Complete book of heroic Australian women: twenty-one extraordinary women whose stories changed history. Susanna DenVries. 2010.

Providing inspiration for today’s women in this book of profiles, Susanna De Vries examines what it takes to be a truly heroic Australian.

Women of grit and courage, women of integrity, resilience and resourcefulness: the 21 individuals whose stories make up Complete Book of Heroic Australian Women were a rare breed. They faced different tests - harshness as pioneers in outback Australia; the turmoil of war - but when encountering adversity, even death, each proved her mettle.

From Olive King, who saved countless lives in the war-ravaged Balkans, to Vivian Bullwinkel, who survived the Bangla Island Massacre only to endure three tragedy-filled years in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, to Jeannie Guinn, who turned her experiences of hostile outback conditions into a classic book, We of the Never Never, these are women who displayed extraordinary determination in often terrible circumstances.