In the mid north rangelands of Western Australia, at the headwater of the Gascoyne River is a station that dates back to 1884. Australian pastoralist Frederick Wittenoom was among the first Europeans to explore the pastoral opportunities in and around the Gascoyne River area, acquiring Three Rivers with B.J Carlyon. He stocked the holding with [...]
Schooling the bush way. The pushbike, car, motorbike or quadbike ride to the school bus pickup point along a dirt road. Or perhaps a short walk. The car-pooling to a local school. The switching on of the School of the Air or the studying of lessons under the scrutiny of a governess or parent via [...]
Hans Heysen: When we envisage the Australian bush, a vision of the iconic gum tree instantly comes to mind. Throughout history many artists have painted these quintessentially Australian trees, but I don’t believe anyone has mastered it quite as meticulously as Australian landscape artist Hans Heysen. He brought these soaring pillars to life with watercolour [...]
‘Frankly my dear I don’t give a damn.’ And so Rhett Butler fed up with the chase, said good-bye to Scarlett in Gone With The Wind. Millions of readers of this classic tale of the south were shocked at Scarlett’s foolishness at losing the dashing Rhett, after all this was a love story to end [...]
Looking back through the rich history of Australian art, we come to one of our country’s most famous landscape artists, Arthur Streeton. Bringing something a little different to the Australian art scene, he had a brilliant ability to inject light and space into his work, creating paintings that captured the true essence of the Australian [...]
There's always a story behind a story. When I began thinking about my seventh novel, River Run, I sat down with my parents to chat about the 1950s. I wanted to to write about this era as it's such a rich period in Australian history - Communism, the cold war, the aftermath of two world [...]
Aboriginal scar trees. You may well have driven, rode or hiked past one of these woody plants without even noticing. These trees are different from other tree scars caused by naturally occurring phenomenon such as bush fires and lightning as they’re man-made and invariably many decades old. Once extremely common, Aboriginal scar trees have been [...]
If you’ve read my novel, Wild Lands, you’re familiar with Bronzewing, one of the lead characters. He’s a young white man, raised in an Aboriginal community, schooled by an early settler family. He was a man between two worlds. In Alice Springs in the mid 1900s, Aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira experienced this same disjuncture between [...]
Looking back at Australian history, it’s humbling to know that an individual like artist Arthur Boyd existed. He was one of those unique people who fought to expose the social injustices within our society and through his art, built a strong platform to share his views. In the late 20th century he was one of [...]
Coiled, sprung and greased he waits. All cracked water-melon smile wavering towards the short soft rays of dawn. The years passing, pokered straight by heat held days and fading vision. Am I the determined settler, carver of great tracts of land? Or merely consumed by naivety? Tar coated railings quiver beneath indecisiveness or [...]
