A Far-Flung Life is set against the economic realities of the mid-20th century Western Australian outback, where the pastoral industry and mining vie for dominance over the harsh landscape. The MacBride family’s fortune is built on pastoralism, a sheep-farming economy that requires vast properties due to the land’s aridity. The novel notes that in this country, “you need more like forty acres per sheep” (7), a detail reflecting the low carrying capacity of the land. The family’s wealth stems from the post-war wool boom, a historical period when demand during the Korean War (1950-1953) caused prices to soar due to the high demand for military uniforms and supplies. “By the 1950s, the industry was booming and it was said that ‘Australia was riding on the sheep’s back’. In 1950–51 the gross value of wool production made up 56 per cent of the total value of all agricultural industry production” (“Merino Sheep Introduced | National Museum of Australia.” National Museum of Australia, 6 Feb. 2025). However, this prosperity was precarious, vulnerable to drought and the rise of synthetic fibers. The novel accurately portrays how “the economy of Western Australia had always see-sawed between agriculture and mining” (180). This tension becomes a central conflict with the arrival of Hollamby Mining, which follows the real-world lifting of a federal iron ore export ban in 1960. This event triggered a massive mining boom in Western Australia, creating land-use disputes that pitted the interests of pastoralists against those of powerful mining companies, a conflict that destabilizes the MacBrides’ traditional way of life.