The Sundowners
Jon Cleary
 The story is set in the Australian Outback during the 1920's and deals with one year in the life of the Carmody family. Paddy Carmody, Australian-born son of Irish migrants, is an itinerant worker, travelling the country with his wife Ida and son Sean in a horse-drawn wagon. Whilst Ida longs to settle in a place of their own, Paddy is unwilling to abandon his way of life and continues to pick up work where he can. He takes cattle-droving jobs and also sheep-shearing - which he doesn't like, but pays well. At one point, he joins a shearing team with Sean as tarboy and Ida as the shearers cook. They meet various colourful outback characters, ranging from prosperous graziers to drunks, including Rupert Venneker, a well-educated Englishman in self-imposed exile. Along the way. Sean develops from boy into young man. Venneker marries and settles in a small town. And the Carmodys continue on their way.