Keep Him My Country by Mary Durack

When 19-year-old Stan Rolt strikes out for the Northern Territory, determined to manage an ailing family cattle station, he plays into the hands of his manipulative grandfather. Intending to spend two years at Trafalgar Station, he stays fifteen, his soul captured by the harsh but haunting country of Kimberley. Try as he might, he can't seem to escape its clutches, even though it killed his father and threatens also to bring him down. He is held there by the dependence of the people, black and white, and the memory of a tragic love affair that still haunts him...