Peter Byrne has narrated 8 audiobooks on Listento.it by 4 authors, with an average listener rating of 5★ across 2 ratings. The most-rated is Kokoda (by Paul Ham).
Kokoda (by Paul Ham)
Summary
In a unique and balanced portrayal, renowned journalist Paul Ham recounts both the Australian and Japanese perspectives of the events on the hellish Papuan jungle trail where thousands fought and died during World War II. It was a war without mercy, fought back and forth along 90 miles of river crossings, steep inclines and precipitous descents, with both sides wracked by hunger and disease, and terrified of falling into enemy hands. Defeat was unthinkable: the Australian soldier was fighting for his homeland against an unyielding aggressor; the Japanese ordered to fight to the death in a bid to conquer ‘Greater East Asia’. Paul Ham captures the spirits of those soldiers and commanders who clashed in this war of exceptional savagery, and tells of the brave souls on both sides of the campaign whose courage and sacrifices must never be forgotten.
©2004 Paul Ham (P)2010 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
The Smack Track
Summary
From battling pirates to tracking down gun runners, drug smugglers, and terrorists; the high energy exploits and explosive adventures of the Australian Navy in the Arabian Gulf. From Ian McPhedran, best-selling author of The Amazing SAS, Soldiers Without Borders and Too Bold to Die, comes the untold and largely unknown story of how the Royal Australian Navy battles pirates, gun runners and drug smugglers in the seas of the Arabian Gulf and the Horn of Africa along the infamous route known as the "smack track". For more than 20 years, Australian sailors have been risking their lives, conducting often fraught and dangerous operations in war and in the battle against terrorism. From braving rough seas to boarding rickety dhows or clambering up the sheer steel sides of modern day supertankers looking for contraband, The Smack Track tells a thrilling, eye-witness story of grit, courage, ingenuity and sacrifice.
©2017 HarperCollins Publishers Australia pty Ltd (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers Australia pty Ltd
Saving Private Sarbi
Summary
The amazing true story of Australia's canine war hero. Lost for 13 months in the wilds of Afghanistan, this is the dramatic, heart-warming and truly amazing story of Sarbi, the Army's most famous explosives detection dog - the miracle dog of Tarin Kot. Powerful, dramatic, heartwarming, this is the true story of Sarbi, the scruffy black Labrador-cross trained by the Australian Army as an explosives detection dog for the most dangerous combat mission imaginable. Thirteen months after Australia's most famous canine warrior went missing in action following an historic battle between the elite SAS and the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2008, she was found by an American Special Forces officer patrolling a village in a region known to be a Taliban stronghold. Against all odds, Sarbi had survived her injuries, the enemy's weapons, a bitter winter, one brutal summer and the harsh unforgiving landscape on her own. She was the miracle dog of Tarin Kot. Sarbi's story, and those of the other brave Australian Army dogs in Afghanistan, will resonate with anyone who has known the unconditional love of man's best friend, and understands the rewards of unbidden loyalty, trust and devotion. It will appeal to all those who appreciate the selflessness of serving your country and the inherent dangers of putting your life on the line for others in a war zone. And it will strike a chord with anyone who has experienced the magical connection with a dog.
©2011 Sandra Lee (P)2011 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
Soldiers Without Borders
Summary
What happens to the elite, close-knit soldiers of Australia's Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment after they leave the Who Dares Wins world of special forces? For some, there are highly paid jobs in the world's war zones and trouble spots, protecting global corporations from terrorism, sabotage, and violence. Others become powerful government advisers; many join foreign armies to train their special forces and expand the global brotherhood. Most risky of all, is the shadowy world of deniable 'black ops'. Guarding a deadly secret military cargo - a new missile system brokered through a spook under the guise of a Middle Eastern arms dealer - is all in a day's work. These are the risky yet vital jobs that governments will never admit. From Iraq and Afghanistan to Africa and Asia, award-winning defence writer Ian McPhedran uncovers a virtually unknown network and tells how Australia's top soldiers are forever linked in a seemingly borderless world.
