AVAILABLE NOW
“Through the power of sport, they have proven that they can overcome the mental and physical trauma inflicted by their service.” – Sunday Territorian Frontier
“My abilities have changed over the years and, thorough sport, I have found ways to adapt so that I can stay invoiced and active.” – Garry Robinson DSM “Mr Invictus
“This impressive pictorial tome captures the vision of Invictus in Sydney, still capable of a 2000-like glow. But the essence of Unconquered is the dozen or so profiles of members of the Australian and New Zealand Defence Force teams, each with a story that makes the word “sacrifice” look pale in any other sporting context.” – Inside Sport Magazine
VIEW SAMPLE PAGES HERE
Unconquered: Our Wounded Warriors tells the remarkable story of a group of men and women from Australia and New Zealand who fought and conquered extraordinary challenges from the battlefield to the sporting arena. These veterans of the Army, Navy and Air Force served their country in campaigns from Somalia to Afghanistan and the multitude of conflicts in between, and share the common scars of their service, both apparent and invisible.
For these men and women, now confronting the trials of daily life, the Invictus Games provided a further challenge, a chance to test their mettle in the sporting arena representing the country for which they had fought. ‘Invictus’ is the Latin word for ‘unconquered’ or ‘undefeated’ — a perfect description of these veterans who now fight their own personal battles. Through the power of sport, they have proven that they can overcome the mental and physical trauma inflicted by their service. This beautifully illustrated volume allows us to share their story of service, sacrifice and courage, and gain an insight into their dogged determination to triumph in the face of adversity.
Unconquered: Our Wounded Warriors is a deeply personal and human account of the trauma of armed conflict and the suffering that continues long after the sounds of battle have died away. It highlights the power of the individual to overcome fear, wounds both mental and physical, and lifelong disability and inspires those of us who have never served to cope with our own challenges. These are stories of courage pure and simple and of the men and women who defied the odds to remain unconquered.
RUSI VIC Review –
Big Sky Publishing has produced a superb coffee table tribute and momento to the Invictus Games held in Sydney in October 2018. Many Australians were spellbound by the images they saw on television, and now some of these have they have been preserved in print form.
Townsville Bulletin –
Part of Prince Harry’s closing ceremony speech at the Invictus Games as included in the Unconquered: Our Wounded Warriors book. “You don’t have to be a veteran who has fought back from injury to be inspired by the Invictus Games.
“You can identify something in your own life that you want to change for the better and you can let the men and women of the Invictus Games remind you that no challenge is too difficult to overcome.”
Unconquered:Our Wounded Warriors by Denny Neave, Catherine McCullagh and Gordon Traill is available now from book stores or online at bigskypublishing.com.au.
The Mercury Review WORDS AMINA MCCAULEY –
Jarrod ‘Broken, Never Beaten’ Kent, a Tasmanian medically discharged from the army in 2017 after suffering a serious injury that resulted in 10 surgeries in 14 months and a PTSD diagnosis. After hitting rock bottom, Kent has since become known for his outstanding positivity and for his mantra … Kent, of Latrobe, says the physical and mental strength he has found through sport has enabled him to forge on.
“Sport and the Invictus Games as a whole was absolutely key to my rehabilitation and basically turned my life around,” he says. “There was that overwhelming feeling that I’d hit the rock bottom of the darkest hole I can imagine, but what am I going to do about it, am I going to be a victim or am I going to harden up and keep moving forward?”
Kent feels honoured to be part of the book,and hopes it will bring light to anyone else suffering.“We have all been broken at some point in our life, in some way, shape or form, whether it’s mentally, physically or emotionally,” he says. “I believe that the Invictus goal is to empower people so they realise that they may be broken, but never beaten.”
Inside Sport Magazine –
These Games are noble stuff in the truest sense of the word, with the power of sport harnessed to help veterans recover from injuries, physical and emotional, that they live with to this day.
