The Book of the Bush


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(4.5 stars; 4 reviews)

"While the world was young, nations could be founded peaceably. There was plenty of unoccupied country, and when two neighbouring patriarchs found their flocks were becoming too numerous for the pasture, one said to the other: "Let there be no quarrel, I pray, between thee and me; the whole earth is between us, and the land is watered as the garden of Paradise. If thou wilt go to the east, I will go to the west; or if thou wilt go to the west, I will go to the east." So they parted in peace.

(Excerpt) (0 hr 14 min)

Chapters

01 - Purging Out The Old Leaven Pt 1 18:40 Read by Magdalena
02 - Purging Out The Old Leaven Pt 2 21:33 Read by Magdalena
03 - Purging Out The Old Leaven Pt 3 18:06 Read by Magdalena
04 - First Settlers 3:44 Read by Jessi
05 - Wreck Of The Convict Ship Neva, On King's Island 11:42 Read by Jessi
06 - Discovery Of The River Hopkins 10:43 Read by Lucy Burgoyne (1950 - 2014)
07 - Whaling 20:17 Read by May Low
08 - Out West In 1849 Pt 1 28:01 Read by Linda Dodge
09 - Out West In 1849 Pt 2 28:20 Read by Linda Dodge
10 - Out West In 1849 Pt 3 28:44 Read by Linda Dodge
11 - Among The Diggers In 1853 Pt 1 19:39 Read by Annise
12 - Among The Diggers In 1853 Pt 2 21:40 Read by Annise
13 - Among The Diggers In 1853 Pt 3 20:22 Read by Annise
14 - Among The Diggers In 1853 Pt 4 22:19 Read by Annise
15 - A Bush Hermit 27:13 Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022)
16 - The Two Shepherds Pt 1 23:15 Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022)
17 - The Two Shepherds Pt 2 22:05 Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022)
18 - The Two Shepherds Pt 3 25:23 Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022)
19 - The Two Shepherds Pt 4 23:20 Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022)
20 - The Two Shepherds Pt 5 21:36 Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022)
21 - A Valiant Police-Sergeant 13:29 Read by Annise
22 - White Slavers 10:42 Read by evilnick
23 - The Government Stroke 24:03 Read by May Low
24 - On The Ninety-Mile 11:17 Read by Lucy Burgoyne (1950 - 2014)
25 - Gippsland Pioneers 20:45 Read by Algy Pug
26 - The Isle Of Blasted Hopes 25:02 Read by Jonah Cummings
27 - Glengarry In Gippsland 17:33 Read by Magdalena
28 - Wanted, A Cattle Market 21:36 Read by Magdalena
29 - Two Special Surveys 22:11 Read by Annise
30 - How Government Came To Gippsland 24:38 Read by Magdalena
31 - Gippsland Under The Law 22:51 Read by Mike Harris
32 - Until The Golden Dawn 22:53 Read by Magdalena
33 - A New Rush 14:44 Read by Magdalena
34 - Gippsland After Thirty Years 20:47 Read by Magdalena
35 - Government Officers In The Bush 13:24 Read by Lucy Burgoyne (1950 - 2014)
36 - Seal Islands And Sealers 12:04 Read by Annise
37 - A Happy Convict 20:13 Read by Magdalena

Reviews

A bit of a mixed bag


(4 stars)

The quotation from the start of the book (used here as the blurb) does it no favours, because the author likes to start each chapter with a bit of high-brow, to set the tone, and the rest of the book is not like that at all. Basically its a set of articles which have been repacked into a single book. Some are biographical, some are historical, a suprising number are about New Zealand or the US, given the title. It suffers as like a lot of biography in that some of the characters don't seem to begin or end, but there are sharp little vingettes made up of tiny incidents which are excellent. The readers do a solid job of it (even some of the Australians mispronounce the out of date slang, particularly rracist terms no longer used, and so you have to forgive the Americans for any minor slips). I'm an Australian and particularly like Australian history, and have visited some of the sites mentioned, so perhaps for me the rating is a bit higher than it would be for other people, lacking my "core audience" interest.

Mark Twain of Ausy


(4.5 stars)

Dry sarcastic humor. plenty of history. I was surprised to hear the section on Joliet Illinois USA, it was cool. Starved Rock was two native tribes.