• Desert Queen

  • The Many Lives and Loves of Daisy Bates
  • By: Susanna De Vries
  • Narrated by: Beverley Dunn
  • Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
  • 3.1 out of 5 stars (11 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Desert Queen  By  cover art

Desert Queen

By: Susanna De Vries
Narrated by: Beverley Dunn
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.49

Buy for $19.49

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Editorial reviews

Susanna De Vries presents a complicated portrayal of Australia's beloved Daisy Bates. Born in Ireland to an alcoholic father and a mother who died from tuberculosis, Bates immigrated to Australia and gained notoriety for her ethnographic work with the Aborigines. But De Vries provokes controversy by looking into Bates' scandalous love life, starting with presumed misconduct that led to suicide while she was a governess in Ireland, and documenting her many marriages. Despite the more unsavory aspects of Bates' life, Beverley Dunn performs with a posh, stern strength that commands respect for one of Australia's most influential women.

Publisher's summary

In the 1890s, when a woman's role was seen as marrying well and raising a family, Daisy Bates reinvented herself from humble governess to heiress-traveller and 'woman of science'. She would become one of the best-known and most controversial ethnologists in history, and one of the first people to put Aboriginal culture on the map. Born into tough circumstances, Daisy's prospects were dim; her father an alcoholic bootmaker, her mother dying of consumption when Daisy was only four years old. Through sheer strength of will, young Daisy overcame her miserable start, and in 1883 she migrated to Australia with a boatload of orphans, passing herself off as an heiress who taught for fun. Marriage followed – first with the young Breaker Morant, then bigamously with two other husbands. For decades she led a double life. But who was the real Daisy Bates? While other biographies have presented her as a saint, historian Susanna de Vries gives readers a more complex portrait of the 'Queen of the Never Never'.

©2010 Susanna De Vries (P)2010 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

What listeners say about Desert Queen

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

very repetitive

The story skipped around and often repeated material. Daisy must have been an interesting character but this treatment did not do her justice.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful