THEIR SHINING ELDORADO

by Elspeth Huxley ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 10, 1967

A Journey through Australia"" with Mrs. Huxley is a pleasure trip. She treats of the oldest continent much as she did the ""dark"" in With Forks and Hope, although here there is less contact with and concern for politics. Mrs. Huxley writes a nice mix of travelogue cum history; her prose is easy to read and to absorb, covers both animal and human life. She ""takes in"" Australia from Sydney, with its art exhibitions and zoo, to the South of Capricorn. She visits Canberra, ""the most middle class city in the world,"" views the Golden Fleece of Gundowinga, the gold mines of the West. She enjoys the wines of the Murray, tended by non-British outlanders, witnesses the rebirth of Perth as an Asian power. Amid the activities of the human species, there are those of the animals: the koala bears, the 'roos (of which the annual ""take"" is calculated roughly at two million), the birds-- ibis, lyre-and-bower-birds with their intricate rituals. Then there are the Abo's, moved from ward to assimilation status officially, but actually stuck somewhere between. The settlers and their descendants also are in evidence. Mrs. Huxley is an accomplished writer-observer; her book is the most general and comprehensive of Australian travelogues, should open the continent to a new exploration by armchair travelers.

Pub Date: April 10, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1967

Categories: NONFICTION