AustLit

Author's note: Bare-footed Harry: Harry Rice, now dead, was a well-known identity in and around Bourke, who had his nick-name from his determined habit of going bootless. This habit came about in a tragic way. When he was a young man his wife died by drowning, and he was unable to save her because of being unable to remove his boots. He thereafter took a vow never to wear boots again, and was to be seen, in all weathers, going bare-footed along the scorching roads, or along the river bank, which he frequented in the hope that he might one day save another from the fate his young wife had met.