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About Us

We've Pursued the Same Goal Since the Beginning

We are a small company dedicated to bringing to the marketplace the voices of Australia who cannot get a break with ‘Big Publishing’.

PB Publishing’s principal, Phillipa Butler, is a journalist of 35 years’ experience. She has worked for Australian newspapers including The Age and Sunday Age and The Canberra Times, and has undertaken freelance work for groups as diverse as CSIRO, UNICEF, the University of Melbourne, Monash University, MIM Mining, Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation (Melbourne), business colleges and tourism ventures.

Her expertise extends from writing through to design and production and includes appointments as deputy chief sub-editor at The Age and production editor at Australian Rural Times (Rural Press/Fairfax). In a diverse career she has written across the spectrum, from technical scientific articles to subjects including education, the law, agriculture and human interest, as well as designing and laying out various newspapers.

In 2010 she wrote her first book, Haystacks & Hellfire, which was nominated for Heritage Victoria’s Community History Awards.

A book by one of PB Publishing’s writers, Louise Evans (Passage to Pusan), won international praise and was made into a joint South Korea/Australia documentary. Another, by Bruce Dudon (Leave Early. And If You Can’t…), formed the basis of an ABC fire-preparedness podcast in 2024.

PB Publishing has a network of associates in areas of special expertise, and employs graphic designers to ensure unique book covers for each author.

  • Early Football and the NSW Wanderers 1880<br>A Collective Biography
    Early Football and the NSW Wanderers 1880
    A Collective Biography
    $47

    Football today. Where did it begin, when did it start, who kicked it off, what was their story?

  • Tales of Old Gisborne
    Tales of Old Gisborne
    $35

    An entertaining and humorous account of growing up in a country town, written by these well-known brothers whose family ran the local blacksmith/garage from the 1860s.

  • Gamaliel Butler, A Family History
    Gamaliel Butler, A Family History
    $24

    Gamaliel Butler, A Family History

  • Together They Faced Hell
    Together They Faced Hell
    $30

    A powerful non-fiction narrative focusing on the bond between the men and their horses in Australia's Light Horse regiments of World War 1.

  • A Boy’s Life
    A Boy’s Life
    $35

    What is it in a child’s life that sets them on their chosen path?
    Dr John Court is an eminent paediatrician who became an internationally renowned specialist in the field of childhood diabetes.

  • Orchard Lane
    Orchard Lane
    $35

    A delightful fourth novel from this author. The story follows the trials and tribulations of a group of neighbours – a diverse group of people all from different walks of life -- in a tiny Melbourne street, through the eyes of recent arrival Maryanne, who has moved back to the city from the country. Was it the right move?

  • Geelong to Gallipoli - And Back
    Geelong to Gallipoli - And Back
    $35

    Roy and Bert Gollan served at Gallipoli and in Europe with so many other young Geelong men, a distressing number of whom did not return. Fortunately the brothers survived.

  • Australian Soccer - From The Beginning
    Australian Soccer - From The Beginning
    $45

    A state by state history of men’s and women’s soccer in Australia written by legendary soccer journalist Ted Simmons OAM. 

  • Skewiff / The Meaning of Australia
    Skewiff / The Meaning of Australia
    $20

    Australia boasts some of the most imaginative place names in the world. Ever wondered what they mean?

  • Haystacks & Hellfire
    Haystacks & Hellfire
    $45

    This popular local history explores the origins of white settlement in South Gisborne and surrounds, a farming district known in Gold Rush days as Cabbage Tree and later Couangalt, whose story involves Melbourne’s elite as well as the small voices of Victoria’s colonial history.