Outback Launched at Historic Royal Society Building
Melbourne 8th October 2007.

Tracy O'Shaughnessy (Associate-Publisher, Miegunyah Press, and her Miegunyah Colleagues), Andrew & Jane Dwyer, Royal Society Councillors, Camilla van Megen, Fellow Adventurers and Gourmets of Australia.

 
Since the Dreamtime, the Outback has captured our imagination and emotions.  For thousands of years, Indigenous Australians have bonded with the bush and loved “her far horizons”.  More recently, European Australians have embraced “her beauty and her terror” with astonishment, amazement and awe.   

In the 1860's, John McDowell Stuart battled across the continent from Adelaide, whilst his Melbourne rivals Burke & Wills “led the glorious race across the continent” - departing from this very building on 20 August 1860, never to return.  It fell to Dorothea Mackellar (1885-1968) to capture the spirit of the Outback in her poem, “My Country”:

“I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.

“I love her far horizons
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!”
 
For the past 20 years, this wide brown land has been Andrew Dwyer's home, and his life.  He has criss-crossed the Outback in over 100 expeditions.  He has led and initiated over 2,000 people from all nationalities into the wonderment of the Outback.  Now, with this book we are launching today, he writes of his life.

His talents rival those of a Rhodes Scholar.  He has become one of our leading adventurers, one of our leading bush naturalists and one of our leading exploration historians.  All the time, refining his skills as a photographer, a musician and a five star gourmet chef.   He loves our sunburnt country.  He is a true and great friend.
Andrew Dwyer started life in the restaurant industry and became a man of music.  After a rite of passage as a ski instructor in Austria, he returned to Australia to be a hotel manager, a professional musician and as a presenter of cooking segments on TV.   By now he had found Jane and together they built a new life leading tours into the bush, accumulating a rich reservoir of stories about the early explorers of the bush. 

With his Mel Gibson looks, he is indeed a rare model of a 21st century man.  What a man!  How can Jane let this model of beauty into her life to have and to hold - then he keeps deserting her for 3 weeks at a time!  In 1988, they founded the Diamantina Touring Company, specialising in outback adventure, fine food and natural history.   Andrew has won numerous awards.  In 1994, he was awarded the the German Holiday Oscar for the Best Adventure Tour in the World.  In 2006, he won the Victorian Tourism Award for the Most Significant Contribution by an Individual to the Tourism Industry.

If Samuel Johnson had his Boswell, Andrew Dwyer has his John Hay.  John is one of Australia's great photographers.   He has a brilliance in capturing the beauty and terror of our wide brown land.  John Hay has achieved distinction, photographing food for 30 years, with most of the food greats – Stephanie Alexander, Jacques Raymond and Gabriel Gate.   He lectures on photography at the RMIT.  In Outback, we see his spectacular and stunning work.

Miegunyah is Australia's finest publisher.  This year the Miegunyah Press celebrates its 40th anniversary.  It has at its helm the brilliant Publisher Louise Adler and her irresistible Associate-Publisher Tracy O'Shaughnessy.  Its books are timeless quality publications which become collectors' items. 

They are available from the  Miegunyah Book Club.  This Club is free to join and offers great discounts on all its books.  And there is no obligation to buy. 
The Miegunyah Press was the creation of Sir Russell Grimwade.  He was a practising scientist and a long-time Deputy-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne.  He was also a pioneer in outback travel and, in 1905, was the first person to drive a horseless carriage from Melbourne to Adelaide.  The Police asked him to teach them how to drive – then required him to get a licence!  Many will remember him as the man who brought Cooks' Cottage to Melbourne.

Today celebrates an ancient link between the Royal Society and the Miegunyah Press.  Sir Russell became a member of the Royal Society 95 years ago, then a Councillor in 1915, and later one of its three trustees. Victoria can be proud that this Royal Society is the oldest one in Australia, founded in 1859.   It became central in founding the University of Melbourne, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Public Library, the Museum and the Botanic Gardens.   Over 150 years ago, this Royal Society provided the impetus and drive for Melbourne to become the cultural and scientific centre of Australia.
 
Many of us here today have travelled outback with Andrew Dwyer.   We have camped under the stars in our swags, thrilled to his tales of the ancient explorers, and enjoyed his magnificent gourmet cooking by the camp fire. 

There are abundant memories: Italian Night served at the focal point in the natural Amphitheatre of the Slate Range, with Luciano Pavarotti at full stretch resounding into the desert and leading a chorus of howling dingoes silhouetted against the skyline; warmhearted Vin playing his sentimental Old Shepp at dawn; the longest first day along the Tanami Track; the humour of Len Beadell of  Gunbarrell Highway fame;  and best of all -  the 2,000 km long Canning Stock Route with its 601 sand dunes, many the height of this building, with its hundreds of camels and even an occasional sighting of a beautiful white dingo. 

“Outback” is a truly magnificent book, the perfect gift.   It's a wonderful gift to friends here and overseas, particularly with John Hay's magical photography. 

When you acquire your copy of Outback, remember:
          “There once was an explorer called Dwyer,
          Outback, an historian on fire.
                   On every tour-day,
                   His meals were gourmet.
          His stories in this book will inspire.”
 
It is a real honour and a great pleasure to launch Andrew Dwyer's masterpiece:
          “Outback – Recipes and Stories from the Campfire”.