Likewise the unnamed lover is a storyteller. Cave is a brilliant, albeit boring, older man. Likewise Holland, Ellen's father, a man who likes to plant trees. Ellen’s beauty is renowned across states and oceans, yet apart from this the reader is given little else to go by. Bail at once glorifies Australian tradition and attacks the notion of “a sun burnt country”.Įllen’s story begins with “Once upon a time.” This fairy tale beginning is furthered by markedly one-dimensional characters. The novel could easily be interpreted as a renegotiation of Australian identity. The novel begins with a discussion of Australian culture “the poetic virtues which have their origins in the bush of being belted about by droughts, bushfires, smelly sheep and so on and lets not forget the isolation, the exhausted shapeless women, the crude language, the always wide horizon, and the flies.” But concludes that: “it really doesn’t matter.” This sets a major theme for the novel to explore.
This fits well with Bail’s status as a writer of fiction and non-fiction. The novel contrasts a detailed, scientific classifying of Eucalyptus trees, with the story of Ellen told from a parodied fairy tale perspective. Her protective father's obsession with collecting rare species of Eucalyptus trees leads him to propose a contest - the man who can correctly name all the species on his property shall win her hand in marriage. The book won the 1999 Miles Franklin Award and the 1999 Commonwealth Writers' Prize.Įucalyptus tells the story of Ellen Holland, a young woman whose "speckled beauty" and unattainability become legend far beyond the rural western New South Wales town near the property where she grows up. Eucalyptus is a 1998 novel by Australian novelist Murray Bail.
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