Inherit The Sun

by Maxwell Grant

The Carlyon family, founders of Murranji Station in the Australian Outback, realizes both the benefits and the harmful effects of the encroaching civilization they helped to establish in the wilderness

Genres: Historical Fiction, Australia, Fiction

448 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1981

About the author

Maxwell Grant was a pseudonym often used by Walter B. Gibson to write stories of "The Shadow".

Reviews

[Misfit · Rating 4 out of 5]

"So this was Central Australia."

Inherit the Sun is centered around two generations of the Carylon family and the homestead they built in Australia's Northern Territory. The book begins in 1896 with the arrival of the bushman Mac Carlyon and his bride as they carve out a new homestead in the wilderness - but can they make the cattle ranch pay? The latter part of the book is centered around their son big "Red", and how he uses the territory's resources for huge financial gains - but can he hold onto them in the end?

While I wouldn't call this a drop-everything-you're-doing-and-go-out-and-order-a-copy kind of book, it definitely kept my interest and had a hard time putting it down. The author does an excellent job of putting the reader into the Australian Outback and all the dangers that come with trying to brave the heat, desert, crocs and more.

*shudders*

I learned quite a few new factoids, e.g. Camels were imported for travel across the desert (J says there's still feral camels running loose), and the Japanese bombing of Australia in 1942 to name two. I thought the author's use of Red's financial wheeling and dealing an excellent way to put the reader front and center with the industrial growth of Darwin, as well as the eventual decline.

Recommended for those interested in Australia history, and despite the cover, there's not a strong romantic element, so this should suit a male reader nicely.

[Hugh Harrison]

This book inspired me to motorbike through the centre of Australia in 1982 from Adelaide to Darwin following the Oodnadatta Track through South Australia, the same route Mac Carylon set out on when he left Adelaide with his new bride in 1896 to forge a new life in Australia's Northern Territory. Back then, people travelled on a train from Adelaide to Oodnadatta known as The Ghan. It got its name from the fact that Afghani's and their camels had been imported to transport people and supplies from the town of Oodnadatta, South Australia across the Simpson Desert to Alice Springs and beyond in the Northern Territory. It just so happened that in 1982, a company of young men from Melbourne had a contract to tear up the old Ghan track from Oodnadatta to Marree and return the rail to the South Australian Railway. I ran into some of them in the tiny hotel pub in William Creek and they invited me to join them for the three weeks before Christmas. Not only did I help them rip up the tracks and load them 120 feet at a time onto half a dozen flat cars but I ended up driving the train down to Marree to unload the steel, then back to William Creek for more. From reading this fabulous tale of the outback to becoming, in a sense, part of the story. We finished work in Marree a few days before Christmas and to get back to my motorbike, I had to use a small section car. Travelling alone for 120 km across the South Australia outback, through the ruins of tiny hamlets long since abandoned by the early pioneers who were fooled by a few unusual rainy seasons to thinking South Australia's outback was a land of plenty. It didn't take long to return to its normal condition as the driest part of the driest state. Many perished trying to hold onto their dreams. Most just retreated, leaving their homesteads and tiny settlements behind. All day and through the night, I jiggled along the tracks in my antique section car contemplating the fats of those early explorers. With temperatures rising to 45, even 50°C, every day, it's a very unforgiving place to be stranded without water as I was soon to discover. Back around the turn of the 19th Century, stranded travellers and homesteaders would cut the telegraph line in the hope that the repairmen would find them before they succumbed to the heat and thirst. Sadly, for many, by the time the telegraph line repairmen reached the cut section of wire, it was too late. You'll relive all the trials and tribulations experienced by those who dared to open up Australia especially as seen through the eyes of James Carylone, Jr, known as Big Red, as he carries on the dreams of his father and grandfather before him to conquer that harsh and rugged land and help bring it from its mystical aboriginal roots into the 20th Century. Despite all their efforts, the reality is not much has changed outside of Alice Springs and Darwin. Australia's inhospitable and unforgiving interior remains the domain of the dingos, kangaroos and aborigines.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A multi-generational saga set in the Australian Outback starting in the late 1800's. A story about a man trying to conquer the wildest parts of Australia and build a farm and how his kin persavered to accomplish his dream. One of my favorite books.