Boss Drover by Keith Willey
Boss Drover by Keith Willey
Boss Drover
by Keith Willey
Rigby, 1971, [First Edition], b/w photographic plates, illustrated end-papers, hardcover, dustjacket, ISBN 0851792898
Fine Condition, minor edge and shelf wear
'Boss Drover was Matt Savage. He was one of the toughest men of one of the world's last savage frontiers; the far North-West of Australia during the first two decades of this century. It was a country in which stockmen were paid extra money for being "hard on blacks", which meant the shooting of Aborigines who had speared cattle.
The author, Keith Willey, knew Matt Savage for many years. This book is the result of countless hours of yarning with the old man and of the author's own knowledge of the outback, but it is far more than a biography of one man's life. It is one of the most honest accounts ever written of a tough and brutal era in Australian history, and is tragic, hilarious, and sometimes horrifying.
It is a book which may help a new generation to understand their forebears without judging them, by balancing the bloodshed and injustice against the courage, endurance, and stoical humor which are part of the Australian legend.'