Mango Country: A Journey Beyond the Brochures of Tropical Queensland

by John van Tiggelen

Funny, personal and completely unexpected, Mango Country explores the notion that the further you venture from a nation's capital, the likelier you are to encounter its culture in the raw.

Journeying around North Queensland, jungle tour guide turned gonzo-journalist John van Tiggelen lingers in places that tourists are ill-advised, disinclined or simply unable to visit. He goes crocodile hunting, shoots a nude calendar for charity, joins the world's wildest cricket carnival, attends the opening of the Big Mango and flits around the Torres Strait on a wing and a prayer.

En route he is harassed by cassowaries, bush poets, thong collectors, falling coconuts, Bob Katter, and the alien commander of 18 million spaceships, among others. But he also harasses them.

Mango Country goes beyond the travel brochures to offer an irreverent profile of a province, and an insight into Australian life away from the big city lights.

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Diane in Australia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since I live in tropical Queensland, this seemed an appropriate book to read. Being published in 2003, it is dated. Each chapter is about a different town. Some chapters are boring, while others are interesting. I did learn a few tidbits, which is always nice.

John van Tiggelen was born in Holland, and grew up in country Victoria, Australia.

3 Stars = Okay. Maybe not a page-turner, but not sorry I read it.

Contents:

[Denita · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author takes the reader on a journey to the various outback towns in Northern and North Western Queensland and gives them an inside look into the people who live there. Each chapter takes on a different town. It's very unusual travel writing but I'm sure anyone who reads the book might want to visit these towns and see for themselves.

[Theresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

A vaguely entertaining book about travels around North Queensland, but totally marred by outright racism - despite an author who seems to think of himself as woke. I know this was published in 2003, and I know Townsville and NQ were very different back then, but yeesh. His ‘pity’ and lack of respect for Aboriginal people is the result of pretending to be an expert on social problems without making any effort to understand the reasons for them, let alone what else is happening (because even in the late 90s and early 2000s, it wasn’t all as bad as he presents).

This was suggested to me on twitter to fill a “book set in the place where you currently live” prompt on a reading challenge and I probably won’t take more book recs from that person!

[Elisa Kay · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a unique look into outback areas of Queensland

[Kris Rampersad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny and Sensitive and in easy read style