David Malouf (1934–22 April 2026) was one of Australia's most celebrated writers. He is known for writing across many genres & for his profound explorations of Australian identity, landscape, and history.

Harland’s Half Acre (1984) is one of David Malouf’s novels. It tells the story of Frank Harland, a gifted artist who rises from poverty to reclaim a specific piece of ancestral land, juxtaposed against the backdrop of Australia's evolving social identity.

Clem Harland was only 23 when he became a widower for the 1st time & was left with 2 small boys at Killarney, in the Southern Downs Region of Qld. After he remarries & with his new wife pregnant, Clem decides Jim at 5 ½ can manage but the younger Frank would be better off living with Clem’s older sister.

It’s in the quiet house of his Aunt Else & Uncle Fred that Frank learns to draw.

Eight years later 11-year-old Frank returns home: his younger brothers are now 7, 4 & 3 & Jim is a sullen 15-year-old. Clem’s 2nd wife had died of Spanish flu.

When he is 16, Frank leaves home & makes his way up to Brisbane. It isn’t long before his canvasses are being bought by a Sydney gallery.

Frank sends money home, wanting his younger brothers to have a better education than he’d been afforded. Much later, he adopts Gerald, Jim’s son, again wanting Gerald, Clem’s only grandchild, to be well provided for.

By the time of his death, Frank Harland has become a significant Australian artist & he’s been able to restore his family’s property.