Driving through and around Australia can be one of life’s biggest adventures and few have experienced remote area travel better than David Batty, whose 2024 book Batty’s Bush Bible is being released in time for Xmas. We did a review on his entertaining 320-page collation of amazing bush yarns, encounters and hard-headed travel advice.

David Batty is best known for his involvement in Australian film projects that include Rodeo Road, Sisters, Pearls and Mission Girls, Jila, Desert Heart, Inventions from the Shed and Going Bush. 

With a long history of making programs with and for Aboriginal people, he is well known for his multi-award-winning series Bush Mechanics, which he co-directed with Francis Jupurrurla Kelly, one of the elders from Yuendumu. (OTA has also done trips with Yuendumu elders, including Francis and we contributed some funding to the First Nations people’s film-making endeavours.)

This book contains the wisdom of many of the First Nations people David Batty has worked with throughout his career, including interviews with the original Bush Mechanics and Black As boys. If anyone hasn’t seen the hilarious Bush Mechanics TV shows, they’re a must-view –  https://visit.museum.wa.gov.au/boolabardip/bush-mechanics# – where the Museum hosts all four episodes.

David knows how to get out of hairy situations, because he’s wound up in a bunch himself: from nearly being washed away by flash floods in the Kimberley; to being marooned on an island in the Top End, living on  stingray. Batty’s Bush Bible is chock-full of yarns from David’s four decades as a film director in the most remote regions of Australia. 

He’s lived in Alice Springs and Broome longer than he has in the Big Smoke; has traversed the Tanami Track between Alice Springs and the Kimberley hundreds of times and reckons he’s done more laps of Australia than a Qantas plane.

While most Outback travellers won’t get into the scrapes David Batty did, Batty’s Bush Bible is filled with sensible, practical advice that is essential reading for any remote-area tripper. All David’s trip prep and driving hints coincide with what we recommend on the OTA website.

We greatly enjoyed reading his book and recommend it to anyone who’s considering a serious bush trip, has done some remote area travel and wants to read about others’ experiences, or is simply interested in recent outback history and Aboriginal culture.

The book went on sale on 30th October, 2024:  https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780733343346/battys-bush-bible/