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Published in 1920, this book records the experiences of Charles W. Bryde as he left the sea and took up the life of a land-lubber in the Atherton district, North Queensland.

The idea in mind is to present, as far as possible, a true picture of life in the Scrub, as I had experienced it. With this end in view, I have neither glossed over the difficulties and disabilities, nor enlarged on the advantages, of selection life in the Scrublands. I have tried to make the book a fairly reliable and interesting guide to anyone thinking of tackling the life. With what success I leave the reader to determine.

Bryde visited Melbourne at the age of sixteen, on a windjammer. The idea of settling in Australia occurred to him at that time but it wasn't until 1912 when he was twenty-seven that he said goodbye to the sea. In twenty-four chapters he describes his life at sea and the various challenges he met as he set out to make a new life on the land - Newcastle-Chile Coal Run, One Night in Port Jackson, Good-bye to the Sea, I Become a Land-lubber, Northward Ho!, The Promised Land, My Selection, I Start as a Land-holder, Camp Life, Colonial Experience, Home Again!, Scrub Life, The Cyclone, Effecting Improvements, More Improvements - Bullockies, An Accident, Social Amenities, Burning Off, Wardsman and Deckhand, Married, Starting Housekeeping, Struggling Along, Joyful Experiences of Cow-Cockying, and L'Envoi.

This CD contains high quality scanned images of the original book, and has been bookmarked for easy navigation. Pages can be searched, browsed, enlarged and printed out if required.

System Requirements: Any computer using Adobe (Acrobat) Reader 4 or later, Adobe Reader 6 or later is recommended for CDs with searchable text