Fantastic read

This book manages to chronicle some truly heinous moments in Australian history while never letting me stop smiling for long! It is written and read so well. Hugely informative, very entertaining and a great reminder that history really does repeat itself. 10/10

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Australia just keeps getting more girt!

What a great series of book. Please David, continue this fabulous history. For all its larrikin nature, this book, along with Girt and True Girt open up more than just history, but an irrelevant stab at our national myths and legends.

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Incredible research

I am astounded to listen to so many detailed character analyses of the founding fathers of the Australian Federation! David Hunt always seems to discover incredibly interesting and little known facts about these peoples’ lives! I can only imagine that this takes many hours of trawling through old newspapers, periodicals, memoirs and diaries. The early sympathies for the White Australia policy are revealed through the prejudices of the era with just a few voices speaking out against the intention. The strong women who rallied for the vote are also part of this Victorian to Edwardian story. I also found it fascinating that until 1949 there was no such thing as an Australian citizen. Before that anyone born in Australia was a British subject! The legal category of British subject was only abolished in 1984! Thank you David for shedding light on this era in Australia!

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finally it's here the next girt installment

in the tradition of girt an informative and funny look at the quirks in Australian history.

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On standard for this great series

I love the Girt books, I've read and listened to them many times. This third edition in the series improves on the last book which in comparison was a bit dull, but this third edition brings it all back to life. Some of the accents in places are a bit dodgy, but that all adds to the feel of the series. Superbly politically incorrect.

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Only David could narrate this as it was intended!

David does marvellous work with what can sometimes be a bit of a dry patch of history - he somehow makes it funny...
If you haven't already, go back and listen to volumes one, Girt, and two, True Girt... fascinating and hilarious.

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Highways and byways of history, hard to listen to

Once again I enjoyed the material put together by David Hunt - some of it, eg about Federation, was familiar to me, much of it not, eg the details of Deakin's obsession with spiritualism. He has obviously worked hard in the Forgotten section of the archives to give us some wonderful stuff. With this book I found David Hunt's voice quite irritating, I must say. He specializes in a forced jollity with ladled-on satire - yet much of what he says does not justify this tone. it could be spoken in a quite neutral tone, not meaning dull of course, just meaning historical facts being told entertainingly. With Hunt, one needs to be able to separate his factual statements from his humorous asides, some more humorous than others. I pity those who cannot separate these two things - they would be labouring for any understanding of what they were hearing. It's history as stand-up comedy, in tone, but the material ismeant to be taken seriously. On the whole I would prefer Hunt to come out as a straight historian, leaving behind the comedy act. By the way, when he quotes all kinds of people in voices he thinks appropriate, I thought his performance of these quotes quite appalling. I speak as a former producer of book readings and radio features. Moreover he mispronounces lots of names, eg Barcaldine with an emphasis on the first syllable. Couldn't a producer have made sure of these pronunciations before letting Hunt loose on the recording?

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Entertaining

Entertaining history of Australia, providing a comedic take on the varied key elements of up to ~1905

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Many, smily faces while being educated...

A fabulous third to an insightful un-rendering of important pieces of Australian colonial history, revealing a path to understanding rather than a wall.

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Excellent

I enjoyed reading the books but listening to them read by the author magnifies the experience ten fold.

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