Sidney Nolan occupies a crucial place in the history of 20th century painting - his imagery of Ned Kelly is perhaps the best known and most recognised subject in the whole of Australian art. Sidney Nolan's paintings and photographs of the desert and drought of inland Australia are brought into sharp focus - for the first time - in this evocative volume. It is ironic that a group of works which Nolan himself recognized as providing the real breakthrough in his professional career should today be amongst the least known and studied. The aim of this book is to allow the desert paintings to be seen and understood for the first time in more than half a century as a coherent group, as defining a major breakthrough in Nolan's painting style and which brought him international acclaim.