In Crocodile Land

All Idriess' books are great, but the ones in which he shares his own adventures have extra appeal to me, as they seem to have more colour. In the case of this book he accompanies the Skipper on his ketch Lotus with Herman the Malay / Aboriginal engineer and the Aboriginal crew of crocodile hunters as they hunt for the skins around the Northern Territory coastline.

For the most part, this book follows that one journey, departing Darwin to return a several months later, but within this narrative Idriess shares relevant anecdotes and stories from other travels. For the most part this is the hunting and trapping of saltwater (or estuarine) crocodiles, but there is also adventures with buffalo hunters (the Asian water buffalo was introduced to Australia in the late 19th century to provide meat in the remote settlements), birds and crabs, mudskippers, and a chapter on freshwater crocodiles.

As usual with Idriess we get lots of short anecdotes about the men of the remote outback - white settlers and lawmen feature, but the Aboriginal men feature more strongly. For those unfamiliar with Idriess he holds a great respect for the Aboriginals, their traditions and their abilities. Even the skipper recognises that there would be little crocodile hunting without the Aboriginals providing the labour, and bringing the skills.

Idriess mentions early on in the book that his readers have requested from him more details about the animals he writes about - and here Idriess delivers. Careful and detailed information on all the animals they come into contact with, but a masterclass on the crocodile.

Idriess introduces plenty of humour with the curmudgeonly Skipper who rants and raves at the natives, but feeds them, provides tobacco and often ferries them along the coast. The two young Aboriginal girls who make their way aboard are also particularly amusing, again the Skipper giving them as much grief as they give back.

If I was being ultra critical, the last 30 or so pages, after the Lotus heads back for Darwin feel a bit like a few tacked on chapters to hit the 241 page count. They are less related to the main narrative, and revolve around life in Wyndham, a town just across the Northern Territory border in Western Australia, a port on the Cambridge Gulf, the northern coast. These stories are still interesting, but just didn't tie in so well, but the crocodile trapping, freshwater crocodile and meat-works blood-hole would have all been fine.

Still a 5 star read for me.