Jamberoo Road

Five years after arriving on their coastal land grant in the New South Wales colony of Australia, Missabella, now settled with her ten orphan charges in a home built with the help of a convict and a young aboriginal boy, determines to find a way to provid

​This book draws on archival, oral history and public policy sources to tell a history of foster care in Australia from the nineteenth century to the present day. It is, primarily, a social history which places the voices of people directly touched by foster care at the centre of the story, but also within the wider social and political debates which have shaped foster care across more than a century. The book confronts foster care’s difficult past—death and abuse of foster children, family separation, and a general public apathy towards these issues—but it also acknowledges the resilience of people who have survived a childhood in foster care, and the challenges faced by those who have worked hard to provide good foster homes and to make child welfare systems better. These are themes which the book examines from an Australian perspective, but which often resonate with foster care globally.

* Each location is presented on facing pages where possible, so that text and maps can be read without turning pages * Photography has been taken in conditions and standards that walkers and riders will experience along the routes * Most of the routes chosen do not require specialist navigation or bushcraft skills For the first time in a single volume, this book brings together more than 140 of the best walks, tracks or trails in New South Wales, which can be walked by the moderately fit individual. They are located in national parks, coastal parks, state forests, conservation reserves, historic parks and local government and public easements. Other routes follow state highways, minor roads, coastal cliffs, old gold routes, or pass bushranger haunts and back roads linking towns and historical features. Most routes do not require specialist navigation or bushcraft skills, and vary in length from a 45-minute stroll to a 4-day, 65-kilometre camping trip. Walks, Tracks and Trails of New South Wales highlights the best the state has to offer, from an outback ghost town and ancient lake beds, to Australia's highest mountain, coastal environments and World Heritage rainforests. Easy-to-interpret maps are included to help you navigate, and the book's size makes it convenient to bring with you on your adventures.