15 Best Australian Classics for your Audiobook Collection

15 Best Australian Classics for your Audiobook Collection

Classics are that for a reason: they stand the test of time with their likeable characters, warm narratives and profound value to engage readers of all generations. The Best Australian Classics’ could be detailing the harsh conditions of Australia’s rugged landscapes or the courage of a young woman rising to success despite such heartbreaking adversity. Whatever it is, there are plentiful titles on Audible to include on your list if you want to catch up with the greats. They are classics, after all, so find your home among the gum trees with this essential list of Australian titles.
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  • Cloudstreet cover art

    • Cloudstreet

    • By: Tim Winton
    • Narrated by: Peter Hosking
    • Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
    • Release date: 31-10-2008
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 758 ratings
    • Tim Winton is a legend of Australian literature, and Cloudstreet is his piece de resistance. It focuses on the lives of two working-class families in Perth coming together under the same roof, and the beauty and magic of the everyday. Perfectly narrated by the lively intonation of Peter Hosking, Winton’s unmatched ability to describe, in such unique detail, the characters, places and shades of emotion on each page continue to stand the test of time. And couple this with the nostalgic Aussie larrikinism and slang littered throughout, this goes down as one of the country’s most iconic books. It’s a ‘true blue’ work of Australian fiction.

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  • Schindler's List cover art

    • Schindler's List

    • By: Thomas Keneally
    • Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
    • Length: 16 hrs and 48 mins
    • Release date: 14-05-2018
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 165 ratings
    • This highly popular classic details one of humanity's darkest periods, with a glimmer of hope and humanity. Originally titled Schindler’s Ark, this piece of Holocaust literature tells the true story of saviour Oskar Schindler who came to save more Jews from gas chambers than any other single person in World War II. Australian novelist Thomas Keneally used written testimony of the Schindlerjuden — Schindler’s Jews — as well as advice from Holocaust survivor Plodek Pjefferberg and exhaustive research to shape this story of some light amid unspeakable evil. Winner of the Booker Prize, adapted into a Spielberg blockbuster and performed by Humphrey Bower, this is a must-listen.

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  • True History of the Kelly Gang cover art

    • True History of the Kelly Gang

    • By: Peter Carey
    • Narrated by: Gianfranco Negroponte
    • Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
    • Release date: 11-04-2018
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 125 ratings
    • ‘A classic narrative of Aussie bush proportions, True History of the Kelly Gang is a fictional take on the life and crime of Ned Kelly and his men. What may be lacking in the original tale is a softer side to the bushranger, and with this in mind, writer Peter Carey takes his creative license to the next level, adapting the story by adding a lover and a daughter to this infamous chronicle. Winning the Booker Prize, Carey takes a distinctive style to describe these outlaws in rugged detail and how they were viewed as thieves, murderers and heroes all at the same time. Narrator Gianfranco Negroponte delivers the daring tale with heart and soul, further cementing the Kelly Gang in Australia’s history books.

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  • Picnic at Hanging Rock cover art

    • Picnic at Hanging Rock

    • TV Tie-In Edition
    • By: Joan Lindsay
    • Narrated by: Yael Stone
    • Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
    • Release date: 04-05-2018
    • Language: English
    • 4 out of 5 stars 77 ratings
    • It’s St Valentine’s Day during a hot summer of 1900 and a group of schoolgirls head on a picnic to the iconic Hanging Rock, but some will never return. A classic Australian fiction title of disappearance framed as a true story, Picnic at Hanging Rock has entertained and intrigued audiences for decades. Reinvigorated with narration from Yael Stone — who stars in the most recent television adaptation of this classic alongside Natalie Dormer — Picnic At Hanging Rock captures the minds of all those who look deep into the unknown to find what’s out there. Lindsay is claimed to have sought inspiration for this work from a series of vivid dreams depicting the events, and with pseudo-historical references littered throughout, it’s hard not to listen and wonder if this really did occur.

