Yarns and Laughter: In Outback Australia

By Nullarbor Nell

Imagine seeing the beauty of an outback sunrise or sunset, native desert animals doing what they do: scaring the hell out of you! While you are reading the yarns I have lived. The desert and the traditional Aboriginal people who live there won my respect and heart. The native animals were delightful to observe in their natural habitat. My favourites are the wedge tail eagles, who fly majestically in the sky, and the emus. The emu has it down pat! The female lays the eggs, and the male takes over from there with the incubating and raising the chicks. Have fun reading my yarns.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Mar 28, 2024
• ISBN: 9781035812103

Nullarbor Nell

Nullarbor Nell has lived, laughed and worked alongside traditional Aboriginal people and non-Aboriginal people for the past 20 years. Nullarbor Nell’s work took her to remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Western Queensland. Nullarbor Nell’s formative years were Mackay-Tropical North Queensland, she completed her education, married a local man and had two sons. Her two sons went to university in Brisbane. Being alone in her home, she decided to start her adventures and what an adventure it has been!

Book preview

About the Author

Nullarbor Nell has lived, laughed and worked alongside traditional Aboriginal people and non-Aboriginal people for the past 20 years. Nullarbor Nell’s work took her to remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Western Queensland. Nullarbor Nell’s formative years were Mackay-Tropical North Queensland, she completed her education, married a local man and had two sons. Her two sons went to university in Brisbane. Being alone in her home, she decided to start her adventures and what an adventure it has been!

Dedicaiton

This book is dedicated to my eldest son, Benjamin, who tragically passed away at 44 years of age. Benjamin told me I was an inspiration to him; I’m trying to continue to be an inspiration to people.

Copyright Information ©

Nullarbor Nell 2024

The right of Nullarbor Nell to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

All of the events in this memoir are true to the best of author’s memory. The views expressed in this memoir are solely those of the author.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781035812097 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781035812103 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2024

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®

1 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5AA

Acknowledgement

I met and yarned with two blokes at a remote mining exploration camp near Wingelina, Western Australia. They suggested I should write a book; it has taken me some years to take their advice. Thank you.

Adventures Of Nullarbor Nell

I’m the boss, enjoy the yarns!

Gidday, yes, I do use ‘gidday’ when I’m introduced to new friends, colleagues and animals. It has a way of disarming people and a dog’s conception of you.

The stories I will tell you are all drawn from my life experiences. I have verbally road-tested some of my stories to a wide circle of people from various professions and walks of life. Their spontaneous reaction of laughter and exclamations has given me the courage to write my short stories. I’ve procrastinated for many years until a young colleague and two gentlemen from a remote exploration mining camp in Western Australia exhibited genuine laughter after I told them a couple of stories. These gentlemen didn’t know me from a bar of soap. However, they suggested I should write a book. In my experience, people say this just for something to say. It’s nice to hear, although I’ve never taken it seriously. I questioned their comment with, Who would buy it? And they responded in unison, We would.

I’ve worked with traditional and non-traditional Aboriginal people for the past 20 years. I am respectful of Aboriginal people and their culture; I was given permission by a male Aboriginal Elder to call him a blackfella. I explained that I would lose my job if I called him a blackfella. He paused for a minute and said, I call you a whitefella.

I laughed and said, I know. That’s okay.

I have given this scenario to let you know I’m not being disrespectful to Aboriginal people should I use the word blackfella.

I live by: If you don’t have a go, you’ll never know. So, here are my stories.

I hope you are able to have a laugh at my stories. For me, that would be great.

Outdoor Dunny

Outdoor Dunny in all its glory

It brings to mind this little story. Here in Australia many years ago, we used to have an outdoor dunny that was sometimes called the bogger. There were other names,

Reviews for Yarns and Laughter

[Margaret · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was fantastic. I nearly wet myself laughing at some of the antics of these likeable Australian peoples. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in the real Australian outback and the people who live there. A magical first novel!