Cirrus@Austlit

'This is the story of two very different men – an Aboriginal stockman, Mick Lynch, and a station manager, Tom Atkinson – whose lives touched for a period during the first half of the 20th century on a cattle station in southern Queensland.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Companion book to Castle to Colony by the same author. Adventures and achievements of an Irish Engineer who traveled the world in the second half of the 1800s, during which time he played a significant role in the Japanese Meiji Restoration. Bridges, buildings, tea processing and sugar mill machinery, mining engineering - all were part of the amazingly productive life of Thomas Waters. ' (Publication summary)

'These carefully selected stories, set in the second half of the nineteenth and into the first decade of the twentieth centuries, reveal much about the attitudes of the writers and their reading audience, and about the social and cultural environments in which they lived. As was the custom, the 'lower classes' are barely, if ever, mentioned. These are stories for the well-to-do by the well-to-do, and individual Aborigines, white stockmen, and other 'working-class' folk, do not feature as protagonists. In their introduction, 'Colonial Australian Romance Fiction', Gelder and Weaver concentrate on ways in which female heroines are portrayed in the collection, suggesting that the girls and women are often seen as 'refreshingly different' (p. 5). On the whole, they are independent, strong willed and, at the same time, well prepared to take on the role of the responsible wife. There is an emphasis, too, on the move from innocence to experience.'  (Introduction)

'At first glance, this book presents as a sophisticated and cleverly crafted coffeetable publication. The photograph on the cover, set slightly to the right in line with the title, is an excellent example of successful experimental design, a feature echoed throughout the book. In fact, the imaginative arrangement of the photographs is what makes this publication so appealing at first glance. Delving deeper, however, this book is worth much more than a quick glance over a cup of coffee. Contained in the in-depth 'Introduction', and the six informative essays, are details of the life and work of photographer John Joseph Dwyer, and Kalgoorlie's past, that make interesting reading for not only an academic audience with an interest in the history of architecture, but also for anyone drawn to mining towns and their beginnings. There is something, too, for the keen photographer, fascinated by photographic technique and the history of photography.'  (Introduction)

'Castle to Colony tells the story of a nineteenth-century European who saw the Australian landscape and its inhabitants, Black and White, with remarkably fresh eyes. There was liveliness in everything Lucy did, and the people and things she records are lively too. It's a liveliness nicely mirrored in Meg's Vivers' prose.

'But also this is also a woman's story. Of all the depictions of colonial Australia which survive from a woman's point of view, Lucy Gray's is among the richest and best. For that reason alone this book is an enormously valuable addition to out understanding of Australian history.' (Source: Back cover)