In 1909, journalist and war historian Charles Bean travelled to western New South Wales and wrote a series of articles on the wool industry. His writings were later published as "On the Wool Track" which went on to become an Australian classic.
Now, almost a hundred years later, eminent journalist Michelle Grattan traces bean's footsteps and paints a fascinating picture of the Western Division in 21st century Australia.
Like Bean, whose descriptions brought to life the characters who inhabited this harsh, arid region, "Back on the Wool Track" is about people.
Grattan visits the wool country and tracks down descendants of those Bean met during his travels. She visits the one-grand stations, encounters a flourishing art market in broken Hill and observes modern shearers doing an old job in a new world.
Young people might be leaving the West, but urbanites are also settling there, drawn by the tranquility - and the price of real estate. And of course there are the folk who have never left, who can trace their links to the region back to the 19th century. As one long-time resident says 'even if you left this land, it would never leave you.'
As Bean brought the outback to his city readers in 1909, Grattan interprets the Far West for contemporary Australians. "Back on the Wool Track" is a vivid and sensitive portrayal of what Bean described as 'this delicate country that responds like a piano to whatever touches it.'
Contents:
Prologue: In Search of a Lost Empire
Part 1. A Biographical Sketch
1. 'The Finest Sketch'
2. The Making of an Australian
3. Becoming a Journalist
4. Birth and Baptism of the Anzac Legend
Part 2. The West - Then and Now
5. 'The Land that Never Leaves You'
6. Adaptation and Change
7. Fighting the Elements
8. Women of the West
9. Falling Off the Sheep's Back
10. The New Merino
11. The Old Trade in a New World
Part 3. Back on the Track
12. The Start of Bean's Wool Track
13. The Town with Iron Windows
14. A New Industry and a New 'Church'
15. The 'Jandra' Sails Again
16. The Once Great 'Dunlop'
17. The T on the Gum Tree
18. The Shearing at 'Toorale'
19. Modern Bards Celebrate an Old Romance
20. Sale of a Bride
21. A Garden in Need of Watering
22. 'The Farthest Town'
23. 'A City Girl in Central Australia'
24. Mining the Art Market
25. The maidens of Menindee
26. The Secret of 'Kilfera'
27. Hospitality in a Western Town
28. The Mystery of Mossgiel
29. The End of the Line
Part 4. The Future
30. The Future of the Darling and its Land
Epilogue
Notes on Sources
Acknowledgements
