An earthy, entertaining collection of yarns about twenty larger-than-life outback characters. Meet Ron Canlin, who one day began sculpting the sandstone walls of his opal mine. Ten years later, every drive and tunnel in Ron's claim is full of wonderful sculptures - the eighth wonder of the world. Or Peter Venables, with his flowing white beard, puffing his pipe like a character from the pioneering 1800s, whose teams of Clydesdales plough, sow and harvest the crops they eat. Or Janie Marsha...

Best mates Tom and Gidgee toil and laugh together for decades in the shearing sheds and stockyards of the challenging, semi-arid Western Division of New South Wales. Constantly tested by extremes of nature, their huge capacity for both work and laughter helps them cope with everything that’s thrown at them. ‘My Mate Gidgee’ is an authentic, entertaining, sometimes shocking, often funny, yarn from outback Australia, told by the author of the popular Battler series. The humour features the c...

Meet fourteen remarkable Australian (and one Kiwi!) jacks and jills of all trades with a wealth of experiences from the good old days to modern times. Hailing from all walks of life, they share their memories with renowned yarn spinner Sandy Thorne in a collection of stories full of wisdom and wit.There's Danny, the champion jockey who refuses to ever truly hang up the saddle; 'Dusty', the WW II rear gunner who survived thirty raids over Germany; and Dot, the seemingly dainty 97-yea...

Since launching her first best seller 'I've Met Some Bloody Wags!' by biting the top off a stubbie of beer with her teeth on the Midday Show, Sandy Thorne has spent over 20 years travelling the world and promoting bush humour. The Battler books are based on the hard-as-nails men of the land that called the most remote corners of the Outback their home. Battler O'Brien has been a battler all his life – riding the rodeo circuit and droving sheep with his missus on the far west stock route to...

Since launching her first best seller 'I've Met Some Bloody Wags!' by biting the top off a stubbie of beer with her teeth on the Midday Show, Sandy Thorne has spent over 20 years travelling the world and promoting bush humour. The Battler books are based on the hard-as-nails men of the land that called the most remote corners of the Outback their home. All the hilarious things that happen when the irrepressible larrikin bushie and his wild and woolly brood move onto their 50,000 acre 'bloc...

Since launching her first best seller 'I've Met Some Bloody Wags!' by biting the top off a stubbie of beer with her teeth on the Midday Show, Sandy Thorne has spent over 20 years travelling the world and promoting bush humour. The Battler books are based on the hard-as-nails men of the land that called the most remote corners of the Outback their home. Battler O'Brien, from way out back of Bourke, a larikin sheep cocky, gets a vacation when his missus wins a holiday on the Gold Coast. Not ...

Fascinating stories of the indomitable men and women who established the first cattle and sheep properties that became the foundation of a prosperous nation.'A very readable history of an important group of Australian pioneers' - Graham Seal, author of the bestselling Great Australian StoriesFor the early settlers who came from Britain's crowded cities and tiny villages, it must have been extraordinarily liberating to pack their belongings onto a bullock dr...

Peter Moore left the city behind in 1952 to become part of a dying breed - a long-distance drover. In My Droving Days we follow his progress through the 1950s as he rubs shoulders with the larger-than-life characters - and their dogs and horses - who trekked along the outback stock routes of western Queensland and New South Wales.Meet the world's worst cattle dog and the station hand, Charlie, who blows an outside toilet (and its contents) sky high; thrill to the high dram...

Peopled by many of the legends of the Australian outback, this is the extraordinary true story of how one ordinary woman grew up to champion Australia's outback heritage.Jane Grieve was born and raised on a farm on the Darling Downs in Queensland. She grew up with the wind in her hair and the rich black Darling Downs soil between her barefoot toes, her vivid imagination captivated by the tales of her Colonial forebears and the romantic notion of Australia's outback...

Yarns and memories that capture the experience of policing in the bush, gathered by the inimitable Bill 'Swampy' Marsh, bestselling author of GREAT AUSTRALIAN FLYING DOCTOR STORIES and GREAT AUSTRALIAN CWA STORIES.'I tell you, you meet some strange characters in this game ...'Boasting the biggest beats in the world -- some as large as France -- Australia's outback police have seen it all: natural disasters, incredible acts of selflessness, unspeakable crimes and daring resc...

Birdsville is one of the most remote police postings in Australia. It can be lonely and uneventful for weeks, then the dramas come thick and fast: from desert rescues to rising floods, venomous vipers to visiting VIPs.Throw in heat, dust and flies and it’s not a job for the faint-hearted, unless you’re Senior Constable Neale McShane, who has single-handedly taken care of a beat the size of Victoria for the past ten years. Recently retired from this ‘hardship posting’, Neale and his ...

'From the helicopter I could see the property's waterholes surrounded by paperback trees, its red-stone cliffs lit by the rising sun. And grass, endless seas of grass. Here was the vision splendid: Nat Buchanan's grass castle. Gurindji country. And my country, Australia.'This is big country, the outback, home to the largest cattle and sheep stations in the world. Yet few of us know what goes on behind the farm gate. What's life really like when next door is 500 kilometres away, and ...