Dedication: To the Brothers of the Good Shepherd in New South Wales This book is dedicated by a former brother, in the hope that it may help the new recruits, who join their ranks from England, to realise the kind of 'hard case' they will find themselves up against, in the camps and sheds of the bush.
Author's note: In his Preface Matthews refers to 'the friend whose adventurous story is recorded in these pages' and writes ' it is for the most part a genuine attempt on the part of a real, practical bushman to write down the story of his own doings.'
'I am only responsible for the division of his narrative into chapters, the revision of his spelling, grammar, and punctuation, and the addition of such explanatory paragraphs and footnotes as seemed to me necessary to make the narrative intelligible to English readers....'
'I have ventured to add two introductory chapters, and one final one, which I hope will not be considered superfluous, as they throw some additional light on the character of my friend and my own relationship with him...I believe that, as a whole, the book is absolutely true; but the truth is rather the picturesque truth of the Celt than the more matter-of-fact, and, to my mind, less really truthful, accuracy of the Anglo-Saxon.'
