Summary

First edition of a book by L. ST. Clare Grondona titled 'The Kangaroo Keeps on Talking or The All British Continent. A Description of Australian Life and Industries', published by the Victoria Publishing House, London, 1924. The book has an introduction by The Right Hon Stanley Baldwin, British Prime Minister.

The book provides a description of Australia and Australian life by an expatriate with the avowed purpose of encouraging British migration and investment. The emphasis is on rural settlement and is significant as a reflection on a period during which the British Government, in partnership with the Australian government, was actively encouraging rural migration, particularly through the Empire Settlement Scheme. The cover sports the evocative imagery of the kangaroo and the lion, symbols of Empire and Australia and depicts the strong relationship between the two.

Leo St Clare Grondona (1898-1982) was born in Melbourne, where he was educated at Xavier College. He spent three years in Queensland working as a jackaroo, served in World War I and was wounded, then worked as a journalist for The Age then for the Federal Department of Repatriation. In 1923 he moved to London where primarily worked as a journalist, he did maintain an Australian connection writing a weekly London Letter for the Sydney Bulletin. He also wrote several books on Australian economics.

Physical Description

216 page hardcover book, which includes 8 advertisements and 24 leaves of plates. The cover has a black, brown and white illustration of a kangaroo talking to a lion smoking a pipe in an armchair.

More Information