{"id":126,"date":"2017-01-03T03:58:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-03T03:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/index.php\/2017\/01\/03\/the-shiralee-by-darcy-niland-australia-1955\/"},"modified":"2022-10-04T09:15:07","modified_gmt":"2022-10-03T22:15:07","slug":"the-shiralee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/the-shiralee\/","title":{"rendered":"The Shiralee by D’Arcy Niland, Australia, 1955"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a><\/div>\n
I loved this book. Telling the story of a father, Macauley, traipsing around the outback of north-west NSW <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/i>in the 1950s with his four-year-old daughter, Buster, in tow, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>The Shiralee <\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/i>(an Aboriginal word meaning <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>burden<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>) not only gives an unsentimental picture of the relationship between a father and daughter but also a wonderful insight into the outback itself and the people who inhabit it.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/a>Macauley has fled <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/i>not only <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>the city <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>but also<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> his wife after <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>he found<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>her in bed with another man. Now in the far corner of the state, walking from place to place in search of odd jobs, occasionally picking up a lift and all the time<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/i>camping rough,<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/i>he swings between mild irritation at <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>having to<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/i>take care of Buster, and a very possessive and deep love of the child – a love which he is not always able to articulate.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Though written in the vernacular, it is in no way forced or artificial but manages to beautifully capture a period of Australia’s past<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/i>that possibly <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/i>no longer exists. The many characters Macauley meets<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/i>are<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/i>nuanced and realistic, blending <\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>well<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>with <\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>observant<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> descriptions of the Australian outback.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i> Definitely a book worth reading.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/div>\n
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In 1957, the book was made into a successful film with Peter Finch in the lead role.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo of D’Arcy Niland from www.darcy-niland.com.au<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
Photo from the film from\u00a0 <\/span>www.dailytelegraph.com.au<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  I loved this book. Telling the story of a father, Macauley, traipsing around the outback of north-west NSW in the 1950s with his four-year-old daughter, Buster, in tow, The Shiralee (an Aboriginal word meaning burden) not only gives an unsentimental picture of the relationship between a father and daughter but also a wonderful insight … <\/p>\n

+ Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}