Lawson and I go back a long way. As a child I read voraciously and, at about the age of 10, I remember being transfixed by one of Lawson's most famous short stories, The Drover's Wife. I was tremendously excited to discover someone who described the Australian landscape exactly as I saw it - and, more importantly - felt it. Profoundly deaf, prey to depression and endlessly battling with the bottle, Henry Lawson, his poetry and his prose still captivate and inspire me.

KEATING: THE INSIDE STORY
John Edwards

The conduct of Australia's socio-economic affairs in the 1980s is a source of endless fascination for me as I was, at the time, an opinionated, outspoken musician on the national stage. While in large part this book is as dry as chips, it was a ''summer-school'' course in real economics and a seat at the policy table.

A RAGE TO LIVE
Mary S. Lovell

There is no shortage of books about Sir Richard Burton, the 19th-century explorer. A Rage to Live draws a detailed picture of a scholar, adventurer and rugged individual - never one to kowtow to society's expectations. At times, during my own moderately unconventional life, I've drawn some comfort and a whole lot of inspiration from the story of this restless outsider with an instinctive aversion to authority.

THE JUNGLE BOOK (AND THE SECOND JUNGLE BOOK)
Rudyard Kipling

In 1961 I joined the Scouting movement as a Wolf Cub. I was eight years old. The Jungle Book underpinned the "Wolf Cub" culture and provided our leaders with their "pack" names - Akela, Baloo and Kaa etc. The Jungle Book transported me into the dark and steamy jungles of India. It was only in adulthood that I came to see that there might be an allegorical aspect to Kipling's stories.