Black Sheep

During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the Australian economy was dependent on the sheep industry and large pastoralists held a position of economic and social power in the country. Black Sheep by Judy Nunn is primarily set from the 1880s to 1920. 

James Wakefield is the son of a shearer and spent his early life travelling with his father around properties in Queensland. Then came the Shearers' Strike at Barcaldine in May 1891 where shearers marched through the streets of the town demanding better pay and conditions. After his father was killed, James changed his name and set off for a new life in a new state. After meeting Ben McKinnon whose family own a property near Goulburn, James has the opportunity to start his life again.

James' father had taught his son to read by reading him a book of nursery rhymes and explaining their true meaning. James' favourite rhyme was 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' and he and his father often discussed the different interpretations of a black sheep. Throughout the book the reader meets a number of characters to whom this term may apply.

Overtime James becomes an entrenched member of the McKinnon family and starts his own family. Then comes the First World War and its impact on the family, not just young men going off to serve their country but the business opportunities for pastoralists to supply the army with wool and leather for uniforms and military equipment.

Black Sheep is a family saga with episodes of Australian history as part of the back story. The novel often contains descriptions of of violence and there are also sections discussing sexual activity and attitudes. It is a story of the establishment of power within an industry as well as within a family.