So from the first page we know that the author lived to tell her tale, but that others did not. Sadly enough, there are too many who Never-Never do leave it. Called the Never-Never, the Maluka loved to say, because they who have lived in it and loved it, Never-Never voluntarily leave it. As the author herself tells us in her “Prelude”: All of Us shared each other’s lives for one bright, sunny year, away Behind the Back of Beyond, in the Land of the Never-Never…a land of dangers and hardships and privations yet loved as few lands are loved-a land that bewitches her people with strange spells and mysteries, until they call sweet bitter, and bitter sweet. Recommended.įrom the outset, a melancholy air hangs over We of the Never-Never. This is my second read of this book – my first was a lot of years ago, and although dated, I’ve enjoyed it once again. Jeannie Gunn’s words in We of the Never Never paint vivid pictures of the isolation, the struggles and problems day to day activities were for the settlers, the treatment of the Aboriginals and the obvious but accepted (back then) racism that was all around. This Australian classic has been read by many and is an important historical book. The bush hospitality meant they shared everything they had. The size of the remote cattle property meant the men were always off doing something or other. Her courage and tenacity in the face of it all meant respect from the men. With initial resentment from the stockmen, it wasn’t too long before they warmed to the “little Missus”. The homestead wasn’t much, but they would make do. But cross it they did and eventually after three days and sixty five miles, they arrived at the Katherine.Īnother three hundred miles over rough terrain and tracks only the stockmen could see, they finally arrived at The Elsey. Once leaving the relative comfort of that vehicle, it was horseback with their first setback being stuck on the wrong side of the Fergusson River with the country experiencing “the Wet”. It was 1902 and with the “little Missus” being told she shouldn’t be joining her husband when he ventured to the homestead, “The Elsey” in the Never Never of the Northern Territory because a white woman didn’t belong, the determination of them both to go saw them on board a train from Darwin.

Jeannie gunn we of the never never