''A Million Wild Acres: 200 years of man and an Australian forest'' is a non-fiction book written by
Eric Charles Rolls
Eric Charles Rolls AM (1923–2007) was an Australian writer. Life
Rolls was born in Grenfell, New South Wales in 1923, and died in Camden Haven in 2007. He attended the Sydney selective school of Fort Street High, before serving in the second ...
(1923–2007). It was first published in Melbourne by
Thomas Nelson in 1981.
''A Million Wild Acres'' is not just a regional history of what is now known as the
Pilliga forest
The Pilliga Forest, sometimes known as the Pilliga Scrub, constitute over 5,000 km2 of semi-arid woodland in temperate north-central New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest such continuous remnant in the state. The forest is loc ...
, but also a history of European settlement in Australia.
Contents
# Explorers and Livestock: Setting up the Board
# The First Moves: A Difficult Game
# The Squatters: The Rules are Ignored
# Licences to Depasture Beyond the Limits: A New Game to New Rules
#
Runholders and Selectors: The Rules are Modified
# The Forest Takes Over: The Game Ends
# The Breelong Blacks: A Sinister Comedy
# Timber and Scrub
# Timbergetters and Scrub Dwellers: A Different Game
# Mud Springs and Soda Plains
# Animal Life: Insects, Reptiles and Others
# Animal Life: The Mammals
# The Animals: The Birds
# Wood Chips and International Airports: A Businessmen's Game
Reception
The book won
The Age Book of the Year
''The Age'' Book of the Year Awards were annual literary awards presented by Melbourne's ''The Age'' newspaper. The awards were first presented in 1974. After 1998, they were presented as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival. Initially, two awar ...
(1981), C.J. Dennis Prize and Talking Book of the Year.
Notes and references
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/the-history-listen/eric-rolls-and-the-pilliga/10594212
Watermark Literary Society https://web.archive.org/web/20110219162616/http://www.watermarkliterarysociety.asn.au/
Wyndham, Susan. Author Rolls dies aged 84 Sydney Morning Herald 02/11/200
Hanley, Penelope. Creative lives: personal papers of Australian writers and artists
Mosman Readers: Eric Rolls - A Million Wild Acres 26/01/200
Rolls later qualified
this book's debated
overall position on Australian tree densities and land clearing.
Footnotes
What lies beyond us? The literature of landscape http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/what-lies-beyond-us3f3a-the-litertaure-of-landscape/5853552
{{DEFAULTSORT:Million Wild Acres
1981 non-fiction books
Australian non-fiction books
Books about Australian history
Environmental history