Anthony Sharwood – författare

At the start of the hellish, fiery Australian summer of 2019/20, Walkley Award-winning journalist and suburban dad Anthony Sharwood set off on a journey. Abandoning his post on a busy news website to clear his mind, he solo-trekked the Australian Alps Walking Track, Australia''s most gruelling and breathtakingly beautiful mainland hiking trail, which traverses the entirety of the legendary High Country from Gippsland in Victoria to the outskirts of Canberra.The journey started in a blizzard and ended in a blaze. Along the way, this lifelong lover of the mountains came to realise that nothing would ever be the same - either for him or for the imperilled Australian Alps, a landscape as fragile and sensitive to the changing climate as the Great Barrier Reef.

It''s not just a war over horses. It''s a battle for the soul of Australia.This is a book about the intense culture war raging around Australia''s wild horses, known as brumbies. It pits a vision of the legendary Man from Snowy River and the iconic ANZAC Light Horse against the spectre of ecosystems destroyed by feral pests. The debate involves powerful politicians and media commentators, and stars an animal mythologised in Australian poetry and prose. But in essence, this is about us. The Brumby Wars is about Australians at war with each other over their vision of an ideal Australia.To ecologists and people who ski, walk and fish in the High Country and other areas where the brumbies proliferate, they are a feral menace which must be removed to save delicate alpine landscapes. To the descendants of cattle families and many Australians in urban and regional areas, brumbies are untouchable, a symbol of wildness and freedom.Something has to give. But what? The land or the horses? This war is set to escalate dramatically before we have an answer. Featuring interviews with characters from all sides of the debate, The Brumby Wars is the riveting account of a major national issue and the very human passions it inspires. It is also a journey, a quest to understand what makes us tick in our increasingly polarised country.Praise for Anthony Sharwood''s From Snow to Ash''Makes for inspirational reading'' West Australian''A distinctive, charming narrative ... a thinking, caring man''s trek'' Canberra Times''A joyous read with personality in spades ... A book for the adventurer in us all'' Australian Geographic

Heroes are hard to come by - but there''s one man whose legend has stood the test of two centuries, and whose name sits on Australia''s highest peak. Tadeusz Kosciuszko: freedom fighter, friend of Thomas Jefferson and champion of liberty on two continents. Bestselling author Anthony Sharwood finds out why he''s the hero the world needs right now.Kosciuszko - our iconic highest mountain - is a name familiar to all Australians. But how many people know who the mountain is named after?Tadeusz Kosciuszko, who lived from 1746 to 1817, is the most famous person Australians probably know absolutely nothing about. A military engineer, freedom fighter, and champion of human rights, this extraordinary revolutionary was crucial to the success of the American War of Independence, then bravely led an uprising against Russia and other invaders in his native Poland, promising freedom and equality to all who joined his cause.In his day, Kosciuszko was loved and respected across Europe and America. His great friend Thomas Jefferson called him ''as pure a son of liberty as I have ever known'', while Kosciuszko would later challenge Jefferson to live up to the famous words ''All men are created equal'' by bequeathing his American funds to free enslaved people, including those on Jefferson''s plantation.Bestselling author Anthony Sharwood (From Snow to Ash; The Brumby Wars) has spent a lifetime walking, skiing and writing about Kosciuszko National Park. Now he sets off on the trail of the man himself, travelling across the USA, Poland and Switzerland to key sites in Kosciuszko''s life. Returning to Australia where a potential name change from Mt Kosciuszko to an Indigenous name is hotly debated, he walks with the area''s traditional owners and discovers the ancient history of Australia''s highest peak.Kosciuszko''s life and legacy is enthralling, inspiring and indispensable. But is that reason enough to keep his name on the mountain?''Informed, entertaining . . . Sharwood emphasises the deep, genuinely held humanity of his subject'' THE AGE