'John Nixon, scapegoat of a prosperous Yorkshire family, is banished to Sydney in 1827 with 1,000 pounds in his pocket. Beyond Bathurst, in the unexplored interior, he lays claim to land on which to raise sheep and cattle....A harsh and lurid picture the author presents-yet one that does not suggest any straining after effects. Life is mostly at subsistence level and very raw; there are bouts of drinking, outbursts of lust and murder; man and beast are trampled to death or drowned in a stampede to the river after drought....' Publisher's blurb opposite title page.
