Book Description

‘Ben Stubbs uncovers the sheer delight and surprise of discovering what’s in your own backyard.’ — Bob Byrne, author of Adelaide Remember When and Australia Remember When Outsiders think of South Australia as being different, without really knowing much about it. Combining his own travel across the million-square kilometres of the state with an investigation of its history, Ben Stubbs seeks to find out what South Australia is really like. In the spirit of the best travel writing and literary non-fiction, he lingers in places of quiet beauty and meets some memorable people. Along the way he debunks most of the clichés that plague the state. Travelling to Maralinga, Ceduna, Kangaroo Island, the Flinders Ranges, Coober Pedy, the storied Adelaide suburb of Elizabeth and the once-mighty river that is the Murray, Stubbs brings this diverse state to life. He even addresses head-on the question ‘Is South Australia weird?’ Readers will find it hard to resist the book’s implicit invitation to take a look at places much closer to home, to take the time to drink in dramatic landscapes that are slow, deep and speckled with unforgettable characters. ‘Takes you where the silence is massive and the beauty unexpected.’ — Christopher Kremmer ‘Out beyond the vineyards and the festivals that everyone knows, Ben Stubbs finds tales of South Australia’s beauties and dangers: great white sharks and megafauna fossils, opal mines and limestone caves, nuclear tests and murderous camels, 19th century settler towns and timeless Aboriginal stories.’ — Kerryn Goldsworthy, author ofAdelaide