A Treasury of Australian Frontier Tales
by Bill Wannan
Lansdowne Press, 1961, [First Edition], lightly illustrated in text, illustrated endpapers (maps), hardcover
Very Good Condition, a little edge and shelf wear, a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, a little soiling to covers, previous owners presentation plate on publishers page, pencil marks and light indentations to bottom fore edge (see photographs)
“For this anthology, Mr. Wannan has cast his nets wide. In time, he has covered the whole of the nineteenth century and part of the present one, and his settings range from “the wild uplands of Tasmania’s Great Lake region to the sun-scorched plainlands west of Bourke in the far outback of New South Wales.” The characters you will meet are as varied as the scenes – Bold Jack Donahoo, the convict “bolter”… Gabbett, the Van Diemen’s Land cannibal… the Lady on the Lid Of Hell… Ned Kelly, the last and most famous of the bushrangers… bullockies, drovers, sealers, pirates, castaways, shearers, miners, squatters.
Some of the selections Mr. Wannan has included are already classics; others have been culled from long-defunct periodicals and rare out-of-print books; others again have survived through the generations only by word-of-mouth traditions.”