Billabong

Enjoyed by generations of young Australians since its publication in 1910, A Little Bush Maid is the ultimate, idyllic tale of an adventurous girl growing up in the Australian bush. Billabong, a large cattle and sheep property in the Australian countryside, is home to twelve-year-old Norah Linton, her widowed father and her older brother, Jim. Norah's prim and proper aunts, who live in the city, consider she is in danger of "growing up wild" - riding all over Billabong on her beloved pony, Bobs, helping with mustering, and joining in all the holiday fun when Jim and his friends come home from boarding school. A fishing trip results in unexpected drama when they discover a mysterious stranger camped in the bush. Who is this stranger and why is he there? Norah's resourcefulness is tested to the full!

An Australian children’s' classic about life on a ranch around the same time of A Little Florida Lady, with a similarly plucky tomboy heroine. Also, like the latter story, expect some racial stereotyping of Asian and Aboriginal characters. This originally ran as a newspaper serial and it shows in the episodic nature of the chapters, such as a vivid trip to the circus sandwiched by talk of a mad killer and an unexpectedly sentimental ending.

It is the height of the gold rush when Dick and his sister Betty make their first visit to stay at Billabong and encounter rather more excitement than they'd bargained for. News of the gold strike has brought hopeful prospectors into the Billabong hills, among them an unscrupulous ex-prize fighter named McGill and Lee Wing, the Chinese gardener turned cook, whose ingenious plan to outwit McGill makes him the hero of the day. At the end of the adventure, everyone agreed with Dick - it certainly was something they'd never forget!

In this adventure, the Billabong folk ride in wild country, droving cattle overland from the North. This is a story of good horses and dogs, their owners; and of a boy who found among them a new chance in life...