Ajax and the Drovers

by Mary Elwyn Patchett

This is the last of the Ajax series, set on a cattle station in Queensland, Australia, in the early 1900s. Mary is looking forward to going on a cattle drive while her parents are away, but the arrival of a new governess from England seems like it might spoil her plans.

143 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1964

About the author

Mary Elwyn Patchett (1897 - 1989) was an Australian author who lived most of her life in Britain.

She grew up on a cattle station in Texas, Queensland.

After working as a journalist in Australia, she lived and worked in England from 1931. Although she only returned to Australia for holidays, it is there that her books are set.

She died in Berkshire in 1989.

Reviews

[Louise Culmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last of the Ajax series, and also my favourite. Mary is looking forward to going on a cattle drive while her parents are away, but her new English governess, Miss Goodwillie, doesn't think it proper for a young girl to go off for weeks on end with the drovers. She proposes to go along with Mary, accompanied by her pet tortoise, Sir Francis Drake. The drovers take some persuading to allow this, but eventually miss Goodwillie is allowed to join the cattle drive. the author describes everything so vividly that you can almost imagine yourself on the cattle drive. The descriptions of Miss Goodwillie getting used to the Australian bush,and to the ways of the drovers, are very amusing, and she shows herself to be in fact quite a resourceful person, not afraid of new experiences. Her presence makes this, for me, the most entertaining of the Ajax series.