Jeannie Taylor

Jeannie Taylor at the time of her marriage.

Jeannie Taylor was educated at home, matriculated from Melbourne University in 1887 and two years later set up a school with her sisters. This operated from their home in Hawthorn. In the late 1890s she met Aeneas Gunn and they married in 1901. They then moved to the Northern Territory and the Elsey cattle Station which her husband part-owned and managed. Mrs Gunn quickly adapted to bush life, winning the admiration of those who had said the life was too hard for a woman. Unfortunately after 13 months her husband died, on 16 March 1903, of malarial dysentery.

His widow returned to Melbourne to live with her father. She wrote two books about her experiences on Elsey Station. The little black princess (1905) and We of the Never-Never (1908). The identities of her characters in the latter were stylized to protect their privacy. By 1945 the book had sold 32,000 copies. It continues to remain in print.

Characters portrayed in We of the Never-Never, with their pseudonyms:

Jack McCarthy (Irish Mac) was a carter rather than working directly on Elsey Station. After an earlier period of covering government contracts for cartage for the Overland Telegraph stations, McCarthy later married and opened a store in Newcastle Waters. At the same time he contracted for the cartage of supplies with his horse teams. He died in Adelaide in 1934 after a long illness.

Jack McLeod (The Quiet Stockman) was born in Balaklava and became an expert horse breaker. After assisting in moving a mob of horses to Pine Creek, he moved to Elsey Station and was stock keeper there when Aeneas Gunn assumed control. After the initial shock of finding a white woman in residence at the homestead, Jack McLeod became a firm friend of Jeannie Gunn. Shortly after Aeneas Gunn's early death McLeod returned to Adelaide and became involved in the shipment of horses to India. He later worked for Goldsborough Mort working with stud stock, before retiring to Angaston where he owned a service station. He died in 1960.

John McLennan (The Sanguine Scot) was born at Marnoo, Victoria in 1869. He was managing Elsey Station when Aeneas Gunn took over and was initially highly resistant to the idea of a white woman moving to the remote station. He sent innumerable telegrams trying to persuade Gunn to leave his wife behind, claiming that bush life was too arduous for a city bred woman. When Jeannie Gunn finally arrived he thawed rapidly to her charm and dubbed her "The Little Missus". He died in 1932 in the Katherine Hospital.

The book is considered a significant landmark in Australian literature. Gunn documented an Australia different from anywhere else, underwriting an Australian legend of life and achievement in the outback. The book provided a taste of a place where men and women could still live heroic lives in places far removed from the urban landscape of the reader.

In 1988 the book was referred to as a 'minor masterpiece of Australian letters' by New Literary History of Australia (p. 249).

Permission to use this item for any purpose, including publishing, is not required from the State Library under these conditions of use.

Buy a high resolution copy.