Spear and Stockwhip: A Tale of The Territory

SPEAR AND STOCKWHIP: A TALE OF THE TERRITORY

Ah, Daly Waters, what adventure, to be following in the tracks of those legendary Queensland boys; Snowy Jansen, Darkie Johnson & Tom Brinsley after boss drover Chikker Jackson suddenly up and died, riding Tiger, all their named horses, in trust of young saddles and quick-learnt knack with reins, to drove two thousand Herefords right out across Queensland, to camping out and hunting, to living under the sun and sleeping under the stars, in responsible trust and sense to lead and win, for the goal of the Laurance Estate way up north of the Roper River on that wild Territory side, in an outback journey of more than a thousand miles, in a mythic tale that should've been a young Australian classic.

A great trek led by young lads on horseback right across the Barkly by Anthony's Lagoon. The author, an unknown Richard H Graves thrilled my younger soul with his action book, telling a tale set back in the times between the wars, with a villain like a Hitler in Scarface Gillespie, with cattle thieves, shootings, a stampede, making a friend of a bush Aborigine, in a story of hard-won success found after trials, having gone (like hobbits) all the way there and back again in a grand mettle-building tale.


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'SPEAR AND STOCKWHIP: A TALE OF THE TERRITORY
by Richard H Groves was published in 1950
by Dymocks Book Arcade Ltd, Sydney & London

I still have my original hardback copy.