THE AUSTRALIAN STOCKMAN
THE SHEPHERD
THE OVERLANDER
A THOUSAND MILES AWAY
THE FREEHOLD ON THE PLAIN
THE WALLABY BRIGADE
MY RELIGION
BOURKE’S DREAM
BILLY BARLOW IN AUSTRALIA



INTRODUCTION


“All human beings not utterly savage long for some information
about past times, and are delighted by narratives which
present pictures to the eye of the mind. But it is only in
very enlightened communities that books are readily accessible.
Metrical composition, therefore, which, in a highly
civilised nation, is a mere luxury, is in nations imperfectly
civilised almost a necessity of life, and is valued less on
account of the pleasure which it gives to the ear than on
account of the help which it gives to the memory. A man who
can invent or embellish an interesting story and put it into a
form which others may easily retain in their recollection
will always be highly esteemed by a people eager for amusement
and information, but destitute of libraries. Such is the
origin of ballad poetry, a species of composition which
scarcely ever fails to spring up and flourish in every society