''North from Thursday'' is a 1960 novel from Australian author

Jon Cleary Jon Stephen Cleary (22 November 191719 July 2010) was an Australian writer and novelist. He wrote numerous books, including '' The Sundowners'' (1951), a portrait of a rural family in the 1920s as they move from one job to the next, and '' The ...

. It is set in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

and concerns the eruption of a volcano, forcing a group of survivors to flee across the country. The story is based on the

1951 eruption of Mount Lamington In early January 1951, a series of minor explosions and earthquakes rocked Mount Lamington, a volcano in Oro Province, Territory of Papua and New Guinea. Prior to the eruption, Mount Lamington was not recognized as a volcano due to the absence of ...

. Cleary was motivated to write the novel because he was interested in exploring the concept of Australia as a colonial power and researched the book by visiting New Guinea with his wife. He went on a patrol in the Highlands.

Reception

The novel was not a big seller in Australia but did well in other countries. It was optioned for the movies but a film version proved too expensive to raise finance.Jon Cleary Interviewed by Stephen Vagg: Oral History
at National Film and Sound Archive

Adaptation

The novel was serialised in the ''Sydney Morning Herald'' and was adapted for radio in 1963.

References

External links

''North from Thursday''
at AustLit (subscription required) {{Jon Cleary 1960 Australian novels Fiction set in 1951 Novels set in New Guinea William Collins, Sons books Novels by Jon Cleary