Content to Lie in the Sun

by W. E. Harney

Robert Hale, 1965, black and white photographic plates, black and white photographic frontispiece, hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, a little edge and shelf wear, a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, previous owners inscription to front endpaper, price-clipped dustjacket shows a little edge and shelf wear with a little rubbing, bumping, chipping, and small tears (see photographs)

“Many people first became familiar with the name of Bill Harney as a result of his broadcasts and his book Life Among the Aborigines.  In the words of Professor Elkin of Sydney University: “To red his book is not so much to learn about the Northern Territory of Australia and its peoples, as to experience life in that Territory.  He knows the Aborigines personally cover a large part of the Territory to a much greater degree than anyone else”
Content to Lie in the Sun is another delightful volume of reminiscences of the full and interesting life he led without worrying too much about material things.  When he was twelve he left his family, who were gold hunting unsuccessfully int eh Northern Territory, and got work as a cattle drover.  He continued in this job, wandering from cattle station to cattle station, until the First World War.  After war service abroad he settled down for a time starting a wild cattle gathering business of his own.  But he soon gave this up to buy a small sailing vessel, the Lolanthe, in which he plied along the coast as a trader.  All the while he was amassing an unrivalled knowledge of Northern Australia and its native inhabitants, the “Black Fellers”.  Later he became a Patrol Officer, looking after the interests of the Aborigines in an official capacity.  He was also included in several anthropological expeditions which were studying their customs, art and tribal laws.  Harney drew on these experiences in the Northern Territory for the stories that make up this book.”