A Million Wild Acres
Non-fiction book about the history of European settlement in Australia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Million Wild Acres: 200 years of man and an Australian forest is a non-fiction book written by Eric Charles Rolls (1923â2007). It was first published in Melbourne by Thomas Nelson in 1981.
| |
| Author | Eric Charles Rolls |
|---|---|
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Published | 1981 |
A Million Wild Acres is not just a regional history of what is now known as the Pilliga forest, but also a history of European settlement in Australia.
Contents
- Explorers and Livestock: Setting up the Board
- The First Moves: A Difficult Game
- The Squatters: The Rules are Ignored
- Licences to Depasture Beyond the Limits: A New Game to New Rules
- Runholders and Selectors: The Rules are Modified
- The Forest Takes Over: The Game Ends
- The Breelong Blacks: A Sinister Comedy
- Timber and Scrub
- Timbergetters and Scrub Dwellers: A Different Game
- Mud Springs and Soda Plains
- Animal Life: Insects, Reptiles and Others
- Animal Life: The Mammals
- The Animals: The Birds
- Wood Chips and International Airports: A Businessmen's Game
Reception
The book won The Age Book of the Year (1981), C.J. Dennis Prize and Talking Book of the Year.
This will be seen as one of the great books about Australia. Eric Rolls gives the history of the forest the laconic power of an extended campfire yarn, spiced with the personal vision that comes from a lifetime of acute observation
ââHistorian, Professor Weston Bate