Unbranded: First Nations Classics
By (Author) Herb Wharton
By (author) Kev Carmody
University of Queensland Press
University of Queensland Press
30th May 2023
2nd ed.
Australia
General
Fiction
FIC
Paperback
264
Width 129mm, Height 197mm, Spine 25mm
249g
Written by the legendary Queensland drover Herb Wharton, this is a striking vision of outback Australia- the friendship story of three stockmen working on mulga country in the far west. Herb Wharton, former drover, now celebrated author, unleashes a strikingly original vision of outback Australia- from the riotous picnic races to perilous cattle stampedes, gutsy bush rodeos and mateship bravado. Unbranded is a rollicking saga where the kinship of mates Bindi, Sandy and Mulga owes as much to the trials they share as friends as to their Aboriginal culture.
Herb Wharton was born in Cunnamulla, Queensland, and began working as a drover in his teenage years. His maternal grandmother was of the Kooma people; his grandfathers were Irish and English. In 1992 with the publication of his first book, Unbranded, he committed to novel form his experiences of his long years spent on stock routes of inland Australia. Cattle Camp, a collection of droving histories as told by Murri stockmen and women, was published in 1994. Where Ya' Been Mate, a collection of short stories, followed in 1996. Herb has travelled extensively throughout Australia and abroad. In 1998, he was selected for a residency at the Australia Council studio in Paris where he completed Yumba Days, his first book for young readers. He was awarded the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature in 2012, and most recently was the recipient of a black&write! Fellowship in 2022.