Over a century ago, Thomas Austin released English rabbits so that colonists could hunt them for sport. They are the product of an environmental disaster begun by the grave mistakes of white settlers. Touring Adelaide, Bryson explains that some parts of Australia’s desolate landscape weren’t always like that. A few decades later, the place famously became a British penal colony. It wasn’t fully explored by Westerners until the eighteenth century when James Cook sailed along the coast for hundreds of miles. Initially, they thought it was just another small island in the Indies. He notes that early explorers set foot in Australia multiple times without understanding the continent’s size. He begins this section of the book with a history of the continent and its colonization. Bryson’s second trip to Australia is a tour of the Boomerang Coast, the most heavily populated stretch of the country on the southeastern shore. Intermingled with the travel narrative are historical anecdotes and accounts from early Australian settlers, which Bryson treats with humor.
He holds amusing conversations with Australian locals on the train and describes landmarks such as the Blue Mountains. Bryson is accompanied by photographer Trevor Ray Hart for this part of the journey. Then, he travels along the Indian Pacific railway from Sydney to Perth to explore the Outback. Yet Australian news, whether political or social, rarely makes headlines in Great Britain or America.īryson tours the famous Sydney Opera house and tries to boogie board with disastrous results. As Bryson points out, Australia is filled with a greater variety of unique species of plants and animals than anywhere else in the world. He describes Australia as a kind of forgotten country, often ignored despite its incredible biodiversity. This is his chance to get to know the “real” Australia. He has visited the country before, but only on book tours, traveling from bookstore to bookstore and hotel to hotel. He explains, first, his reason for writing the book. Bryson tells the story of three trips he takes to explore Australia. The American title is taken from the notable Australian poem “My Country,” by Dorothea Mackellar. Bryson, best known for his comic travelogues such as Notes from a Small Island and A Walk in the Woods, approaches the subject with characteristic humor, dry wit, and historical digressions from the narrative. Originally published as Down Under in the U.K., the book charts Bryson’s journey through Australia by train and car, his conversations with locals, and musings on Australia’s history and culture. and Canadian title of a 2000 travelogue by writer Bill Bryson.
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