Growing Up in Country Australia

Growing Up ... in Australia

by Rick Morton (Editor), Tony Armstrong (Contributor), Claire Baker (Contributor)

Growing Up in Country Australia is a fresh, modern look at country Australia. There are stories of joy, adventure, nostalgia, connection to nature and freedom, but also more grim tales – of drought, fires, mouse plagues and isolation. From the politics of the country school bus to the class divides between locals, from shooting foxes with Dad to giving up meat as an adult, from working on the family farm to selling up and moving to the city, the picture painted is diverse and unexpected. This is country Australia as you’ve never seen it before.

Including nearly forty stories by established and emerging authors from a wide range of backgrounds – including First Nations and new migrants – Growing Up in Country Australia is a unique and revealing snapshot of rural life.

Contributors include Holden Sheppard, Laura Jean McKay, Annabel Crabb, Sami Shah, Lech Blaine, Tony Armstrong, Bridie Jabour, Jes Layton, Lily Chan, Jay Carmichael and many others.

Genres: Nonfiction, Australia, Memoir, Audiobook, Anthologies, Short Stories, Biography

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2022

Reviews

[Elijah Freeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a country boy who moved to the city, I feel like this collection was written for me. I saw myself and my family in so many of the stories and it helped me find the words for how my childhood has informed the way I look at the world.

I read this by the campfire while camping on the land I grew up on, occasionally reading a passage aloud to laughter and nods from my siblings and parents. We all appreciated the contributors sharing their stories, especially the ones that dealt with country school buses, the injustices of being a child labourer and shovel-wielding, snake-killing fathers.

I'm looking forward to reading more from these insightful writers

[Jaclyn]

I’ve read nearly all the books in the Growing Up series by @blackincbooks and I’m always impressed by the nuanced and kaleidoscopic view they offer. As with all anthologies you find yourself drawn to certain pieces more strongly than others but that’s one of the beauties of a collection like this. I will be in conversation with Rick Morton about this anthology as well as his entire body of written work @melbwritersfest.

[Janelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve always felt that my hometown was a city with some of the characteristics of a small town, so it was interesting to read this collection and see the areas of overlap and of difference.

It gave me so much bittersweet nostalgia reading about social hierarchies being built on the school bus, and nights spent watching Rage and playing the Sims while desperately looking ahead to a life where I’m 18 and living in a bustling metropolis.

Loved the diversity of voices here and seeing some of the common threads that bind them all. While much of it is a love letter to country Australia, some of the entries are unflinching in how they call out drug and gang related violence, domestic violence, drought, and the government straight up not giving a fuck.

My favourite entries were Tony Armstrong’s interview, and when an author discussed her best friend, a horse 😭😭😭😭 oh my heaaaaart

CW: homophobia, racism, anti-Indigenous racism, animal death (mostly farming related, sometimes pests, roadkill, or death of a pet)

[Natasha (jouljet) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great collection of a diverse subset of the Australian community, this time focusing on experiences of coming from small or isolated town, farms, and remote areas.

From riding the same bus for years, for hours and strictly adhering to the hierarchy of the social ladder within, to being sent to boarding school. Being on Country, working the land, and being subject to the harsh and unpredictable conditions of Australia's climate. The inner circles, tight groups, gossipy worlds of small communities. The irrepressible desire to escape to the city as soon as possible, to experience a bigger life.

The diversity is also a strong theme from the collection, with the isolated tales of coming out or staying in, as sexuality identity emerges. The insights, challenges and occasional beautiful moments of being different, from diverse cultural backgrounds in the usually monoculture of country towns. The connection to Country, kin and enduring culture as a First Nations kid. The incredible struggle to get support, and the services needed, as a disabled person in rural and isolated areas.

These anthologies are such a valuable record of experiences of a diverse range of the Australian community, and these stories resonated for me as a country kid who yearned to get away and to the city as soon as possible - and yet still always needs to return home on a regular basis for grounding.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was interesting how many of these stories centred on the school bus. And how many people remember The Offspring fondly lol.

It was cool listening to this on audiobook - a lot of the authors personally narrated their stories.

[Joel D · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it. A good array of stories and I think what works is that you get a sense of some themes and recurring patterns (country Australia apparently really likes sport?) but also the variety and complexity of the different experiences.

I think what could have added to this is having more indigenous perspectives - there are some, but it felt a bit weirdly absent. Then, in an ironic way, I also sort of wanted at least a couple 'mainstream' perspectives. That is, it feels like the anthology has lots of 'diverse' perspectives, and often they write about sort of feeling on the outer when growing up: I didn't like sport, I was gay, etc, and so they are part of country Australia yes but they write like they were on the outside looking in. I think it would be interesting to have more stories from the white & straight & stereotypically attractive & sporty blokes that, so often in this anthology, we only see a flat portrait of from the outside. In short, a lot of stories were from people who got teased for their skin colour or sexuality, and I'd be interested to hear (hopefully, self-aware) reflections from the people who did the teasing.

[Gabriela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Growing Up in Country Australia, as the title indicates, is an anthology of short stories about different experiences throughout country Australia.

The book showcases different backgrounds and perspectives. From growing up in an ice town, feeling isolated for being queer to being surrounded by nature, working on a family farm or moving to the city... there are some interesting stories.

However, even though I appreciate the intention behind this collection, I was underwhelmed.
I missed more indigenous perspectives and felt that all short stories are written by people who felt that they didn't fit in, so got repetitive and ultimately did not give enough insights into what growing up in Country Australia actually is like.

I wish there was more actual exploration of the culture and identity of Country Australia.
Most of the stories fell flat to me and were too dull and disconnected.

[Emmaby Barton Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

“i dont think it will ever be easy to stand in the places that remind me of who i once was. there was always be pieces of me that hurt, pieces that regret. pieces i have outgrown and ran from and hidden away. but these memories of who i was and where i lived are important to me. they are something that will forever a part of this place, for me”

continuing to love this series! this one felt a bit different from the others though - it felt there were less themes/lessons throughout the stories - rather, a lot were more collections of random experiences, slices of life etc - not a critique, just something i noticed. a lot of these instances also provided me with a sense of familiarity and nostalgia - even little things, like being excited for 7/11 and krispy kremes; the importance of hot chips, dried cow pats everywhere, a love for horses. also appreciated the diversity of experiences shared - poc, religion, queerness, disability, first nations experiences were all shared - and not just in one way either was also interesting to learn that a lot of migrants ended up in country australia as part of their visas which i didn’t know

some themes that emerged though: systemic disadvantage (violence, death, educational and health inequities), eating meat, animals, weather, family, wanting to get out, the nostalgia of returning, cultural capital and privilege afforded to some but not others and how this impacts who stays or leaves, who succeeds or not, rebuking stereotypes of country people as being unintelligent, one-dimensional, a racist and ignorant monolith of the white working class

but as someone who grew up in between the city and country - i never fully resonate with either experience and so reading these stories was interesting - seeing myself in their experiences a little bit but not enough to feel included? feeling like i missed out on something? idk - i grew up in bendigo, but 20 minutes out of town on land where i had the freedom of playing outside in the creeks and bush, climbing trees and playing in the dam, having horses and sheep and cows, seeing the effects of the drought and floods, but also being close to town, having the privilege and cultural capital to go to the good public school and getting good grades and having educated parents which meant my experiences were vastly different from others. but also vastly different from those who grew up in the city.

a few stories that stood out to me:
- a new home by fiona white - a love for horses
- the country club by lech blaine - highlights how different our experiences can be growing up; growing up where violence is so normalised
- inside those leafy walks by jo gardiner - just absolutely beautifully written
- meat by claire baker - reflections on meat eating
- looking back, looking up by jes layton - the lesbian experience

[Declan Fry]

In the latest instalment of Black Inc’s Growing Up series, memoir, character portrait and childhood reminiscence feature prominently. The past, though, is the anthology’s main character. Often the country is narrated as a place of growing up – of transit, rather than of permanence. The land is never quite present; it exists largely in the rear-view. As Samantha Leung observes, “Geraldton was a place where you got stuck, and I, for one, couldn’t wait to leave.”

