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Robyn Davidson Robyn Davidson i(A4911 works by)
Born: Established: 1950 Miles, Miles area, Chinchilla - Miles - Wallumbilla area, Darling Downs, Queensland, ;
Gender: Female
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BiographyHistory

Robyn Davidson is best known for Tracks, an account of crossing west Australia by camel, which was later adapted for film by John Curran (director) and Marion Nelson (script-writer).

Davidson was born on a cattle station in Queensland, and educated at a girls' boarding school in Brisbane. In 1968, in her late teens, she moved to Sydney, where she was associated with members of the Sydney Push.

In 1977, she left Alice Springs for what would be a nine-month journey on camel back across the deserts of west Australia, accompanied by a dog and four camels. Originally, she published her experiences in a National Geographic article, and later as a full-length travelogue.

Davidson has continued exploring nomadic lifestyles (including in Australia, India, and Tibet), largely through personal experience. She has published on their experiences in works including Desert Places and No Fixed Address, her Quarterly Essay work.

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • Davidson co-wrote a history of Australia with Thomas Keneally and Patsy Adam-Smith (qq.v). Her essay 'No Fixed Address : Nomads and the Fate of the Planet' was published in Quarterly Essay 24 by Black Inc in December 2006.

Personal Awards

2011 winner Australian Centre Literary Awards — Peter Blazey Fellowship for her work-in-progress Self Portrait with Imaginary Mother
2008 Australia Council Literature Board Grants — Grants for Established Writers $60,000
2004 recipient Wingate Scholarship Write a book about the changing patterns of Nomadism focusing on the pastoral Nomads of Mustang,
Nepal
VIEW ALL AWARDS

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Unfinished Woman London : Bloomsbury , 2023 26980983 2023 single work autobiography

'In 1977, twenty-seven-year-old Robyn Davidson set off with a dog and four camels to cross 1,700 miles of Australian desert to the sea.

'A life of almost constant travelling followed. From the deserts of Australia, to Sydney's underworld; from Sixties street life, to the London literary scene; from migrating with nomads in Tibet, to 'marrying' an Indian prince, Davidson's quest was motivated by an unquenchable curiosity about other ways of seeing and understanding the world.

'Davidson threw bombs over her shoulder and seeds into her future on the assumption that something would be growing when she got there. The only terrain she had no interest in exploring was the past.

'In Unfinished Woman Davidson turns at last to explore that long avoided country. Through this brave and revealing memoir, she delves into her childhood and youth to uncover the forces that set her on her path, and confront the cataclysm of her early loss.

'Unfinished Woman is an unforgettable investigation of time and memory, and a powerful interrogation of how we can live with and find beauty in the uncertainty and strangeness of being.' (Publication summary)
2024 shortlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) — Australian Biography of the Year
form y separately published work icon Tracks ( dir. John Curran ) Australia : See Saw Films , 2013 Z1910218 2013 single work film/TV (taught in 2 units) 'The inspirational true story of Robyn Davidson's solo camel trek through the harsh centre of Australia, aided only by her faithful canine companion Diggity and the National Geographic photographer who chronicled this epic modern adventure.' (Source: Screen Australia website)
2014 shortlisted Film Critics Circle of Australia — Best Film
2014 nominated Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards — Best Film
2015 nominated AFCA Film Awards — Best Film
VIEW ALL AWARDS
Last amended 11 Sep 2019 17:36:41
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