'The tradition of yarns from the bush goes back to the earliest days in Australia. Colourful rural characters and dramatic incidents parade through our history and folklore, entertaining and appalling us in equal measure. Graham Seal has gathered classic and little-known stories from the time when most Australians lived outside the cities, and communication was by dirt track or boat. There's the time when farmers used their Ferguson tractors to save a town from floodwaters; when soldiers took on mobs of emus devastating the wheat crop; the Lady Bushranger who lived rough in a cave; Bob the railway dog who hitched rides on trains for years; and the many dubious strategies devised over the years against the pesky bush fly. True or more than a little exaggerated, these stories reflect the distinctive way of life of rural and outback folk which continues even today.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Table of contents
Introduction: The sunburnt country
1. Bush ways
2. Bush folk
3. Plagues and perishes
4. Pastimes and pleasures
5. Wrongdoing
6. Where the dead men lie
7. Hard yakka
8. Stringybark and greenhide
9. Mysteries
10. A land without limits