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The Shadows of Horses
Mike Keenan's poignant memoir is a return to the bestselling territory of The Horses too are Gone
In The Shadows of Horses, Mike Keen shares the inside sotry of what like is like for today's farmers.
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An amazing true story of courage and survival in the outback by the bestselling author of The Horses Too Are Gone
In 1971, bushman Jack Camp went mustering wild cattle - 'cleanskins' - in a vast and isolated stretch of the Kimberly coast. With cattle fetching boom prices, the potential profit would be huge - but so were the risks. It was the unpredictable and dautingly hot wet season, the forbidding region was infested with snakes and crocodiles, and the cattle would have to be swum out across a river notorious for its dramatic tidal surges.
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The drought had reached crisis point. Cattle farmer
Mike Keenan decided there was only one solution: he would have
to get his starving cattle - and his beloved horses - to greener
pastures north of the border. But when he finally got there he
found his troubles had only just begun. South-west Queensland
seemed like a modern day Wild West, and as Keenan moved his cattle
along the traditional droving routes in search of long-term pasture,
he had to match wits with a host of characters, as well as Nature
herself.
The Horses Too Are Gone is the true story of Keenan's struggle
to survive against mounting odds, and it's an action-packed adventure
that rivals any fiction. A fresh voice from the Bush, Mike Keenan
writes with a deep passion and knowledge of Australian life that
is under threat. The Horses Too Are Gone will strike a
chord with all Australians.
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The bull moved out of the spear grass and onto the
creek bank, vigorously shaking his head. The ivory-tipped horns
were like giant skewers. He raised more dust and I could hear
the saliva gurgling deep in his throat. In full view on the bank,
we all stood vulnerable to a thousand kilograms of hard muscle.
"Look for a tree!" I yelled.
The Horses Too Are Gone, the true story of Michael Keenan's
fight to save his cattle and his farm from drought, won the hearts
and minds of readers all over Australia. In Wild Horses Don't
Swim, Mike embarks on another quest: to rescue the magnificent
wilderness of the west Kimberley from being destroyed forever.
The Fitzroy River, one of the last great rivers flowing freely
to the sea, is the lifeblood of the west Kimberley. When Mike
heard of plans to dam it to allow cotton-growing, he was horrified.
A dam on the Fitzroy could cause an environmental disaster greater
than any Australia has ever known.
With the help of the local Bunuba people, fierce opponents of
the dam which threatened their homeland and sacred sites, Mike
organised a horseback trek to explore the area and discover what
was at stake. What he found was a paradise of unique plants, pristine
rivers and dramatic gorges.
In Wild Horses Don't Swim we join Mike, his intrepid wife
Sal and their Bunuba friends in an action-packed adventure as
they dodge wild bulls, ford raging torrents, brace bushfires and
climb sheer cliffs - searching for the legendary rock art that
might be lost forever.
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In Search of a Wild Brumby!
"I
think it was one of the scariest half-minutes of my
life...In The Man from Snowy River, one rider
gallops headlong down a mountainside to turn the wild herd.
All my life I'd thought it was poetic licence - until now."
About "In Search Of A Wild Brumby"
"In Search Of A Wild Brumby," by Michael Keenan. In some of Australia's most
beautiful and rugged mountain scenery, the author seeks to
expose the deceit, manipulation, and political intrigue
surrounding the Australian wild horse (brumbies). Keenan
enters a harsh world, surrounded by characters from another
time. But times have changed. The days of the mountain people
are numbered, and so too are the brumbies which have roamed
wilderness regions for more than 150 years. The author
explores the history of the brumbies, uncovering an early
Irish enclave in one of Australia's remotest pockets. To-day
many of the families are still defiant of bureaucratic
encroachment upon their land and view the brumby as a symbol
of their culture.
As his quests for a brumby of his own
is overtaken by his growing interest in their plight, Mike
shares campfires and rollicking yarns with a host of bush
characters who could have stepped straight our of banjo's
poem "The Man From Snowy River"
- and pursues the elusive wild horses through the snows,
mists and treacherous bogs of the spectacular Snowy Mountains
landscape.
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