The cattle too were frequent victims of spearing. From his immediate family he lost a brother who was shot and a cousin who was speared by Aboriginals. Possibly the most difficult challenge was that from the 'blacks' as they are called throughout this book, drawn from the diaries of Patsy's father, Patsy himself and his own son. Poison bush, cattle tick, and crocodiles were a real threat to the livestock, while white ants ate away at the timber homesteads, and man-made hurdles such as the depression, land rents, industrial strikes and petty jealousies added to the challenges. There was the isolation of the bush, malaria, beri-beri, dysentery, the sun and the heat to overcome. If he thought life in Ireland was hard he was yet to encounter the extremes of flood and drought, the one following the other as night follows day. This young man would found a pioneering dynasty establishing enormous cattle stations from New South Wales, through Queensland and into Western Australia.

The strictly catholic family was looking to escape the 'troubles' in Ireland, the poverty, the famine, the hardship, the bigotry and the lack of opportunity. Patsy arrived in Australia as an 18 year old with his poor immigrant parents, five sisters and two brothers in 1853. The true story is set in the last half of the nineteenth century and spans the lifetime of Irishman Patrick 'Patsy' Durack. This is the great modern day classic of Australian settlement that I just had to read.

Kings in grass castles book