Pastoral Australia: Fortunes, Failures and Hard Yakka: A Historical Overview 1788–1967 by Michael Pearson and Jane Lennon

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Ex library copy with no external stickers. Protective plastic covering. Partial date due slip on inside page. Minor wear to book corners and edges. Interior and binding are still very good.

Pastoral Australia tells the story of the expansion of Australia's pastoral industry and how it drove European settlement and involved Aboriginal people in the new settler society.

The rural life that once saw Australia 'ride on the sheep's back' is no longer what defines us. Yet, our history as a pastoral nation has endured in heritage places and is embedded in our self-image as Australians.

The challenges of sustaining a pastoral industry in Australia make their own compelling story. Developing livestock breeds able to prosper in the Australian environment was an ongoing challenge, as was getting wool and meat to market. Many stock routes, wool stores, abattoirs, wharf facilities, railways, roads, and river and ocean transport systems developed to link the pastoral interior with the urban and market infrastructure still survive.

Windmills, fences, homesteads, shearing sheds, bores, stockyards, travelling stock routes, bush roads and railheads all changed the look of the country. These features of our landscape form an essential part of our heritage. They are symbols of a pastoral Australia and of the foundations of our national identity, which will endure long into the future. (publisher blurb)