The Australian Outback and the American Wild West were two of the last
frontiers in the territorial conquests and expansions on the 19th century. These
frontier territories were wild, lawless and extremely colourful. Although the
American Wild West has been celebrated repeatedly in Hollywood films and
countless books, we Australians have been much slower to celebrate the heroes
and saga of the development of our Outback.
Both countries, however, were equally rich in rip-roaring, wild and woolly
time. In our regulated, comfortable and conformist cities of today we find
ourselves yearning for an untamed era populated with fast-riding and fast-taking
heroes and villains, an era where men were freer to realise their dreams and
make their make in the pages of myth and history.
Volume one of a two volume series, in this
volume Drake tells stories about the squattocracy, the cattle kings and the land
barons; mounted police, sheriffs and posses in pursuit of their elusive prey;
bushrangers and outlaws and why they are so loved in popular fantasy; stockmen,
ringers and cowboys; early white settlement and both friendly and hostile
contact with indigenous peoples; and six shooters, gun slingers, snider rifles
and infamous shoot-outs.
In each chapter Drake takes a theme and compares
true stories and real life characters in the wild wests of Australia and the
USA. Which wild west was wilder and more colourful and more lawless?
Includes the following famous characters:
Tom Coolin - miner, cattle thief and killer. Australia
Wentworth D'Arcy Uhr - mounted policeman, adventurer, business man. Australia.
Frederick Walker - Commandant Queensland Native Mounted Police. Australia.
Judge Isaac Parker 'The Hanging Judge' - America
The Kenniff Brothers, Paddy and Jim - Queensland bushrangers. Australia
Frank Gardiner - bushranger. Australia
Butch Cassidy - outlaw. America
James Tyson - land baron and financier. Australia
Sir Sidney Kidman - Cattle King. Australia
Col. Charles Goodnight - Cattle King. America
Alex Hayden - notable Aboriginal stockman and horseman. Australia
Richard King - founder of King Ranch, Texas. Australia & America
Boomerang Jack Brady - notable stockman. Australia
Robert Burke - gentleman bushranger. Australia
Wyatt Earp - frontier Marshal. America
Bill Pickett - American Negro cowboy. America
E.O. Robinson - Father of Australia’s buffalo industry. Australia
Paddy Cahill - buffalo hunter. Australia
Joel 'Joe' Cooper - buffalo hunter. Australia
William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody - Wild West legend. America
Contents:
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Introduction
The Invaders
Gunfights and Shootouts
Mounted Police, Sheriffs and Shootouts
Bushrangers and Badmen
Land Barons and Cattle Kings
Stockmen and Cowboys
Buffalo Hunters
Endnotes
Index
About the Author
