Old Man Murray

by Will Lawson

Angus & Robertson, 1937, [First Edition], illustrated endpapers (maps), hardcover

Very Good Condition, minor edge and shelf wear, a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, previous owners’ inscription and details on front endpaper, slight lean (see photographs)

“All the characters are fictitious, though in some instances the real names of steamers and their captains have been used, in the cases of vessels which pass by in the tale and help to make the background actual; the same applies to stations and hotels on the rivers.
The happenings and incidents in the story also parallel actual events which took place, such as the burning of the Crusader which is based on the piracy of the Rodney off Moorara Station in the shearers’ strike of 1891; and the loss of the new Crusader at Brewarrina Rapids which had its parallel in history when the Sturt was lost in the same place when carrying a theatrical company.  The new Crusader herself was the famous new Brewarrina which in the ninety flood, as a new ship, went up the Barwon River as far as Mungindi on the Queensland border, thus achieving the distinction of being the only Australian river steamer to link four States.”