Wundarra-Bilyana, Eagle of the Nullarbor / Austin Macauley Publishers (ePub)

As a commercial pilot, Douglas Whitfield flew mostly in the remote areas of North Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. He is well-acquainted with life in this Australian Outback and the experience nurtured a high respect for the people that live in those areas; cattle and crop farming and working in the mining and oil and gas industries. This experience was further enhanced by his time as an Australian Army officer. He deeply respects these people, with their tough Australian exterior that hides a warm compassion for those in trouble or need, always ready to assist them through any weather conditions; be it cyclone, flooding or major bush-fire activities. Wundarra-Bilyana, Eagle of the Nullarbor has a number of aims and these are firstly to highlight the incredibly harsh and massive size of the Nullarbor Plain. The dialogue in the book is deliberately in the manner of the way people often talk in these areas and the dialogue of the aboriginal people who have been on this land since ancient times and who ponder their past history within what they call the "e;dream-time"e;. Wundarra-Bilyana, Eagle of the Nullarbor as a work of fiction introduces the wedge-tailed eagle as a way of introducing this part of the world and a concept of life from a different perspective, together with ideas about survival, common-sense and the need for personal discipline, respect and dignity. The book is aimed at all age groups from the young through to the elderly. It is a pleasant natural story that nurtures a situational awareness of life, a little mystique, survival of life and the aerodynamics of flight.