Once a Pommie Swagman

Sydney 1961. Two bored, broke, naive and ill-prepared sixteen-year-old Pommie-born boys set off on the spur of the moment to make their fortune. In six months they thumb, bum and meander across four thousand miles, from Sydney to Magnetic Island, Julie Creek to Leeton. The author was one of those boys. This heart-warming memoir not only introduces us to the many memorable characters who helped them on their way but gives us a fascinating insight into the social history of the times; a look back at a way of life that no longer exists in a country that is simply unrecognisable today. A more sedate and less regulated time; when shops shut for lunch, banks had managers, trains were steam and telegrams were delivered by bicycle.Where hitch-hiking was recognised as a legitimate form of transport; strangers in the outback were viewed with curiosity rather than suspicion and two young and trusting boys could simply hop on a truck and ride around Australia with few questions asked.