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The Desert Swimmer

Name: The Desert Swimmer
Brand: Unknown
SKU: 9781761472381
Price: 33.0 NZD
Availability: InStock

From severe depression on an outback sheep station to swimming the English Channel

By Brendan Cullen

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Brief Description

Brendan Cullen manages Kars Station, a 10,000-head sheep property 65 kilometres outside Broken Hill, New South Wales. In 2022, despite his nearest beach being more than 600 kilometres away, he swam the English Channel. Taking up swimming was part of Brendan's recovery from severe depression, an... Read More

Format: Paperback / softback

$33⁰⁰

Elsewhere:

~~$37⁹⁹~~

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Releases 3^rd March 2026 (Approx. Date) Pre-order "The Desert Swimmer" now to secure your copy from our first shipment

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The Desert Swimmer

$33⁰⁰

Elsewhere:

~~$37⁹⁹~~

The Desert Swimmer

The inspirational true story of an Aussie bloke from the outback, crippled with depression, who challenges himself to swim the English Channel as a way of managing his mental health struggles.

Description

Taking up swimming was part of Brendan's recovery from severe depression, an illness that had seen him cope in highly unhealthy ways—drinking, overwork, being emotionally absent—for years. But then he found the strength to walk through the doors of Broken Hill Hospital and ask for help.

After watching his brother compete in an open-water swim in 2015, a year later Brendan was doing the same. Despite it being exhausting and challenging, it made him feel vitally alive. In 2018 he happened to see an advertisement encouraging swimmers to take on the English Channel. A spark of an idea was lit.

Through COVID-19 restrictions, he trained for hours at dawn in the murky Menindee Lake system, and in icy local waters, determined to take on one of the world's most challenging ocean swims. And he did, completing the Channel crossing in 17 hours, after strong currents dragged him off course and extended his journey to 64 kilometres—almost double the shortest possible distance a swimmer might cover to make it across.

The Desert Swimmer shows the good that comes from facing challenges head on.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781761472381

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 03 March 2026

Country: Australia

Imprint: Allen & Unwin

DIMENSIONS

Width: 153.0mm

Height: 234.0mm

Weight: 0g

Pages: 256

Collections

New Zealand and Australia Published Pre-orders Pre-orders by Release Date

About the Author

Brendan Cullen manages Kars sheep station located 65 km east of Broken Hill. He has lived in the Broken Hill district all his life and shares his love of the land with his wife Jacinta and three adult children.

Brendan suffered severe depression over many years before he took the first steps to seek help. He began sharing his story of battling depression with others, which led him to become an ambassador for Lifeline Regional SA & Far West NSW in 2017. His role with Lifeline then eventuated in Brendan becoming a peer-support mental health champion for rural people through the We've Got Ya Back initiative, a partnership between Lifeline and the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Another of Brendan's many passions in life is fitness and health, as he likes to live by 'fit body, fit mind'. This mindset led to Brendan swimming the English Channel in 2022, covering a total distance of 64 km in 17 hours. Brendan repeated this the following year, swimming the channel this time with a team of like-minded individuals. In 2024 Brendan completed his first ultramarathon (100 km), held on Kars Station. In 2025 he completed the Catalina Channel Swim off the coast of California.

Brendan had the honour of representing Rebel for their 'Sport Is Calling' campaign in 2024. He is grateful for the opportunities that have been bestowed upon him as he continues to support the community through his roles in peer mental health and wellbeing initiatives.

Paul Mitchell is a Melbourne-based writer. His works include the novel We. Are. Family., and a collection of non-fiction, Matters of Life and Faith. His fiction, poems and essays have appeared in The Age, The Australian, The Big Issue, Eureka Street, The Guardian, Heat, Island, Meanjin, Overland and Westerly. He also writes for stage and screen, including his most recent play, You're the Man, and Actions to Live By, a co-written documentary on the Brisbane Lions' dynasty (2001-2003) for the AFL's On Demand platform.