©2008 Ian McPhedran (P)2010 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
Macquarie
Summary
Lachlan Macquarie is credited with shaping Australia's destiny, transforming a harsh, foreboding penal colony into an agricultural powerhouse and ultimately a prosperous society. He also helped shape Australia's national character. An egalitarian at heart, Macquarie saw boundless potential in Britain's refuse, and under his rule many former convicts went on to become successful administrators, land owners and businesspeople. However, the governor's ambitions for the colony brought him into conflict with the continent's original landowners, and he was responsible for the deaths of Aboriginal men, women and children brutally killed in a military operation intended to create terror among local Indigenous people. So was Macquarie the man who sowed the seeds of a new nation or a tyrant who destroyed Aboriginal resistance? In this, the most comprehensive biography yet of this fascinating colonial governor, acclaimed biographer Grantlee Kieza draws on Macquarie's rich and detailed journals. Ultimately, Macquarie laid the foundations for a new nation, but, in the process, he played a part in the dispossession of the continent's first nations. Lover, fighter, egalitarian, autocrat, Lachlan Macquarie is a complex and engaging character who first envisaged the nation we call Australia.
©2019 Grantlee Kieza (P)2019 Bolinda Publishing
Banjo
Summary
Balladeer, bushman, soldier, foreign correspondent - the remarkable life of Australia's greatest storyteller. A. B. ‘Banjo’ Paterson is rightly recognised as Australia’s greatest storyteller and most celebrated poet, the boy from the bush who became the voice of a generation. He gave us our unofficial national anthem, ‘Waltzing Matilda’, and treasured ballads such as ‘The Man from Snowy River’ and ‘Clancy of the Overflow’, vivid creations that helped to define our national identity. But there is more, much more, to Banjo’s story, and in this landmark biography, award-winning writer Grantlee Kieza chronicles a rich and varied life, one that straddled two centuries and saw Australia transform from a far-flung colony to a fully fledged nation. Born in the bush, as a child Banjo rode his pony to a one-room school along a trail frequented by outlaw Ben Hall. As a young man he befriended Breaker Morant and covered the second Boer War as a reporter. He fudged his age to enlist during World War I, ultimately driving an ambulance before commanding a horse training unit during that conflict. Newspaper editor, columnist, foreign correspondent and ABC broadcaster, he knew countless luminaries of his time, including Rudyard Kipling, Winston Churchill, Field Marshal Haig and Henry Lawson. The tennis ace, notorious ladies’ man, brilliant jockey and celebrated polo player was an eyewitness to countless key moments in Australian history and saw Carbine and Phar Lap race. Extensively researched and written with Kieza’s trademark verve, Banjo is a lively and captivating portrait of this truly great Australian.
©2018 Grantlee Kieza (P)2018 Bolinda
The Amazing SAS
Summary
The best-selling, action-packed authoritative account of the SAS. Compelling listening for fans of military non-fiction. For the soldiers and officers of Australia's Special Air Service (SAS) Regimentâ¿¿ this is not just their professional mottoâ¿¿ but a creed that shapes their lives. The SAS is among the world's most respected special forces unitsâ¿¿ a crack team of men from the Australian Defence Force who can be relied upon to handle the most difficultâ¿¿ strategically sensitive and dangerous of military tasks. Now The Amazing SAS provides a thrilling insight into the way this country's SAS soldiers are selected and trainedâ¿¿ and reveals fascinating details about recent SAS deployments: East Timorâ¿¿ the 2000 Olympic gamesâ¿¿ the Tampaâ¿¿ the Afghanistan sampaign and the regiment's action-packed mission in Iraq.
©2009 Ian McPhedran (P)2009 Bolinda Publishing
Vietnam
Summary
The definitive account of Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War, by best-selling author of
Kokoda.
Seen as the last 'hot' frontline of the Cold War, the 10 year struggle in the rice paddies and jungles of South Vietnam unleashed the most devastating firepower on the Vietnamese nation and visited terrible harm on civilians and soldiers. Yet the Australian forces applied tactics that were very different from those of the Americans. Guided by their commanders' experience of jungle combat, Australian troops operated with stealth, deception and restraint in pursuing a 'better war'.
Drawing on hundreds of accounts by soldiers, politicians, aid workers, entertainers and the Vietnamese people, Paul Ham reconstructs for the first time the full history of our longest military campaign. From the commitment to engage, through the fight over conscription and the rise of the anti - war movement, to the tactics and horror of the battlefi eld, Ham exhumes the truth about this politicians' war - which sealed the fate of 50,000 Australian servicemen and women.
More than 500 soldiers were killed and thousands wounded. Those who made it home returned to a hostile and ignorant country and a reception that scarred them forever. This is their story.
©2008 Paul Ham (P)2008 Bolinda Publishing