Girt: The Unauthorised History of Australia (David Hunt, Black Inc.)

Australian history never looked like this! Historian David Hunt takes aim at some of Australia’s historical sacred cows with his unique brand of irreverent and often profane humour. Cook, Philip and Macquarie all get a working over. Dampier, for example, is described as ‘a sensitive pirate with soulful eyes and girly hair’. Francis Grose, the second man to run New South Wales, was ‘lazy and corpulent, with stunned-fish eyes and a prodigious double chin’. While Hunt lays it on a little too thick at times, the result is often very funny. Beneath the humour is an interesting analysis backed by extensive research, which has uprooted some little-known historical gems. But as in all the best satire, you’re never quite sure where the facts end and the jokes begin. Girt will appeal to readers who enjoyed John Birmingham’s Leviathan as much as lovers of Chaser-style satire and the humour of John Clarke. Hunt’s narrative ends with Lachlan Macquarie back in Britain awaiting the judgement of posterity, and leaves this reader hoping there will be further instalments.

Dave Martus is the manager of Dymocks Neutral Bay in Sydney

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Category: Reviews