Capricornia

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Capricornia

By: Xavier Herbert

Narrated by: Humphrey Bower

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About this listen

Spanning three generations‚ Capricornia tells the story of Australia's North. It is a story of whites and Aborigines and Asians‚ of chance relationships that can form bonds for life‚ of dispossession‚ murder and betrayal.

In 1904 the brothers Oscar and Mark Shillingsworth‚ clad in serge suits and bowler hats‚ arrive in Port Zodiac on the coast of Capricornia. They are clerks who have come from the South to join the Capricornian Government Service. Oscar prospers‚ and takes to his new life as a gentleman. Mark‚ however‚ is restless‚ and takes up with old Ned Krater‚ a trepang fisherman‚ who tells him tales of the sea and the islands‚ introduces him to drink‚ and boasts of his conquests of Aboriginal women - or 'Black Velvet'‚ as they are called. But it is Mark's son‚ Norman‚ whose struggles to find a place in the world, who embodies the complexities of Capricornia itself.

©1938 Xavier Herbert Estate 1985. Introduction copyright Mudrooroo 1990. The right of Xavier Herbert to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted under the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000. First published in Australia by Publicist Publishing Company, Sydney in. Second Australian edition published by Angus & Robertson. Subsequent Australian editions in either hardback or paperback were published by Angus & Robertson in 1939, 1941, 1943, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1956, 1959, 1963 (twice), 1969, 1970, Imprints Classics edition 1990, Angus & Robertson Classics edition 1996 and 2002. 2008 edition published by HarperCollins Publishers. (P)2009 Bolinda Publishing

Fiction

Historical Fiction

Critic reviews

"Big, powerful, irreverent... as timeless as the stars, as Australian as spinifex." ( Sydney Morning Herald)

Most relevant

This is a truly terrific book read by an excellent narrator. We listened to it travelling across the Australian Northern Territory, enthralled for the entire 22 hour performance. Humphrey Bower is a narrator at the top of his craft. I also loved 'Hand-me-down World' read by him.
Set in Australia's 'other country' of the Northern Territory, 'Capricornia' follows the story of a pair of brothers and their decendants as they learn to survive in this frontier society. Herbert's work is one of the greats of Australian 20 C. fiction and you don't have to carry the big bugger around! ( it's long) It is also a must-read for those interested in the history of black-white relations in Australia in the early 20th Century. Herbert writes with great understanding of the plight of the Aborigines and so-called 'half castes' in this violent post-colonial society.

One of Australia's Top Reads Made Easy.