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The Bush
- Narrated by: Don Watson
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
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Publisher's Summary
An enthralling journey, showcasing Watson's trademark literary gift and sardonic wit, through the Australian landscape and character.
While most Australians live in cities clinging to the coastal fringe, our sense of what an Australian is, or should be, is drawn from the vast and varied inland called the bush. But what do we mean by 'the bush', and how has it shaped us?
Starting with his forebears' battle to drive back nature and eke a living from the land, Don Watson explores the bush as it was and as it now is: the triumphs and the ruination, the commonplace and the bizarre, the stories we like to tell about ourselves and the national character, and those we don't. A milestone work of memoir, travel writing and history, The Bush takes us on a profoundly revelatory and entertaining journey through the Australian landscape and character.
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- Rodney Wetherell
- 04-12-2017
Great stories and very interesting details
I have always admired Don Watson's writing, but he has excelled himself in this book, The Bush. It is a mixture of stories, both from his own family and from many other sources, and details about many issues, from prickly pear to aboriginal practices and dingoes. I found it all quite engrossing, and believe this will be an important reference book for many years - not all reference books are as entertaining to read as this one.
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7 people found this helpful
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- George
- 17-04-2019
Outdated view of Australia
Struggled to finish. Instructive of a white farmers perspective. Confronting and at times offensive. I can't say I enjoyed it.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 02-03-2019
Australian history mixed with modern politics
A great insight into the life of early Europeans in Australia. Covers a lot of recorded accounts from the people, literature, botany, economics, farming principles and more.
Strongly influenced by 'global warming' and 'white guilt' philosophies of early 21st century.
Very informative, only spoiled by the increasingly overt politics of the later half of the book.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 16-04-2020
brilliant
don has a lovely Australian laconic style to his writing. his story comes from the heart and describes with empathy and conviction the way Europeans have managed or infact mismanaged the Australian landscape. we could have done a lot better
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3 people found this helpful
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- W*BvK
- 17-03-2019
A Rambling Mosaic of Australian Rural Life
This is without exception one of the best Audible books I have bought and I bought it on sale.
The Bush is a must listen for all Australians and those who want to understand what it was to be Australian.
It rambles through many different areas of bush mythology and in doing so carries you in your imagination from the early days to the present. From sheep to indigenous relations, from the bushmen to the hardships of Australian countrywomen. I lived this life. I reconnected with my life through this book.
Australia for Australians and those who want to understand the Australian Psyche of old.
I regret today we are a different nation or are we. Listen and tell me.
The Bush is a must listen to :)
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1 person found this helpful
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- Harristotle
- 10-09-2018
The Bush
Interesting and balanced . It is quite a thorough historical account, and really sets the background for how Australias relationship to the bush evolved. I would like to have seen a bit more on how the political power of the bush emerged, and how it continues to shape Australia today. What hapened to the old squatocracy where are they now? How did the relentless desire to ringbark every single tree come about- he mentions it as an almost unifying national philosophy- where did it come from?
There is also a place for a sequel - where can it go? What options and possibilities for the future
.
The book is fascinating, illuminating and will leave you with much to think about. I highly recommend it.
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- frank
- 09-02-2024
The depth of the information and the way in which it was shared.
for me this work redefined what it is to be Australian and got me reflecting on attitudes that had been a part of my life forever. i have learned a different history of Australia, a broader , more inclusive history from these words. It will stay with me for a long time.
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- Anonymous User
- 08-03-2023
Glaring omissions are hard to swallow
Don Watson is an incredible writer and this book is a great insight into a very specific perspective of Australian identity. I get it, I'm seventh generation Australian and I live on a historical farm. People worked hard, like poor people all over the world have worked hard.
However, the glaring omissions in his narrative just reinforce the problems that this country refuses to acknowledge.
Whiteness.
This is a book of Australian whiteness. It is centred, it is assumed and it is unquestioned. There is no discussion of the white Australia policy, the experiences of non-white people or who this 'bush' identity is really for. Yet there is no doubt. Just ask anybody who isn't white.
Genocide.
Don't call it 'retaliation', 'dispersal' etc...it was systematic, psychopathic, brutal, murder, rape, torture and wholesale theft. It was as bad as it could possibly get. Aboriginal people were treated as bad or worse than any group of people ever. We're all benefiting from what happened and the effects will always be felt by everyone in this country. We can't change what happened but we can acknowledge it.
Slavery.
Australia was built on slavery. When you force Aboriginal people to work for no money, with absolute control over every aspect of their lives, it is called SLAVERY. Forget convict labour, their sentences ended and they were given land, for Aboriginal people it was inescapable, and their only crime was to exist. In Australia, we never even bothered to put a dollar value on their bodies, they were brutalised at the whim of thieves and murderers.
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- Davo
- 31-01-2023
Every soul living or contemplating living in the bush, a must read
Attitude confirmation for me living and enjoying living in the bush, SE NSW.
Also a few more hard truths I need to attend, rectify.
Thank you for the advice, if unintentional.
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- Anonymous User
- 06-01-2023
An avid picture of butchery
Left me appalled and exhausted, not entirely convinced by the tone of modest irony.
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