The transient radio sky observed with the Parkes radio telescope

This thesis focuses on the study of time-variable phenomena relating to pulsars and fast radio bursts (FRBs). Pulsars are rapidly rotating neutron stars that produce radio emission at their magnetic poles and are observed throughout the Galaxy. The source of FRBs remains a mystery - their high dispersion measures may imply an extragalactic and possibly cosmological origin; however, their progenitor sources and distances have yet to be verified. This thesis presents the results of searches for fast radio bursts in which several new bursts were found, including the first burst found in real-time and followed-up with telescopes across a range large range of wavelengths.