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The Enchantment of the Long-haired Rat: A Rodent History of Australia

2020 - Shortlisted

Shortlisted

Judges' comments

In The Enchantment of the Long-haired Rat, Tim Bonyhady promises a rodent history of Australia, giving readers a lively chronicle of the life and decline of the long-haired rat. Rattus villosissimus was an abundant source of food for Aboriginal populations – and ravaged the larders of settlers, especially at the peak of the rat plagues of the late nineteenth century. In his book, Bonyhady places Aboriginal knowledge of the rat alongside settler efforts to understand the species, most prominently those of the frontiersman and bush naturalist Kenric Harold Bennett.

The colonies may hve been frequently plunged into economic and environmental crisis by the long-haired rat, but today climate change has neutralised the threat of this particular rodent, presenting new challenges of adaptation. This important environmental history is distinguished by its author’s eloquence and depth of research. The Enchantment of the Long-haired Rat demonstrates how entangled human societies are with the natural world and how the fortunes of a single species may yet affect us all.