Outback Pioneers: Great achievers of the Australian bush

by Evan McHugh

'There were few more exotic places in Australia. Tribal Aboriginal people could still be seen around the town. Camel trains slowly made their way through the red-stone gorge that split MacDonnell Range. Rugged cattlemen and hard-bitten prospectors strode the streets.'In Outback Pionners, Evan McHugh gathers the enthralling stories of the men and women who opened up the Australian outback and in the process discovered the beauty and terror of this extraordinary country.We meet the little-known convict explorer John Wilson, the first European to cross the Blue Mountains (though history favours the proper English gentlemen Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson); we follow Australia's greatest drover, Nat Buchanan, as he blazes stock routes from one side of the country to another; and we marvel at the genius and grit of the men who overcome political treachery to build the Coolgardie Pipeline and the Trans-Australian Railway.There are some delightful a gentle Pakistani cameleer who saves foolhardy expeditioners; a nerdy ham radio operator who invents the pedal radio and paves the way for John Flynn's Flying Doctor; two bush nurses who toil in the ruins of a pub while saving outback lives; and the modern-day pioneers who battle apathy to save endangered whildlife. Plus there are the intruiging stories of R.M. Williams, the Cattle King James Tyson, and the women behind the CWA and the School of the Air.

277 pages, Paperback

First published October 27, 2008

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

You'd think that whoever put this book up would have seen fit to have a cover picture...

The book itself is a really easy-to-read rendition of some of the noted pioneers of Australian outback. Definitely worth a read.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting reading about people who have done extraordinary things in various fields and endeavours. I particularly enjoyed reading of the founder of ‘The School of the Air’ and also R M Williams both Australian ‘icons’.

[Jack Kirby and the X-man · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provides a fantastic insight into the pioneers of the Australian outback.

While many of the Outback Pioneers are well known - Wentworth, Blaxland and Lawson's crossing of the Blue Mountains, Burke and Wills' attempted North-South crossing of Australia, and even Sturt's voyage down the Murray River. Still others are remembered through highways - Hume's Sydney to what is now Melbourne, Stuart's sucessful North - South crossing of Australia and Eyre's East-West crossing along the southern coast. This book generally focusses on the lesser known pioneers - such as Alfred Traeger who invented the pedal-powered radio that reduced the loneliness of the bush, Adelaide Miethke who developed the School of the Air and Dervish Bejah one of the best "Afghan" cameleers who were critical in the exploration and settlement of the outback by 'Europeans'.

While the book treats Aboriginal people with sympathy, I was sad that there wasn't a chapter featuring an Aboriginal person. My suggestion would be Albert Namatjira whos paintings introduced the world to the beauty of the Outback in the 1930s and 40s.