Sheilas: Badass Women of Australian History

It’s been said that ‘well-behaved women seldom make history’, but the handful of white boys who wrote our history books conveniently left most of them out. Whoops! To rectify this situation, Eliza Reilly is setting out to revive the forgotten stories of the badass sheilas of Australian history.

Chain yourself to pub counters with the determined Merle Thornton, fight for Indigenous rights alongside Faith Bandler and lure forlorn sailors with swimmer-slash-mermaid Annette Kellerman. Deceive cranky soldiers with swarthy Mary Ann Bugg, infiltrate Nazi perimeters on the back of Nancy Wake’s bike - and much, much more.

Cracking with satirical wit and whole-hearted admiration, Sheilas is a cheeky, funny, inspirational celebration of the tough-titted ladies who hiked up their petticoats and flykicked down the doors of opportunity for modern Australia.