Some said of the Australian Outback that God never crossed west of the Great Dividing Range. God, of course, had a choice. Not so Durham, exiled to fly-blown Hughenden.
The Sub-Inspector and Mrs Durham arrived to a barren landscape dusted in parched hues of thirsty brown, the clay soil of the basaltic plain cracked for want of rain. Mobs of cattle lay slumped amid tufts of dead grass. Occasional gum trees offered scant shade. Dogs panted. Crows flew lazy circles. Dust storms stifled breath. Storm clouds excited hope, then dampened it, all show, no rain. Lightning ignited the bush, fires raged, vegetation burned, animals and people perished and the clouds drifted off in search of greener pastures.
Everyone and everything moved slowly. Except the flies. Those lords of the plains lived their short, fast lives in furious pursuit of blood, sweat and dung. For millennia bush flies survived on the droppings of native wildlife but no fly ever grew fat on pebbles of bandicoot crap. The arrival of stock herds brought feast days. The happy flies banqueted on great sloppy plops of cow shit. They owned the outback. They swarmed and swirled and buzzed and bit. Women and men wore veils, shrouded their heads with mosquito net or dangled corks from their hats. Still, the flies came. …show more content…
John Hodges and Alicia Lister generated some excitement when John drove 180 cattle into town, sold them and afterwards encountered Alicia. Within 24 hours the two strangers wed. "Love at First Sight," said the papers, the unspoken question, "Will it last?"
It
The Sub-Inspector and Mrs Durham arrived to a barren landscape dusted in parched hues of thirsty brown, the clay soil of the basaltic plain cracked for want of rain. Mobs of cattle lay slumped amid tufts of dead grass. Occasional gum trees offered scant shade. Dogs panted. Crows flew lazy circles. Dust storms stifled breath. Storm clouds excited hope, then dampened it, all show, no rain. Lightning ignited the bush, fires raged, vegetation burned, animals and people perished and the clouds drifted off in search of greener pastures.
Everyone and everything moved slowly. Except the flies. Those lords of the plains lived their short, fast lives in furious pursuit of blood, sweat and dung. For millennia bush flies survived on the droppings of native wildlife but no fly ever grew fat on pebbles of bandicoot crap. The arrival of stock herds brought feast days. The happy flies banqueted on great sloppy plops of cow shit. They owned the outback. They swarmed and swirled and buzzed and bit. Women and men wore veils, shrouded their heads with mosquito net or dangled corks from their hats. Still, the flies came. …show more content…
John Hodges and Alicia Lister generated some excitement when John drove 180 cattle into town, sold them and afterwards encountered Alicia. Within 24 hours the two strangers wed. "Love at First Sight," said the papers, the unspoken question, "Will it last?"
It