The Driven

by Donald Stuart

The story of a cattle drive from northern Australia down to the railhead in South Australia. A memoir of the old droving days, which were coming to an end in the 1940s.

206 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Donald Robert Stuart spent most of his life in Western Australia. He left home at age 14 and began a career as a swagman, that is an itinerant who wandered the roads seeking casual work. He travelled through much of northern Western Australia finding work on cattle stations and it was during these years that he came into close contact with Aborigines.

Donald Stuart volunteered at the start of WWII for the 2nd AIF. He saw service in the Middle East as a 2/3rd Machine Gunner and then in Java, Indonesia, where he was captured by the Japanese. He then spent three and a half years as a POW and was sent to work on the infamous Burma Railway, a purgatory from which many did not return.

He published some fifteen books, including novels and memoirs, many of which are concerned with the lives of the Australian Aborigines with whom he came into close contact over many year.

Reviews

[Christopher Poppins]

A fantastic book. Written years ago but it as timeless as the Australian Outback. It is a tale of a cattle drive down the stock route from the Northern Territory. It’s gentle representation of the aboriginal culture and themes of love and loss make the book a must read for everyone one. Read it now!!!!

[Owen]

Slow-paced as the drive itself, Donald Stuart has captured the sounds and smells of remote outback Australia in this curious story about two white men and three Aborigines who take a herd of cattle from the Northern Territory to South Australia.

[Willem Westerbeek]

Fabulous book that gives a real sense of Australia. Great prose.