do, its coldness bites me like savage dry ice. It's not what I expected. A sudden surge of anger explodes from within. 'Why didn't you ever tell me you loved me, Dad!' I shout. Then the plaque softens to my touch. It dampens like tears. And I feel a warmth, far warmer than human, a love far deeper than life.'
(ABC Books 1998)
Graham Seal (Reviewer,The West Australian)—'Bill Marsh…proves to be a skilled weaver of contemporary yarns–short, dry-humorous and tightly-focused narratives that end with a twist. He describes incidents and places with wry humour, an excellent ear for colloquial dialogue and a good eye for Australian icons, many of which are fading fast.'
Old Yanconian Daze
'This was footy season. The last sorts we wanted to model ourselves on were a bunch of choir singers. We modelled ourselves on real men. Men who smoked, drank and swore like troopers. Those were our heroes, blokes who sang along with Slim Dusty on the wireless and set the sheep dogs wailing.'
(Wakefield Press 1995)
Max Fatchen AM (Writer/Journalist)—'For me it is a gloriously bawdy, warm-hearted and perceptive picture of childhood and, like a diamond, has many facets that sparkle in the mind. The overall effect is of the human experience of youth, those precious memories that we hold like gold in our minds as we grow older and look back on something that was memorable and tugs at our heartstrings as we reminisce.'
Beckom Pop. 64
'There were fifteen school kids in all, ranging from 5 to 14 years old, all of us weathered by life's elements, even at our tender ages; washed by flood and rain, burnt by sun and bushfire, dried to the core by drought, frozen by frost, pitted in the skin by dust and hail. But not a single one among us knew the first thing about the gentle art of song.'
(Hudson Publishing 1988)
Katharine England (Reviewer, The Advertiser)—'From the ridiculous to the sublime, from the bestial to the bizarre, from the tall to the tender, Bill Marsh holds his readers in the palm of his hand and tickles them with beautifully controlled yarns of childhood in the kind of town that is such a feature of our culture, if rarely our personal experience.'
If you would like to order personally signed books, CDs, or audio cassettes then
contact Bill 'Swampy' Marsh.