Capricornia

Product Description

Capricornia has been described as one of Australia`s `great novels`, a sharply observed chronicle about life in the Northern Territory of Australia & the inhumane treatment suffered by Aborigines at the hands of white men. The story is immense & rambling, laced with humour that is often as bitter & as harsh as the terrain in which it is set, & follows with irony the fortunes (and otherwise) of a range of Outback characters over a span of generations. Through their story is reflected the story of Australia, the clash of personalities & cultures that provide the substance on which today`s society is founded. Above all, however, this is a novel of protest & of compassion
- for the Aborigines & half-bloods of Australia`s `last frontier`. Sprawling, explosive, thronged with characters, plots & sub-plots, Capricornia is without doubt one of the best known & widely read Australian novels of the last 70 years. When it was first published it was acclaimed as `a turning point`, an `outstanding work of social protest`. Its message is as penetrating today as it was in the 1930s when Herbert himself was official ` Protector of Aborigines` at Darwin.