Landtakers: The Story Of An Epoch
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: 1st ed.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Wear and tear with damage
Pages: Tanning and foxing
In the sun-scorched and unforgiving landscape of colonial Queensland, Landtakers: The Story of an Epoch chronicles the brutal ambitions of Derek Cabell, a driven and morally compromised pioneer who carves out a pastoral empire through sheer will, violence, and ruthless determination. Brian Penton's landmark 1934 novel immerses the reader in the raw frontier of nineteenth-century Australia, where the promise of land and fortune collides with the savage realities of drought, conflict with Aboriginal peoples, and the corrosive effects of unchecked greed. The narrative tracks Cabell's decades-long transformation from ambitious immigrant to hardened patriarch, painting an unsparing portrait of how the settler colonial project shaped — and scarred — both the land and its people. Penton, one of Australia's most provocative literary voices of the interwar period, deliberately dismantles the romanticised mythology of the pioneer legend, presenting instead a vision of nation-building steeped in moral ambiguity and human frailty. His prose is spare, muscular, and unflinching — a style that mirrors the harsh terrain his characters inhabit. Landtakers stands as a foundational text of Australian literature, anticipating later revisionist histories by decades, and its searing final question — what is truly left when a man has conquered the land but lost his soul — continues to resonate with uncomfortable clarity.
Author: Brian Penton
Format: Hardback
Published: 1934, The Endeavour Press
Genre: Australian history
Edition: 1st ed.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Wear and tear with damage
Pages: Tanning and foxing
In the sun-scorched and unforgiving landscape of colonial Queensland, Landtakers: The Story of an Epoch chronicles the brutal ambitions of Derek Cabell, a driven and morally compromised pioneer who carves out a pastoral empire through sheer will, violence, and ruthless determination. Brian Penton's landmark 1934 novel immerses the reader in the raw frontier of nineteenth-century Australia, where the promise of land and fortune collides with the savage realities of drought, conflict with Aboriginal peoples, and the corrosive effects of unchecked greed. The narrative tracks Cabell's decades-long transformation from ambitious immigrant to hardened patriarch, painting an unsparing portrait of how the settler colonial project shaped — and scarred — both the land and its people. Penton, one of Australia's most provocative literary voices of the interwar period, deliberately dismantles the romanticised mythology of the pioneer legend, presenting instead a vision of nation-building steeped in moral ambiguity and human frailty. His prose is spare, muscular, and unflinching — a style that mirrors the harsh terrain his characters inhabit. Landtakers stands as a foundational text of Australian literature, anticipating later revisionist histories by decades, and its searing final question — what is truly left when a man has conquered the land but lost his soul — continues to resonate with uncomfortable clarity.