No comments about The Stranger from Melbourne: Frank Hardy-A Literary Biography 1944-1975.

No comments about The Two Worlds of Jimmie Barker: The Life of an Australian Aboriginal 1900-1972.

2 comments about The Last of the Nomads.

1. This book tells the story of the an elderly Aboriginal Australian couple, the very last of their tribe (and quite probably of all Aboriginals) to pursue the traditional nomadic hunter-gatherer way of life in the remote central deserts of Western Australia.
   It starts by explaining how traditional tribal culture came to a near end in the region within the lifespan of a generation as civilization penetrated the once remote Outback, then recalls the life history of this last couple, explaining why they persisted in their homeland even after the rest of their tribe moved to a town.
   Eventually, an extreme draught raises fears for their lives and a search expedition is launched to find them, lead by the author of this book and assisted by an old Aboriginal friend of the couple. The search takes them through the extremely harsh and remote Gibson Desert retracing ancient trade routes and rediscovering sacred Aboriginal sites, before finally locating the old couple, "the last of the nomads", and bringing them out of the desert to avoid immidiate starvation by helping them join the rest of their tribe living a demoralized existance on the fringes of western civilization, beset by alcoholism and other social evils.
   Within a year, both of them die.
   A brilliantly told, moving story of the disgraceful end of what was once "one of the oldest cultures on Earth", providing excellent background information to help the reader understand how complicated the the underlying roots of this sad outcome are.
   Anyone with an interest in the Aboriginal inhabitants of Australia should read this book!



2. Warri and Yatungka broke tribal law by marrying outside their assigned skin group. So they could live their lives together they ran away, perused by their former best friend in the name of tribal justice. It was a dramatic and true story that meant if they wanted to live it had be alone and in exile from all they knew before they eloped. As time went on young people left the desert and tribal laws broke down and were no longer followed - till they were left alone as the last true nomadic aborigines still in "their land" in the Gibson Desert of Western Australia.
   
   This is the story of the "rescue" of Warri and Yatangka from the ravages of the worst drought in living memory in 1977 when they finally left their desert home for the last time. It's a book about a way of life which is now extinct - and the death of a millennia of knowledge on how to survive an environment which most people would say in uninhabitable at any time.
   
   There's no way to disguise that this is a sad story and the passing of an age. However, I'm glad that at least a record of this event exists. One thing this book doesn't cover (or even mention) is the film documentary that was made at the same time the hunt was on for Warri and Yatungka, and the exclusion of that makes me wonder what else may have been left out of this narrative. However, if you have any interest in how Australian aborigines survived in a harsh desert environment this is a book you should pick up.

1 comments about Once an Australian: Journeys with Barry Humphries, Clive James, Germaine Greer and Robert Hughes.

1. This book profiles four well-known Australians who have lived abroad for most of their adult lives. The book sets out to "concentrate on the reasons for their expatriatism and consider what aspects of their Australian identity they have retained". Sadly, the author relied totally on secondary sources, and did not speak directly to any of his subjects. This limited his ability to peer into their souls; to discover what effect their lives as expatriates have had on their work, and on them as people. In spite of this serious weakness, the author obviously spent a great deal of time studying his subjects. For anyone looking for an introduction to the lives of these incredibly talented Australians, the book is worth reading.

No comments about An All Consuming Passion: Origins, Modernity, and the Australian Life of Georgiana Molloy.

No comments about The Life and Adventures of William Buckley: Thirty-two Years a Wanderer Amongst the Aborigines of the Then Unexplored Country Round Port Phillip, Now the Province of Victoria.

No comments about In the capacity of a surgeon: A biography of Walter Scott, surgeon and Australian colonist and first civilian of Queensland.

No comments about Masterpieces of Australian Painting.

No comments about Talbot: The Don of Australian Swimming.

No comments about Damaged Men: The Precarious Lives of James McAuley and Harold Stewart.