GREEN MALLEE

Stratford Evening Post, Volume I, Issue 497, 20 July 1932, Page 2

GREEN MALLEE

By John! Truran— Angus and Robert. sonjLtd,, Sydney. Whenflhe visitor had left Wedder. burn, made his way towards Blount’s camp. $. wrathful clamour greeted him as pe drew near: Joe and the Missus feere squabbling fiercely and the children who had probably nm.de the acquaintance of their father's h«fJt were whimpering In the shadows jof the ten® ‘‘Joe,” said the “you kn||v what I’m here for . Vl . It yer ain’lloftithis place by to-morrow I’ll havffl|yioS put off. You’re a nuisance . Jf aid I’m not going to har. hour crohks ’on my place any longer.” “’Old - ’ard, ’old ’ard,” protested Lousy Jfee, in his mumbling voice. “Youse fjcckies thinks you owns the God-dantiii country, but let me tell yer youffican’t hunt a working man .like me gust where yer want ter. One of Ipese days us workers’ll all finite toiput the lot of you’se where yer belojjsg.”. “The what did ye say,” said Wedaerburn.»‘The workers! Excuse me w» n’t yer, Joe. . . . You’ve never dope a day’s work since I knew yer and|iye call yerself a working inan. l||i the working man round here. I’|p worked early and late to make a piving what time you was lying onpyour back waiting for the old womwi ter get up and light the fire. And. don’t start any of that 'solidarity forever’ stunt on me. 1 can’t faifjcy you as a Bolshie. Y’aint got enouih guts for that.” “All rilit, but you’ll be sorry some time yo« ’upted me, you and your Pommy fcbber.” “Leavql ’im out of it. This is between yph and me. You’re not too clever, |be, 'or you wouldn’t start making promises of that sort. Now - if anything happeiis we’U know whose t& blame for it, won’t we. You’re algreat man to talk about the law, Joel Well, you might get more than yoid®want of it.” Mr. Jcftvn Truran is a humorist and is an artist in story telling. Wo have all heard of the Mallee country in ISdSTOt and from time to time we read of the difficulties of the settlers carving out their homes against the forces of nature in an area where there is a continual fight ,foi existence against the growth of mal. lee. which spreads over the land if there is any let up on the part of the hard-working settlers. “Green Mallee” is not a novel in the true sense of the word, but for any one with the slightest trace of interest in the achievements of those brave and big hearted men and women who go out into the backblocks it is more intertesting than any novel. The cbarac. ; ters while purely fictional have their counterparts in real life, and the little plot with , which the author has surrounded each group, one being interwoven with the other, makes truly fascinating reading. The author neither condemns nor approves. He just paints for us magnificent picStures in words, and there is a delightful vein of humour in parts. We come Into contact with the settlers

from the dilapidated W*edderburn home, and to Mr. Truran it. is not too great a tribute tio say that we put down bis book feeling that we have parted from) friends we have loved. That is with the exception of :, Lousy Joe” Blount and his brood, but they have the saving grace > f baying; amused: us even if we had f not much patience with them. ‘■wieF emu ?! r: . :