Cirrus@Austlit

'It’s a fact not yet universally acknowledged, that everybody should at some point in their lives attempt to follow in the footsteps of the explorers Hume and Hovell down the Hume Highway, preferably in the company of Captain Cook, Henry Lawson, Caroline Chisholm and Ned Kelly. Backseat Drivers is a hilarious and biting satire on the intersection and byways of the past, the present and the future.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'This remarkable story is the result of the discovery of hundreds of letters and photographs preserved by Rania MacPhillamy's family. The beautiful and accomplished daughter of a wealthy squatter, Rania left Australia in 1915 to work in a Cairo hospital treating the wounded from Gallipoli. Following the death of her soldier sweetheart she stayed on in Egypt and together with Alice Chisholm, set up a series of canteens for the men of the Light Horse. These canteens provided a restful and civilised haven, and the one contact with home for the men of the Egypt and Palestine campaigns.'

Source: Australian War Memorial.