Towong Hill: Fifty Years on an Upper Murray Cattle Station by Elyne Mitchell

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Minor wear to book corners and edges. Dust jacket has some light creasing at edges and spine. Interior and binding are excellent. Signed by author.

In 1936, Elyne Mitchell was brought by her husband Tom to live at Towong Hill, his family property below the Snowy Mountains.

In this rugged and beautiful country, rich in native wildlife, summer brings burning heat and the threat of bushfires, while in winter, storms and floods must be endured.

Elyne fitted easily into the rhythm of station life, and the early years at Towong brought great happiness. The outbreak of the Second World War cut short the idyll. Tom disappeared into the silence of Changi Prison, and for many months, Elyne did not know whether he still lived.

In these dark days, with manpower desperately short, she worked as a station hand on the property. She learned quickly that loneliness and exhaustion could be kept at bay by her ‘passionate love of the natural world’ - the mountains, bright snow, animals and birds.

After the war, Tom was absent for long periods as the Member for Benembra in the Victorian Parliament and later Attorney-General. During these years, Elyne shared with her children the joys of riding, mustering and exploring the bush.

Elyne Mitchell’s empathy with fragile and easily destroyed ecosystems and her intense responses to the wilder forces of nature are threads that run through all her books. They form the backbone of this lyrical and evocative account of the life and work on Towong Hill.