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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'In 1839 John Harrington voyages 12,000 miles from Ireland into the unknown to take up a sheep-run in the southern regions of Australia. From a distinguished family of Anglo-Irish aristocrats who have fallen on hard times, the youngest son has been sent to the remotest part of the world to make his fortune. As a bulwark against the savagery and hostility of the new land, Harrington determines to build a mansion and a garden - a great and beautiful domain, a civilised refuge modelled on the estates of Europe. His chief helper in the creation of this demesne is a native Irishman, Daniel O'Leary. For twenty years Harrington prospers, but he is plagued by a sense of dislocation and loneliness in a hostile place. When he is joined by his drunken brother and his married sister, tragedy and violence ensue. There are enemies: the rapacious landowner and merchant Rutford, the wily lands commissioner Crowther, the insane missionary Stovyer, the rake Butler, the Aborigines and the land itself. And there are enemies within: disloyal staff, treachery and sabotage on the estate. Beyond the Pale is a powerful and uncompromising novel of the colonisers and the colonised. It is a story of displacement, racial brutality and treachery in an unforgiving and misunderstood landscape. It explores the wellsprings of Australia's culture.' (Publication summary)
Notes
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Dedication: For R.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
Works about this Work
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Hooker's Season
1998
single work
biography
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 15-16 August 1998; (p. 10) Dining Out with Mr Lunch 1999; (p. 110-117) -
Colonial Gothic
1998
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 206 1998; (p. 33)
— Review of Beyond the Pale 1998 single work novel -
Myth of the Man Alone
1998
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 29 August 1998; (p. 7)
-
Colonial Gothic
1998
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 206 1998; (p. 33)
— Review of Beyond the Pale 1998 single work novel -
Hooker's Season
1998
single work
biography
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 15-16 August 1998; (p. 10) Dining Out with Mr Lunch 1999; (p. 110-117) -
Myth of the Man Alone
1998
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 29 August 1998; (p. 7)
- 1840s
- 1850s