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Press Release for immediate release

Turn Left at the Devil Tree

A new book describes life as a visiting teacher in the most remote parts of the Top End of Australia.

Author: Derek Pugh

Foreword: Ted Egan AO

Derek Pugh is releasing “Turn Left at the Devil Tree” on 1st December. The title words were the only directions he had to find Wurdeja Homeland Centre in the vast forests of central Arnhem Land,  but find it he did and he founded and ran a school there for four years. Pugh’s story describes his love affair with the bush, the characters who live there and its wildlife.  Working with Indigenous Australians in the most remote parts of the country has its share of challenges and successes but life as a visiting teacher in Arnhem Land is tremendously fulfilling.

Derek Pugh, an ex Kakadu ranger, a teacher, naturalist and bushman worked in several homelands schools and joined a lifestyle as old as time.  His memoir is by turns reflective, tragic and hilarious and describes a life in remote Aboriginal Australia which gave him an insight into a traditional culture which has been witnessed by only a few outsiders.

Spending more than 20 years among the people and wildlife of the Top End of the Northern Territory, and accompanied by his ‘rough-tough hunting dog’ named Turkey, Derek Pugh revelled in the lifestyle and freedom of the bush. Told with respect and candour Turn Left at the Devil Tree is Pugh’s ‘slice of history’.

Release date: 1st December 2013

Distributed by Dennis Jones and Associates, [email protected] www.dennisjones.com.au

Review Copies and information: email [email protected]

For more information see www.derekpugh.com.au

TAGS: teacher, memoir, australia, aborigines, arnhem land,  maningrida,  outstations,  history, ted egan, northern territory of australia

Previous Publications:

1995 and 2013 (2nd edition) Tammy Damulkurra, fiction, a “Classic Australian Story” and a “landmark in Australian Literature”.

(2011) The Owner’s Guide to the Teenage Brain, teaching teachers, parents and teenagers how to get the most out of their brains.


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