An English Rose in Kakadu: The Autobiography of Judy Opitz - Her Life From English Manor to Northern Territory Frontier edited by David Welch

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Minor wear to book corners and edges. Previous owner has signed inside page, now covered with blank sticker. Body text and binding are still very good.

In 1960, June Rowley visited Allan Stewart's remote Nourlangie Safari Camp, where buffalo and crocodiles were hunted. Enchanted by the scenery and meeting Tom Opitz, who called her "Judy", she stayed and worked there two years.

In 1964, Judy and Tom married and set up their own trading post in the region, at a place called Cooinda, on the remote Jim Jim Creek crossing on a bush track in Western Arnhem Land. Each wet season, the track was closed due to annual flooding, so in 1968, they expanded their services with a rudimentary motel built on higher ground, six kilometres away, close to Yellow Waters Billabong. Today, the Cooinda Motel is an integral part of many visitors' stay in what is now Kakadu National Park.

That is the autobiography of Judy Opitz, born June Rowley in 1924 in England, who worked with WWII pilots during the 1940s, acted on stage in the 1950s, travelled to Turkey and Persia (now Iran) in 1957, migrated to Australia in 1958, and later fell in love with the remoteness of the Kakadu Region, living there for fifteen years. In later life, Judy earned a degree at 72 and a doctorate at 84 from Charles Darwin University. (back cover)

June Opitz died aged 100 in 2025.