Born from a song written in 1959

I've Been Everywhere, Man

94 places. One song. One man determined to visit every single one.

Paperback · ships from Amazon · Ebook available on all major platforms

Scroll

AdelongAugathellaBallaratBambarooBangalow BirdsvilleBoggabillaBrindabellaCabramattaCanberra CloncurryCunnamullaDarwinDorrigoGulgong GundagaiGunnedahIndooroopillyKirribilliKurrajong MaroochydoreMittagongMurwillumbahOodnadattaParramatta StockinbingalTibooburraToowoombaTurramurraUlladulla WallumbillaWollongongWoolloomoolooYarra YarraYeerongpilly AdelongAugathellaBallaratBambarooBangalow BirdsvilleBoggabillaBrindabellaCabramattaCanberra CloncurryCunnamullaDarwinDorrigoGulgong GundagaiGunnedahIndooroopillyKirribilliKurrajong MaroochydoreMittagongMurwillumbahOodnadattaParramatta StockinbingalTibooburraToowoombaTurramurraUlladulla WallumbillaWollongongWoolloomoolooYarra YarraYeerongpilly

I've Been Everywhere, Man — the book cover

The Story

Every place in the song. Every one.

Geoff Mack wrote the song in 1959. A few hundred Australians have probably hummed it in their car without ever wondering: do these places actually exist? And if they do, what are they really like?

That question turned into a road trip. The road trip turned into this book. 374 pages of red dirt, weird museums, pub meals, one-dog towns, and big-hearted people in places the highway mostly skips past.

From Adelong to Yeerongpilly — all 94 of them, with a dusty VW, a very patient Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, and more kilometres than anyone really planned for. Along the way, he even tracked down Geoff Mack — the man who wrote the song — and thanked him in person.

✦

After 642 days and around 30,000 km crisscrossing Australia, I finally rolled into Birdsville — the 94th and last location in the lyrics of that iconic song.

from the chapter on Birdsville

✦

Oodnadatta Track · I much prefer outback motoring.

94 Chapters. 94 Places.

Every single one. Yes, even Yeerongpilly.

Why This Book

Because no one else was silly enough.

Plenty of people know the song. Very few have stopped to wonder about the places in it — whether they're still there, what happens in them, and what it feels like to actually stand in the main street of a town of 40 people and know that once, in a recording studio, someone sang its name.

So that's what this book is: a road trip through Australia's overlooked middle. The places between the postcards. Towns that have a pub, a silo, and a population that would fit in your lounge room — and have simply kept going, long after the rest of the country stopped paying attention.

It's also, occasionally, about sore knees, baffling road detours, and the remarkably strong opinions of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel about when it is and isn't acceptable to stop for the night.

About the Author

Peter C Harris

Originally from the UK and now happily settled in Australia, Peter is a writer, IT consultant, and financial counsellor. He spent years visiting every place in Geoff Mack's iconic song — not because anyone asked him to, but because once the idea was in his head, there was no sensible way out of it. He lives in the Central Highlands of Victoria with his husband Billy and a thoroughly indulged Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Lucy.

✦

Who knows, maybe we'll cross paths somewhere out there — in a dusty outback pub, on a beachside track… or humping a bluey on the dusty Oodnadatta Road.

from the Epilogue

✦

Available Now

Get your copy today.

Available in paperback and ebook. Order online, or ask your local bookshop to get it in — they'll be glad you did.

Order Paperback Get the Ebook