A lifetime's work!
Tony Matthews with 'Tony's Tower'.
This is the 'pile' of books Tony has written during his long and diversified career
as a writer and historian.
The 'tower' includes several twin-volume and triple-volumes sets,
some as long as 850,000 words.
Tony Matthews was born in Swansea, South Wales, where he was educated at the independent school, Clevedon College. He subsequently travelled extensively through the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Caribbean while continuing his tertiary education externally.
In 1972, after almost a year in the West Indies, particularly at the beautiful colonial city of Port of Spain, Trinidad, he arrived in Australia where he soon totally immersed himself in studying and writing about Australian social history and world military history. He worked in the television industry for many years, writing, producing and directing, and during that time wrote a number of highly acclaimed historical documentaries which were broadcast on the Seven Network and ABC Television. His first book, This Dawning Land, followed in 1986.
Since then Tony has become a full-time author and has written more than thirty published books, thirteen television documentaries and approximately five hundred programs for ABC Radio and community radio stations around Australia.
His second book, Crosses, Australian Soldiers in the Great War, remained on Queensland’s best-selling list for thirteen consecutive weeks following its publication.
One of Tony's social histories, Landscapes of Change, has received warm acclaim from academic institutions such as the Australian National University in Canberra. A copy of this history is now on deposit with the Bodleian Library at Oxford University while other books written by Tony are held in the collections of the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. In 2004 his twin volume history of the Chinchilla Shire, Footsteps Through Time, was awarded a ‘Special Mention’ in the Australian Cultural Studies Awards for, ‘...an outstanding contribution to Australian culture’.
Tony Matthews’ books and articles have been published in Australia, England, the United States and New Zealand and his television documentaries are widely distributed to schools, universities, colleges and libraries across Australia. One of his books, Shadows Dancing, which was originally published in England and America, was translated and released in Czechoslovakia in 2005. It was re-released in London under the title: Spies for Nippon in November 2010.
Tony's series of true crime colonial histories has been extraordinarily successful; the books became best sellers for their publisher, Central Queensland University Press, and were serialised for radio. The radio series has been relayed by satellite to community radio stations around Australia. Former publisher, the late Professor David Myers of Central Queensland University Press, commented that Tony:
'... is clearly as gifted a writer in the literary sense as he is persistent and probing in his capacity as historical researcher. He is extraordinarily good at working to deadlines and produces finished products which are always ahead of schedule. His books have rapidly worked their way to the top of the best-sellers' list in Central Queensland University Press and we are proud to have him as one of our very best authors. Although he has excellent academic qualifications, his writing is quite free of academic jargon. ... He writes lucidly for a broad audience and this is why he is so popular'.
Tony Matthews is a former lecturer of the Hervey Bay campus of the University of Southern Queensland.
In 1972, after almost a year in the West Indies, particularly at the beautiful colonial city of Port of Spain, Trinidad, he arrived in Australia where he soon totally immersed himself in studying and writing about Australian social history and world military history. He worked in the television industry for many years, writing, producing and directing, and during that time wrote a number of highly acclaimed historical documentaries which were broadcast on the Seven Network and ABC Television. His first book, This Dawning Land, followed in 1986.
Since then Tony has become a full-time author and has written more than thirty published books, thirteen television documentaries and approximately five hundred programs for ABC Radio and community radio stations around Australia.
His second book, Crosses, Australian Soldiers in the Great War, remained on Queensland’s best-selling list for thirteen consecutive weeks following its publication.
One of Tony's social histories, Landscapes of Change, has received warm acclaim from academic institutions such as the Australian National University in Canberra. A copy of this history is now on deposit with the Bodleian Library at Oxford University while other books written by Tony are held in the collections of the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. In 2004 his twin volume history of the Chinchilla Shire, Footsteps Through Time, was awarded a ‘Special Mention’ in the Australian Cultural Studies Awards for, ‘...an outstanding contribution to Australian culture’.
Tony Matthews’ books and articles have been published in Australia, England, the United States and New Zealand and his television documentaries are widely distributed to schools, universities, colleges and libraries across Australia. One of his books, Shadows Dancing, which was originally published in England and America, was translated and released in Czechoslovakia in 2005. It was re-released in London under the title: Spies for Nippon in November 2010.
Tony's series of true crime colonial histories has been extraordinarily successful; the books became best sellers for their publisher, Central Queensland University Press, and were serialised for radio. The radio series has been relayed by satellite to community radio stations around Australia. Former publisher, the late Professor David Myers of Central Queensland University Press, commented that Tony:
'... is clearly as gifted a writer in the literary sense as he is persistent and probing in his capacity as historical researcher. He is extraordinarily good at working to deadlines and produces finished products which are always ahead of schedule. His books have rapidly worked their way to the top of the best-sellers' list in Central Queensland University Press and we are proud to have him as one of our very best authors. Although he has excellent academic qualifications, his writing is quite free of academic jargon. ... He writes lucidly for a broad audience and this is why he is so popular'.
Tony Matthews is a former lecturer of the Hervey Bay campus of the University of Southern Queensland.