Bring Back Yesterday – Bob Carr

My memory insists she appropriated them from her previous school, Dover Heights Girls. When I opened mine, I might as well have been a POW falling on a Red Cross parcel or a Russian dissident on samizdat. This was what I had been waiting for. Our previous English teachers had dumbed down grammar. Finally, here were the serious rules, the Rosetta Stone. All of a sudden, for example, I understood how you used the verb ‘were’ instead of ‘was’ in the subjunctive mood, as in ‘If I were …’

and not ‘If I was …’ My textbook was transformative for me; it explained so much. The rules of English clicked into place. After the dismal boredom of all those hours devoted to woodwork, metalwork and technical drawing, the syllabus was now offering something I wanted, something relevant to my likely future— as a journalist, as a member of parliament.

She followed up with a roneoed list of common errors in usage—like the distinction between quantity and number. You say, ‘less sand’ but ‘fewer grains of sand’. There’s a distinction between quantity and number. Click! Another rule had fallen into place. This was my algebra; this was my physics. If only I could have studied Latin or German. But no, not possible for the kids of the working class in an industrial region—the carpentry workshop beckoned. Or the desks set up for technical drawing.

My campaign to become Miss Allen’s pet worked and she lent me a precious book she had been given as a girl, a child’s history of English literature. No one else in the class had been granted such a distinction. It fuelled my drive to read literature. And then at the start of fourth year, in another astonishing gift (adding value in a way no other teacher did), she brought to school a box of her own books and said that we should read adult literature.

While these modern classics were not on the curriculum, we should know them anyway, she said. Even if it meant setting the alarm clock for 6 a.m. and starting the day with an hour’s reading, that’s what you had to do.

Bob Carr was the longest-serving NSW premier, and foreign minister in the Gillard and Rudd governments. He is the author of Thoughtlines, My Reading Life, Diary of a Foreign Minister and a memoir, Run for Your Life. — ‘A soul-searing portrait of love and loss. Bob Carr rose through the roughshod ranks of the NSW Labor party to become state premier and foreign minister representing Australia on the world stage.

But his own world was undone when his beloved wife—his best friend—died suddenly in his arms. This unsparing account of a powerful man unravelled by grief is a brave gift to all who have suffered, and will suffer, the inevitable tragedy of being human.’ Geraldine Brooks, author of Memorial Days and Horse ‘A memoir of raw and extraordinary power.’ David Marr, host of ABC RN Late Night Live ‘This scorching book burns with passion and pain, but also with resilience and a defiant hope.

In so powerfully evoking the deepest human solidarity it is also, unexpectedly, a joy to read.’ Greg Sheridan, author of How Christians Can Succeed Today 1kitap1.com/en 1kitap1.com/en First published in 2026 Copyright © Bob Carr 2026 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Allen & Unwin Cammeraygal Country 83 Alexander Street Crows Nest NSW 2065 Australia Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100 Email: [email protected] Web: www.allenandunwin.com Allen & Unwin acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Country on which we live and work. We pay our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders, past and present. ISBN 978 1 76147 313 5 eISBN 978 1 92349 254 7 Cover design: Lisa White Cover photograph: News Ltd Typeset by Bookhouse, Sydney 1kitap1.com/en As always, to H 1kitap1.com/en ‘O!

call back yesterday. Bid time return.’ —William Shakespeare, Richard II, Act 3, Scene 2 1kitap1.com/en Contents 1. If I’m Cracked 2. Taiping 3. A Stopover in Tahiti 4. Whatever It Takes 5. Suddenly We Changed 6. Debts of Honour: The Great-Aunt 7. First Christmas 8. The Tears, the House 9. She Never Boasted 10. Debts of Honour: The Teacher 11.

Hang in There 12. Debts of Honour: The Campaign Director 13.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: b1cf0ac4460c176f
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 4,071,558 bytes (3.883 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781761473135, 9781923492547
• Pages: 151
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 225.54 minutes
• Total Words: 45,108
• Total Characters: 259,318
• Average Words per Page: 298.73
• Average Characters per Page: 1717.34

Most Frequent Words

one (159), helena (134), time (112), life (108), like (95), first (90), years (85), said (85), day (82), told (70), old (66), home (64), even (63), now (61), back (61), two (56), friend (55), it’s (53), never (50), sydney (49), last (47), love (46), new (46), see (45), another (45), premier (44), house (43), thought (42), helena’s (42), school (42), labor (40), days (40), night (40), friends (40), every (40), australia (39), great (39), little (39), opera (39), left (38), later (38), death (37), city (37), think (37), street (36), words (36), say (36), chinese (36), com (35), always (35), something (35), end (35), kitap (34), english (34), party (34), world (34), people (34), big (34), good (33), john (33), year (33), grief (32), also (32), without (32), come (32), bereavement (32), music (32), state (31), wrote (31), around (31), minister (30), family (30), business (30), right (29), room (29), tears (28), leader (28), long (28), three (28), australian (28), wife (27), i’m (27), way (27), yes (27), saw (27), remember (27), taiping (26), still (26), visit (26), hotel (26), south (26), together (26), public (26), history (25), white (25), place (25), came (25), art (25), got (25), eyes (25).

PDF Download