|
The
Great Australian Loneliness - Ernestine Hill
Imprint Travel ISBN 1-875892-06-0
346pp AU$17.95
' This
is the story of a journalist's journey round and across
Australia.... It was in July 1930 that I first set out,
a wandering "copy-boy" with swag and typewriter,
to find what lay beyond the railway lines. Many a time
have I unrolled the little swag by creek and sandhill,
alone in the silence and starlight with a white man
and a black. I have interviewed men living in wurlies
of paper-bark who read Gibbon and wrote Greek and danced
in corroboree; lepers and the dying, deep-sea divers
and prospectors for gold, and white women fighting the
splendid battle of the pioneers.'
Ernestine
Hill's classic account of travelling across and around
Australia, in a pilgrimage of many years and 100,000
miles.
'The
most picturesque account of our outback that has yet
been written... a vivid and arresting page of Australian
history.' Adelaide Advertiser
'A travel-book that is a pleasure to recommend.' The
Irish Times
'With
zest, humour and a warm sympathy, Hill brings to life
a frontier...' New York Herald Tribune
Ernestine
Hill was born in 1899 in Rockhampton, Queensland. Travel
was always in her blood and after the death of her husband
in 1933 she embarked on a life of almost continuous
travel and writing. The Great Australian Loneliness
was followed by Water Into Gold. Her best-known
book is The Territory.
|
Amazing
stories from the deep well of Australian history not
found in the formal history texts - in some cases, entirely
lost till now. Hornadge has found the real story of
Herbert Hoover's lost years in Australia (this American
President spent his early years rorting Australian shareholders
with fake gold mines, before taking his accumulated
wealth off-shore), Henry Lawson's mum, Henry Parkes,
details of Martial Law and unknown Aboriginal massacres.
Twenty two true tales written in Hornadge's trademark
comic style. 
'This
book is written to help the new hand who ventures into
the bush seeking gold. The writer is trying to put into
these chapters the practical experience of twenty years.
The "towny" prospector, with this book as
a guide, will soon master methods of prospecting and
the working of his find. Otherwise, he might well find
himself in the position of a man given a job about which
he knows absolutely nothing.' Idriess's manual was written
during the Depression when the thirst for gold was particularly
strong, with desperate men heading off on a rumour to
'make their fortune'. It's great strength is its easy
conversational tone, and it's full of the anecdotes
for which Jack Idriess was famous. The colour and tone
of an era are here, in the pages of this classic of
the Australian gold-rush days.