Murder and Misconduct in the Central Australian Outback Story 1. Murder and Contract Fencing. Story 2. Cattle Thieves in the West. Story 3. Euthanasia. Is Murder. Story 4. Murder and Contract Mustering. Story 5. Murder and Tribal Revenge. This is a consecutive collection of two Short Stories, two Novelettes, and a Novella depicting events in a man’s life in the outback of the Northern Territory of Australia. Spanning the late 1960s to the early 1990s.
· At age twenty-one, Ben Searle works with a stock yard building contractor's crew run by his cousin Geordie, and becomes entangled in a deadly clash encompassing blame, self preservation, and the ultimate life costing vengeance of a young, gay man.
· Six years later, find Ben Searle caught up in cattle theft on a grand scale while babysitting a cattle station on the Western Australian border. He and his wife and three children ultimately have to barricade themselves in the homestead, waiting anxiously for help to arrive.
· Moving to Adelaide City for twelve months, Ben Searle finds work with Martin Craig at an animal refuge centre. As much as he likes the work, he also learns about the seedier side, euthanasia of unwanted animals. Martin has a family tragedy, and homesickness drives Ben and Terri and the kids back to Glen Maggie, the family property in the Territory. Two stockmen die soon after Ben unexpectedly runs into Martin Craig working in a bar at a local roadside stop. The cause of death is Pentobarbital poisoning and Ben can’t help his suspicions turn towards his friend Martin. However, the motive for the murders eludes him as he tries to fathom who did it.
· Ben, now aged thirty-four, goes contract mustering with his cousin Dan Scott in the Davenport Ranges, a bit south-east of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory. Helping to solve the murder of a young innocent man and a robbery, the impudent theft of a valuable Turquoise haul.
The series ends with a story of hardship and heartache for the many black and white stockmen who worked the vast central Australian cattle stations of the 1980s and 1990s. It is about men dealing with drought, disease and financial troubles along with the ineptitude of an all-powerful bureaucracy. The story revolves, more importantly, around three Arunta tribe’s women who are brutally attacked, two of them fatally, and the deep love of a man for one of these women. He must resort to the old, even the mythical ways of his ancient heritage, to seek justice and some peace of mind. He must seek revenge for his beloved.
Comments