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Worrals #8
Worrals Down Under
When Worrals and her friend Frecks go to Australia to start up their own airline, they expect a quiet and steady life; instead they meet with high adventure.
They join in a search for a rich deposit of opal on their friend Janet's farm in the "outback"; and there the excitement starts. They find themselves engaged in a deadly struggle against a gang of desperate men who stop at nothing in their attempt to get the opal for themselves. Blood-chilling screams in the desert at night ... attempted murder ... an ambush ... dishonour among thieves: these are some of the materials from which W.E. Johns has woven this fat-moving story for girls - a story which will gain many new admirers for Worrals, delight her already countless enthusiasts, and thrill everyone who has the good fortune to read it.
They join in a search for a rich deposit of opal on their friend Janet's farm in the "outback"; and there the excitement starts. They find themselves engaged in a deadly struggle against a gang of desperate men who stop at nothing in their attempt to get the opal for themselves. Blood-chilling screams in the desert at night ... attempted murder ... an ambush ... dishonour among thieves: these are some of the materials from which W.E. Johns has woven this fat-moving story for girls - a story which will gain many new admirers for Worrals, delight her already countless enthusiasts, and thrill everyone who has the good fortune to read it.
226 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1948
9 people want to read
About the author
W.E. Johns
613 books113 followersInvariably known as Captain W.E. Johns, William Earl Johns was born in Bengeo, Hertfordshire, England. He was the son of Richard Eastman Johns, a tailor, and Elizabeth Johns (née Earl), the daughter of a master butcher. He had a younger brother, Russell Ernest Johns, who was born on 24 October 1895.
He went to Hertford Grammar School where he was no great scholar but he did develop into a crack shot with a rifle. This fired his early ambition to be a soldier. He also attended evening classes at the local art school.
In the summer of 1907 he was apprenticed to a county municipal surveyor where he remained for four years and then in 1912 he became a sanitary inspector in Swaffham, Norfolk. Soon after taking up this appointment, his father died of tuberculosis at the age of 47.
On 6 October 1914 he married Maude Penelope Hunt (1882–1961), the daughter of the Reverend John Hunt, the vicar at Little Dunham in Norfolk. The couple had one son, William Earl Carmichael Johns, who was born in March 1916.
With war looming he joined the Territorial Army as a Private in the King's Own Royal Regiment (Norfolk Yeomanry), a cavalry regiment. In August 1914 his regiment was mobilised and was in training and on home defence duties until September 1915 when they received embarkation orders for duty overseas.
He fought at Gallipoli and in the Suez Canal area and, after moving to the Machine gun Corps, he took part in the spring offensive in Salonika in April 1917. He contracted malaria and whilst in hospital he put in for a transfer to the Royal Flying Corps and on 26 September 1917, he was given a temporary commission as a Second Lieutenant and posted back to England to learn to fly, which he did at No. 1 School of Aeronautics at Reading, where he was taught by a Captain Ashton.
He was posted to No. 25 Flying Training School at Thetford where he had a charmed existence, once writing off three planes in three days. He moved to Yorkshire and was then posted to France and while on a bombing raid to Mannheim his plane was shot down and he was wounded. Captured by the Germans, he later escaped before being reincarcerated where he remained until the war ended.
He went to Hertford Grammar School where he was no great scholar but he did develop into a crack shot with a rifle. This fired his early ambition to be a soldier. He also attended evening classes at the local art school.
In the summer of 1907 he was apprenticed to a county municipal surveyor where he remained for four years and then in 1912 he became a sanitary inspector in Swaffham, Norfolk. Soon after taking up this appointment, his father died of tuberculosis at the age of 47.
On 6 October 1914 he married Maude Penelope Hunt (1882–1961), the daughter of the Reverend John Hunt, the vicar at Little Dunham in Norfolk. The couple had one son, William Earl Carmichael Johns, who was born in March 1916.
With war looming he joined the Territorial Army as a Private in the King's Own Royal Regiment (Norfolk Yeomanry), a cavalry regiment. In August 1914 his regiment was mobilised and was in training and on home defence duties until September 1915 when they received embarkation orders for duty overseas.
He fought at Gallipoli and in the Suez Canal area and, after moving to the Machine gun Corps, he took part in the spring offensive in Salonika in April 1917. He contracted malaria and whilst in hospital he put in for a transfer to the Royal Flying Corps and on 26 September 1917, he was given a temporary commission as a Second Lieutenant and posted back to England to learn to fly, which he did at No. 1 School of Aeronautics at Reading, where he was taught by a Captain Ashton.
He was posted to No. 25 Flying Training School at Thetford where he had a charmed existence, once writing off three planes in three days. He moved to Yorkshire and was then posted to France and while on a bombing raid to Mannheim his plane was shot down and he was wounded. Captured by the Germans, he later escaped before being reincarcerated where he remained until the war ended.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 30, 2025
A really interesting and different setting, which breaks quite a repetitive streak for the Worrals books, as wells as some good characters and a dramatic premise. Unfortunately the book becomes a bit convoluted and frankly uninteresting from about the halfway point, so the book doesn't quite realise it's potential. 3 stars.
June 10, 2025
Worralls and her friend Frecks decide to go to Australia in order to start an airline business but when they arrive they spot a former colleague named Janet from the Women's Auxiliary Air Service and make a beeline for her. Unfortunately they immediately spot that she is down on her luck and ask why that is. Janet is at first not prepared to tell them her tale of woe but pressure from the pair eventually prevails.
It transpires that Janet had decided to come to Australia at the bequest of an aunt who owned a sort of shack in the outback with plenty of land to go with it and on that land there was supposedly an opal outcrop, and a large specimen that her aunt had found proved the fact. But when Janet arrives she discovers from her aunt's aboriginal servant named Charlie that her aunt has recently passed away and that Charlie, had buried her on their land.
This intrigues Worrals and so she decides to investigate to see what is actually going on because in the background, are three rough looking thugs who Charlie is frightened of and Worrals is then suspicious of. To arrive at the shack, Worrals hired an airplane and was determined to use it to scout out the land to see if she could uncover anything significant. But before she begins the three thugs try to frighten her off ... but in true Worrals' fashion she is determined to discover the truth about the whole set up.
Thus her adventures begin and she becomes involved in many dangerous situations, fighting off the three baddies and involving the local, albeit many miles away from her outback shack, to determine what has gone on with the now suspicious death of Janet's aunt.
After many harrowing experiences the threesome eventually uncover the truth and by the time they have done so, the plans to start an air service in Australia is off the list and they return home to undertake something new back n England.
It transpires that Janet had decided to come to Australia at the bequest of an aunt who owned a sort of shack in the outback with plenty of land to go with it and on that land there was supposedly an opal outcrop, and a large specimen that her aunt had found proved the fact. But when Janet arrives she discovers from her aunt's aboriginal servant named Charlie that her aunt has recently passed away and that Charlie, had buried her on their land.
This intrigues Worrals and so she decides to investigate to see what is actually going on because in the background, are three rough looking thugs who Charlie is frightened of and Worrals is then suspicious of. To arrive at the shack, Worrals hired an airplane and was determined to use it to scout out the land to see if she could uncover anything significant. But before she begins the three thugs try to frighten her off ... but in true Worrals' fashion she is determined to discover the truth about the whole set up.
Thus her adventures begin and she becomes involved in many dangerous situations, fighting off the three baddies and involving the local, albeit many miles away from her outback shack, to determine what has gone on with the now suspicious death of Janet's aunt.
After many harrowing experiences the threesome eventually uncover the truth and by the time they have done so, the plans to start an air service in Australia is off the list and they return home to undertake something new back n England.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews