Shearers' motel, 1989-93

 
Component identifier:
Series 12
Content Summary:

In 1989 McDonald worked as a shearers' cook for a team of New Zealand shearers, travelling through New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria. In 1990, he undertook a six-week outback trip with Canadian author Jack Hodgins, during which he interviewed many of the people he had worked with the previous year. McDonald recounted his experiences as a shearers' cook in his book Shearers' motel, published by Pan Macmillan, Sydney in 1992. This book was awarded the CUB Banjo Award for non-fiction in 1993. McDonald also wrote the television adaptation of the book for ABC-TV, entitled Cross turning over, which was screened in 1996.

The papers in this series include research material, notebooks, transcripts of interviews, audio tapes of the book, reviews, photographs and correspondence, mainly with Hodgins.

Jack Hodgins published a non-fiction book based on his trip with McDonald. Entitled Over forty in Broken Hill, it was published by University of Queensland Press in 1992. Included in this series are reviews and a copy of the book.

Immediate source of acquisition:
The papers of Roger McDonald have been purchased by the Library in a number of instalments during the period October 1976 to May 1996. Further papers were added in 2011 and 2023.

Contents

Access and use

Parent Restrictions:
Access conditions may apply to this collection, please refer to the collection's catalogue record for further information (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2623912).
Parent Terms of Access:
Conditions for copying and publishing of this collection may apply, please refer to the collection's catalogue record for further information (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2623912).
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
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