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  • Published: 3 July 2006
  • ISBN: 9781741661477
  • Imprint: Random House Australia Children's
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 192
  • RRP: $19.99

Brumby Plains




From Joanne Van Os, whose OUTBACK HEART memoir has sold over 17,000 copies, BRUMBY PLAINS is a thrilling fiction story for children about life on the plains.

Sam and George, 13 and 11, live at Brumby Plains, their parents' sprawling buffalo station in the Northern Territory. They're counting down to the Christmas holidays, and anticipating the fun they'll have exploring the property, horse riding, and spending time with their cousins Tess and Darcy. But weird things are happening at Brumby Plains - who is leaving the gates open, and why did a plane land in darkness in a deserted area? A chance encounter with an Englishman who knows more than he's letting on leaves Sam suspicious, but all their worries are forgotten as the four kids find a spooky cave up in the hills. Vincent, their old Aboriginal friend, says they shouldn't go there - he says it's a dangerous place, full of angry spirits. Surely there's no harm in exploring, though - is there?

  • Published: 3 July 2006
  • ISBN: 9781741661477
  • Imprint: Random House Australia Children's
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 192
  • RRP: $19.99

About the author

Joanne Van Os

Joanne van Os was born in 1955, and grew up in Melbourne. Her first book, OUTBACK HEART, is a best-selling memoir about life with her first husband, the 'Real Crocodile Dundee' Rod Ansell, mustering wild cattle and buffalo and living a 19th century lifestyle in remote parts of the Northern Territory, and his tragic end in 1999. She followed this book with three children's novels, all set in the far north of Australia and written for the 10 - 14 age group. She lives with her husband Lex Silvester on a yacht in Darwin, NT, and continues to write. Her most recent novel, THE SECRET OF THE LONELY ISLES, was published in February 2011.

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Praise for Brumby Plains

'A great Australian yarn for upper primary readers, BRUMBY PLAINS would be a good choice for promotion in libraries or serial reading in classrooms before the December/January holidays... Joanne Van Os knows the country and lifestyle thoroughly and evokes both using authentic details throughout the action... The plot is suspenseful and not entirely predictable even to the sophisticated reader. Country children will recognise some of their experiences and attitudes while urban readers will dream of the freedom and the opportunity to develop adult skills early in life enjoyed by their outback peers. A good read in the tradition of bush adventures by Joan Phipson, Nan Chauncy and Patricia Wrightson.' MAGPIES