This impressive pictorial tome captures the vision of Invictus in Sydney, still capable of a 2000-like glow. But the essence of Unconquered is the dozen or so profiles of members of the Australian and New Zealand Defence Force teams, each with a story that makes the word “sacrifice” look pale in any other porting context. There are battlefield ales, such as that of commandos Garry Robinson and Peter Rudland, who were injured in a Blackhawk crash in Afghanistan that killed four others. But there’s also the complex experience of life after service, such as that of Stephen Osborne. The common thread through them all:there is something of the camaraderie and drive they knew as soldiers in their new sporting lives.
GOOD FOR: Getting to know the stories behind these captains of their souls.
Ref
bs_admin –
news.com.au – Kerri-Anne Kennerley burst into tears during an emotional Studio 10 segment interview with Former Special Forces sniper commander Garry Robinson on his own journey to the 2018 Sydney Invictus Games
A former soldier’s story about being injured at war proved to be too much for Kerri-Anne Kennerley on Studio 10 this morning.
Kerri-Anne Kennerley broke down in tears on Studio 10 this morning while interviewing Australia’s best known Invictus Games athlete.
Former Special Forces sniper commander Garry Robinson lost his leg after a black hawk helicopter crash in Afghanistan in 2010.
This morning he was telling the Studio 10 panellists about his injuries and how the Invictus Games saved his life when Kennerley burst into tears.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Kennerley said as she grabbed Robinson’s hand.
Kennerley’s co-hosts appeared shocked and Joe Hildebrand tried to comfort her while continuing with the interview.
It’s possible the subject matter hit a little too close to home for Kennerley whose paraplegic husband died in February.
“I’m so sorry, everyone,” Kennerley said through tears. “I just know how painful everything must have been for you and your family. How did you cope with them and they with you?” she asked Robinson.
Watch interview here
bs_admin –
Unconquered: a new book on the power of sport and the unquenchable spirit of our veterans
24/04/2019 / 15:38
Chris Ilsley
6PR Chris Ilsley 6PR Perth Tonight Big Sky Publishing
Invictus is the Latin word for ‘unconquered’ or ‘undefeated’ — it is also the name of the games testing the prowess of wounded veterans who have overcome the mental and physical trauma inflicted by their service.
Co-author of the new book Unconquered: Our Wounded Warriors, Denny Neave, joins us to talk about this new book telling some of the stories of the men and women from Australia and New Zealand who fought and conquered extraordinary challenges from the battlefield to the sporting arena.
Download this podcast here
BooksentertainmentInvictus GamesPerth Tonight Book ClubreadingUnconquered
bs_admin –
Inside Sport, June 2019
The Invictus Games was bound to draw attention when it arrived in Sydney last year – with a newly married Prince of the British Royal family as its main backer, how could it not?
But Harry’s brainchild sporting event for wounded warriors,inaugurated in 2014, puts the celebrity hype in its place.
These Games are noble stuff in the truest sense of the word, with the power of sport harnessed to help veterans recover from injuries, physical and emotional, that they live with to this day.
This impressive pictorial tome captures the vision of Invictus in Sydney, still capable of a 2000-like glow. But the essence of Unconquered is the dozen or so profiles of members of the Australian and New Zealand Defence Force teams, each with a story that makes the word “sacrifice” look pale in any other sporting context. There are battlefield tales, such as that of commandos Garry Robinson
and Peter Rudland, who were injured in a Blackhawk crash in Afghanistan that killed four others. But there’s also the complex experience of life after service, such as that of Stephen Osborne. The common thread through them all: there is something of the camaraderie and drive they knew as soldiers in their new sporting lives.
GOOD FOR: Getting to know the stories behind these captains of their souls.
bs_admin –
FROM THE FRONT LINE | The Mercury Newspaper Saturday 20/04/2019 | WORDS AMINA MCCAULEY
It was a normal day if 40 or 50 bombs went off in Baghdad, where Gordon Traill was based in 2004. But a car bomb at 8.20am on May 25 is the moment the photographer of Unconquered: Our Wounded Warriors remembers most clearly.
