Cirrus@Austlit

'Take a trip down the Hume Highway- but not as you know it.

'“Once Upon A Hume. takes the reader on a journey down the Great South Road, as the Hume Highway was once known,” Stephen Gard said.

'“But instead of going from town to town, we travel personality by personality, meeting some of the intriguing folk who lived near, or preyed upon, or prospered by, the Great South Road, in its earlier days.’”

'Few of the people described within the pages are well-known.

'But all have a story to share.' (Publication summary)

'A journey down the Great Southern Road, as the Old Hume Highway was once known. We follow the original route, moving from personality to personality, catching up with some of the intriguing folk who lived near, or preyed upon, or prospered there, from the earliest days. Few of these folk or features are well-known. All have a story to share.' (Publication summary)

'Once upon a Hume volume four pursues our journey down the Great Southern Road, as the Old Hume Highway was once known. We follow the original route, moving from personality to personality, catching up with some of the intriguing folk who lived near, or preyed upon, or prospered there, from its earliest days. Few of these folk or features are well-known. All have a story to share. Rapine, revels and reverence at Jerrawa. The eight bewhiskered sons of Henry Manton. Two doughty Yass ladies not to be trifled with. Mount Bowning, unlicked. Deep waters at Burrunjuck. 'Spider' Martin and the Bookham Battler. The mystery of Mary Mathews. The flivver and the monkey nose. The Jugiong rioters. Apocalypse at Coolac. The parable of the Warby Brothers at Mingay. Gunda-guys, Gunda-girls, a famous visit to the Niagara Cafe...and many other persons and prominences.' (Publication summary)

'Once Upon A Hume Volume Five concludes our journey down the 'Great South Road', as the Hume Highway was once known. We follow the original route, moving from personality to personality, catching up with some of the intriguing folk who lived near, or preyed upon, or prospered there, from the earliest days. Few of these folk or features are well-known. All have a story to share.The feuding Stuckey brothers of South Gundagai. Brave Mary Andrews and 'the Siege of Kimo 'Mysterious 'Sylvia' of Sylvia's Gap. A 'Little Sydney Harbour Bridge'. Philandering James Hillas, shot dead at Yabtree Station. Freight hijackers on the Hume Highway. Tarcutta's haunted milking machine. The strange Splatt family of Woomargama. Fiendish James Feeney and the saintly Father Therry. A suicide-note scratched on a billycan. The curious testament of Peter Stuckey Mitchell... and many other persons and places.' (Publication summary)