Brave Australians


After writing a Walkely Award winning article for the Weekend Australian magazine, journalist Mark Whittaker, wanted to find out what 5 people had done to be awarded the Cross of Valour, Australia's highest decoration for bravery.   Mark subsequently interviewed Allan and the 4 other Cross of Valour recipients.  He wrote a powerful and fascinating article.  Mark credits Allan for being the inspiration for his new book 'Brave' that tells the story of 29 other Australians and their extraordinary acts of heroism. 

BRAVE - Mark Whittaker - Pan McMillan Publishers.

A bit about the Author, Mark Whittaker;
 
Mark Whittaker is the author or co-author of eight books, including Sins of the Brother: The definitive Story of Ivan Milat and The backpacker murders, The Road to Mount Buggery: A Journey through the Curiously Named Places of Australia, and Love and Death in Kathmandu: A Strange Tale of Royal Murder. In 2005, he won the Walkley Award for magazine feature writing for a story in the Weekend Australian magazine about the people who ran into a burning daycare centre to save the children inside. Mark lives on the New South Wales south coast with his wife and sometimes co-author, Amy Willesee, and their two children
If you enjoy reading about ordinary Australians and their extraordinary acts of Courage, why not grab a copy of Mark's new book 'Brave'.  As described on the Pan McMillan web site, Mark's book is, in every sense of the word, extraordinary – both in its approach, the people it describes and honours, and in the effect it has on the reader. It is compelling, complex, heart-breaking and uplifting.  Would you knowingly cop a 20,000 volt electric shock to save a friend and his child? Would you swim out from the beach to rescue a man bitten by a five-metre white pointer, while the shark is still circling him? Would you run into the carnage of a burning Bali nightclub to save people when anyone who can still walk is running the other way?
These are decisions made in a split-second by ordinary people placed in extraordinary circumstances. Yet those decisions can – and usually do – have an impact that lasts a lifetime. So what happens to these ordinary heroes once the newspaper headlines have disappeared and the medal-award ceremony is a distant memory? Mark Whittaker, Walkley-Award winning journalist and award winning author, has written a unique account that follows men and women in amazing acts of bravery – and then the long aftermath as they deal with an array of issues – from guilt to post-traumatic stress – that were the furthest things from their minds when they made that split-second decision to risk their own life for someone else's.

Click HERE to buy an E-book copy of Mark's book 'Brave'

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