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“All the little kings in their grass castles, Mary, and the wind and the water sweeping them away. Towards the end of the book Mary’s grandfather is dying and distressed by his dreams. They leave me in awe of what they achieved even by today’s standards

In saying this it’s a fascinating read and especially admirable how both the men and women in the Durack family played an equal part in the families success.

Others have written about the contradiction about who the Duracks were, and what they became, and how owning title to land encouraged the family as kings of a grass monarchy to do what they pleased. You also see how the changes between the family and the Aboriginal people sadly deteriorates. But when it comes their turn to behave with empathy they behaved just like the English. We all know of the brutal treatment of the tenant farmers in Ireland by the English landlords and the Durack story outlines how they were exploited. In the space of about 45 years, Patrick Durack developed three major pastoral areas in Australia, Goulburn (NSW), Coopers Creek (Queensland) and the Ord River in Western Australia. To top it off he cemented his fortune by selling off land blocks to incoming settlers. Eventually he is the owner of hotels, a butchery and town properties. By the 1870s he has claimed 44,000 square kilometres of land in south-west Queensland, and his original cattle herd had grown from 100 head to 30,000. With that, he began to establish the Durack pastoral empire. Determined to change the family fortunes, Patrick went to the Ovens River diggings in Victoria and returned in 18 months with £1000. Within two months of reaching the Goulburn district, his father was accidentally killed. Dirt poor tenant farmers in County Clare, Ireland and the story of the surviving members of his after the famine of the 1840s when they migrated to Australia in 1853. Kings in Grass Castles is basically the biography of Patrick Durack (1834-1898), Mary’s grandfather. “Kings in Grass Castles” by Mary Durack – First published in Great Britain 1959 With horses trained to ‘turn on a plate’, to wheel and dodge, they mustered cattle in hundreds from gully to scrub…”Įquitainment has the DVD available now From what I hear it’s release on DVD has been hugely popular. Their conversation was mostly of horses and of how they came into possession of the brave mounts they rode – one from a brumby mob mustered along the Murrumbidgee, another a thoroughbred that belonged to a bushranger, another bought, near perishing, from a pound. “Their passion for horses amounted almost to a cult. One passage I particularly enjoyed described their love of horses. I’ve just finished reading Mary Durack’s “Kings in Grass Castles” I’m a little ashamed to admit not having read it sooner – now wish I had… Celebrating National Year of Reading 2012Ī great read “Kings in Grass Castles” by Mary Durack