Rebecca Rowlings

ARR.News

We Australians pride ourselves on our native animals. Koalas, kangaroos, wombats, deadly snakes, platypuses (platypi?), drop bears, emus… just some of the animals that have spent millions of years evolving separately from the rest of the world’s fauna on this island nation of ours. But most of us probably don’t think too much about them during our day-to-day lives. Alistair Paton’s “Of Marsupials and Men” puts a spotlight on men (and the occasional woman) who made Australia’s wildlife the centre of their lives. With its light, humourous tone and wide range of characters, Paton’s book is an easy and entertaining read.

He starts us off in the 17th century with William Dampier, whose “main line