Great Australian Stories: Outback Towns and Pubs

by Bill "Swampy" Marsh

Bill 'Swampy' Marsh has been on another adventure, this time gathering stories from outback towns and pubs across this wide brown land.

the people you'll meet will touch your heart as Swampy brings to life all the drama and delight of life in outback Australia. there's the story of Frederick Aloysius Millard, the only dog ever to become a member of a Citizens Club in Australia, thanks to the vote of a woman who was sure she'd been introduced to this 'eccentric' man twenty years back; the man who refused to go to the doctor after being shot, because he'd been hit in a very unfortunate spot ... which made it obvious he'd been shot while running away; the unfortunate bloke who tried to blow a snake out of the dunny but ended up nearly taking himself out of existence ... if there's a good story out there, Swampy's captured it for this book. Long after the last tale has been told, you'll still hear laughter from the pub, the crash of a drunken donkey falling in a trench and recall the time ... they found this bloke, sitting in the main street at 3 o'clock in the morning, hammering one of those survey pegs in the ground. So they said, 'What the hell are you doing?' And this drunk feller replies, 'I'm driving a peg inta the arsehole of the world.' Awarding-winning writer Bill 'Swampy' Marsh collects yarns that get us in, hook, line and sinker. He gives us back our childhood and shares those precious memories of an Australia that's passing into legend.

Genres: Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Shreedevi Gurumurty · Rating 4 out of 5]

The people you'll meet will touch your heart as Swampy brings to life all the drama and delight of life in outback Australia. there's the story of Frederick Aloysius Millard, the only dog ever to become a member of a Citizens Club in Australia, thanks to the vote of a woman who was sure she'd been introduced to this 'eccentric' man 20 years back; the unfortunate bloke who tried to blow a snake out of the dunny but ended up nearly taking himself out of existence. Long after the last tale has been told, you'll still hear laughter from the pub, the crash of a drunken donkey falling in a trench and recall the time ... they found this bloke, sitting in the main street at 3AM, hammering one of those survey pegs in the ground. So they said, 'What the hell are you doing?' And this drunk feller replies, 'I'm driving a peg inta the arsehole of the world.'Bill shares those precious memories of an Australia that's passing into legend.A pub or hotel or public house, is an establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. They may also provide other services, such as entertainment , meals and basic accommodation.They are the focal point of the towns,as people love drinking,and pubs have great service and designs.Outback towns have a general store, police station,post office, school,doctor, bank etc the basic facilities.In Australia, most rural and regional centres of population can be called towns; many small towns have populations of < 200. The smallest may be townships.There's a strong sense of community in small towns as everyone knows each other-you meet interesting characters,and low crime rates,less traffic and cleaner air,smaller class sizes in schools,and less competition for business,allowing them to establish a reputation.Famous towns are Beltana,Barton, Birdsville,Bourke,Arkaroola Village,Aramac,Coen,Silverton,Windorah,Normanton,Louth,Tibooburra,Thargomindah,Tocumwal,Meekatharra,Kalgoorlie,Katherine,Kempsey,Marble Bar etc.In addition, some local government entities are officially styled as towns in Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read highly recommend

[Elizabeth Carboon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a lot of fun to read. A great collection of anecdotes of rural towns, rural pubs, and the people who inhabit them.