Eliza Reilly's book, Sheilas: Badass Women of Australian History, is a comedic romp through some of the undersung heroines of Australia's history.
Reilly skips lightly across decades and centuries to highlight a variety of historical figures who have been largely overlooked by history books. She hunts out the women who weren't delicate, "nice" ladies, but rather "sheilas" - bushrangers, spies, adventuresses, witches... a wide and varied selection of women who "hiked up their petticoats and fly-kicked down the doors of opportunity for modern Australia".
In this book you'll meet characters like Mary Ann Bugg (arguably the brains and potentially the brawn behind Captain Thunderbolt's successful bushranging career), and Annette Kellerman (who was both the first woman to attempt to swim the English Channel and the first woman to appear nude in a Hollywood film).
You'll also find Faith Bandler, who was one of the driving forces behind changing the constitution to allow Australian indigenous peoples to... well, exist (legally speaking), and Deborah Lawrie - who managed to convince an airline that women could pilot passenger flights in spite of the fact that they had, *ahem*, "womanly parts".
The book is written with a very Millennial sense of humour. Imagine you went to a "fringe" comedy show in Melbourne where the roster was filled with women in their 30s, and you're probably on the right track. Reilly has gone out of her way to pepper the text with throw-away lines about vaginas and tits. To whit, she'll repurpose a phrase like "didn't have the balls to pull it off" to "didn't have the labia majoras". She swears freely (but organically - it's not swearing for the shock value) and engages in gonzo journalism - she is very much involved in the stories she is telling, and her research into the time, place and people is a key part of the tales she tells.
If you are a middle-aged white man who feels that most of what Millennials say is a personal attack, this probably isn't going to be a book you will enjoy. If you're used to "history books" written from a detached and scholarly perspective, you might find this book a bit of a culture shock. Reilly partly wrote this book to promote a number of historical figures who have been largely overlooked, but she partly wrote it to have a history book (or, rather, a "herstory" book) written for and by the Millennials that puts women and women's perspectives front and centre.
The audio book (which JCU doesn't have, but can be downloaded from the Townsville City Libraries' Borrow Box service, and may be available from your public library) is read by Reilly, and the "Fringe Festival Comedy Show" vibe is very much evident in her narration. However, it's worth having a look at the print copy of the book, if you can, because Reilly has added notes in the margins giving "definitions" of various words and terms. For example:
Yard: 'Yard', lol. What the heck is a 'yard'?
The collage-style illustrations by Regine Abos with their ever-so-slightly off-kilter bird paintings are also worth seeing.
It's a lovely piece of recreational reading that's good for a chuckle, and you'll learn something while you're at it.
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