AustLit logo
image of person or book cover 5915407569883585945.jpg
This image has been sourced from online.
y separately published work icon The Sundowners single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 1952... 1952 The Sundowners
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Latest Issues

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Chronicles a year in the life of a nomadic Australian family as they work their way across the continent earning money to buy a farm. Focuses on the father's refusal to accept adult responsibilities and the son's longing for a true father-son relationship.

Adaptations

form y separately published work icon The Sundowners Max Afford , 1953 (Manuscript version)x400806 Z854850 1953 single work radio play
form y separately published work icon The Sundowners Isobel Lennart , ( dir. Fred Zinneman ) 1960 Burbank : Warner Brothers , 1960 Z1497488 1960 single work film/TV

Set in during the Great Depression of the late 1920s, Paddy Carmody and his wife Ida have been living on the road as drovers for sixteen years. Ida who is longing for the family, which includes their young son, to live a more comfortable existence has been secretly saving money so they might eventually settle down. Paddy on the other hand is happy with things as they are. After completing a long drive, which almost sees her husband killed in a bushfire, Ida persuades Paddy to take up a job as a shearer. She is engaged as the cook, and strikes up a close friendship with the wife of the station owner. When Paddy wins a racehorse in a two-up game it seems that Ida's dream of a home will finally happen, but then Paddy shatters it by losing all their money in another two-up game. Their son Sean comes to the rescue, however, by riding the racehorse to victory in a local derby. Ashamed at what he has nearly done to his wife, Paddy remorsefully offers to buy Ida her farm with the prize money. It is then that she realises that it is not yet the time, and they return once more to the open road.

[Source: Australian Screen]

Notes

  • Dedication: To Joy

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Werner Laurie ,
      1952 .
      image of person or book cover 5915407569883585945.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 336p.
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Pocket Books ,
      1953 .
      Extent: 323p.
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Transworld ,
      1954 .
      Extent: 382p.
      Note/s:
      • Corgi Giant
      Series: Corgi Books Transworld (publisher), series - publisher Number in series: G32
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Fontana ,
      1960 .
      Extent: 320p.
      Reprinted: 1965 Fourth Impression , 1968
      Series: y separately published work icon Fontana Books Collins (publisher), London : Collins , Z1691944 series - publisher novel Number in series: 278
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Sydney, New South Wales,: Horwitz ,
      1963 .
      Extent: 242p.
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Collins ,
      1964 .
      Extent: 288p.
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Collins ,
      1972 .
      Extent: 320p.
      Reprinted: 1975 , 1979
      ISBN: 0002217791
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Fontana ,
      1975 .
      Extent: 320p.
      ISBN: 0006139515 9780006139515
Alternative title: Zwervers onder het Zuiderkruis
Language: Dutch

Other Formats

  • Braille.
  • Sound recording.

Works about this Work

Untitled single work review
— Review of The Sundowners Jon Cleary , 1952 single work novel
Transpacific or Transatlantic Traffic? Australian Books and American Publishers David Carter , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Reading Across the Pacific : Australia-United States Intellectual Histories 2010; (p. 339-359)
'This paper will attempt to describe the determining factors and structural patterns of relations between Australian books and American publishers from the 19th century to the present. Its central question will be: how did 'Australian books' find their way to American publishers? Can we discern any distinctive patterns over time or for particular genres, or simply an accumulation of one-off cases? To what extent, if at all, did the traffic in Australian books depend on cultural symmetries? Did Australian books travel as Australian or British books? In what ways were they dependent upon relations between Australian (or British) publishers or literary agents and their American counterparts? What role did international copyright regimes or trade agreements play? And how might the American connection change our understanding of 'Australian literature'?' (Author's abstract)
Timely Reminders Elizabeth Webby , 2002-2003 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December-January no. 247 2002-2003; (p. 62-63)

— Review of My Love Must Wait : The Story of Matthew Flinders Ernestine Hill , 1941 single work novel ; The Giraffe's Uncle Les Robinson , 1933 selected work short story ; The Sundowners Jon Cleary , 1952 single work novel ; The Treatment ; and, The Cure Peter Kocan , 1984 selected work novel
It's No Crime to Profit by Good Writing Rod Boucher , 1989 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: The Saturday Mercury , 2 December 1989; (p. 22)
`Off the Track' 1952 single work review
— Appears in: The Austrovert , no. 8 1952; (p. 5)

— Review of The Sundowners Jon Cleary , 1952 single work novel
Timely Reminders Elizabeth Webby , 2002-2003 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December-January no. 247 2002-2003; (p. 62-63)

— Review of My Love Must Wait : The Story of Matthew Flinders Ernestine Hill , 1941 single work novel ; The Giraffe's Uncle Les Robinson , 1933 selected work short story ; The Sundowners Jon Cleary , 1952 single work novel ; The Treatment ; and, The Cure Peter Kocan , 1984 selected work novel
Untitled 1952 single work review
— Appears in: The Times Literary Supplement , 13 June 1952; (p. 389)

— Review of The Sundowners Jon Cleary , 1952 single work novel
`Off the Track' 1952 single work review
— Appears in: The Austrovert , no. 8 1952; (p. 5)

— Review of The Sundowners Jon Cleary , 1952 single work novel
Untitled single work review
— Review of The Sundowners Jon Cleary , 1952 single work novel
Transpacific or Transatlantic Traffic? Australian Books and American Publishers David Carter , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Reading Across the Pacific : Australia-United States Intellectual Histories 2010; (p. 339-359)
'This paper will attempt to describe the determining factors and structural patterns of relations between Australian books and American publishers from the 19th century to the present. Its central question will be: how did 'Australian books' find their way to American publishers? Can we discern any distinctive patterns over time or for particular genres, or simply an accumulation of one-off cases? To what extent, if at all, did the traffic in Australian books depend on cultural symmetries? Did Australian books travel as Australian or British books? In what ways were they dependent upon relations between Australian (or British) publishers or literary agents and their American counterparts? What role did international copyright regimes or trade agreements play? And how might the American connection change our understanding of 'Australian literature'?' (Author's abstract)
It's No Crime to Profit by Good Writing Rod Boucher , 1989 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: The Saturday Mercury , 2 December 1989; (p. 22)
Last amended 21 Jul 2020 15:59:44
Settings:
  • Australian Outback, Central Australia,
  • 1920s
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X