Title: Outback heroes : Australia's greatest bush stories /
Authors: McHugh, Evan.
Publisher: Viking,
Year: 2004
Subjects: Pioneers Australia History.; Frontier and pioneer life Australia History.; Pioneers Australia Biography; Frontier and pioneer life Australia; Australia Rural conditions History.; Australia Rural conditions.
Abstract: The men and women you'll meet in this fascinating book come in all shapes and sizes, from convicts and engineers to cattleduffers and anthropologists. These remarkable Australians share an extraordinary ability to survive the rigours of the bush. In Outback Heroes, Evan McHugh brings together his favourite ripping yarns from the Australian frontier. He begins with escaped convict William Buckley, who emerged from the forest after thirty-two years in the wild; re-examines the legends of the Man from Snowy River and Waltzing Matilda; recounts one of the most stunning rescues in Australian history; and relives the 2000 Olympics Opening Ceremony. These and other true stories of courage and ingenuity remind us how the Australian character was forged - through encounters with the bush, desert and outback.
Contents: The wild white man, 1803-1835: William Buckley (1780-1856) -- The overlanders, 1838: Joseph Hawdon (1813-1871) and Charles Bonney (1813-1897) -- The bushie's telegraph, 1870-1871: John Ross (1817-1903) -- The big steal, 1870: Harry Redford (1842-1901) -- The man from Snowy River, 1890: Jack Riley (1841-1914) -- The not so jolly swagman, 1894: Samuel Hoffmeister (18??-1894) -- Bush genius, 1895: Sir Sidney Kidman (1857-1935) -- Mission impossible, 1906-1910: Alfred Canning (1860-1936) -- The dying pillow, 1910-1945; Daisy Bates (1863-1951) -- The blue gum forest, 1931: Myles Dunphy (1891-1985) -- A voice in the wilderness, 1937: Bernard O'Reilly (1903-1975) -- The gunbarrel, 1958: Len Beadell (1923-1995) -- Epilogue: and the winner is ..., 2000: Steve Jeffreys (1956- ).