• Two of Australian writer Steele Rudd's bestsellers are in this Kindle On Our Selection & Our New Selection
On Our Selection (1899) - A Reader's Digest "World's Best Reading" Book Choice A series of stories featuring the characters Dad and Dave Rudd, written by Steele Rudd (the pseudonym of Arthur Hoey Davis). The stories have also been the basis of a play and several films. The movie became one of the most popular Australian films in history. The book originated when Davis sent a local publication his sketch "Starting The Selection" which was based on his father's experience. Davis continued writing the series of sketches reconstructing the experiences of the Rudd family.
Our New Selection (1903) More family tales from the author, first published in 1903, the same year Davis retired from public service.
About The Author Australian author Arthur Hoey Davis (1868–1935) was the son of a blacksmith born in Drayton near Toowoomba, Queensland. He wrote under the pen name Steele Rudd and based the first chapter of "On Our Selection" on his father's experiences. He sent it to The Bulletin for publication in 1895 and after encouragement he wrote more sketches until his first book was published four years later. Our New Selection appeared in 1903, in the same year Davis, who had reached the position of under-sheriff, retired from public life.
Rudd was born Arthur Hoey Davis at Drayton, Queensland, and left school early, working on nearby stations before joining the public service in Brisbane. He married Violet Brodie in 1894 and they had four children. The Bulletin published his first sketch of life as a selector in 1895. More stories followed, and their popularity led the Bulletin to publish the collections On Our Selection (1899) and Our New Selection (1903), which were also successfully adapted for the stage. Rudd established Steele Rudd's Magazine in 1903, which continued (with name-changes, lapses and revivals) until 1927. Rudd was prolific, writing six plays and more than twenty books, including the well-received novel, Memoirs of Corporal Keeley (1918). His wife's institutionalisation in a mental hospital, the dissolution of their marriage, problems with alcohol and money, are all considered to have contributed to a decline in the quality of his later work.