I’ve long been fascinated with the Australian Outback.
It’s an inhospitable yet spellbinding place. It’s full of beauty and harsh reality. It’s insanely hot and freezing cold on winter nights. It’s takes up a vast part of the Australian continent and feels like another world from the busy life on the coastal fringe.
I’ve experienced dehydration, suffered from heat stroke and got infected with Ross River Fever by mosquitoes I met in the outback. And yet, I cannot imagine not returning to the outback to discover more.
Disclaimer: This post contains some affiliate links.
8 INTRIGUING BOOKS ABOUT THE AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK
Since my window of opportunity to explore the outback is limited to a few months a year, notwithstanding work and other commitments, I resort to armchair travels to transport myself into Australia’s interior. And usually that’s a mix of fiction and non-fiction.
I’ve read a ton of books set in the Australian Outback; some are fantastic and have the ability to dump you right in the middle of it.
Others I find quite mediocre, but perhaps that’s because I’m a picky reader. It’s easy to just set a story in Alice Springs; it’s much harder to evoke a sense of place, create compelling storylines and bring the outback to life in the pages of a book.
These are some of my favourite reads about Outback Australia (in no particular order).
1. “THE LOST MAN” (2018) | JANE HARPER
The Lost Man is Jane Harper’s third book but it was the first one of hers I picked up.
Set on a cattle station in Outback Queensland, life is rough. The heat, the drought, the mental and emotional drain it takes to eek out a living. It all takes a toll eventually.
Part family drama, part outback mystery, The Lost Man paints a dark picture of a dysfunctional family that’s perhaps more common than we’d like to think as a society.
Full of eerie suspense, Harper manages to capture what it feels like to be in the outback, live off the land, and what it takes to survive as a family and community.
If you prefer to listen, the audiobook is fantastic, it’s incredibly well read. My only problem was that I couldn’t listen to this at night, I got too creeped out.
Find it on Goodreads | Buy it on QBD Books (Australia only)
2. “TRACKS” (1980) | ROBYN DAVIDSON
Oddly enough, I read Tracks when we were in New Zealand one year.
Not many books deserve a full five stars from me, Tracks smashed it. It’s not a new book, this memoir has been around for decades but this solitary journey of one incredible woman, who says of herself that’s she’s nothing special, just plain inspired me.
Her tenacity to not give up her dream of walking across the hostile Australian desert, even in the face of panic attacks and anxiety, spoke volumes to me. Plus, I loved her astute observations about outback life, both positive and negative.
Find it on Goodreads | Buy it on QBD Books (Australia only)
3. “THE SHEPHERD’S HUT” (2018) | TIM WINTON
Set in WA, The Shepherd’s Hut is a disturbing novel about young runaway Jaxie Clackton.
The language is as sparse as the setting, and despite the foul language (and my inherent dislike of it), I got pulled in and couldn’t let it go until I finished it.
Tim Winton is a master when it comes to evoking that desolate outback spirit. The sun burning you to a crisp, the light blinding your eyes, and the endless space filling you with dread. It’s palpable as soon as you open page one.
I read this in 2018 and still think this is one of the best books I’ve read in recent years.
Find it on Goodreads | Buy it on QBD Books (Australia only)
4. “ALICE SPRINGS” (2012) | ELEANOR HOGAN
I’m slowing working my way through the Australian Cities Series.
Alice Springs, like Darwin, is a fascinating read as it dives right into the city’s seedy history as a frontier town that still battles to define itself.
If you want local insight, instead of a tourist account, pick up Alice Springs. It’ll give you a completely different picture of life in one of the most isolated cities.
Unfortunately, the book’s now out of print so second-hand or libraries are going to be your best options for getting your hands on a copy.
Find it on Goodreads
5. “OUTBACK STATIONS” (2012) | EVAN MCHUGH
I’m intrigued by how life on Australia’s outback stations works.
In part memoir, in part observations, Outback Stations offers an insight into the history, economic viability and everyday life of some of Australia’s biggest cattle and sheep stations.
It’s a fascinating account that details stories about the early pastoralists, the abominable treatment of Indigenous people and the massive beef companies behind many stations. I found the details about aerial mustering particularly interesting.
While it’s a fascinating read and I certainly recommend it, I could only listen to it in small chunks because of the sheer number of facts presented. It took me months to finish this book.
Find it on Goodreads | Buy it on QBD Books (Australia only)
6. “RABBIT-PROOF FENCE” (1996) | DORIS PILKINGTON GARIMARA
Written a couple of decades ago, Rabbit-Proof Fence chronicles the true story of Molly (Doris’ mother) and two of her sisters trekking hundreds of kilometres along the rabbit-proof fence in Western Australia.
It’s a harrowing account of three young Aboriginal girls (Black mother, white father) who were forcibly removed from their families, brought to a native settlement station in WA, and who escaped to walk back to their ancestral home.
It’s been made into a movie, worth watching, but I found the audio version read by Rachael Maza especially good, her intonation is simply wonderful.
Find it on Goodreads | Buy it on QBD Books (Australia only)
7. “SCRUBLANDS” (2018) | CHRIS HAMMER
The first book in the Martin Scarsden series, Scrublands opens with a bang. Quite literally.
Another remote town on the edge of the Outback, brought to its knees by yet another drought and crippled by a horrendous tragedy. A journalist, Martin Scarsden, tries to make sense of it all but only ends up digging deeper holes.
It’s an engrossing thriller that leaves you wondering whether all small towns have deep, dark secrets buried in the past.
A litte warning: Scrublands is full of pretty foul language, which I couldn’t take in the audio version, I had to read it instead (my eyes can skip over it but my ears can’t ‘unhear’ it).
It’s been made into a TV series that I’m yet to watch.
Find it on Goodreads | Buy it on QBD Books (Australia only)
8. “JUICE” (2024) | TIM WINTON
Juice is not really an outback novel like the above books.
It’s a dystopian, post-apocalyptic take on what life might look like in the, perhaps not too distant, future. It’s disturbing and weird and utterly compelling.
The story is set in what was once Western Australia but the days of our modern-day Australia are long gone. The heat is unbearable and people live underground for most of the year in order to survive.
The tale starts off with two fugitives on the run, and switches back and forth between different timelines. The landscape, with its distinct ‘outback-y’ feel, and the climate are unforgiving with life resembling something like survival of the fittest.
Find it on Goodreads | Buy it on QBD Books (Australia only)
So, that’s it, my best recommendations for Australian Outback books.
I have plenty of titles on my to-be-read shelf, including A Town like Alice, and it seems that every year, the list gets longer. Let me know in the comments what books I should add to my mounting Australian Outback reading pile.
Happy reading,
WANT TO DO SOME ACTUAL OUTBACK TRAVEL?
Here are the highlights from our Northern Territory road trip a few years ago. Or find out more about how we hiked the iconic Larapinta Trail outside Alice Springs.
We also ventured into southwest Queensland on a 10-day camping road trip.
MORE BOOK POSTS
If you’re in need of some inspiration for what to read next, here are 7 books I found eye-opening and/or challenging in 2018. And here’s my 2020 list of favourite books.
SAVE TO PINTEREST
No Comments