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  • The Book Thief cover art

    • The Book Thief

    • By: Markus Zusak
    • Narrated by: Dennis Olsen
    • Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
    • Release date: 15-06-2012
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,207 ratings
    • Discover celebrated Australian-German writer Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief — an unconventional tale in Nazi-era Germany of a girl’s love for books in the face of death. Despite the conflict and mortality that surrounds the protagonist, Liesel — as represented by the character of ‘death’ — The Book Thief explores how a thirst for knowledge and finding new books keeps a sense of normalcy in a girl’s life. The simplest of things are still the most important, even in times of death and genocide. This work has widespread acclaim in Australia and around the world, having been translated in print in some 60 languages. The spirited performance of narrator Dennis Olsen makes you further appreciate this unique wartime classic.

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  • Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence cover art

    • Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence

    • By: Doris (Nugi Garimara) Pilkington
    • Narrated by: Rachael Maza
    • Length: 4 hrs and 10 mins
    • Release date: 14-11-2012
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 134 ratings
    • Based on a true story, Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence is a harrowing story of an indigenous Australian family’s experience as members of the Stolen Generation, written with the care and raw emotion of Doris Pilkington Garimara. Many may be familiar with these events from the renowned Australian film Rabbit-Proof Fence, which follows the events of Pilkington Garimara and her mother, subject to the atrocities of forced displacement from their families and communities in the 1930s. Desperate to return to a world they knew, this performance takes you to places of pain and suffering — a truly necessary listen to understand brutal government regimes against Indigenous communities in Australia’s past.

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  • The Narrow Road to the Deep North cover art

    • The Narrow Road to the Deep North

    • By: Richard Flanagan
    • Narrated by: Richard Flanagan
    • Length: 15 hrs and 5 mins
    • Release date: 01-11-2013
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 349 ratings
    • Man Booker prize-winning novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North focuses on the struggles of a Japanese prisoner of war camp along the Thai-Burma death railway, and how the greatest battle for these prisoners may not be their adverse surroundings, but rather the yearning of what they once had. Having been touted as ‘one of the most exciting novelists working anywhere, full stop’, writer Richard Flanagan continues to impress with this work, and expresses the cruelties of not only war, but love. Narrated by Flanagan himself, listen and you’ll gain an insight into a defeated hero trapped in a situation that is survival day by day, plus discover how thoughts of a past life can haunt someone for a lifetime.

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  • The Secret River cover art

    • The Secret River

    • By: Kate Grenville
    • Narrated by: Paul Blackwell
    • Series: Thornhill Family, Book 1
    • Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
    • Release date: 12-12-2012
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 383 ratings
    • Kate Grenville may have initially intended this novel to be a non-fiction work based around her ancestor Solomon Wiseman settling on New South Wales’s Hawkesbury River, but what ended up being produced is a story of colonisation, land ownership and the interplay between European settlers and Australia’s First Nations communities. The Secret River results in a crafted work of fiction that explores the historical events of 19th-century Englishmen landing on the shores of a place already inhabited by Aboriginal peoples, and the interplay that follows. Grenville’s honest work dips itself into the world of foundation stories, tales of Indigenous dispossession and how a nation should represent its past, however problematic that may be. Listen up to gain an insight or another angle on what shaped the Australia of today.

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  • The Harp in the South cover art

    • The Harp in the South

    • By: Ruth Park
    • Narrated by: Kate Hood
    • Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
    • Release date: 27-10-2011
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 117 ratings
    • Written by New Zealand-born Australian writer Ruth Park and narrated by Australian actress Kate Hood, The Harp in the South takes you on a journey to working class inner-city Sydney and the Darcy family living in Depression era dwellings. And unfortunately, their lives are far from easy. Characters may be damaged and defeated, but despite the hurt, an air of hope and nostalgic optimism permeate throughout. There’s a striking confidence in Park’s prose, detailing the struggles of an extraordinarily ordinary family and the issues that faced many — but not everyone — in 20th century Australia. Crisp details and powerful emotions make this classic novel one that stands the test of time.

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  • Carpentaria cover art

    • Carpentaria

    • By: Alexis Wright
    • Narrated by: Isaac Drandich
    • Length: 19 hrs and 15 mins
    • Release date: 03-12-2008
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 87 ratings
    • In classic Australian literature, don’t overlook the range of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices telling stories of First Nations country, land and its peoples. Carpentaria is the second novel of which Aboriginal Australian writer Alexis Wright tells such a story — blending the mythical concepts of the Dreamtime with the political issues of a conflict-ridden community in northwestern Queensland. Infighting and threats of sacred land succumbing to the wrath of mining corporations may dominate the plot, but this work has a clear focus on competing relationships and masculinity. The ease of Isaac Drandich narration balances the sometimes challenging language and material that Carpentaria presents, but is ever so worthwhile to listen to.

