Waltzing Australia

Stories and Ballads from Under an Outback Sky

By: Tim Borthwick

Narrated by: Jack Thompson

A unique collection of original Australian bush ballads and the stories that inspired them.

Waltzing Australia is a wonderful celebration of the Australian bush and the people who live there, written by a gifted storyteller who has spent much of his life working on the land. Featuring 50 poems and stories that tell of the heartbreak, humour and hard yakka that come with living and working in the bush - many of which were written on long days droving sheep and cattle, on the back of a motorbike or by the fading light in camp hundreds of miles from anywhere.

These evocative bush verses and the tales behind them shine light on characters and events from Australia's pioneering past as well as embracing Tim's own experiences in the outback.

©2017 Tim Borthwick (P)2017 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

History, back stories, and then the Verse

Australian bits of history, lives, and legends are discussed first, and each bit that is discussed is then followed up by the verse.

I like Cowboy Poetry, and this is very similar, although Australia has a very distinctive style of its own. Each poem had a background story told first and that's different - a bit casual, but the introductory information did add to the poems.

The poems didn't always rhyme, so maybe that's why the title says Ballads.

The audio book isn't perfect, but it's very good and I learned some interesting and new things about Australia along the way. At times the stories told stirred emotions and even now, a few days later, a couple of the stories have stuck and are still turned over in my mind - the book tells about people and lives. And struggles and death too.

It's good to remember people - even if we didn't know them personally.