Forty-three years ago, David Marr – journalist, broadcaster, biographer, political commentator, and public intellectual – published his first book, a sharp, memorable biography of Garfield Barwick, former Liberal attorney-general and chief justice of the High Court. After the appearance of Patrick White: A life in 1991, long considered one of the best biographies ever written in Australia, he might well have followed the more predictable path of the serial biographer. But Marr’s trajectory has proved to be anything but predictable.

As with the best writers, his work has always been driven by a restless curiosity and a readiness to go anywhere in pursuit of a story. As he explained in the introduction to My Country (2018), his collection of essays, articles, and speeches: ‘[Australia] is the subject that interests me most, and I have spent my career trying to untangle its mysteries.’ Over the past four decades, those mysteries have included political censorship (The Henson Case, 2008); the politics of race (Dark Victory, with Marian Wilkinson, 2003); the failures of clerical authority (The Prince: Faith, abuse and George Pell, 2014); and the lives of political leaders: Quarterly Essays on John Howard (2007), Kevin Rudd (2010), Tony Abbott (2012), Bill Shorten (2015), and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation (2017).

David Marr (Lorrie Graham via Black Inc.)

Even with this impressive array of publications, few would have expected frontier history to be Marr’s next port of call. Yet, despite its radical departure in subject matter, Killing for Country: A family story is entirely consistent with Marr’s modus operandi. Remain focused. Track down every last detail. Compile, sift, and test the evidence. Write with razor-like clarity. Don’t waste a word. Know the law. Scrutinise the press. Closely examine the words and self-serving manoeuvrings of those in power. And follow the money – or, in this case, the sheep.