Stephen Dando-Collins – June 17 2018

International Take Your Dog to Work Day – June 22 2018

Stephen is an award-winning author with over 40 published books. The majority of his works deal with military history ranging from Greek and Roman times to American 19th century history and World Wars I and II. His other children’s books include Chance in a Million, which was made into the movie Paws, starring Billy Connolly. Stephen’s other Australian histories include Mistaken Identity: The Trials of Joe Windred, a man wrongly convicted and incarcerated on two continents, who went on to become a champion boxer despite his physical disability, and be elected twice as Mayor of Orange, and Captain Bligh’s Other Mutiny, the definitive account, prompted by an almost forgotten transcript of a London court martial, of what really took place when John Macarthur inspired the NSW Corps to overthrow Governor William Bligh in 1808.

Caesar the War Dog (Book 3: Operation Pink Elephant)
Random House Australia, 2014; ISBN 9780857981684
10+ years
This dog never forgets a friend. When their friend Lucky is kidnapped by elephant poachers in Tanzania, the Global Rapid Reaction Responders team is called in to find him. Caesar the super-sniffing war dog is sent with Ben and Charlie on the mission. After a death-defying parachute jump into the ocean, they start gathering clues. The poachers were last seen stealing village children to become soldiers for their army – and they have forced Lucky to write a ransom letter. If the team can trace the letter, and work out which way the rebels went, they might be on the right track. Saving Lucky from the heavily armed poachers is their top priority, but the GRRR team is prepared to do whatever they can to stop the cruel trade in elephant tusks and free the boy soldiers. Can Caesar’s nose locate the illegal cargo – and trace and rescue a good friend – before it’s too late? A battle on the African plain is about to erupt.

Pasteur’s Gambit: Louis Pasteur, The Australasian Rabbit Plague and a Ten Million Dollar Prize
Vintage Australia, 2009; ISBN 9781741667035
In 1887, the NSW Government advertised an international competition for a biological cure for the rabbit plague, the prize equivalent to $10 million today. In Paris, famous microbiologist Dr Louis Pasteur, struggling to raise funds to open his Institute, saw the Australasian rabbit competition as the answer to his financial prayers and sent his 25-year-old nephew, Adrien Loir, to prove Pasteur’s remedy and return home within six weeks with the prize money. But Pasteur had not reckoned on sabotage by his greatest scientific rival, or on the self-interest of the competition’s Australian and New Zealand judges, or the private agendas of local politicians. Young Loir, determined not to fail his uncle, was in for the fight of his life. Pasteur’s Gambit, featuring a cast of characters ranging from great names in science to legendary French actress Sarah Bernhardt and a fast-talking Sydney larrikin, is the previously untold true story of an amazing episode in both scientific and national history.