Davidson Black

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Lore & Background

Robyn Davidson was born at Stanley Park, a cattle station in Miles, Queensland, the second of two girls. When she was 11 years old, her mother took her own life, and she was raised largely by her unmarried aunt (her father's sister), Gillian, and attended a girls' boarding school in Brisbane. She received a music scholarship but did not take it up. In Brisbane, Davidson shared a house with biologists and studied zoology. In 1968, aged 18, she went to Sydney and later lived a bohemian life in a Sydney Push household at Paddington, while working as a card-dealer at an illegal gambling house. In 1975, Davidson moved to Alice Springs, in an effort to work with camels for a desert trek she was planning. For two years, she trained camels and learned how to survive in the harsh desert. In her final year in Alice Springs she was assisted by Sallay Mahomet, who provided her with the required camels. Davidson said later that she would often recall Mahomet's advice and warnings, especially when faced with the ferocity of in-season wild camels eyeing her herd. Mahomet also provided her with two camels, Kate and Zeleika; Kate would not go on the upcoming journey due to a serious skin infection, which Davidson attempted to nurse for several months. During this period she was peripherally involved in the Aboriginal land rights movement.

Reader's Guide

Davidson's journey in 1977 set off for Australia's west coast from Alice Springs, with her dog Diggitty and four camels: Dookie (a large male), Bub (a smaller male), Zeleika (a wild female), and Goliath (Zeleika's offspring). She had no intention of writing about the journey, but eventually agreed to write an article for *National Geographic*. Having met the photographer Rick Smolan in Alice Springs, she insisted that he be the photographer for the journey. Smolan, with whom she had an 'on-again off-again' romantic relationship during the trip, drove out to meet her three times during the nine-month journey. The *National Geographic* article was published in 1978 and attracted so much interest that Davidson decided to write a book about the experience. She travelled to London and lived with Doris Lessing while writing *Tracks*. *Tracks* won the inaugural Thomas Cook Travel Book Award in 1980, and the Blind Society Award. Her desert journey is remembered by Aboriginal Australians she encountered along the way. Artist Jean Burke remembers Robyn in a painting called *The Camel Lady*, produced in 2011. Burke's father Mr Eddie, a Pitjantjatjara man, had trekked through Ngaanyatjarra lands with Davidson, guiding her to water sources. Mr Eddie originally planned to accompany Davidson for a short period, a few days, between Docker River and Pipalyatjara to help her respectfully bypass sacred sites; however he ultimately accompanied her to Warburton. Being accompanied by Mr Eddie results in Davidson's timeline for completion of the trek having to be altered. She says of this: 'I was being torn by two different time concepts. I knew which one made sense, but the other one was fighting hard for survival. Structure, regimentation, orderedness. Which had absolutely nothing to do with anything. I kept thinking wryly to myself, "Christ, if this keeps up it will take us months to get there. So what? Is this a marathon or what? This is going to be the best part of your trip, having Eddie with you, so stretch it out, idiot, stretch it out. But but…what about routine?" and so on. The turmoil lasted all that day, but gradually faded as I relaxed into Eddie’s time. He was teaching me something about flow, about choosing the right moment for everything, about enjoying the present. I let him take over.' After their arrival in Warburton Davidson and Mr Eddie part company and Mr Eddie suggests that another older Aboriginal man accompany her on the next leg of the journey as the next sections will be difficult. Davidson decided that she wanted to do it on her own.

Did You Know?

• Davidson's trek was 2,700 km (1,700 miles) across the deserts of Western Australia.
• She trained camels for two years in Alice Springs before her journey.
• Her book *Tracks* won the inaugural Thomas Cook Travel Book Award in 1980.
• She lived with Doris Lessing in London while writing *Tracks*.
• Davidson was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the King's Birthday Honours List in June 2024.