McDouall Stuart hitches a ride - by Rosemary Cadden (Paperback)

About the Book

An (un)settling road trip through the centre of Australia to discover how settler colonisation has altered the landscape and the lives of people who call this strip of country their home.

Book Synopsis

Take a front seat on this road trip through the centre of Australia for an unsettling journey through history as journalist and adventurer Rosemary Cadden follows the tracks of fellow Scot, 19th-century explorer John McDouall Stuart. He seemed a natural choice to show her around this country where she's lived for fifty years. Although their boat trips were 140 years apart, both were in their early 20s when they emigrated Down Under, looking for adventure, a new life, a new beginning.

You'll eavesdrop on her conversations with locals along the way; marvel at the landscape as you move from bushland to desert to mangrove swamps; and look on as Rosemary tackles dunes and dingoes, then leeches, storms and unexpected encounters.

Through the explorer's journals and Rosemary's extensive research, you'll also discover the story of this strip of country, colonised only two centuries ago, has its share of misinformation, long-lasting myths and fake news.

At the halfway mark, as Rosemary looks up, up, up at the lanky statue of the diminutive explorer in Alice Springs, her road trip to retrace his expeditions almost comes unstuck. Who is this man she's following?

Amidst global calls for colonial statues to be pulled down, there are protests calling for this statue, first erected in 2010, to be removed. Escalating accusations suggest he committed massacres.

In a time when many of us want to better understand our history, Rosemary finds that the explorer's constant presence on this trip and the people she meets in outback pubs and remote communities, make her question what she knows and how much she still has to learn about this country she calls home.

The real journey is just beginning.

Review Quotes

The canny way that Rosemary provides keen, sceptical questions that address our awesome expanse of country, its traditional owners and continuing stream of visitors scratches at pertinent issues from Australia's era of exploration - and still remain essential topics of discussion.

David Sly, journalist, author, critic

Rosemary is well qualified to talk about Stuart as she has trod in his footprints across the continent as a lone traveller. Her engaging style and dry sense of humour make her a most entertaining storyteller.

Rick Moore, President of the John McDouall Stuart Society