Memories of a Bush Kid
Relive the hilarious, sad, crazy stories defining their family's life on an Australian farm in the 1960s as they transformed the scrub into a living farm, which is now lost to progress.
What will you read about?
“What’s that, Gerry?" and looked up to see smoke beginning to billow above the old dunny door. Within a few minutes, it was aflame. I crowed in awe, “Dad, Dad, grandpa, set fire to the old dunny!!”
Nugget was one of the Hereford poddies we were bucket feeding and he had managed to open the back door of the house and come in to find Mum and his bucket of milk. Auntie June shrieked again, “WHAT, there’s a COW in the HOUSE???!!!“
Mum had him sit in a chair in the sun, then poured some oil in his ear and got to work looking for whatever was “bugging” him. As she fished around in his ear with a cotton bud, Mum started pulling out blowfly maggots!
Jimmy muttered, “Jeez mate, if it goes tits up, you’re gonna be up shit creek real quick." Dad was on a roll now, “Nah, Welsh and Irish used coracles for hundreds of years before boats!!"
What people say about it
I would guess that the author and I are near the same age. What different upbringings we had - my middle-income suburban family in America vs his family's new-to-farming Aussie adventure. From Eddie the sometimes sober shearer to the Holmes's bull who fancied Daisy, from daily or seasonal farm chores to exploding bean tins and Nugget sneaking into the house, the author remembers his childhood in vivid detail, with a (sometimes much-needed) sense of humor. Expressive descriptions made me feel like I was there. I read mostly fiction, not often venturing into the realm of a memoir. This book is an amazing reason to do so. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
KL
This book is definitely a slow read meant to be savored. Reading it feels like you're sitting by the fire listening to a family member talk about their life and a time long passed. While at times details felt repetitive, it added to the ingenuity of the story. I didn't know anything about life in the bush before this, and appreciated the look into life a world away from my own.
Rachel
at! There´s a COW in the HOUSE!!