Promoting the book, Black Inc. has referred to the contributors’ “wide range of backgrounds”, noting that this includes “First Nations and new migrants”. It’s not clear why these two categories should be placed together or referred to almost as a parenthetical aside, but it does speak to some of the ways the Growing Up series is framed. Its premise, which focuses on marginal identities, is based on the concept of celebrating “own voices”. Notwithstanding that such voices are always having to explain themselves anyway – we can be confident there will never be a “growing up white and middle-class in Australia” – it reinstates, on some level, the idea that Australia, and Australian writing, is white. According to this view, First Nations and “new migrants” – a term which recalls the critical interventions of authors like Ania Walwicz, Sneja Gunew and many more – exist mostly as a kind of ponderous side-hustle.

As Tom Plevey writes, pace this view, “The Chinese side of my family has been kicking around this wide, brown, occasionally on-fire land in some fashion for decades”. Plevey is not a lone voice here; many contributors, with insight and skill, interrogate taken-for-granted ideas about race and class, unwilling to assume the neutrality or straightforwardness of ideas like “country”.Australia is all “country”, each square metre belonging to particular languages, cultures, histories. The idea of country which this anthology refers to recalls Raymond Williams’ seminal study, The Country and the City, in which Williams explored how England conceived of its urban areas as existing separately from the regions. Contributor Angus Thompson, adopting the sort of imagery Williams analysed, describes the country as “a place of songbirds and earthy palettes far away from the urban cacophony”. This view of country as demarcated and separate, if not wholly inscrutable, runs counter to that of First Nations, something Melinda Mann touches upon when she remarks, “many barely acknowledge whose lands the towns are built on.”

Read on: https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/...

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

39 short stories about living in regional Australia written by a wide range of people with differing socio-economic backgrounds that actually did. I found myself over and over again in these stories despite no-one really being like me but like soulmates re the country child self that still lives strong inside me. It was a book that, throughout and when I finished reading, made me breathe easier. One star less because the truth about descendants of settlers and those already here, and the ongoing racism that exists between too many that came later and benefitted, did not come through. I don't mean as dry historical facts but as acts, encounters, thoughts, realisations, what we heard and read, what we saw. I have scattered, hazy memories of Otherness, and something uncomfortable and dark. They were there, in our childhoods, but where? Why the silence and turned faces. Those roots affected us then and are still affecting who we are as ex country Australian today. An unfortunate omission.

[Rhoda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories covering a wide demographic of writers about their experience of growing up in a country town; some relatively large, some very small with populations of less than 1,000.

The experiences of the writers are also many and varied. Some did not fit in and couldn’t wait to escape, others left but still feel very defined by their country upbringing and a few live there still.

There are stories of fire, plagues, drought, isolation and stories from First Nations people and new migrants and each provides a unique snapshot of rural life.

Although I have almost all of the books in this series, this is the first one I have read! As with any short story collection, there are some stories that resonate more than others, however I think any Australian would be hard pressed not to find at least several stories here that they thoroughly enjoyed, regardless of whether you live in the country or are a city dweller. I very much enjoyed the variety of stories and writing styles and found it a very engaging read! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5.

[moved to currawongsong on StoryGraph]

I like it when Dad, the capricious hunter, decides on a reprieve and tosses a particular yabby back, the way it cartwheels through the hot air and splashes down to disappear beneath the brown, rippled water. I imagine its dim crustacean feelings – shock, alarm, relief – as it escapes the alien dry dazzle and welcomes the muddy liquid embrace of home again. I imagine it scuttling back down to the familiar depths, brushing trembling antennae against another yabby, transmitting an unbelievable tale, like an astronaut returning to earth who can never be truly understood.

