Australian Bush Stories

The short stories are primarily about bush story tellers. In the days before telephones and television, story telling was a popular means of not only entertainment, but often a history of events not recorded in documents or the press. Whether the stories are true or not is another matter.

After leaving school and finishing an apprenticeship, I took a job as a travelling salesman for an agricultural equipment manufacturer. I not only called on retailers in the country towns, but often visited their client's properties as well. That led me off the beaten track more times than I can or want to remember.

Sometimes I would camp out, but mostly stopped over at the local hotel or anywhere I could get a bed for the night. It was those times in the tiny villages or isolated wayside establishments where I began to hear the stories of the bush. Even though many of the tall tales were well worn, I still enjoyed listening to the hard faced old Bushmen recite a so-called local event.

I often wondered who wrote the essays in the first place. Were they taken from a book published by an author I never heard of, or were they really bush ballads only passed on by word of mouth? The story tellers seemed to know them off by heart and repeat them word for word if a stranger was prepared to listen. I have forgotten most of the stories and places by now, but a few still linger in my memory.

Have fun and I hope you enjoy the stories and photos.