Beyond the Black Stump

By: Nevil Shute

Narrated by: Davina Porter

When Stanton Laird, American geologist, goes prospecting for the Topeka Exploration Company in the savage Australian outback, he finds something a good deal more precious than oil.

©1984 Nevil Shute Norway, Renewed by Mrs. Donald C. Mayfield (P)1988 Recorded Books, LLC

Australia is defined.

Where does Beyond the Black Stump rank among all the audiobooks you???ve listened to so far?

Good story, not Shute's best but even that is still worth the read.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

No surprises here.

What three words best describe Davina Porter???s voice?

Limited, Clear, Experienced

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No.

An Interesting Read for 2020

I am a huge Nevil Shute fan, having read and listened to many of his books throughout the years. I have been putting off listening to the last 3 of his books on Audible, The pandemic, protests, and politics of 2020 was the perfect time to listen to one of my last few books. Beyond the Black Stump certainly didn’t disappoint. Being back in Nevil Shute’s 1955 world was a breathe of fresh air. No sappy love story, no silly heroics, no “give me a break” moments, just a good solid story. The book was also interesting to listen to during the protest time of Black Lives Matter. There is both the adequated viewpoint towards the Australian aborigines and any persons of color, as well as the liberal broadminded viewpoint of people are people. The book is definitely full of 1950s morals and customs which are interesting to evaluate in today’s climate. The story takes place in the vast Australian outback and a small town in Oregon. It is a refreshing tale of two people, falling in love and trying to resolve their cultural differences. The narrator does a great job. I highly recommend Beyond The Black Stump.

Interesting view of US-Australia differences 1955

A young Oregon geologist with recent experience in "Arabia" is assigned to assess oil potential in the northwestern Australian outback circa 1955. Though even in '55 Australia was one of the world's richest countries, at the time it was considerably poorer than the booming USA. The economic gap was even wider between long-settled but rural Oregon (where our geologist grew up) and the arid frontier of Western Australia. Our American geologist, who has some skeletons in his closet, falls in love with young Australian lassie, who is a member of an extended, very complicated European-Aboriginal family.

When Mr. Geologist brings not-quite-engaged lassie back to meet ma and pa in eastern, small-town Oregon, complications ensue.

Nevil Shute, an English author who spent many years residing and writing in Australia, brings an odd perspective to the story. The plain message is that American racism in Mr. Geologist's Oregon hometown is a source of division between lassie and geologist's family, friends, and neighbors, even though the fair Aussie lassie is herself of 100% European descent. Even the whiff of a genetic relationship with "half-caste" or "yellow" Aboriginal-Europeans is enough to make Oregonians suspicious. America was certainly racist at the time, but it's a bit odd to treat Australians as blameless in this area. The author's own treatment of the Aboriginal and half-Aboriginal characters in his novel loudly shouts our "These are lesser mortals, whose cares and tribulations matter not at all." Australia was for many decades famous for its European only immigration policy, and its aboriginal population were victims of the same notions of racial prejudice as the American Indian and African-descended residents of the U.S.

For all that, this is an interesting, even fascinating, picture of life in frontier Australia and rural Oregon circa 1955. Very well read.

Another strong heroine

Like Jean Pagett in A Town Like Alice, Molly Reagan is a remarkable woman of great character and depth.

A good and entertaining story

The story is good, but without much of a point—just a story.

The only issue I had was while listening to the audio book it seemed I could hear talking or other background noise. Like a tv was playing faintly in the background of the recording. At times for me it was very annoying.

Otherwise if you are looking for an entertaining story I highly recommend this book.