Ghosts of the Big Country by Keith Willey

Ghosts of the Big Country

by Keith Willey

Rigby, 1975 [First Edition], black and white photographic plates, hardcover

Fair Condition, edge and shelf wear, rubbing, bumping, marking and wear to edges, corners and covers, previous owners gift inscription and artwork to inside front covers, half-title page and title page, faint water staining to bottom at spine for first 3rd of text, a little underlining and a little marking through text, previous owners notes etc. on inside back covers (see photographs)

*Reading Copy Only*

"After many years' absence, Keith Willey returned to seek the experiences and people he had known before, when Far North was "every young man's dream of adventure".  His sentimental journey was to provide him with a rich hoard of stories and reminiscences: tales of characters like Roger Jose, the philosopher who lived in an old upturned rainwater tank; Matt Savage, the "Boss Drover"; "Dapper Donald" Duncan, who after one night's drinking floated out into the Arafura Sea whistling "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" - and then, at the turn of the tide, floated home again.
Many of the personalities who helped to weave the legends of the Big Country are dead now; even White Dog, the happy beer-guzzler widely known as the only dog in Darwin which could smile, is no longer around.  The qualities of the outback are beginning, subtly and not so subtly, to change.  New roads are snaking out into formerly little-known regions.  Fences have been put up, and notices saying "Keep Out".  the tourist hordes are beginning to descend.
Ghosts of the Big Country is an affectionate and nostalgic tribute to the way of life that is fast disappearing and to a race of people of whom one can say "They don't make them like that any more".  It is a book written with sensitivity and deep feeling, yet with an unquenchable sense of humour.  Above all, it tells us how it was.  Here at least, the ghosts live."

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