From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia We of the Never Never
We of the Never Never
We of the Never Never This novel, together with her other book, was adapted for
Australian schools.[1] By 1990 over a million copies of the
book had been sold.[2]
Significance
The book is regarded as being significant as a precursor
of the 1930s landscape writers. Already in 1908 Australia
was a significantly urbanised country and the book was
seen to provide symbols of things that made Australia
different from anywhere else, underwriting an Aus-
tralian legend of life and achievement in the outback,
where "men and a few women still lived heroic lives in
rhythm with the gallop of a horse" in "forbidding far-
away places".[2]
In 1988 the book was referred to as a “minor master-
piece of Australian letters” by Penguin’s New Literary His-
tory of Australia.[3]
We of the Never Never is an autobiographical novel by Jean- Film
nie Gunn. Although published as a novel, it is an account The book was made into a film also called We of the Nev-
of the author’s experiences in 1902 at Elsey Station near er Never in 1982 and shot on location in the Northern
Mataranka, Northern Territory in which she changed the Territory - the setting of the novel.
names of people to obscure their identities. She pub-
lished this book under her married name of Mrs Aeneas
Gunn. Over the years newspapers and magazine articles References
chronicled the fortunes of the Elsey characters; Jeannie [1] ^ O’Neill, Sally (1983). "Gunn, Jeannie (1870 -
outlived all but Bett-Bett.[1] 1961)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra:
Australian National University.
Background http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/
A090134b.htm. Retrieved 2008-01-11.
Mrs Gunn was the first white woman to settle in the [2] ^ Forrest, Peter (1990). "They of the Never Never"
Mataranka area. Her husband was a partner in Elsey cat- (pdf - 14 pages). Occasional Papers (no 18). Northern
tle station on the Roper River, some 300 miles (483 km) Territory Library Service.
south of Darwin. On 2 January 1902 the couple sailed for http://www.ntl.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/
Port Darwin so that he could take up his role as the sta- 0017/25046/occpaper18.pdf. Retrieved 2008-01-11.
tion’s new manager. In Palmerston (Darwin), Mrs Gunn [3] Ramsey, Alan (10 April 1999). "Fighting for the
was discouraged from accompanying her husband to the Never Never". Sydney Morning Herald (print) -
station on the basis that as a woman she would be "out of transcript at The Mail Archive. http://www.mail-
place" on a station such as the Elsey. However, she trav- archive.com/recoznet2@paradigm4.com.au/
elled south and her book describes the journey and set- msg00471.html. Retrieved 2008-01-11.
tling in. However on 16 March 1903 Aeneas died of malar-
ial dysentery and Jeannie returned to Melbourne shortly
afterwards.[1] External links
• We of the Never-Never at Project Gutenberg
Publication History
We of the Never Never was translated into German in
1927.[1] By 1945, 320,000 copies of the book had been sold.
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia We of the Never Never
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=We_of_the_Never_Never&oldid=453365166"
Categories:
• Australian novels
• 1908 novels
• 1902 in fiction
• Novels set in Northern Territory (Australia)
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