''Beyond the Black Stump'' is a novel by British author

Nevil Shute Nevil Shute Norway (17 January 189912 January 1960) was an English novelist and aeronautical engineer who spent his later years in Australia. He used his full name in his engineering career and Nevil Shute as his pen name, in order to protect h ...

. It was first published in the UK by

William Heinemann Ltd William Heinemann Ltd., with the imprint Heinemann, was a London publisher founded in 1890 by William Heinemann. Their first published book, 1890's ''The Bondman'', was a huge success in the United Kingdom and launched the company. He was joined ...

, in 1956.

Plot summary

The story concerns a young American

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

, Stanton Laird, working in the Australian

outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a n ...

in the field of oil exploration. Although he is in a very remote location - beyond the

black stump The Australian expression 'black stump' is the name for an imaginary point beyond which the country is considered remote or uncivilised, an abstract marker of the limits of established settlement. The origin of the expression, especially in it ...

- in a region called "the Lunatic" in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, he is part of a crew that has a well-appointed mobile facility. He is befriended by a local farming family, the Regans, and develops a relationship with their daughter Mollie. The Regans run an enormously profitable station, but their domestic lifestyle is somewhat unconventional, with the two Regan brothers at one time having Mollie's mother move from one to the other without bothering to get a divorce. The family is large, and even larger when counting the biracial children produced by both fathers. The children are taught by the Judge, an English exile and alcoholic, who gives the children an excellent education and keeps the finances of the station. Over the course of the explorations (which prove unsuccessful), he notes the unique lifestyle on what amounts to the Australian frontier, and falls in love with Mollie. The two wish to wed, but Mollie's mother insists that Mollie first see how the Lairds live in their Oregon town, Hazel, which was once on the frontier, but is no longer, though its citizens take pride in feeling that it still is. The two travel to Hazel. At first, Mollie gets along well in the Laird family home. But then Stanton's one-time love, Ruth, the widow of Stanton's best friend, returns to Hazel with her children. The oldest son bears a tremendous resemblance to Stanton, and Stanton is moved to confess to Mollie both that the son may be his, and that he killed a girl in a drunken accident as a teenager. Mollie is unconcerned about the boy—such things are common where she comes from—but is concerned about the accident, and about Stanton's lack of remorse for the dead girl. As Stanton expected Mollie to care very much about the boy, and did not expect her to be so concerned about the girl, the two begin to realize they have a very different outlook on life. Soon, Mollie comes to realize that she will never fit in while in Hazel, and does not particularly want to. Her place is on the true frontier, in the Lunatic, not in Hazel. She returns to Australia, where she will likely marry a young neighbor, an emigrant from England, who has long loved her. Stanton is likely to marry Ruth, as Mollie suggests he should. Stanton has a wedding present for Mollie, though—his final report reveals that the neighbor's impoverished lands lie over great quantities of artesian water, which will allow the neighbor—and Mollie—to flourish.

Location

According to the co-ordinates for the oil exploration given in the final pages of the novel—23 degrees 5 minutes South, 118 degrees 51 minutes East

, ''Beyond the Black Stump'', Vintage, London, p. 237.—most of the story is set in the

Ophthalmia Range The Ophthalmia Range is a Mountain range, range in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is approximately north of Perth, Western Australia, Perth; the nearest town is Newman, Western Australia, Newman, approximately to the south in the ...

in the

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a glo ...

region of Western Australia, roughly halfway between where the towns of Paraburdoo and

Newman Newman is a surname of English origin and may refer to many people: The surname Newman is widespread in the core Anglosphere. A *Abram Newman (1736–1799), British grocer *Adrian Newman (disambiguation), multiple people *Al Newman (born 1960) ...

are today. The Eastern Oregon town that Shute calls "Hazel" seems to be the town of Joseph, or possibly La Grande at the foot of the Wallowa mountains, which contains the

Eagle Cap Eagle Cap ( is a mountain peak located in the Wallowa Mountains, Wallowa–Whitman National Forest, in the U.S. state of Oregon. The peak is in the Eagle Cap Wilderness and the Benson Glacier is along the east flank of the summit ridge. Its summit ...

Wilderness Area.

References

External links

* {{Nevil Shute 1956 British novels Novels by Nevil Shute Novels set in Western Australia Heinemann (publisher) books 1956 Australian novels