THERE is no greater Australian drama than a three-years’ drought, and such a drought, associated with drought in the human heart, is the theme of this plain tale for plain people.
The course of this fictitious drought is based on the course of a real drought. I have followed the weather records over an actual three-year drought period, and no city critic can say that such a drought is impossible. Similarly, I have followed actual wool prices over the same period. And, finally, the succession of mental phases which the “new-chum” in the bush proper must live through, or else desert to a city, is real and based on personal experience.
I should like to add that my original title for this work was the one all-sufficient word Drought. It was found, however, that already a novel under this title was in circulation, so that regretfully the present more sensational title was substituted.
KALAMUNDA, W.A.