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'In 1842 the Crown Commissioner for Lands, Stephen Simpson, along with a Lutheran priest, Christoph Eipper, set out from Moreton Bay with the intention of finding a site for a new Aboriginal settlement in the Larger Bunya Country, now Kenilworth. They were accompanied on their journey by twelve soldiers, a team of bullocks and a dray, as well as the two escaped convicts, Bracewell and Davis, both of whom had lived for an extended period amongst the natives. 150 years later Steven Lang followed their route from the source of the Mary River to where it joins the sea. In A Strong Brown God Lang marries his story with that of the earlier men, both Aboriginal and White, weaving a picture of the Mary Valley as it was then, and as it is now, a very personal portrait that becomes a paean for the river and its importance.
'In this beautifully illustrated book Lang gives an account of his journey down the Mary River, weaving his own story with that of the original inhabitants and the first white settlers.' (From the publisher's website.)
Notes
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Epigraph: I do not know much about Gods: but I think the River/ Is a strong brown God - sullen, untamed and intractable,/ Patient to some degree, at first recognised as a frontier;/ Useful, untrustworthy as a conveyor of commerce;/ Then only as a problem confronting the builder of bridges./ The problem once solved, the brown God is almost forgotten/ But the dwellers in cities - ever, however, implacable,/ Keeping her seasons and her rages, destroyer, reminder/ Of what men choose to forget. Unhonoured, unpropitiated/ By the worshippers of the machine but waiting, watching and waiting./ T S Eliot, the Four Quartets.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Natural Wonders
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: Writing Queensland , October no. 223 2012; (p. 8-9) -
Non-Fiction Books
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 19 - 20 June 2010; (p. 32)
— Review of A Strong Brown God : The Mary River Diary : Being an Account of a Journey on Foot from the Headwaters of the Mary River to Its Connection with the Sea in September 1992 : Including Some Historical Notes 2009 single work diary -
Devilish Time for Land of River Gods
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 27 March 2010; (p. 14)
— Review of A Strong Brown God : The Mary River Diary : Being an Account of a Journey on Foot from the Headwaters of the Mary River to Its Connection with the Sea in September 1992 : Including Some Historical Notes 2009 single work diary -
Non-Fiction
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 20 February 2010; (p. 24)
— Review of A Strong Brown God : The Mary River Diary : Being an Account of a Journey on Foot from the Headwaters of the Mary River to Its Connection with the Sea in September 1992 : Including Some Historical Notes 2009 single work diary
-
Non-Fiction
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 20 February 2010; (p. 24)
— Review of A Strong Brown God : The Mary River Diary : Being an Account of a Journey on Foot from the Headwaters of the Mary River to Its Connection with the Sea in September 1992 : Including Some Historical Notes 2009 single work diary -
Devilish Time for Land of River Gods
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 27 March 2010; (p. 14)
— Review of A Strong Brown God : The Mary River Diary : Being an Account of a Journey on Foot from the Headwaters of the Mary River to Its Connection with the Sea in September 1992 : Including Some Historical Notes 2009 single work diary -
Non-Fiction Books
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 19 - 20 June 2010; (p. 32)
— Review of A Strong Brown God : The Mary River Diary : Being an Account of a Journey on Foot from the Headwaters of the Mary River to Its Connection with the Sea in September 1992 : Including Some Historical Notes 2009 single work diary -
Natural Wonders
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: Writing Queensland , October no. 223 2012; (p. 8-9)
- Mary River, Maryborough - Hervey Bay - Fraser Island area, Maryborough - Rockhampton area, Queensland,
- 1842
- 1992