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  • Storm Boy cover art

    • Storm Boy

    • By: Colin Thiele
    • Narrated by: Roger Cardwell
    • Length: 1 hr and 6 mins
    • Release date: 01-01-2019
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 58 ratings
    • From tragic beginnings, Mike Kingley — or ‘Storm Boy’ — shows how rescue and care gives a conflict in return that he may never know how to resolve. Roger Cardwell’s animated narration of different characters together with the subtle use of sound effects, brings Storm Boy to life in audio, keeping children — young and old — entertained for hours. It’s about a boy and his pelican, and the relationships he forms with his father, an outcast Australian Aboriginal man, and the sanctuary of the beach and sandhills around him. And by all accounts, the title captures audiences like the adaptations cannot, so start here if you want to unlock celebrated writer Colin Thiele’s children's tale of survival and love in unconventional ways.

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  • The Power of One cover art

    • The Power of One

    • By: Bryce Courtenay
    • Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
    • Series: The Power of One, Book 1
    • Length: 21 hrs and 33 mins
    • Release date: 01-02-2006
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 1,053 ratings
    • The Power of One may be Australian national treasure Bryce Courtenay’s most well known novel, despite it being his debut release. Following an English-speaking South African boy nicknamed Peekay in the mid-20th century, this listen is all about finding the resilience and strength of your inner self. Based loosely around Courtenay’s own life and from a first person perspective narration looking back as an adult, the performance by Humphrey Bower perfectly brings to life this story of a journey into adulthood and the profound thoughts that accompany this growth. Just like this and others, Courtenay will continue to appear on classics’ lists for decades to come with his honest and hopeful works.

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  • Ghost Empire cover art

    • Ghost Empire

    • By: Richard Fidler
    • Narrated by: Richard Fidler
    • Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
    • Release date: 02-08-2016
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 727 ratings
    • The clash of civilisations, the fall of empires, the rise of Christianity, revenge, lust, murder, all bundled into an epic tale. Radio presenter turned writer Richard Fidler’s father-son adventure Ghost Empire is a nod to a lost civilisation, the Byzantine city of Constantinople and how the region’s turbulent histories extend far and wide beyond Gallipoli and the ANZACs. It has landed on many best-selling lists with its charming recollections of a time gone by scattered with tales of scandalous rumour and gossip. Listen to a fascinating mix of old and new, all narrated by Fidler himself, bringing authenticity and genuine care to the words and the stories they detail.

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  • Death of a River Guide cover art

    • Death of a River Guide

    • By: Richard Flanagan
    • Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
    • Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
    • Release date: 15-08-2017
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 73 ratings
    • Another of prized writer Richard Flanagan’s signature Australian literature, Death of a River Guide focuses on Tasmania’s past and unearthing secrets of violence and ancestral memory. Using nature and death as a vehicle to tell the tales of a past Tasmania, this listen is full of deep human emotion and loss through the eyes of protagonist Aljaz Cosini. Flanagan’s awareness of how European settlement intersected in the histories of Tasmania’s Indigenous communities, as well as visions that evoke feelings of pity, shock and empathy, this novel deserves its place on any classic Australian book list, and in your Audible library.

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  • Burke and Wills cover art

    • Burke and Wills

    • The Triumph and Tragedy of Australia's Most Famous Explorers
    • By: Peter FitzSimons
    • Narrated by: Michael Carman
    • Length: 23 hrs and 43 mins
    • Release date: 31-10-2017
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 515 ratings
    • Aussie legend Peter FitzSimons may be recognised for his rugby career, but recently, his commitment to the research and storytelling of some of Australia’s most popular histories has shown the country — and the world — just how fair dinkum he really is. This title takes on the triumph and tragedy of famous Australian explorers Burke and Wills, and how their story remains as compelling as it was in 1860. It may not be a short listen, but Michael Carman’s authentic and engaging narration of FitzSimon’s work and the aptly titled tales of Burke and Wills will keep you enthralled for hours.

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Audiobook lists are hand-picked by Audible editors; inclusion is based on a number of factors including
listener ratings, narrator performances, presence on Audible best seller lists and cultural relevance.


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