I enjoyed the stories even more on a second read. I resonated with something in each of them.

Some of the stories touched on the cultural gap between country and city kids. I would love a book on Growing Up In Metropolitan Australia. Sometimes I wonder what it must be like to grow up in a cultural centre like Sydney or Melbourne. Cities tend to change more quickly than towns. What is it like to watch the place you spent your childhood in change across the decades?

[Autumn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure what to say about this book. I finished it because I wanted to glimpse the kind of life lived in the Australian countryside. It definitely delivered and then some. The variety of narratives let me have both poetry and crassness, both smiling along with the authors as well as feeling affected by their tragedies. The one story where the woman was watching the forest fires on her TV while thinking of her childhood friend.. I find that one most personal and memorable.. I felt so satisfied by the ending..
As a woman who grew up in an almost medieval, remote village, I could empathise both with living with a deep-seated connection to the natural and wilderness elements, as well as feeling so trapped by the limitations of the lifestyle. While beautiful and meaningful.. that place was not really fun or engaging me intellectually.. Also .. the zealous religious waters seemed to run deep both for my story as well as for a good number of the authors of this book. While I doubt I would ever read it again, I do think it is a really good book.

[Julie MacKay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this as an audiobook, while I also had the ebook on my phone too as sometimes you miss things when your mind wanders, so it can be helpful to go back and catch up on it. Anyway, I loved how there were a variety of narrators, and especially having the contributor do their own narration in some cases. Being a collection of reflections, there are contributions that I found were more to my liking than others. I prefer the ones that are more straightforward and memoir-like, than the ones that are a bit abstract and confusing (to me). I miss the point of those ones. I'm sure it's clever and creative literature, but they don't communicate effectively to me. There are a broad variety of reflections though, diversity of contributors and experiences is there. There are the people who grew up in the country and never liked it and always wanted to get out, and there are those who like country life too.

[Achilles Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book accomplishes what it sets out to do: to give the reader an idea about life in regional Australia. It does so spectacularly. The experiences are good and bad and are quite varied. But there is a sense of underlying oneness to their experiences. I thought this was beautifully brought out. Something about the country life must be contributing to the authors' ability to write about the human experience so beautifully. It was a dense read because of that. It was a bit hard to adapt to the sudden changes in emotional experiences from one story to another since there is no order to the stories as such. Maybe it was intentional. In the sense that it also describes well how different one's perception can be within the same physical environments. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. A great collection!

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is the second of these Growing Up in Australia collections that I've read (well listened to). This collection about growing up in country Australia is sensational. I've lived in country Australia for about 25 years now, although I didn't grow up here.

There are so many disparate voices giving different accounts of growing up in rural Australia. Showing the diversity that can exist in rural towns. Growing up gay, or deaf, or of mixed heritage. There is drought of course, fires, mouse plagues and the school bus. Always the school bus...

My only disappointments with it are with the two contributors who I knew. Annabel Crabb did not read her essay, and Tony Armstrong's was a Q&A session, which was fine, but I would have enjoyed an essay more.

I need to crack on with the rest of this excellent series.

[David Bullock · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is hugely disappointing.

Except for ‘It is all before us’ and ‘A Grey cat in a sunset town’ the stories are very, very poor.

Having been brought up and lived the first 30+ years in a variety of small communities, I was hoping for some insights, remembrances, and perhaps whimsical views of Country Australia.

Rather than providing any insights to Australian life and culture they just ramble aimlessly.
Most are poorly expressed through a monologue of meaningless stories.

It is as if the authors have just wandered into a local pub, found the saddest drunk in a corner and said, “Tells us about growin up ere mate”

The writing to generally clumsy, vague, and lacking a consistent flow.

It was difficult to even like or relate to any of the characters.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was released in the year I spent touring regional/rural NSW for work. I bought this from an amazing bookstore in Armidale and then started reading it in my Mona Lisa themed hotel room in Bourke. It took me until I was back in Sydney and missing the long drives across country to finally finish this.

I found the juxtaposition between the experiences of close-knit communities and the feelings of isolation so interesting. Also, the stories highlighting limited access to medical assistance or education in rural areas were very important.

Once again, the ‘Growing up … in Australia’ series didn’t miss!

[Aj · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed, to be honest. The premise of this collection is a fantastic one. As a rural Australian myself, I was excited to read it.

I think the core problem I had with this book was the way it prioritised the perspectives of those who had spent at least some of their childhood in the country, but then moved to the city and stayed there. My other issue with it was how few indigenous perspectives were present, I think any book claiming to represent what it's like to grow up rurally in Australia needs a strong Aboriginal influence.

All that said, there were some gems among these stories, ones that wove together complex experiences of living outside the city.

[Rajie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was... OK. I think I much preferred the other instalments in the "Growing Up..." series, as I feel the stories in this one weren't as cohesive as the rest. It deals with a lot of the issues that the past issues deal - racism, prejudice, etc - but I feel like those stories were misplaced here. I tended to like the stories based around the land rather than the people. Overall, still a wonderful series, and I will continue to read them as they are churned out.

[Kelleney · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with all collections of essays and stories, you get the good and you get the bad. Unfortunately, this collection of “Growing Up in” is partial towards recounts that didn’t quite move me or was not particularly engrossing. They were flat and could take weeks to go through just a few pages of words. That being said, there were definite standouts that poignantly explored the culture and identity of those who grew up in Country Australia. For that, I have rated this book 3 out of 5.

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

i enjoy these so much

the quality of writing in this one was so consistently good? like so much better than the others in the series - a lot of the contributors said they were writers so not just random people who happened to fit the identity of the theme i suppose

also i wonder if the theme of growing up in the country allowed for a broader scope of topics to touch on? like writing just about your cultural identity seems limiting but here it could be one part of a larger story

[Shannon T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

A very grounded and thought provoking collection examining the effects of growing up on Country from a diverse collection of people. Concerning immigration, diaspora, being LGBTQIA+, racism, sexism, but also family, community, and pride. Most often, all of these aspect mixed together with a healthy pinch of Australian humour.

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

This had lots of interesting stories about writers growing up in the country. In a few the country was depicted as a character where as others relied on the various people that make up small towns. All had inteesting takes on how this rural life affected their sense of self and also their adult life. The school bus featured in a few!

[Mel Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful book full of short stories about growing up in country Australia. As a country kid, this book brought back so many memories of my childhood. The variety of authors also allowed me to read different experiences of growing up in the country. Full of highs and lows, I highly recommend that all country kids read this book.

[Kerran Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not usually big on short story collections but I've been eyeing off this series for a while- and an very impressed! I really enjoyed the variety of voices and the themes explored in this collection. I think my favourite was Sweet and Sour by Lily Chan, but I also enjoyed references to rural places I know from visiting friends and family, like Tamworth and Bindoon.

[Susan Belperio · Rating 5 out of 5]

My last book for 2024, and also one of the best for the year. This riveting and revealing insight into growing up in country Australia, is bound to resonate with anyone who has done that (including me). The selection of talented authors has resulted in a series of short stories which are spellbinding in their incisiveness. A gem.

[Don Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some joyful stories, others less so make up this engrossing collection of almost 40 stories of life growing up outside Australia's major cities. Some contributors are well known, others less so, but all have revealing tales to tell.

[Laura Crossfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book articulated all the complex feelings, memories and experiences of growing up in rural Australia.
I had to read it slowly to savour the chapters, while each story bought back memories of being a country kid in the 90s.

[Timmee · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of varied experiences of growing up in country Australia. As someone who shares that experience, it was glorious to read so many diverse tales. There were echoes & also entirely new perspectives. And so much beautiful writing.