In this book James Mahoney remembers life on a mixed farm, cooking in camp ovens, problems with wooden handles, gates, fences, and snakes, and cooling off under the willows with billy tea after a hard morning’s work. And he recalls learning how to plough a straight furrow, making money from rabbits, spuds, old bones and pigs, and clearing the property of blackberries and bunnies, and washing done in a pioneer laundry.
They were the days when racing trotters had a daytime job in the baker’s cart, of home-trained blacksmiths, of expert saddlers and coachpainters, half-time school, the mounted police, reading by kerosene lamp, noisy political rallies and looking for Ben Hall’s gold.
Tarboy’s writings stand well with the work of many great columnists of yesteryear and today, such as Oxley in "The Land", and also the Bulletin Balladeers like Henry Lawson, Breaker Morant and Banjo Paterson. Together, they help make our rich rural history come alive in a meaningful way for future Australians, wherever they live. — Tim Fischer
