'The setting of this chapter is the far west of New South Wales of the late 1950s, a region of semi-arid plains, mainly given over to sheep grazing and supporting only a sparse population. The region's only large town is Broken Hill, a mining centre of about 30,000 inhabitants; the rest are small commercial and servicing centres for the pastoral hinterland: only Bourke, Cobar and Condobolin exceed 2,000, while the three townships of the Corner (the extreme northwest of the State), together boast no more than 250, East of the Bogan and south of the Lachlan Rivers, sheep grazing gradually gives way to wheat farming, while at Mildura and Griffith there is fruit growing, The population of these areas is less sparse and the towns are larger; however, they figure only marginally in the present account.'  (Introduction)