AUSTRALIAN FAUNA –

It’s not just a war over horses. It’s a battle for the soul of Australia. This is a book about the intense culture war raging around Australia’s wild horses, known as brumbies. It pits a vision of the legendary Man from Snowy River and the iconic ANZAC Light Horse against the spectre of ecosystems destroyed by feral pests. The debate involves powerful politicians and media commentators, and stars an animal mythologised in Australian poetry and prose. But in essence, this is about us. The Brumby Wars is about Australians at war with each other over their vision of an ideal Australia. To ecologists and people who ski, walk and fish in the High Country and other areas where the brumbies proliferate, they are a feral menace which must be removed to save delicate alpine landscapes. To the descendants of cattle families and many Australians in urban and regional areas, brumbies are untouchable, a symbol of wildness and freedom. Something has to give. But what? The land or the horses? This war is set to escalate dramatically before we have an answer. Featuring interviews with characters from all sides of the debate, The Brumby Wars is the riveting account of a major national issue and the very human passions it inspires. It is also a journey, a quest to understand what makes us tick in our increasingly polarised country.

• 308 pages ; 24 cm. First Edition #130925
• • ‘For the sake of our country’
  • The real man from Snowy River
  • ‘The last little bit we’ve got’
  • Fawkes news
  • The running of the brumbies
  • They eat horses, don’t they?
  • Shifting the goalposts
  • The Trojan brumby
  • The Yorta Yorta, the water, and the horse slaughter
  • Irregular and rash
  • The battle of Long Plain
  • ‘We love our horses but we love our country more’.
• • Wild horses — Australia — History
  • Wild horses — Environmental aspects — Australia
  • Wild horses — Social aspects — Australia
  • Wild horses — Australia — Alpine Region
  • Wildlife conservation — Australia
  • Wild horses — Control — Government policy — New South Wales — Snowy Mountains Region
  • Wild horses — Control — Social aspects — New South Wales — Snowy Mountains Region
  • Wild horses — Control — Environmental aspects — New South Wales — Snowy Mountains Region
  • Wild horses — Management. — New South Wales — Snowy Mountains Region
  • Environmental protection — New South Wales — Snowy Mountains Region
  • Environmental protection — Australia
  • Introduced animals — Environmental aspects — Australia
  • Ranchers — Australia
  • Alpine regions — New South Wales — Social life and customs
  • Snowy Mountains Region (N.S.W.)
  • Australia
  • New South Wales — Snowy Mountains
  • Snowy Mountains (N.S.W.)
  • Conservation of the environment (Australia)
  • Horses (Australia)
  • Natural history – general (Australia)