Call Me When the Cross Turns Over

by D'Arcy Niland

The Cross that turns over is the Southern Cross, telling wanderers under the vast skies of Australia of the passing of night and the coming of dawn. This is the story of one of these wanderers, Barbie Cazabon, who finds herself, in her early twenties, left alone by the death of her father. Knowing no background but the rough, knockabout existence she has shared with him, she has to make her own way and build a life for herself out of loneliness.

Genres: Australia

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

D’Arcy Francis Niland was an Australian author who wrote prolifically during his lifetime. He is well-known for his classic novel The Shiralee, a best-selling book which has never been out of print since its first publication in 1955. His major interest was in the craft of short story writing. He produced over five hundred short stories published in Australia and abroad.

D’Arcy Niland was born in Glen Innes, NSW on 20 October 1917. He was educated at St Joseph’s School in Glen Innes and it was here, he was encouraged to write by the nuns who saw a literary potential in their young pupil.

Having to leave school by the age of fourteen to help support his large family, he took on varied employment in shearing sheds, potato fields, opal mines, circus tents and boxing shows. He educated himself by reading the dictionary and practised his writing craft when he could.

The Niland family left Glen Innes around 1933, to live in Sydney. D’Arcy Niland worked as a copyboy at the Sun newspaper. He supplemented his small income by working at the railway sheds at Redfern, Sydney.

In 1942 he married Ruth Park, a New Zealander, with whom he had been corresponding for several years about their like-minded goals as writers. Once married, the couple decided to make a concerted effort to pursue their dream to live entirely by writing. They worked in partnership and alone, producing an enormous output of stories, songs, jingles, plays, factual articles, scripts, poems and novels.

In Balgowlah, NSW, they raised their family of five children, whilst juggling writing commitments.

Achieving wider recognition through winning various literary prizes, D’Arcy Niland was awarded £600 by the Commonwealth Literary Fund in 1952 to write a novel.

The result was The Shiralee, published in 1955. It was an international success. There have been over sixty-five editions and many translations. It was made into a film of the same name in 1957, starring Peter Finch, and a cast of well-known Australian actors. The Shiralee was also made into a popular television mini-series in 1987, with Bryan Brown as Macauley.

D’Arcy Niland continued writing to the end of his life, completing his last novel Dead Men Running two days before his death on 29 March 1967.

Reviews

[Renay · Rating 3 out of 5]

"call me when the cross turns over" seems an odd name for the book by darcy niland, but is a sweet love story nonetheless.
using language that is at times harsh and strange, the story tells of a young lady trying and learning to survive in the harsh early 1900's in australia. the language used makes the raw, arid-ness of the country, and rough, working class australians seem more real, and is used well.
barbie, the man character, is a tough chic and handles the problems she encounters in a way that makes one beleive in her and want a happy outcome for her by the end of the book, which she finally gets.

[Lindsay · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was kind of nice to see a really strong female lead in this book, but it was almost taken to far with all her femininity and curiosity lost until meeting 'The One' who she let go far too easily and then married the next guy who came along, who conveniently died once she realised her true love was kind of faithful. All a bit stupid really.