Eat My Dust!
In 1928, girls didn’t drive cars, let alone race them. But best friends, Jean Robertson and Kathleen Howell and their dog, Barney, made history racing across Australia. They drove across the Nullabor from Perth to Adelaide in an attempt to break the land speed record. They faced many challenges along the way, because there were no roads or maps and often had to drive overland. They followed train lines and telegraph lines, with sometimes only a compass to guide them. They got flat tyres, they got bogged and they got lost. Jean and Kathleen drove day and night and covered 2824km in 2 days, nine hours and 57 minutes.
This is an inspiring picture book biography about two pioneering girls.
About the author
I had the perfect childhood surrounded. I was surrounded by animals, cats and dogs (kittens and puppies too, of course) canaries, doves, chickens and ducks (yep, chicks and ducklings), turtles, ferrets, rabbits, cattle and sheep (calves and lambs) and horses and foals. And I had a thousand acres to run around in – they were happy days and that’s why I write for children.
My Grandfather was a stockman and he bred, trained and raced his own racehorses. I spent hours in the saddle as a child, riding with my cousin. We’d hang out in the stables, watching all the comings and goings. There was trackwork, yearlings being broken in, young horses being educated, farriers shoeing racehorses. It was a busy place. We’d help where we could and afterwards, we’d sit around on upturned feed buckets and listen to stories.
Photo By: Prue Sheed