‘Where are you going, Ross?’ asked Alastair.
‘For a walk. Alone.’
Ross could see an older, slightly stooped man lingering at the front gate. He recognised who it was immediately, and shuffled down the stairs past Darcey’s flowering bougainvillea to where the visitor waited.
‘Connor,’ he said. The Grants’ former righthand man was grey-haired.
‘Hello, Ross,’ the Scotsman answered. ‘Alastair showed up at the docks looking for you. Everything all right?’
‘Not really,’ admitted Ross. ‘It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. Too long.’
‘Aye it has. I was sorry to hear about Darcey.’
Ross was shakily leaning on the cane and he rested on the fence, feeling worn out.
‘I should have written, Ross, but too much seemed to have passed between us, and I guess I was angry that you never asked me to join you here on Waybell when you returned. Are you listening?’
‘It’s the shock of it, Connor. The shock of seeing him again.’
‘Aye, it’s a long time since any of us have seen your brother. Has Alastair explained himself beyond running away and digging in the sand?’
‘Yes and no. Is he aware of everything that happened?’ asked Ross.
Connor was not so adept as he had been in the past at concealing his thoughts. Ross saw that he struggled with how best to answer. ‘Not all of it. It’s your life he’s querying, not mine. It might have taken me some time, but I’ve learnt that a person’s business is their own. Best you share what you want. I only told him about the accident and that the years had been tough for you.’
‘Tell him everything, Connor. I’ll not blame him for my mistakes in his absence, but I can’t forgive him either. Tell Alastair all of it and then escort him off Waybell. I can’t speak to him anymore.’
‘Aye. If that’s what you want, Ross. I’ll do it. He’ll be looking for money, no doubt.’
‘Then he can fight us in court.’
‘He doesn’t show much remorse, does he? Maybe he’s not quite right in the head. He could be suffering from shellshock?’ suggested Connor.
‘Unfortunately, I think he was always that way and I never really knew him,’ admitted Ross.
‘Then none of us did,’ said Connor.
Ross gazed at the clusters of waterlilies on the billabong. Darcey’s painting had never quite captured the essence of the scene and Ross now knew what was missing in the work. She’d made it too beautiful. Beneath the surface, creatures struggled to survive. The battle was different for everyone and everything but he was used to carrying his scars for the world to see. Concealing the fight to exist didn’t make sense.
Ross wished that one of Alastair’s books had survived. That they weren’t all lost or destroyed. There was one on the plains where the buffalo ran and others unwittingly deposited like breadcrumbs across the breadth of his travels. If there had been a single remaining work left, he would have pitched it into the billabong to be eaten in the shallows. Darcey would like that.
The pain down Ross’s arm was growing worse and he clutched at his chest as he fell to the ground. He felt Connor’s arm about him, strong and tight.
‘Ross, are you all right?’
Ross turned to him. ‘I’m sorry for all of it.’
‘Aye, right. The day you’ll be sorry for everything you’ve done and said will be a poor day for the rest of us, for what example will we have to follow if Ross Grant turns out to be the same as the rest of us mere mortals? Now, let’s get you indoors and out of the sun. You’re not looking too well.’
‘No, Connor. I want to be out here. You know how I love the bush.’
‘Aye, no one could deny that. You’ve seen more of this country than most.’ Connor propped Ross against the fence and sat next to him.
Ross stared out at the billabong and the camp straddling the far bank. ‘I’m not at my best.’ He tried to smile and winced instead, the absurdity of his comment not lost on either of them.
‘You have two little bairns, I hear?’
‘Twins, and Hugh’s gone to war.’ He clutched Connor’s arm. ‘We’ve had our differences, but can I ask you to stay on and take care of things until Hugh returns?’
‘Aye, you can ask me, Ross, and I’ll agree to it, for I figure I owe you and I’m far from being guilty of living a perfect life. But you’re still capable of running Waybell and kicking that brother of yours off this land.’
The pain hit deeper. Ross shuddered and called out and Connor’s arm was about him, asking again what was the matter. The Scotsman drew him to his chest. ‘Ross, what are you doing, lad? Come back to me, boy.’
But Ross already knew he was moving in a different direction. He’d once been cheated of the life he’d craved and had deserted everyone. Now at the end, he thought of what he’d been through and done to himself, and the blessings that had been delivered so late in his life, and Ross knew that although it was his brother who had finally broken him, none of it mattered. For he’d loved and been loved, and now he was free.
‘Stand fast, stand sure,’ he whispered to his old friend.
Connor clasped his hand and held him as the world slipped away.
Author’s Note
Stone Country is a work of fiction layered in historical fact, although at times I have applied my prerogative as author to alter some details to suit the narrative framework. The dialogue used is intended to reflect the attitude of the time, and may be confronting to some readers. The work is set when the White Australia policy effectively barred people of non-European descent from immigrating to Australia, specifically Chinese labourers, and at a time when much of the Northern Territory was still considered a frontier.
The novel’s title refers to one of the main landforms in Kakadu National Park, the Arnhem Land plateau and escarpment complex, known as the stone country. I am indebted to Hamish Clark of Sugarbag Safaris for guiding me into this extraordinary area and for the early maps from the period he provided. It was quite something to stand atop rugged cliffs and to be able to match a 1920s map with the route taken by buffalo hunters of years past. I could clearly envisage Ross Grant riding towards the East Alligator River with young Don Hart.
Stone Country commences its story in South Australia, a natural beginning considering the history that links that state with the Top End, which includes Adelaide as the starting point for arguably Australia’s greatest inland explorer, the Scotsman John McDouall Stuart, Ross Grant’s childhood hero. Undertaking research in this part of Australia has the advantage of side-trips to the Barossa Valley. Something I can highly recommend.
In 1863, that part of New South Wales to the north of South Australia was annexed to South Australia, by letters patent, as the ‘Northern Territory of South Australia’. Land sales commenced on 1 March 1864 and speculators in Adelaide and London acquired most of it, sight unseen. The legislation did not consider the issue of land settlement or development, and for many decades thousands of acres were faced with absentee landlords, much like Morgan Grant’s speculative ownership of Waybell Station. Properties faced distinctive problems: the treatment of Aboriginal workers and the general difficulties that came with managing large areas of land and the challenge of isolation, which made settlement problematic and affected the economic viability of businesses. In 1911 the Northern Territory was handed to the federal government and became a separate territory.
This work would not have been possible without the assistance of the Northern Territory Library located in Darwin. I spent a number of days searching through archives, poring over pastoral lease maps and was fortunate to have the expertise of former ranger Michael Barritt (Manager, Visitor Experience – Northern Territory Library), who also kindly took on the role of tour guide during my visit.
I must also thank those residents of Darwin, who on hearing the reason for my visit, kindly shared stories from their own family histories. The importance of oral history can never be underestimated. Maria’s tale
, that of a young woman sold into marriage, was based on a story told to me during my stay in Darwin. Around the turn of the century, the beautiful daughter of a Chinese shopkeeper (said to have either been located in Pine Creek or Katherine) was sold to the highest bidder. It is said that the couple enjoyed a long and happy marriage. Maria perhaps was not so fortunate.
Thank you to Beverley Cousins and Genevieve Buzo for their guidance in smoothing out the creases in the manuscript, the publishing, marketing, publicity and sales gurus at Penguin Random House, and Tara Wynne, for her friendship and advice.
Lastly, a big thank you to both booksellers and readers, who have had to wait a little longer for Stone Country.
As always, my family have supported my many hours glued to the chair!
I am indebted to many works and recommend a selection below for further reading:
Australia’s Northern Capital: A short history of Darwin by David Carment; Great Central State: The foundation of the Northern Territory by Jack Cross; A Stubborn City: Darwin 1911–1978 by Kathy De La Rue; Report of the Acting Administrator for the Year Ended 30th June 1925 and 1926 (Northern Territory), the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia; Felix Ernest Holmes: Darwin 1890–1930 by Bev Phelts; ‘Sold and stolen: domestic “slaves” and the rhetoric of “protection” in Darwin and Singapore during the 1920s and 1930s’, Claire Lowrie, University of Wollongong; Riding the Wildman Plains: The letters and diaries of Tom Cole 1923–1943; Frontier Territory by Glenville Pike; Aboriginal Paintings at Ubirr and Nourlangie by David M. Welch; Kakadu People by Sir Baldwin Spencer; Healers of Arnhem Land by John Cawte; Kakadu National Park, Australia by Ian Morris; A History of Oenpelli by Keith Cole; Kakadu Homesteads Survey: final report on a survey of historic homesteads in Kakadu National Park by Troppo Architects, 1991; The Darwin Chinese: A study of assimilation by C.B. Inglis; Chinese Contribution to Early Darwin by Charles See-Kee; History of Buffalo in Australia: The Australian water buffalo manual by Department of Primary Industries and Resources; The Australian Buffalo by Northern Territory Department of Primary Production, Technical Bulletin No. 62; Australia’s Buffalo Dilemma by Tom L. McKnight; Buffaloes: Adventures in Arnhem Land by Carl Warburton; The City of Adelaide: a thematic history by McDougall & Vines Conservation and heritage consultants.
Nicole Alexander is a fourth-generation grazier. She returned to her family’s property in the early 1990s and is currently the business manager there. She has a Master of Letters in creative writing and her novels, poetry, travel and genealogy articles have been published in Australia, Germany, America and Singapore.
She is the author of eight novels: The Bark Cutters, A Changing Land, Absolution Creek, Sunset Ridge, The Great Plains, Wild Lands, River Run and An Uncommon Woman.
www.nicolealexander.com.au
Also by Nicole Alexander
The Bark Cutters
A Changing Land
Absolution Creek
Sunset Ridge
The Great Plains
Wild Lands
River Run
An Uncommon Woman
Divertissements: Love, War, Society – Selected Poems
A Bantam book
Published by Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd
Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060
penguin.com.au
First published by Bantam in 2019
Copyright © Nicole Alexander 2019
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, published, performed in public or communicated to the public in any form or by any means without prior written permission from Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd or its authorised licensees.
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ISBN 9780143786849
Cover images by Shutterstock
Cover design by Adam Laszczuk and Cathie Glassby © Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd
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