The Drovers. Keith Wiley. 1982.

The Australian drover has an established place in folklore and balladry. Bushmen, and drovers in particular, became the focus of legend, national heroes whose own individuality expressed the restless movement, the sardonic humour and stoicism considered typically Australian.

Their stories of endurance and courage, the adventures and pranks, will fade in time. Yet these overlanders were responsible for exploring and opening up vast areas of the Australian continent; their rare intimacy with nature making them superb maters of bushcraft. Only a man who owes his very life and livelihood to an understanding of the bush would sit an wait patiently a seeds responded to the moisture in the dregs of his mug of tea, or would observe the tricks of a marauding eagle to rob a kangaroo of her joey. The tales are manifold: there is the dog who could count sheep, the cook who slept with the bread dough to make the dough rise the gambler who won his bet that he could ride a buck jumper - because he was too scared to fall off.