The Timeless Land

The Timeless Land

First US edition (publ. Macmillan)
Author	Eleanor Dark
Country	Australia
Language	English
Series	The Timeless Land
Genre	Historical fiction
Publisher	Macmillan
Publication date	1941
Media type	Print
Pages	499 pp
Preceded by	The Little Company
Followed by	Storm of Time

The Timeless Land (1941) is a work of historical fiction by Eleanor Dark (1901–1985). The novel The Timeless Land is the first of The Timeless Land trilogy of novels about European settlement and exploration of Australia.

The narrative is told from English and Aboriginal points of view. The novel begins with two Aboriginal men watching the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Harbour on 26 January 1788. The novel describes the first years of the colony and the vindictive diplomacy of captain Arthur Phillip, famine and the devastating effects of exotic disease on the previously unexposed Aboriginal population. The novel ends in a dramatic climax when troops encounter an escaped convict. Dark conducted her historical research at the Mitchell Library in Sydney. Watkin Tench, author of The Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, is a key character in The Timeless Land. The book is regarded as a classic by fans of Australian literature and has been reprinted in 2002 and has a modest following. The novel was on the curriculum for high school students in Australia in the mid-twentieth century.

The subsequent books in The Timeless Land trilogy are Storm of Time (1948) and No Barrier (1953).

A television series was produced and broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Commission, premiering on 4 September 1980. It was written by Peter Yeldham, based on the Eleanor Dark novels, and starred David Gulpilil as Bennelong and English actress Nicola Pagett (star of the British series Upstairs, Downstairs) as Mrs. Mannion. Other actors included: Bruce Smeaton and John Frawley.