Tough in the Old Days by Bill Scott

Tough in the Old Days

by Bill Scott

Rigby, 1979, [First Edition], ISBN 0727009893, hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, a little edge and shelf wear, a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, previous owners gift inscription on front endpaper, dustjacket shows a little edge and shelf wear with a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners (see photographs)

“Bill Scott plunges straight into his story of a ‘battler’s life thirty-odd years ago with a hilarious account of his discharge from the Royal Australian Navy.  After that he sets off around his native Queensland trying his hand at many occupations, in an attempt to ‘make a quid’.
He and his mate Johnny first put their small savings into the ‘fail-proof’ business of gold prospecting.  They found little gold but lots of experience and fun, and Bill Scott writes with intimate knowledge of a prospector’s life and the rugged country where gold is found.
From gold prospecting he went on to copper mining, at the great Mount Isa mine.  He covers this period with a brilliant description of life in hard conditions: a kind of ‘Foreign Legion’ existence where men did not talk about their backgrounds, but each man trusted his mates.”