His ears were ringing and dust clouded his vision as he dragged himself up two flights of stairs to his station. Falling and hitting his head on the way, the soldier sustained the neck injury that would later have him discharged from the army and eventually result in posttraumatic stress disorder.
“By three o’clock in the afternoon the bomb crater had been filled in and life became normal again,” Traill tells TasWeekend in the lead-up to Anzac Day. Traill began taking photos to give himself a sense of purpose and strength in the same way some other veterans use sport. The twohealing activities come together in a new book on the Invictus Games photographed by Traill.
The resilience of Australian and New Zealand veterans in the aftermath of the physical and mental trauma of war is honoured in Unconquered: Our Wounded Warriors, which profiles participants in the 2018 Invictus Games held in Sydney. The global event, in which wounded, injured or sick armed services personnel and their associated veterans participate in various sports, was created by Prince Harry Duke of Sussex in 2014.
Working with authors Denny Neave and Catherine McCullagh, Traill records the stains left on the lives of those who have served and the way in which those who suffered regained strength and control of their lives.
Within the book are Traill’s depictions of this agility and stamina at the Games, where his role was to photograph each of the featured participants in action.
One of these veterans is Jarrod ‘Broken, Never Beaten’ Kent, a Tasmanian medically discharged from the army in 2017 after suffering a serious injury that resulted in 10 surgeries in 14 months and a PTSD diagnosis. After hitting rock bottom, Kent has since become known for his outstanding positivity and for his mantra.
“He’s got the best smile a guy could ever have,” says Traill. “I’ve got a bit of a man-crush on him. He just exudes energy and that guy has been through so much.”
Kent, of Latrobe, says the physical and mental strength he has found through sport has enabled him to forge on. “Sport and the Invictus Games as a whole was absolutely key to my rehabilitation and basically turned my life around,” he says. “There was that overwhelming feeling that I’d hit the rock bottom of the darkest hole I can imagine, but what am I going to do about it, am I going to be a victim or am I going to harden up and keep moving forward?”
Kent feels honoured to be part of the book,and hopes it will bring light to anyone else suffering. “We have all been broken at some point in our life, in some way, shape or form, whether it’s mentally, physically or emotionally,” he says. “I believe that the Invictus goal is to empower people so they realise that they may be broken, but never beaten.”
Unconquered: Our Wounded Warriors, $69.99, Big Sky Publishing, will be released after Anzac Day on April 26 and will be available at all local bookstores, nationally in Dymocks, QBD, Collins online booktopia and bigskypublishing.
bs_admin –
MAXUM MAGAZINE
The Invictus Games, held in Sydney last October, showcased the remarkable determination and talents of our incredible wounded service men and women as they battled it out in their respective sporting fields. These veterans of the Army, Navy and Air Force served in campaigns from Somalia to Afghanistan, and shared the scars of their service, both apparent and invisible. Prince Harry referred to “the healing power of sport” as he watched competitors from
18 countries around the world represent the nation for which they’d fought. Yet many of the competitors’ compelling personal stories have yet to be told. Until now. New book Unconquered: Our Wounded Warriors tells the true stories of Australian and New Zealand men and women who fought and triumphed over extraordinary challenges from the battlefield to the sporting arena. It also offers a deeply personal account of the trauma of armed conflict, the power of the individual to overcome fear, wounds both mental and physical and the persistent determination to succeed in the face of adversity. In this edited extract, we take a look at the very different personal accounts of two such Australian athletes…
Ben Farinazzo –
The Invictus Games Sydney 2018 were not just a life-changing event, they were a life-saving event.
This book carries the stories of my mates that turned the echoes of their memories into inspiration for their future. They fought through blood, sweat and tears to step out of the darkness into the light reminding us that the struggle is only part of the story. This wonderful and timeless book shares the inspirational stories of many young Australians that served our country, overcoming physical and psychological injuries to then represent it in sports. These stories are raw and go to the heart of our humanity. Thank you Denny, Catherine, Gordon and Big Sky Publishing for producing this extraordinary book that can remain in homes and offices as an ongoing reminder of the unconquerable human spirit.
A must read, highly recommended!