Rob Mundle

This is a terrifying but compelling book. Told by an experienced yachting journalist from interviews with survivors (and their rescuers) of the deadly 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race it drags you along with them through the horrors they experienced. Anyone who's done any sailing will find this completely un-put-downable - I started reading it in the bookshop, read it on the bus home and finished it on the couch all in an afternoon. Lessons learned? Doesn't matter how good your boat is and show more how well prepared the crew - you will not be a match for the worst that nature can throw at you. show less

The name of Matthew Flinders is relatively well known in Australia because of his circumnavigation of Australia, his role in naming the land mass, and because of a few landmarks that bear his name.
Rob Mundle has written a very informative biography of Flinders. That he is a sailor of some reputation is obvious by his close attention to the details of the ship, the rigging, navigation and crew. A historian would in most cases overlook the relevance of these. But not being written by a show more historian, the book does lack the usual reference to source material.
New facts for me were the reasons why Flinders was imprisoned for many years on a small island in the Indian Ocean. And that two Frenchmen that continue to have major landmarks named after them were spying on the young colony of New South Wales.
I missed much of a discussion of his legacy, and even his funeral is not mentioned.
However, a very interesting book of one of the most influential explorers in history, show less

Excellent book. Written in a way that the reader doesn’t need to be a sailing expert to understand.
I couldn’t believe how heroic the the rescue teams behaved and how more people weren’t lost at sea. As the reader you feel cold and wet throughout the book, as you imagine how terrifying the situation must have been.
A non stop thrill ride.

I knew of all or almost all of the explorations referenced in Great South Land, but only from the inadequate history and social studies taught at school in the 60s. I had probably about five minutes of teaching on each explorer and their discoveries.
The detail in the book expnads my 50 year old school memories, giving the background to the explorations of the Dutch, accidental and planned - much more of the former than the latter.
But the sections of the book covering William Dampier have show more opened my eyes. From school I was told he was a buccaneer who accidentally landed on the west coat of Australia. But it turns out he was much more - a self-taught mapmaker, naturalist and biologist, a hands-on scientist if you will. His influence extends to the present time.
I will certainly want to read more about Dampier. show less