Her Sunburnt Country cover art

Her Sunburnt Country

The Extraordinary Literary Life of Dorothea Mackellar

Preview
Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Her Sunburnt Country

By: Deborah FitzGerald
Narrated by: Arianwen Parkes-Lockwood
Try Standard free

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

About this listen

The official biography of Australian poet and writer Dorothea Mackellar, author of the celebrated poem ‘My Country.’

'I love a sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains…’

Though many Australians know lines from Dorothea Mackellar’s classic poem ‘My Country’ by heart, very little has been written about the poet’s extraordinary life. From her childhood and youth in Sydney’s Point Piper, to discovering her love for the Australian landscape on the family farm in Gunnedah, Dorothea engaged with the intellectual elite of Sydney and abroad as she embarked on a decades-long literary career that saw her linked to some of the leading lights of her day.

A keen traveller, Dorothea ventured as far as Japan, Egypt and the Caribbean between longer stints in Europe. In the heart of literary London, she socialised with Joseph Conrad and Ezra Pound. At home, she counted among her friends Ether Turner, the famed war correspondent Charles Bean, and journalistic royalty in the form of the Fairfax family. Never before published letters and diaries reveal her unorthodox relationship with her best friend and collaborator Ruth Bedford.

Battling against a masculine tradition of Australian bush poetry led by Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson, Dorothea Mackellar boldly carved out a place for herself, leaving an indelible mark on the Australian imagination. Now, for the first time, the poet's unconventional life story is told – a hidden gem of Australian history, and a tale of one woman’s extraordinary passion for her poetry, her family and her country.
Art & Literature Authors Historical Women Heartfelt

Critic Reviews

'This authorised biography takes us into [Dorothea Mackellar's] complex and sometimes troubled life ... an engaging tale of a national icon’
All stars
Most relevant
I loved hearing the journal entries while looking and feeling into the life and interment details of Dorathia and her personal journey.

Love this book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.