Dig (Clune book)
{{Short description|1937 nonfiction book by Frank Clune}}
{{Use Australian English|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox book
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| name = Dig
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| author = Frank Clune
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| country = Australia
| language = English
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| subject = Burke and Wills Expedition
| genre = non-fiction
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| pub_date = 1937
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Dig is a 1937 non-fiction book about the Burke and Wills Expedition by Frank Clune.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article134602230 |title=Ne |newspaper=Jerilderie Herald and Urana Advertiser |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=17 June 1937 |accessdate=10 March 2024 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41412156 |title=NEW PUBLICATIONS |newspaper=The West Australian |volume=53 |location=Western Australia |date=17 July 1937 |accessdate=10 March 2024 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}
It was one of Clune's best known and most popular works.
The book was also known as Dig: a drama of central Australia.
Reception
The Sun said "Mr. Clune is a brusque and breezy writer, not to be counted among the higher stylists; but he adopts bold views, and in this volume he is so vehement a champion for Robert O'Hara Burke, and opens out with such healthy rage against William Wright (who let Burke down), that he will sweep the popular reader along with him."{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article229404623 |title=BURKE AND WILLS |newspaper=The Sun |issue=1787 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=27 June 1937 |accessdate=10 March 2024 |page=12 (Magazine) |via=National Library of Australia}}
The Sydney Morning Herald wrote "The vividness of this narrative is, if anything, increased by the curiously naive style of the author; provided he is keeping to simplicity, he greatly enhances the value of the story. It is only when he indulges in the embroideries sometimes, unfortunately, characteristic of the 'desert' school of writers, that the sincerity of the scenes is spoiled."{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17395898 |title=BURKE AND WILLS. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=31,027 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=12 June 1937 |accessdate=10 March 2024 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}}
The Australian Woman's Mirror said it was "Written in the simple, easy style characteristic of this author's other works, yet skilfully conveying the poignant tragedy of these exploration pioneers. An excellent book for Australian and overseas readers."{{Citation
| title=Let's Talk About Books
| journal=The Australian Woman's Mirror
| date=6 July 1937
| location=Sydney
| publisher=The Bulletin Newspaper
| url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-531570586
| id=nla.obj-531570586
| access-date=10 March 2024
| via=Trove
}}
The Bulletin claimed "Clune has made of his drama something of melodrama, but it is an absorbing narrative, nevertheless, illuminated by those touches of humorous devilment that Clune injects into all his work. He merits thanks for everything except for printing Gordon's banal verses at the end. "{{Citation
| title=Of Burke and Wills.
| journal=The Bulletin
| date=23 Jun 1937
| location=Sydney, N.S.W
| publisher=John Haynes and J.F. Archibald
| url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-571398655
| id=nla.obj-571398655
| access-date=10 March 2024
| via=Trove
}}
The book was supposedly the basis for the 1952 radio play The Explorers.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23171516 |title=RADIO........ Drama of Burke and Wills |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=32,939 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=29 March 1952 |accessdate=10 March 2024 |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia}}