The Unlucky Australians

In 1966, the Gurindji people working on Wave Hill Station in the Northern Territory did something radical: they went on strike. They wanted equal wages—and land rights. Author Frank Hardy happened to be there. In The Unlucky Australians he tells the story of this walk-off, one that resulted in a successful land rights claim—a term Hardy has been credited for inventing in this important novel, first published in 1968.


In an article in Overland in 2007 on Les Murray, Frank Hardy and Australian Nationalism, Nathan Hollier points out: ‘Partly because of books like The Unlucky Australians, many Australians do not feel as comfortable or at ease with the land as they had been encouraged to feel by an eager generation of nationalist historians, social commentators, political and religious leaders, teachers and artists.’


Frank Hardy (1917–1994) was a journalist, novelist and scriptwriter. His books include Power without Glory (1950), the satire Outcasts of Foolgarah (1971), also in the Untapped Collection, and The Dead Are Many (1975).