BCL Books - Local Books - Darwin & NT

Local Books - Darwin and Northern Territory

It's always fun reading books from your local area - there's a familiarity to the people and the places that can make the books even more enjoyable. It's also interesting when travelling to read books set in or about the places you're visiting - just keep in mind most of them are fiction.

Below are local books for Darwin and the Northern Territory including Autobiographies / Biographies, books for Children and Young Adults, Historical books (books set in or written pre-1940s) and Contemporary books.
 

Autobiography / Biography

• In the Tracks of Old Bluey - by Bobbie Buchanan - Biography of the European explorer, Nat Buchanan, whose pioneering droving extended across the Northern Territory, Queensland, and Western Australia.

• Love Against the Law - by Tex Camfoo & Nelly Camfoo - Autobiographies of two people's struggles to get married to each other because of their ethnicity - Tex (Asian-Aboriginal - born in Roper River) and Nelly (Aboriginal - born in Mainoru, Arnhemland). 
   
• No Place for a Woman - by Mayse Young and Gabrielle Dalton - Autobiography of Mayse Young, a female publican who owned pubs in Pine Creek, Darwin, and Katherine.
   
• The Diary of Emily Caroline Creaghe, Explorer - by Emily Caroline Creaghe, edited by Peter Monteath - Diary of the only woman on an expedition to the Northern Territory in the 1880s and the difficulties the party faced.
   
• We of the Never Never - by Jeannie Gunn - This autobiography, written as a novel with the names of real people changed, recounts the author's life in the Northern Territory in 1902.
   

Children / Young Adults

• The Barrumbi Kids - by Leonie Norrington - Children's novel about two friends - one Aboriginal, one non-Aboriginal - who live in the Arhemland region and their adventures and primary school experiences. Aimed at upper primary school students.
   

Historical Fiction & Non-Fiction

• Nemarluk - by Ion Idriess - Non-fiction book about the last few years of the life of the Aboriginal warrior, Nemarluk, who lived in the Darwin region and who died in 1940. 
   

Contemporary Fiction & Non-Fiction

• Maestro - by Peter Goldsworthy - A coming of age novel about a young man in Darwin and the transforming effect his Viennese piano teacher has on his life. Shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award in 1990. 
   
• Territory - by Judy Nunn - Novel set mainly in Darwin, it encompasses the Japanese bombing of Darwin in 1942 and Cyclone Tracy in 1974.
   

More Local Books

• Adelaide and South Australia
• Brisbane and Queensland
• Hobart and Tasmania
• Melbourne and Victoria
• Perth and Western Australia
• Sydney, Canberra, and New South Wales