A Sunburnt Country - Broome to Bendigo by Ross Rolley

Welcome to  A Sunburnt Country  – Broome to Bendigo

May you learn from, and enjoy, the pages between these covers.

The photograph on the front cover of the book, courtesy of Peter Walton’s Art, is the Finke River at Glen Helen in the West MacDonnell Ranges.

The Finke is a river in central Australia, the bed of which courses through the Northern Territory and the state of South Australia. It is one of the four main rivers of the Lake Eyre Basin and is thought to be the oldest riverbed in the world.
 
The focus of the book is on those regions west of the Great Divide. People may wonder about the often-used expressions such as ‘the Great Divide’ or ‘the Western Fall.’ The reference is to ‘The Great Dividing Range’ which stretches more than 3,500 kilometres, north to south, along the east coast of Australia.  From Dauan Island in the Torres Strait, off the northern tip of Cape York Peninsula, the range runs the entire length of the coastline, through Queensland and New South Wales, then turns west across Victoria before finally fading into the Wimmera plains as rolling hills, west of the Grampians region.
 
The width of the Range varies from about 160 km to over 300 km.  The ‘Greater Blue Mountains’ area, ‘Gondwana’ Rainforests and the ‘Wet Tropics’ of Queensland World Heritage Areas, are located within the Range. The highest place in Australia, the 2,228 metres Mount Kosciusko, resides in the  ‘Snowy Mountains’ section.
 
This book is presented in two ‘Parts’.  Each part has an express purpose, that is relative to the other; but is of different content.  
 
‘Part One’ presents a broad range of information and photos that attempt to demystify the concept ‘Back o’ Bourke.’ Once the reader has an understanding  about the wide-ranging ‘Australian Outback’, then the poetry and associated information may, more readily, be understood and enjoyed.  The reader is asked to be aware that these pages only present a very small sample of the subject. ‘Outback Australia’ is a vast area, that is home to splendour, achievement, tragedy, history and culture that can never be captured between the covers of any book.
 
Bourke itself was once a major 19th-century river port and trading post. Today, Bourke is an historic town on the banks of the Darling River, famed for welcoming travellers.
 
‘Part Two’ is a collection of ‘Traditional, Written, Australian Bush Poetry’ that provides historical, cultural, and an occasional hint of political information: something of an anthology, with a strong emphasis on Bush Poetry and associated colour photographs. Most poems are supported by ‘Commentary’ that supplies detail beyond the limits of four-line stanzas. Additionally, there is a ‘Glossary of Australian Terms’ in the final pages.
 
Consideration is extended to Aussie urbanites, young and old, by way of a determined, explanatory effort in illustrating and documenting the vagaries of daily life in regional Australia. This has resulted in the creation of the two ‘Parts’ of the book.
 
 Enjoy.