[1] The book won the 1999 Miles Franklin Award, the 1999 Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the 1999 ALS Gold Medal.

Eucalyptus tells the story of Ellen Holland, a young woman whose "speckled beauty" and unattainability become legend far beyond the rural western New South Wales town near the property where she grows up.

The novel contrasts a detailed, scientific classifying of Eucalyptus trees, with the story of Ellen told from a parodied fairy tale perspective.

The novel begins with a discussion of Australian culture “the poetic virtues which have their origins in the bush of being belted about by droughts, bushfires, smelly sheep and so on; and lets not forget the isolation, the exhausted shapeless women, the crude language, the always wide horizon, and the flies.” But concludes that: “it really doesn’t matter.” This sets a major theme for the novel to explore.

A film version of Eucalyptus was once in the works and was highly publicised in the media, set to star Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe.

Talks began in early 2004; the production was originally intended to star Geoffrey Rush, Bryce Dallas Howard and Crowe, to be directed by Moorhouse, written by her and Michelle Joyner and produced by Uberto Pasolini and Lynda House.

[4] Filming was set to commence in Bellingen, New South Wales, in February 2005, but was cancelled because of "irreconcilable differences" between Crowe (who was also executive producer) and Moorhouse.

Sets costing $6.4 million had been built at Bellingen, and a studio established at nearby Coffs Harbour, had to be abandoned, film crew numbering around 80 had to be paid off and property rentals around the town cancelled.