Robyn Davidson
Encyclopedia
Robyn Davidson is an Australian writer best known for her book Tracks, about a 1,700-mile trek across the deserts of west Australia using camels. Her career of travelling and writing about her travels has spanned over 30 years.
, the second of two girls. Her mother committed suicide
when Davidson was 11, and she was largely raised by her father's unmarried sister, Gillian. She went to a girls' boarding school
in Brisbane
. She received a music scholarship but did not take it up. In Brisbane, she shared a house with radical biologists and studied zoology. Later, she went to Sydney and lived a bohemian kind of life as a member of the Push
.
In the 1970s, Davidson moved to Alice Springs in an effort to work with camels for a desert trek she was planning. For two years she trained camels and learned how to survive in the harsh desert. She was peripherally involved in the Aboriginal Land Rights movement.
She has had homes in Sydney, London, and India.
. Having met the photographer Rick Smolan
in Alice Springs, she insisted that he be the photographer for the journey. Rick, with whom she had an "on-again off-again" romantic relationship during the trip, drove out to meet her three times during the nine-month journey. The National Geographic article was published in 1978 and attracted so much interest that she decided to write a book about the experience. She traveled to London and lived with Doris Lessing
while writing Tracks. The book won the inaugural 1980 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award
and the Blind Society Award. In the early nineties, Smolan published his pictures of the trip in From Alice to Ocean. It included the first interactive story-and-photo CDs made for the general public.
It has been suggested that one of the reasons Tracks was so popular, particularly with women, is that Davidson "places herself in the wilderness of her own accord, rather than as an adjunct to a man".
She has studied different forms of the nomad lifestyle—including those in Australia, India, and Tibet—for a book and a documentary series. Her writing on nomads is based mainly on personal experience, and she brings many of her thoughts together in No Fixed Address, her contribution to the Quarterly Essay
series. Sullivan writes about this work:
Biography
Davidson was born at Stanley Park, a cattle station in Miles, QueenslandMiles, Queensland
Miles is a small town in Queensland, Australia. At the 2006 census, Miles had a population of 1,164.The town is situated on the Warrego Highway, 340 kilometres west of Brisbane, the state capital. Formerly known as Dogwood Crossing, the town is situated on Dogwood Creek, named by German explorer...
, the second of two girls. Her mother committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
when Davidson was 11, and she was largely raised by her father's unmarried sister, Gillian. She went to a girls' boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
. She received a music scholarship but did not take it up. In Brisbane, she shared a house with radical biologists and studied zoology. Later, she went to Sydney and lived a bohemian kind of life as a member of the Push
Sydney Push
The Sydney Push was a predominantly left-wing intellectual sub-culture in Sydney from the late 1940s to the early '70s. Well known associates of the Push include Jim Baker, John Flaus, Harry Hooton, Margaret Fink, Sasha Soldatow, Lex Banning, Eva Cox, Richard Appleton, Paddy McGuinness, David...
.
In the 1970s, Davidson moved to Alice Springs in an effort to work with camels for a desert trek she was planning. For two years she trained camels and learned how to survive in the harsh desert. She was peripherally involved in the Aboriginal Land Rights movement.
She has had homes in Sydney, London, and India.
Tracks
In 1977, she set off from Alice Springs for the west coast, with a dog and four camels, Dookie (a large male), Bub (a smaller male), Zeleika (a wild female), and Goliath (Zeleika's son). She had had no intention of writing about the journey, but eventually agreed to write an article for National Geographic MagazineNational Geographic Magazine
National Geographic, formerly the National Geographic Magazine, is the official journal of the National Geographic Society. It published its first issue in 1888, just nine months after the Society itself was founded...
. Having met the photographer Rick Smolan
Rick Smolan
Rick Smolan is an American photographer. He is CEO of Against All Odds Productions.-Background:Smolan is a 1972 graduate of Dickinson College. He has worked for TIME, LIFE and National Geographic...
in Alice Springs, she insisted that he be the photographer for the journey. Rick, with whom she had an "on-again off-again" romantic relationship during the trip, drove out to meet her three times during the nine-month journey. The National Geographic article was published in 1978 and attracted so much interest that she decided to write a book about the experience. She traveled to London and lived with Doris Lessing
Doris Lessing
Doris May Lessing CH is a British writer. Her novels include The Grass is Singing, The Golden Notebook, and five novels collectively known as Canopus in Argos....
while writing Tracks. The book won the inaugural 1980 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award
Thomas Cook Travel Book Award
The Thomas Cook Travel Book Award originated as an initiative of Thomas Cook AG in 1980, with the aim of encouraging and rewarding the art of literary travel writing. The awards stopped in 2005...
and the Blind Society Award. In the early nineties, Smolan published his pictures of the trip in From Alice to Ocean. It included the first interactive story-and-photo CDs made for the general public.
It has been suggested that one of the reasons Tracks was so popular, particularly with women, is that Davidson "places herself in the wilderness of her own accord, rather than as an adjunct to a man".
Nomads
The majority of her work has been traveling with and studying nomadic peoples. While she is often called a social anthropologist, she has no academic qualifications and claims to be "completely self-taught". Her experiences with nomads include traveling on migration with nomads in India from 1990 to 1992. These experiences were published in Desert Places (1996).She has studied different forms of the nomad lifestyle—including those in Australia, India, and Tibet—for a book and a documentary series. Her writing on nomads is based mainly on personal experience, and she brings many of her thoughts together in No Fixed Address, her contribution to the Quarterly Essay
Quarterly Essay
Quarterly Essay is an Australian periodical that straddles the border between magazines and non-fiction books. Printed in a book-like page size and using a single-column format, each issue features a single extended essay of at least 20,000 words, with an introduction by the editor, and...
series. Sullivan writes about this work:
One of the questions we need to ask, if we are to have a future, she says, is "Where did we cause less damage to ourselves, to our environment, and to our animal kin?" One answer is: when we were nomadic. "It is when we settled that we became strangers in a strange land, and wandering took on the quality of banishment," she writes, and then later adds: "I shall probably be accused of romanticism."
Works
- Mail Order Bride (Feature film for Australian Broadcasting Commission)
- Self Portrait with Imaginary Mother (unfinished)
External links
- No Fixed Address - transcript of a talk by Davidson in December 2006 on Perspective program, ABC Radio NationalRadio NationalABC Radio National is an Australia-wide non-commercial radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.Radio National broadcasts national programming in areas that include news and current affairs, the arts, social issues, science, drama and comedy...
- Robyn Davidson In conversation - MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
download of conversation with Richard FidlerRichard FidlerRichard Fidler is a well-known Australian Republican and Australian ABC TV and radio presenter. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as a member of the Doug Anthony All Stars , an Australian musical comedy group also comprising Tim Ferguson and Paul McDermott...
ABC Local RadioABC Local RadioABC Local Radio is a network of publicly owned radio stations in Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.ABC Local Radio stations broadcast across the continent using terrestrial transmitters and satellites...
6 December 2006 - Robyn Davidson at talking heads, 1 September 2008.
- participation at Germaine's Legacy - After The Female Eunuch - session at Adelaide Writers' WeekAdelaide Writers' WeekAdelaide Writers' Week, held in the capital of South Australia and considered one of the world's pre-eminent literary events, is a traditional part of the Adelaide Festival of Arts fortnight where attendees meet and discuss literature with Australian and international writers in "Meet the Author"...
, April 2008.