AustLit

Tom Mason has lived a life full of misfortune and has lost all the people he loved. All he has left is his eleven-year-old son, to whom he is devoted.

Malachi is the butt of endless practical jokes, which he endures patiently. But when the squatter's daughter is threatened by a maddened cow he shows true heroism.

Bogg, who spends most of his time intoxicated or fossicking in old mullock heaps, is much disliked by the editor of the Geebung Times for having once corrected the editor's copy. When Bogg is found drowned in the river the paper is quick to dismiss him, but others in the community have had glimpses of him which suggest another life.

Bill Anderson, a rough-spoken larrikin, visits Jones's Alley to tell eleven-year-old Arvie Aspinall that he will lose his job if he doesn't turn up at work at Grinder Brothers. When he learns Arvie died the night before he shows another side to his character.

Describes a typical day on a selection in western N. S. W.

A policeman finds a small boy sleeping on the steps outside his workplace. The boy explains he is sleeping there because he is afraid he will sleep in and be late for work.

First appearing in The Bulletin in 1892, Henry Lawson's short story 'The Drovers Wife' is today regarded as a seminal work in the Australian literary tradition. Noted for it's depiction of the bush as harsh, potentially threatening and both isolated and isolating, the story opens with a simple enough premise: an aggressive--and presumably deadly--snake disrupts the working life of a bushwoman and her young children. Brave but cautious, the woman resolves to protect her children since her husband is, characteristically, away from home and of no help. 

As time passes within the story, tension builds, and the snake's symbolic threat takes on layers of meaning as the sleepless heroine recalls previous challenges she faced while her husband was away. A series of flashbacks and recollections propel the story through the single night over which it takes place, and by the time the climax arrives--the confrontation with the snake--readers have learned much about the heroine's strengths and fears, most of the latter involving the loss of children and dark figures who encroach upon her small, vulnerable homestead. To be sure, this "darkness" is highly symbolic, and Lawson's use of imagery invokes Western notions of good and evil as well as gendered and racial stereotypes. 

An old shepherd discovers his mate, Brummy, dead and mummified in the bush. Saddened, he feels compelled to bury him.

Lawson describes the scenes observed as a train traveller to western N.S.W.

Mitchell does some clever talking to replenish his supplies.

Describes a bush funeral.

A swagman arrives home to discover the family in mourning for him, after having been told he is dead.

Mitchell explains to his mate how to refuse to be sacked.

Description of a group of swagmen and travellers camped in the shearers' shed of a remote sheep station on New Year's Eve.

Three travelling shearers encounter a swagman, 'Rats', having a fight with his swag.

A cook is indignant when shearers shear his poodle dog. However the reason for his indignation is not based in compassion for his dog.

The narrator remembers how his father would be visited by old mates and how they sit together talking about their days on the Ballarat and Bendigo goldfields.

Mitchell reveals his plan for obtaining a wife and a farm.

Mitchell tells of a girl he once loved.