AustLit

Dedication: It is no uncommon thing to be born with some small gift of expression ; but in a world of opportunism - with all its confusion of values - and in a country with but small cultural tradition of its own, the beginning writer must needs be grateful for lights to help find himself. Out of my recollection of groping years I therefore inscribe this book - for what it may be worth - to Vance Palmer and to Nettie Palmer, whose lamps have burned with a clear and steady flame.

Acknowledgments : Thirteen of these stories have appeared in print before ; one each in the Sydney Mail, the Sunday Sun, the Newcastle School of Arts Journal, and the rest in the Bulletin. They have all been revised and restored since their - sometimes - surprising adventures in the mill of journalism. I make this note in fairness all round.

'This book - excluding the middle portion - has the same setting as Man-Shy. Readers of that tale may recall that it ended when the waterholes on which the wild cattle depended were cut off by incoming settlers. These are stories of settlement. I mention Man-Shy because I think that in addition to sharing place with The Woman at the Mill some of its atmosphere trails around these stories. Otherwise, of course, this is a very different book. I am writing now of men and women...' - from Author's Note.