Most Australians live in cities and cling to the coastal fringe, yet our sense of what an Australian is - or should be - is drawn from the vast and varied inland called the bush. But what do we mean by 'the bush', and how has it shaped us?
Starting with his forebears' battle to drive back nature and eke a living from the land, Don Watson explores the bush as it was and as it now is: the triumphs and the ruination, the commonplace and the bizarre, the stories we like to tell about ourselves and the national character, and those we don't.
Via mountain ash and mallee, the birds and the beasts, slaughter, fire, flood and drought, swagmen, sheep and their shepherds, the strange and the familiar, the tragedies and the follies, the crimes and the myths and the hope - here is a journey that only our leading writer of non-fiction could take us on. At once magisterial in scope and alive with telling, wry detail, The Bush lets us see our landscape and its inhabitants afresh, examining what we have made, what we have destroyed, and what we have become in the process.
No one who reads it will look at this country the same way again. 'The grand Australian bush - the nurse and tutor of eccentric minds, the home of the weird, and of much that is different from things in other lands.' - Henry Lawson
The Bush 2
Travels in the Heart of Australia
- ISBN:
- 9781926428215
- 9781926428215
- Category:
- Social & cultural history
- Format:
- Hardback
- Publication Date:
- 24-09-2014
- Publisher:
- Penguin Random House Australia
- Country of origin:
- Australia
- Pages:
- 448
- Dimensions (mm):
- 245x165x50mm
- Weight:
- 0.89kg
- 5 facts about contemporary land use in Australia
- 5 myths about the bush examined by Don Watson
- 5 powerful observations in The Bush
- 5 remarkable facts about Australian fauna
- The Bush - Chapter Extract
- The Bush - Chapter Extract
- 5 remarkable facts about Australian fauna
- 5 facts about contemporary land use in Australia
- 5 myths about the bush examined by Don Watson
- 5 powerful observations in The Bush
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Reviews
2 Reviews
Don Watson sends us meandering through The Bush in a thoroughly entertaining and delightful way, delving into its history, its place in the Australian psyche, and the people who shaped it.
Part memoir part travelogue (along the lines of his American Journeys) this is a book you can happily curl up with for a weekend, or dip in and out as you fancy. As always Watson writes beautifully - honestly he could write a history of toilet paper and it would be both stunning and fascinating.
Highly recommended for all, and would be a very good choice for under the Christmas tree for those international visitors, Aussies living overseas, and any who love history, biography, and good writing.
In this wonderful rambling exploration of the iconic Aussie entity, Watson delves into fact, fiction, and legend peopled with all sorts that make up the rural landscape, history and culture. Throughout he ponders just exactly what do we mean by "the bush"? Highly readable and beautifully written (honestly, Watson could write about squashed slugs and make it enchanting, he's that good) this is a book you'll love to get lost in.
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