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Girt

The Unauthorised History of Australia, Volume 1

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Girt

By: David Hunt
Narrated by: David Hunt
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Summary

Girt. No word could better capture the essence of Australia....

In this hilarious history, David Hunt reveals the truth of Australia's past, from megafauna to Macquarie - the cock-ups and curiosities, the forgotten eccentrics and Eureka moments that have made us who we are.

Girt introduces forgotten heroes like Mary McLoghlin, transported for the crime of "felony of sock", and Trim the cat, who beat a French monkey to become the first animal to circumnavigate Australia.

It recounts the misfortunes of the escaped Irish convicts who set out to walk from Sydney to China, guided only by a hand-drawn paper compass, and explains the role of the coconut in Australia's only military coup.

Our nation's beginnings are steeped in the strange, the ridiculous, and the frankly bizarre. Girt proudly reclaims these stories for all of us.

Not to listen to it would be un-Australian.

©2013 David Hunt (P)2015 Audible, Ltd Australia, New Zealand & Oceania Oceania World Funny Witty United Kingdom Australian History

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Critic reviews

"A sneaky, sometimes shocking peek under the dirty rug of Australian history." (John Birmingham)
"Hilarious and insightful - Hunt has found the deep wells of humour in Australia's history." (Chris Taylor, The Chaser)
All stars
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I have an Aussie girlfriend and am about to move there so I thought I'd better learn something. This was entertaining and informative. If Bill Bryson did a book on Australia, it probably wouldn't be as good as this one!

A breeze through Aussie history

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The book is an entertaining mix of fact and comedy, but the choice to have a whip crack sound every few minutes is annoying. I’ll decide when I’ll laugh TYVM.

Good but with annoying sound effects

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A jokey canter through what is presented as Australia's early colonial history replete with racial stereotyping and delivered in a jokey manner which makes you doubt the reliability of the stories being related. The Scots are miserly, the Irish are stupid and untrustworthy, the English are all upper class bigots. The racial stereotyping is compounded by the awful attempts at Scottish Irish and English accents which are mostly well wide of the mark.

Unreliable history

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This was a very entertaining and informative overview of the early days of the Colony of NSW. Great fun.

Entertaining Overview of Sydney’s Colonial Past

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this is the one book youMUST have in your library this year. Funny, sarcastic history of thr ' land down under ' performed by the author with much humour and wit. This will have you laughing out loud when you least expect it. Cannot wait for the sequel.

must have book of the year !!

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