She made an effort to present the whole thing, warts and all, minus mythology.Ĭovering the period 1849-1898, Durack starts with the immigration of her paternal grandfather from Irish poverty to Sydney's sunny shores. If anyone wishes to acquire matter-of-fact knowledge about the period, they could do far worse than to read Mary Durack's family story, created from letters, diaries, from interviews and reminiscences years later, and from various documents found among her relatives.

KINGS IN GRASS CASTLES is an exceptionally good family history that gives the authentic flavor of what it was like to explore and settle vast swathes of that vast part of the southern continent known as 'the Outback'. Australia no doubt has its own mythology, but not a powerful media industry to spread it around the world. American mythology dwells long and lovingly on those pioneer journeys, the struggles with nature and the Indians, and the toughness of those who began to farm or ranch the new lands. Whatever the case, Australia's pioneering stories are not nearly as well known in the wider world as are those of the USA. Though Australia, like North America, came to its present form through immigration and pioneering settlement, its history contains major differences, perhaps partly because everything happened much later, and partly because it was so far away from the mother countries.

Kings in grass castles book