Don Watson Livres

While most of us 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.

In May 2005, on a sudden impulse, Don Watson took a train called The Southwest Chief from Chicago to Los Angeles: like a woodworm, he thought, drilling a tiny groove into the bark of the republic. Long before it reached LA, Watson had decided to catch more trains to more places in America. Winner of 2008 Walkley Nonfiction Book Award .

An extraordinary piece of history - the Scottish Highlanders on the frontier of Australia - with introduction from Inga Clendinnen.After their military defeat in 1745 the Scottish Highlanders suffered a worse humiliation. They were displaced from their ancestral lands and became objects of romantic nostalgia, charity, scorn, anthropology - and emigration. This is a tale of their dispossession. It also tells the rout of another people, the Kurnai of Gippsland in south-eastern Australia. And prominent among those who did the routing were emigrant Highlanders like the explorer Angus McMillan.Don Watson writes about the frontier on which those two cultures met. It is a story full of tragic ironies and myths which linger to this day. First published in 1984 and recognised as a significant revisionist work, Caledonia Australis is all the more intriguing and instructive now as debate continues to rage over Aboriginal native title, practical reconciliation and the way Australian history should be written, taught and understood.

Exploring the complex relationship between Australia and America, the book delves into the Australian imagination's subservience to American culture. Don Watson questions the reasons behind this dominance, pondering whether Australia can maintain an independent identity or if it is destined to become an extension of American ideals. Through a thought-provoking analysis, he critiques the paradoxes within Australian society, reflecting on its cultural anxieties and aspirations in the shadow of its powerful ally. The essay presents a nuanced meditation on national identity and cultural influence.

Each of these varied contributors—settlers, explorers, anthropologists, naturalists, stockmen, surveyors, itinerants, artists and writers—represents a particular place and time. Men in awe of the landscape or cursing it; aspiring to subdue and exploit it or finding themselves defeated by it. Women reflecting on the land’s harshness and beauty, on the strangeness of their lives, their pleasures and miseries, the character and behavior of the men. Europeans writing about indigenous Australians, sometimes with intelligent sympathy and curiosity but often with contempt, and often describing acts of startling brutality. This collection comprises diary extracts, memoirs, journals, letters, histories, poems and fiction. There are accounts of journeys, of work and recreation, of religious observance, of creation and destruction. Stories of uncanny events, peculiar and fantastic characters, deep ironies, and of land unlimited. And musings on what might be the future of the as a unique environment, a food bowl, a mine, a wellspring of national identity. From Dampier and Tasman to Tim Flannery and assorted contemporary farmers, environmentalists and grey nomads, these pieces represent a vast array of experiences, perspectives and knowledge.

Featuring a collection of photographs, this study explores the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde, showcasing their architectural significance and historical context. The book offers insights into the lives of the Ancestral Puebloans who inhabited these remarkable structures, highlighting their ingenuity and adaptation to the environment. This high-quality reprint preserves the original edition's details, making it a valuable resource for those interested in archaeology and Native American history.

From the bestselling author of The Bush, the story of a fifty-year relationship between a Vietnam veteran and an isolated clan in north-east Arnhem Land - a unique, astonishing window into Australia's deep past and precarious present, by a master storyteller.

When was the last time you heard a politician use words that rang with truth and meaning? Do your eyes glaze over when you read a letter from your bank or insurance company? Does your mind shut down when your employer starts talking about 'making a commitment going forwards' or speaks of 'enhancing the bottom line'? Every day we are confronted with a debased, depleted sludge: in the media, among corporations, in the public services and cultural institutions, at work, and out of the mouths of our leaders. There is a new public language that has been forced on us that makes no sense to outsiders and confounds even those who use it. It is a dead language, devoid of lyricism, emotion, complexity or nuance. Meanwhile, in step with managerial thinking, opinion polls and an impossibly demanding media, our political leaders employ this new language of cliches, jargon, platitudes and weasel words to hide or twist the truth. Don Watson can take it no longer. In Death Sentence, he takes a blowtorch to the words - and their users - that sterilise the language and kill imagination and clarity. Scathing, funny and brilliant, Death Sentence is a small book that is as timely as it is profound.