My Mate Dick

by Ion L. Idriess

Angus and Robertson, 1962
First edition
Black and white photographic plates, b/w photographic frontispiece
Hardcover

Condition: Very good
Some edge and shelf wear, some rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, pp. 67 and 69 torn and separate but still complete, age toned pages, small tears at spine. (see photographs)

“Cape York Peninsula, still one of the wildest regions in Australia, was wild indeed when young Jack Idriess and his mate Dick roamed through its maze of creeks and ranges looking for gold.  There were memorable meetings on the way – with Kio and Ku-dor, for instance, native warriors on the run from both white police and tribal enemies; with John Dickie the “Stringybark Fox”, who had crossed the continent alone but for the weirdest of bodyguards; with old Crusoe Butcher, who dressed in goatskins and brewed his own potent grog from ingredients including over-ripe bananas, lizards’ gall-bladders, and sulphur; with Wy-chet-ee the witch-doctor, and  - if it could be called a meeting – with the skeleton in the ant-bed whose discovery unearthed a horrifying story of vengeance.”

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