Land of Australia

“Roaming in a Holden”

by Frank Clune

The Hawthorn Press, 1953, [First Edition], black and white photographic plates, illustrated endpapers (maps), hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, a little edge and shelf wear, a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, no inscriptions, age toned pages, dustjacket shows some edge and shelf wear with some rubbing, bumping, creasing, chipping and tears to edges, corners and covers, large tear and missing part to spine (see photographs)

“In three months, he travels 16,822 miles around Australia, in quest of adventure and information.  The result is the liveliest book that has yet come from a writer famous for his keen powers of observation and easy-to-read style.  He finds that Australia is entering on a new “Golden Age” of great developments in industry and agriculture, to become a full-grown Nation.  Beginning his marathon at Melbourne, Frank drives his Holden car off the assembly-line, “An Australian-made car for Australia’s rough roads”  After a vivid description of Melbourne’s attractions and history, he heads westwards, through Geelong, Colac and Warrnambool, to Portland and Hamilton.  In a convincing argument, he urges the need to develop rural areas and decentralise ports throughout Australia, to spread the population in the “Atomic Age”.  On arriving in South Australia, he describes the pine-forests of Mount Gambier, land-reclamation of “trace-elements.” The Irrigation Areas, the Wine country, fish-canning at Port Lincoln, shipbuilding at Whyalla, the smelters of Port Pirie, the uranium mine at Radium Hill, and the Leigh Creek coalfield.  He urges that inland navigation should be revived throughout Australia’s “Big River” system.
Crossing the Nullarbor Plain by the Eyre Highway, he visits Albany, the Jarrah Country and Cape Leeuwin, then the huge new oil-refinery at Kwinana, and so arrives in Perth, after a journey packed with incidents.  Then, headed for Darwin by the North-west route, he finds the roads near Broome impassable after a “Cockeye Bob”.
“Darwin or Bust” is his motto, so he returns to Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne, and goes on through Sydney, Brisbane, Longreach and Mount Isa, to reach the Northern Territory.  A detour to Alice Springs (to visit Albert Namatjira) and he continues his journey to Darwin and back to Sydney, completing three months of a very strenuous and adventurous convalescence.  The book ends with a return to his starting point at Melbourne.”

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