A Book for Kids
by C.J. Dennis (Angus & Robertson, 1921)
audiobook read by Colin Friels (ABC Audio, 2016)
Supposedly unabridged, this audiobook in fact omits the stories, leaving only Dennis’s verse—short, rather dated bush ballads, their rhyme too simple for adults, the language too sophisticated for children. Colin Friels revisits his Play School days but fights a losing battle.
Sinister Stones (reissued as Cake in the Hat Box)
by Arthur W. Upfield (Doubleday, 1954)
audiobook read by Peter Hosking (Bolinda, 2018)
Though the murder investigation is somewhat nebulous, the story remains notable for the extreme remoteness of its Western Australian setting, and for its historical depiction of cattle station life—and particularly the relationships between Aboriginal and white folk—in the mid-20th Century.
Holidays
by William McInnes (Hachette, 2014)
audiobook read by William McInnes (Hachette, 2015)
McInnes reminisces about holidaying mishaps from his childhood and adult life (and those of people he has known). With the growing wisdom of experience, he draws wider, often subtle, gentle and empathic conclusions about Australian culture, family and what makes us happy.
The Green Mill Murder
by Kerry Greenwood (McPhee Gribble, 1993)
audiobook read by Stephanie Daniel (ABC Audio, 2012)
While the mystery in this instance is nigh on non-existent, Phryne and the murderer make their dual entrance on page one and the book proceeds apace, endearing itself to aficionados of early 20th-century Australian culture and showcasing Greenwood’s research of the period.
John Williamson live @ the QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane
(3 November 2023)
John Williamson played a raft of songs from his 53-year career, throwing in the odd novelty hit but sticking mainly to lyrically driven ballads with a deep, sentimental connection to outback Australia. Highlights included ‘Dear Little Quambatook’, ‘Cydi’, and ‘Prairie Hotel Parachilna’.
The Diggers Rest Hotel
by Geoffrey McGeachin (Penguin, 2010); audiobook read by Peter Byrne (Bolinda, 2010)
Former bomber pilot Charlie Berlin is sent to Wodonga to track down a gang of armed robbers. His investigations seem almost peripheral to McGeachin’s purpose: a well-drawn character study of Berlin and of rural Australian society shortly after the Second World War.
Nest
by Inga Simpson (Hachette, 2014); audiobook ready by the author (Wavesound, 2016)
A could-have-been murder mystery in which Inga Simpson defies all genre expectations and instead just tells the story of a woman coming to terms with her life choices. A beautiful exploration of flora and fauna, person and place (the Sunshine Coast hinterland).
The New Shoe
by Arthur W. Upfield (Doubleday, 1951); audiobook read by Peter Hosking (Bolinda, 2010)
A beautiful piece of Australiana and a preserved character study—both of the small coastal town and its inhabitants, and of half-caste Aboriginal detective Napoleon Bonaparte. Upfield’s prose is methodical yet poetically descriptive. Bony is a protagonist with unique methods and appeal.
Picnic at Hanging Rock
by Joan Lindsay (F. W. Cheshire, 1967); audiobook read by Yael Stone (Bolinda, 2018)
Pointless Australiana. While some of the lengthier complex sentences lose their coherence in the audiobook reading, it is Hanging Rock’s mystery element—the dangled carrot that might tie together its inconsistencies and senseless character actions—that most disappoints, being left entirely unaddressed.