Notorious bushrangers, impressive pioneering expeditions, farming in unforgiving landscapes and quirky characters from the country.
These are some of the classic stories scattered throughout our history.
Yarns from the bush. Quintessentially Australian.
Bob the Railway Dog took a liking to trains and began hitching rides to Broken Hill, around Victoria and as far north as Brisbane
A history that has been told to generations past through books, TV, film and word of mouth.
But in Graham Seal’s new collection, Great Bush Stories, he reveals more than the typical milestones of Australian history.
Seal, a professor of folklore at Curtin University, has collated both the classics and lesser known tales of the colourful and often quirky folk of the bush and outback.
One of his favourite stories is of Lennie Gwyther, who rode his pony Ginger Mick 1000km from Leongatha in rural Victoria to Sydney to see the opening of the Harbour Bridge.
“That was in 1932 and he was only nine!” Seal says.
“He got there just in time, met the PM, became a national hero and received a signed bat from Don Bradman. And then trotted home, arriving in Leongatha five months later.”
Seals says these stories not only reflect the distinctive life of our rural folk, but they are uniquely Australian, the backbone of our identity.
“The historical experience of the bush and the outback with pioneering, discovery and hard work is such an important part of Australian history and a sense of national identity,” he says.
A lot of ideas about ourselves as a people stem from our anti-authoritarianism, a sense of fair play, fair go and getting up and having a go.
“I think they’re the aspects of Australian identity that will appeal to people.”
Chapters range from profiles on bush folk and wrongdoing to tales of mystery and “plague and pleasure”.
“It was a bit like a vacuum cleaner at first, I suppose,” Seal says.
“As I got into it I discovered that there’s plenty of new stories and plenty of old stories that can be retold in interesting ways.
“They tell us something about the first hand experiences of these people.
“You’re looking for that human interest angle but at the same time something that will give people a bit of an insight into the historical side of things as well.”
Seal sourced people’s own writings or quotes, poem verses and diary excerpts to accompany his own text.
“
Other tales include the story of the feisty Jesse McIntyre from the early 1900s, a tough Irishwoman who was given away to a circus troupe at age eight and had many run-ins with the law before eventually escaping society to live in a cave in what is now Wollemi National Park.
Her life of rural crime and vigilantism grew into the legend of the lady bushranger.
There are anecdotes about “bloody flies”, the indigenous couple who ran away to the desert to be lovers, the emu wars of the 1930s, the building of the Barcoo Hotel in western Queensland, the origins of the tea and scone ladies of the CWA, and Aboriginal dreamtime stories.
Or the flying Viola girls, who entertained country folk at the end of the 19th century, with their daredevil antics which included swinging from a trapeze attached to a hot-air balloon.
Seal’s favourite yarn is that of Bob the Railway Dog, a bitser born in the 1880s in South Australia. He took a liking to trains and began hitching rides to Broken Hill, around Victoria and as far north as Brisbane.
Bob was reportedly happiest aboard locomotives designed for the American frontier.
“What a character. He obviously made quite an impact and still does,” Seal says. “There’s a fairly recently erected statue of him in South Australia, so he’s still in folk memory there.”
And while there are many entertaining and humorous tales recounted in the book, Seal says much history reflects our complicated relationship with the outback and the harshness of the landscape.
“We are now very urban people yet we look back to this rural bush experience for our founding mythologies and a sense of identity in many ways.”
Seal recounts in the book that the “enormous, unknown spaces of this sunburnt country have a permanent place in the national consciousness and continue to intrigue, puzzle and entertain us”.
“There’s plenty of humour as well as more profound things,” he says. “You can just enjoy the stories for what they are. There’s that very particular Australian sense of humour — a very dry, understated kind of humour.”
Fittingly, the book ends with the compelling indigenous dreamtime story, the defining meta-narrative of the Seven Sisters songlines, encapsulating Australia’s Aboriginal roots and connection to land.
“It’s a powerful set of myths and stories, and I end the book with that story because it is ancient and also undeniably Australian, revolving around water and the land.
“The songlines span the country from west to east and Aboriginal people are able to cross the entire continent simply by knowing the stories, singing the songs and understanding the rituals.”
Great Bush Stories by Graham Seal, Allen & Unwin, RRP $29.99