Lion and Kangaroo

by Gavin Souter

extremely rare,very good condition

Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Born in Sydney in 1929,Gavin Souter is a former assitant editor of the Sydney Morning Herald. He was also a Visiting Fellow in the Departments of History and Political Science at the Research School of Social Science, Australia National University.

Reviews

[Rory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lion and Kangaroo is at times profitable but often rather dated. However any flaws are made up for by Gavin Souter as a writer. He is able to so vividly depict the character of the people he describes through anecdotes. He has a gift for choosing these entertaining and illuminating vignettes that tell you infinitely more in a paragraph than most writers (especially history writers) can get out in a chapter. His depiction of George Reid is just a fantastic introduction to a historical figure. Reid is a politicians who is rarely given the kind of focus that he deserves. While there are a plethora of fantastic biographies of Deakin if you're looking for a work that depicts the multifaceted figure that Reid is, you're going to be out of luck. 'Lion and Kangaroo' is perhaps different. With Souter even if he is only examined for a short period you get a grasp of his character and who he was as a person, better than most other historians have depicted him.

At times Souter seems to get swept away by his love of anecdotes, but they’re still – generally – interesting. For example on page 73 he describes “Charles Cameron Kingston, "the tall easily impassioned ex-premier of South Australia” and then proceeds to describe a feud he had with his political rival Josiah Symon. The inclusion of their invective filled letters is just fantastic. Kingston describes Symon as a “death’s head at the wedding feast… [and a] forensic compound of squid and skunk [who had] ejected three columns in the hope of escaping in his offensive cloud from the gaff of truth.” Seriously, I want to be friends with Kingston, that’s the kind of creative abuse that makes me heart beat faster. The exchange isn’t particularly relevant (to his book, or to this review) but it does illustrate the kind of writer Souter is (an awesome one).

[Dulcie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having bought this in the early eighties and read it previously, it popped up on my bedside as a social adjacency to Les Carylon's "The First World War". To that end it served the purpose perfectly.
Deft, educated and highly readable.