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Pub Date Jul 04 2014 | Archive Date Oct 01 2013
Description
Whoever coined the phrase ‘the middle of
nowhere’ must have had Broken Hill in mind, because that's where it was -- and
still is, although the Road to Nowhere is now all-weather tarmac. Seven hundred
miles due west of Sydney. Three hundred and thirty miles northeast of Adelaide.
It sprawls about the low range of lode-bearing hills, and, when I was a child,
was dominated by the artificial mountains of skimp, grey silt-like stuff that
was left over once the ore was extracted from the mines. Most of the skimp dumps
are gone now, reprocessed, when extraction techniques improved, for the ore
they still contained. To me the town is all the poorer for their demise.
It was here that the mighty BHP-Billiton, largest resource company in the
world, was born. It is also where I first saw the light of day -- although,
unlike BHP (Broken Hill Proprietary Ltd.), my appearance in this place at that
time was purely coincidental. This collection of stories is a memoir of what it
was like to grow up in Broken Hill in the 1950s and 1960s. It was prompted by a
question from one of my daughters, who grew up in a very different time and
place. ‘What was it like?’ she asked. ‘Back there. Back then.’
* * *
This is acclaimed linguist and author David
Nunan’s fascinating account of growing up in the Australian outback in the
1950s and 1960s.
(Publisher’s note: Spellings and vocabulary are Australian English; a glossary
of terms that may be unfamiliar to North Americans is provided at the back of
the book.)
Advance Praise
A Peek at a Rural Australian Past
All children are curious about their parents' pasts but few parents are articulate enough to capture their early years in a set of stories that give such a strong sense of place. David Nunan grew up in a rural mining community that somehow seems less desolate than it was because it was so richly peopled by an assembly of outrageous characters. What started as a collection of tales for his daughters has turned into a sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant set of observations about life for a small town boy who went from humble beginnings to become an internationally-recognized academic and author in the area of applied linguistics. (customer review, Amazon.com)
kindred spirit
This humorous book & collection of tales brought back memories for me having grown up in country NSW during the same era. David has an ability to recall his childhood in a way that provides the reader with a real insight into the uncomplicated freedom available back then in Broken Hill. What a privilege that was as he has shared those experiences beautifully in this short Memoir. I particularly love the Aussie slang and David's honesty when describing some of the less fortunate characters of Broken Hill. I am only half way through the book and do wish it were twice as long as I laugh out loud and remind myself how lucky we were to experience life in Australia during the 50's and 60's. Bring on more David and thank you for sharing your memories of life in outback NSW. Rebecca deserves some credit too for instigating this brilliant snapshot of her dad's younger years. (customer review, Amazon)
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Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781938757044 |
| PRICE | $9.89 (USD) |
