Discover the stories behind the tragic, and often untimely, deaths of our early pioneers in the bush. Retired drover and bush poet Bruce Simpson travels along the old Cobb & Co. coach roads and stock routes to the final resting places of some of our earliest settlers.
Bruce recounts tales of the perils of childbirth in the outback and the desperate circumstances faced by the victims of accidents, sickness, raging bushfires and rising floodwaters - all isolated from help by sheer distance.
Along with photographer Ian Tinney, whose striking photographs document these sites for posterity, Bruce visits some of the legendary drinking places, many in ruins, of characters such as bushmen and bushrangers - bringing to life memories of Australia in a time long since past.
Contents:
Author's Note
Preface
'Where the Dead Men Lie'
1. The Bulloo River and Hungerford
2. West of Thargomindah
3. The Road to Windorah
4. The Fight to Save the Cooper
5. Around Windorah
6. The Cooper and Beyond
7. The Central South-West
8. The the Warrego and Paroo
9. The Balonne and Moonie
10. Death of a Swagman
11. Aboriginal Burials
12. Graves of the Afghans
13. Little Boys Lost
14. Down the Stockroutes
15. Sulieman Creek and the Burke
16. The Road to Boulia
17. Matilda Country
18. Down the Thomson
19. On the Outer Barcoo
20. The Barcaldine Area
Major Sources
Acknowledgements
