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The Bush

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The Bush

By: Don Watson, Hamish Hamilton
Narrated by: Don Watson
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About this listen

An enthralling journey, showcasing Watson's trademark literary gift and sardonic wit, through the Australian landscape and character.

While most Australians live in cities clinging to the coastal fringe, our sense of what an Australian is, or should be, is drawn from the vast and varied inland called the bush. But what do we mean by 'the bush', and how has it shaped us?

Starting with his forebears' battle to drive back nature and eke a living from the land, Don Watson explores the bush as it was and as it now is: the triumphs and the ruination, the commonplace and the bizarre, the stories we like to tell about ourselves and the national character, and those we don't. A milestone work of memoir, travel writing and history, The Bush takes us on a profoundly revelatory and entertaining journey through the Australian landscape and character.

©2014 Don Watson (P)2017 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
Australia & Oceania Australia, New Zealand & Oceania Biographies & Memoirs Oceania Travel Writing & Commentary United States Witty City

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Every soul living or contemplating living in the bush, a must read

Attitude confirmation for me living and enjoying living in the bush, SE NSW.
Also a few more hard truths I need to attend, rectify.
Thank you for the advice, if unintentional.

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A genuine pleasure

Watson beautifully captures a lifetime of thinking of our complicated place in the Australian bush. More than history, biography or philosophy could be in the singular- it achieves a depth that resonate wonderfully especially as someone with a similar journey as yet only half travelled

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Awesome

Amazing book, well worth the listen. Extremely well read and will resonate with many who love the bush

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A truth telling....

As deeply as he could go, Don has mined his soul and his intellect and reflected on life and history, readyng the reader to abandon the paltry myths, know the heartbreaking truths and to begin to "reclaim" the bush. Australian Indigenous peoples and conservation farmer scientists given a rare attempt at a fair rendition, if not hearing. i was simultaneously re-appalled to call myself Australian and made hopeful that it would be possible one day to reclaim a new kind of alliegence.

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Really Good

This audiobook was a really good listen, so good in fact I’m just about to finish it a third time. Dons reading of the book made it very immersive and suited the book very well. The contents was also extremely good, don really tells it how it is with no mucking around and a few hard truths in between. Do yourself a favour and have a listen, you won’t be disappointed.

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'A Must Read Book'

I enjoyed the journey from the early days to current bush practices. The farmers and their stories with a few interesting moments in between.
Well written & narrated.
Brilliant!

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Australia's prose laureate

Every Australian who thinks they care about the bush (and that's lots of us) must read this book. But not only is it important comma it's also incredibly entertaining and jam packed full of "wow I didn't know that" moments.

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All Australians ought read

Truthfully told, sometimes shocking observation of Australia's history since white man. Excellent narration by the author

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A paradise lost

Impeccable research, engrossing, utterly tragic what white settlement has destroyed. It’s hard not to cry

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City Guy

I couldn’t stop listening. For someone who has spent his entire life in the city, Watson has given me a modicum of understanding of our history.

His melancholic voice added to his deep understanding and palpable sadness at the trajectory of our natural and human colonial history and more recent actions.

I loved his descriptions of his travels, weaving his experiences with stories and wisdoms and lyrical observations from memoirs of settlers and experiences of those now living in The Bush.

His descriptions of environmental degradation and “psychopathic” pillage of our land, his empathy for the first Australians and the appalling silence on their genocide made me weep.

I couldn’t recommend this book more highly.

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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.