One Hundred Years of Dirt Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Rick Morton (Author, Narrator), Bolinda Publishing Ltd Pty (Publisher)

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A brutally raw, beautifully written, remarkably brave memoir about family, trauma and, above all, love.

Social mobility is not a train you get to board after you've scraped together enough for the ticket. You have to build the whole bloody engine, with nothing but a spoon and hand-me-down psychological distress.

Violence, treachery and cruelty run through the generational veins of Rick Morton's family. A horrific accident thrusts his mother and siblings into a world impossible for them to navigate, a life of poverty and drug addiction.

One Hundred Years of Dirt is an unflinching memoir in which the mother is a hero who is never rewarded. It is a meditation on the anger and fear of others and an obsession with real and imagined borders. Yet it is also a testimony to the strength of familial love and endurance.

Listening Length

5 hours and 47 minutes
Author

Rick Morton
Narrator

Rick Morton
Audible release date

1 April 2019
Language

English
Publisher

Bolinda Publishing Ltd Pty
ASIN

B07PWHJR86
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	5 hours and 47 minutes
Author	Rick Morton
Narrator	Rick Morton
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com.au Release Date	01 April 2019
Publisher	Bolinda Publishing Ltd Pty
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B07PWHJR86
Best Sellers Rank	1,124 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) 5 in Biographies of Journalists, Editors & Publishers 14 in Biographies of Journalists 111 in Memoirs (Books)

Customer reviews

5 star		52%
4 star		29%
3 star		14%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from Australia

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J. D. Smith

Not up to expectations

Reviewed in Australia on 30 December 2018

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Having known and stayed with George Morton , the authors Grandfather, his description of George is way off the mark. He was too young to experience what he describes about George so his descriptions are obviously hearsay from other people, probably his father
I expected to read a rollicking yarn about life on an outback cattle station but instead got a story of self serving drivel
There was no continuity to the story with events jumping around all over the place and his use of case notes from various medical “experts” did not interest me at all and in most cases were irrelevant
A disappointing read

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Boy Survives Boy Thrives (Somehow) Boy Becomes Man Man Gives Thanks

Reviewed in Australia on 17 August 2018

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If only all Australians who live with the kinds of struggles (economic and equity disadvantaged) described here could read and know how their lives are valued and appreciated - what a great society we could have. But while ever privilege and position buffer against having to acknowledge the truth of how disadvantage works we might be doomed as a society. I learnt much from Rick Morton's explanations of how early trauma conditions one's abilities and actions, reactions - it explained my own inadequacies which have over many years puzzled me. This is a truly marvellous book written by a young man who can truly write - from his heart. And who knows how to say thank-you!

5 people found this helpful

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Carolyn

In search of a more secure world

Reviewed in Australia on 18 November 2019

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Ricky Morton is occasionally on a television program I like, The Drum, where a panel of selected journalists and public figures discuss contemporary issues, occasionally assisted by an academic or industry expert. I’ve always enjoyed his contributions. His fast talking, intelligent perspective on just about every subject veers from witty to unusual, periodically illuminating a subject I am not acquainted with.

One hundred years of dirt, his memoir mixed with exposes on the social problems that dominate the Australian media, Includes his journey to become a journalist. His story is a sad reflection on us Australians. It underscores our problematic relationship with gratuitous violence against the defenceless, our insensitivity to those who aren’t like us and our wilful pursuit of grossness.

How Ricky survived with his personality still able to attract attention and sympathy says a lot about the positive side of the human spirit. Deb, his mother, is central to his uneasy trajectory into adulthood. Her brittle demeanour and consistent devotion deserves a son like Ricky.

As his memoir unfolds, he picks up several issues that are constantly in the media.

At first it’s on the poverty cycle and how entrapping it is. Currently, the government does not help people who need benefits from the state. It stigmatises them and punishes them, belittles and demeans them, isolates and castigates them.

Drugs, loneliness, the terrible feeling that despite ambition you won’t make it because you have not ever had the opportunity to develop the social skills to navigate the social connection, food, clothes, living conditions and behaviour are stark in their reality. The damage early childhood trauma causes memory on our DNA intrigued me and I will pursue some of those references. And also Ricky delivers much, and lots to glean, about the difficulties sensitive young men in Australia face.

Access to transport in Australia is a serious problem. In Morton’s story, he was not taught to drive. That created for him a lot of personal problems when he began his career as a cadet journalist. He refers to no public transport from regional towns to cities, a failure in public policy that is worsening. He draws attention to the reality, in which it is increasingly difficult for people to pursue education to advance themselves, access health centres and cultural outlets — activities denied in dying towns and only available in the big expensive cities.

