Foothill Farmers: The Literature of Gippsland
Australian History Agricultural History Rural Studies Local History Reference Literary Criticism Cultural History
Foothill Farmers: The Literature of Gippsland is the only book that traces how Australia’s richest farming region has been portrayed in print—from 1840s diaries and local newspapers to the memoirs, poems and novels that shaped the nation’s idea of “the bush.” In 141 generously illustrated pages, historian Patrick Morgan gathers rare diary excerpts, forgotten newspaper serials and the work of celebrated writers such as Judith Wright and Hal Porter, showing how Gippsland’s foothill country moved from frontier hardship to cultural icon. Collectors prize the 2010 first edition because it doubles as a readable anthology and a scholarly reference: every chapter ends with a checklist of primary sources that are almost impossible to find elsewhere, making it an instant starting point for family historians, students and writers.
What makes this copy especially appealing is the handwritten gift inscription on the front endpaper—an unpretentious note that confirms the book has always lived on a Gippsland shelf and never been ex-library. Otherwise the interior is crisp, unmarked and tightly bound, so the 60+ period photographs, survey maps and newspaper facsimiles remain perfect for scanning or framing. The cover shows the usual scuffs of a decade in a farming household, yet that honest wear only reinforces the book’s theme: real working landscapes, real working people.
Buyers searching for “Gippsland history,” “Australian rural literature,” or “Patrick Morgan signed” keep this title on their wish-list because it is never reprinted and rarely appears in the secondary market. Whether you need a textbook for VCE Australian History, a sourcebook for agricultural heritage studies, or a gift that celebrates country Victoria, Foothill Farmers delivers a concise, authoritative and utterly readable window into how the land between the Great Dividing Range and the Ninety-Mile Beach found its voice.
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