Great Australian Urban Legends

by Eamon Evans

Satanists in Perth. Panthers in Sydney. Inner Melbourne's secret morgue.Australia is stuffed full of stories that need to be taken with a big spoon of salt. Stories that we all know are silly, but that we also just can't help sharing. In Great Australian Urban Legends, Eamon Evans presents you with myths, misconceptions and bare-faced lies about real people and real places down under. These pages libel Captain Cook and slander Phar Lap. They will annoy the Wiggles and David Boon. They will reveal whether Harold Holt really died, if the bunyip ever lived, and which famous Australian now gets by as a ghost.

Genres: Nonfiction

271 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 1, 2015

About the author

Eamon Evans is a Melbourne-based author who has spent all his working life writing for the online and print media. He has written four books: Small Talk, The Godfather Was A Girl, Lord Sandwich And The Pants Man and Grand Slams Of Tennis.

His work has appeared in the SUNDAY HERALD SUN, the ADELAIDE ADVERTISER, the AUSTRALIAN BOOK REVIEW, the SUNDAY TIMES and the COURIER-MAIL.

Online, he has been an in-house writer for Big Pond Sport, SBS, ArtsHub, the Weekly Book Newsletter and the electronic bulletin of the International Federation of Arts Council and Culture Agencies.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'll admit that my primary reason for reading this book - it's my husband's - was to fulfill a prompt in a February reading challenge in which I am participating: "Read a book where both the author's initials are found in the word VALENTINE". I thought it also might be a starter for the prompt in the Booklist Queen’s 2020 Reading Challenge prompt "A book that makes you laugh". Unfortunately, it didn't.
For a start, the title is not fitting - a significant proportion of the material contained is derived from countries other than Australia. Also, the author seems to have misunderstood the concept of an "urban legend", which I take to be "a genre of folklore comprising stories circulated as true, especially as having happened to a friend or family member, often with horrifying or humorous elements" (Wikipedia definition). Barely half of the material contained in this book meets this definition, and that's a stretch. For readers who, as I do, find the concept of urban legends fascinating, I can highly recommend Too Good to Be True: The Colossal Book of Urban Legends by Jan Harold Brunvand.
Also, the author is clearly a lot less witty than he thinks he is. The writing is crass and obvious and the attempts at a humorous commentary embarrasing.
I bought this book for my husband at a charity store for AU$2. I think it was overpriced.

[Kirsti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely hilarious! Whether or not you agree with his opinions, this author tells stories with incredible wit and charm that had me won over long before I finished the book. There were stories I'd read before, but definitely not with the same attitude this author had. I actually laughed out loud. That doesn't happen very often with non fiction.

Absolutely recommend, five fun filled stars!

[Mel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was just silly. Rob can have it back.

[Eleanor Waight]

Interesting collection of urban / legends from the sublime ti the crazy. Told with humour and a bit of tongue in cheek. Some are horrible and others not so.

[Joh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Urban Myth/Legend books so you can imagine my surprise when I returned to Australia after a few years away and saw 'Great Australian Urban Legends' on the shelves. I purchased it right away and presumed I would purchase many more copies to give as gifts when overseas again.

The front cover features a Drop Bear and I imagined hilarious tales regarding Australian creatures such as Drop Bears, Bunyips, Yowies and who knows what else. I was expecting a rollicking yarn. Yes I judged the book by its cover AND title. Be warned - I was extremely disappointed.

Author Eamon Evans is a decent and humorous writer and had he bothered to remember his own title he may have done a better job. Unfortunately Mr. Evans can't seem to tell the difference between Australia and America!!!

There are urban legends from outside of Australia and on topics that aren't even big in Australia such as Halloween. Even when using quotes or quips to start off his stories, Eamon prefers not to use anything Australian.

The author should also probably look up the meaning of Urban Legend as he tended to just lean towards ghost stories.

As for Drop Bears, Bunyips and Yowies, the author decided to lump them all in together with some big cat sightings for good luck in a handful of paragraphs that were completely lacking in any detail. What a waste!

If you are after a book that has a few Australian ghost stories with absolutely NO detail then by all means buy this book. However if you are after fun Australian Urban Legends look elsewhere....

[Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely not as advertised. There where a few urban legends, but also a large amount of ghost stories, UFO stories, and folklore.

Someone needs to take Eamon Evans aside and carefully explain exactly what constitutes an urban legend.

[Tom Flood · Rating 1 out of 5]

Given the 2024 edition as a Christmas prez. Powered through over the dull hols but it proved duller, so I stopped. I rarely stop. It skipped many famous AU urban myths but included many stories not AU, and not even legend. The humour was trying, downright tedious. Why Affirm ever reprinted it beats me but they've made poor decisions before.

[Timon Fotakis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book to be really quite good. It was funny and it was informative. It could use a bit more distinction between urban legends portrayed as true for humorous purposes and the actual factual content, but overall a very entertaining book.

[troy spry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought it would be crap, I was wrong.

Well written and great coverage. Self deprecating humour with the right mix of snark. Definitely recommend. 4 more words required to finish review.

[David Piepers · Rating 1 out of 5]

Barely Australian, with investigations about as deep as a wading pool. Style over substance and the style isn't even that great.

[Rebecca Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐

[Ethan Giacomel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, gets a bit dry at times. Best read in small doses

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the stories were interesting enough, but I couldn't handle the writing style.

[Naomi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could have been great, but the "jokes" were just embarrassing - snide, tone-deaf and forced. It was like watching a failed stand-up routine that went for way too long.