Ricky Morton writes vivid Vox populi intespersed with references to academic studies of society, health and behavioural development. The underlay is connection to soil, the vista of the interior reds and purples west of the Birdsville track and the vast cloudless sky, filled with stars when the sun sets.

Thank you, Ricky Morton, for a memoir that does not aggrandise the terror of growing up without the benefits of prosperity.

Helpful

Fascinating and thought provoking

Reviewed in Australia on 21 August 2018

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Rick Morton begins by introducing us to cattle station life in West Queensland and the cruel emotional legacy of his grandfather and father. He escaped into journalism. From then on, the book proceeds thematically with additional information about his family circumstances, which changed dramatically when his older brother was radically burned. With references to relevant reports and research he discusses: how early poverty changes bodies and minds; how class actually functions in Australia; how being gay affected him psychologically; depression and suicide; why leftists and rightists are both wrong about Aussie battlers and of course, the media. He has some very interesting and profound things to say.

The hero of this book is his mother Deb, who struggled hard on minimum money to raise her three children, a job that became harder when his older brother descended into addiction. Rehab is hard to find in Australia. One of Morton’s wry comments is about the the system for getting psychological help being designed by a Byzantine who was kicked out of the empire for being too straightforward. In talking about the middle classness of the commentariat he presents the disbelief of a colleague upon hearing that to people like Deb, who doesn’t smoke or drink, the government’s proposed $7 co-payment for a GP visit could well mean not eating. A very good book that could - probably will - change minds.

One person found this helpful

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Jules

Good, but not what I thought I was buying.

Reviewed in Australia on 5 November 2018

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Not quite what I was expecting. I listened to half the ABC Conversations interview with the author and paused it so that I could buy and read the book without finding out too much more about it, allowing me to discover as I read. My interest was certainly piqued by what I had heard.
I think I was expecting more of the tales of family feuds and the life on the land as that was a large feature of the first part of the interview I listened to.
I do applaud the authors honesty in sharing his own personal journey overcoming poverty and accepting his sexuality- it is just a story I probably would not have chosen to engage with had I found out more prior to purchasing and commencing to read it. Although some aspects of the author's struggles resonated with my own past journey as a solo parent, I just could not "get into it" so did not finish reading the whole book.

3 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Allan Hildon

overhyped

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 May 2022

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The cover reviews would suggest Morton was the new Australian Hemingway. Far from it. They do have a shared occupation as a journalis, but that's where the comparisons end. This memoir suffers from the blight of contemporary journalism, it's opinion dressed up as analysis, and poorly informed at that. I perservered to the end, but I'm not sure why I bothered. What do I know about Morton as a result of reading his memoir? He says he's gay but he reveals nothing of his emotional journey or relationships. He decries inequalities in Australian society with a junior high school insight into social class. He lived off the earnings from helping rich kids cheat in their University assessments, but that's OK because he needed the money. He earned loads of money working as a journalist but blew it all while bemoaning the awful poverty his mother endured. Apparently there's a follow up. I shan't be bothering.

Kindle Customer

Unique Oz autobiography.

Reviewed in the United States on 7 October 2019

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Certainly an interesting Oz read, because of the author's quite complex family history, which encompasses "outback" lifestyle stresses, wealth and poverty, domestic violence, psychological disorder.
Finding his way means that the book ultimately ends on a positive note - it is enough to just achieve true acceptance of oneself, because we are a product of all the good and bad things we have done or have had happen to us.
Accepting that it all matters to what makes the "true self" can be difficult and painful, but ultimately v worthwhile.

One person found this helpful

Mike Davies

Deeply moving, thought provoking

Reviewed in the United States on 8 February 2019

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This is beautiful work. An astonishing story of family, poverty, development and character. That would have been substance enough for a great story but surprisingly it is the depth and quality of the author's broad reflection which makes this an engaging book. Perspectives on why we are who we are, and the deep rooted foundations we carry with us. It is a wonderful acknowledgement to family. The Outsider model resonates so much with me. The closing pages and lines of acknowledgement brought tears to my eyes.

One person found this helpful

Paul Allen

A novel every Australian should read!

Reviewed in the United States on 13 November 2018

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Rick Morton captures in a very personal and heartfelt way how tough it was for families that settled and worked in this isolated, very arid and drought ridden desert area of the Australian outback. His personal struggles with his family history and life, acceptance of being gay in this environment and his ability to become the successful person and journalist he is today makes interesting and compelling reading. I loved being taken on a journey through these areas I have travelled many times and will do so in the future with a different, appreciative perspective.

One person found this helpful

asil79

Good, funny, sad aussie battler story

Reviewed in the United States on 13 December 2018

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This is a really well written autobiography which is really sad, touching, inspiring and impressive all at once. With some social commentary threaded through about how poverty defines lives in Australia.

One person found this helpful

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One Hundred Years of Dirt Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

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