Never Never

We of the Never Never

During early pastoral settlement, the area became famous when Mrs Aeneas Gunn wrote the book "We of the Never Never". The book described her time as the wife of the manager of Elsey Station.

Mrs Gunn made the term Never Never famous, and Mataranka has become known as the Capital of the Never Never.

The history of old Elsey Station can be found in the "Never Never" cemetery south of town, just near the site of the homestead where Mrs Jeannie Gunn experienced her Never Never that led her to write her book

She described this area as "A land that bewitches her people with strange spells and mysteries until they call sweet bitter and bitter sweet. We who have lived in it and loved it know that our hearts can never rest away from it."