Riverboats by Ian Mundie

Riverboats

by Ian Mundie

Rigby, 1961, [First Edition], black and white photographic plates, illustrated endpapers (maps) hardcover

Very Good Condition, a little edge and shelf wear, a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, previous owners inscription on half title page, age toned pages, discolouration on spine and top of front cover (see photographs)

“What could be more help to an author than a close family link with his subjects?  This was the wonderful advantage with which Ian Mundie began his chronicles of Australia’s inland merchant marine.  His father was a close personal friend of W. R. Randell who figures prominently in this story.  Born in Adelaide in 1911, Ian Mundie has been writing, mainly poetry, since 1940.
Anytime men and boats are found together there’s colour and excitement.  This is a lively account of Australia’s inland merchant marine, the wood-fired stern wheeler and side wheelers that clanked along the Darling and the Murray rivers around the return of the century.  Riverboats captures all the picturesque details of this fascinating chapter of early Australia, when Wilcannia, wagga Wagga, Bourke and a score more outback towns were ports.”