Dusty

by Frank Dalby Davison

Dusty is the story of a dingo/kelpie cross who is employed to muster sheep, but is forever at war with his wild instincts.

Genres: Fiction, Australia, Historical

242 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1946

About the author

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Da...

Reviews

[Redial]

As an avid Kelpie lover and country Australian I found myself absolutely in love with this story. It revolves around a wonderful working kelpie with Dingo heritage and his old owner. The dog is one of the best dogs in the industry, no one can beat his instinct, but alas his Dingo side is too much for him to control and by night he hunts and kills the stock. It's a tale that sadly unravels into a one way and certain future for the dog. I found myself crying at the end, realising the dog's fate as the pages turned.

Dog lover's beware, great book but will tear the heart strings.

[Candace]

This book was worth sourcing from NZ, and weird I couldn't find it in Australia! It is sad they haven't put it on kindle yet. Written in 1954, it reminds me a lot of Elyne Mitchell's writing, so I wonder if she read this and then decided to write about brumbies.
I don't remember reading this when I was young, but I loved the movie and they did a pretty good job of sticking with the story besides the ending.
The ending I would have changed, that is the only thing that was a bit weird. Either end it the way I didn't want it to go, or have a beautiful ending like the movie, but it seemed like he couldn't decide so made it weird.

[Peter Metcalfe]

great little read

[Sally]

Film and book alike both always made me cry. Lovely Australian classic.

[Angela Randall]

We own this as an omnibus with both Man-shy and Dusty. Man-shy and Dusty

[Sianne Morrison]

A wonderful story for young adults about a kelpie/dingo and the struggle of one the cattle dog over the wild dog.

[Damon Isherwood]

This and 'Man Shy' are Davison's classic Aussie animal stories. Like Man Shy, Dusty tells the story of an outsider - this time a half dingo. Sounds unlikely, but really gripping.

[Jodi]

Australia's answer to 'Call of the Wild'. I'm a sucker for books about animals & I really loved this.

[Kirsten Kuns]

An older book but it painted a very detailed picture of Australia and its relationship with dingos and working dogs. It was as those the author followed dusty around.

[LittleOldMe]

This had the worse ending imaginable. It was so stupid that I thought it was hilarious. I might of thrown it out. It was so disapointing. :(