They crowded around the window.
It wasn’t just any people coming. They were a group of horsemen, wearing dark-blue uniforms, a leather strap across their chests and rifles over their shoulders.
‘Thanks be to God!’ murmured Abner.
‘Troopers!’ yelled Harry. Mary clapped a hand over his mouth.
But it was too late anyway. Hogan and the bushrangers had already seen them.
Hogan ran to the house. He barged through the door. Letty retreated from him, hugging Victoria to her chest. She felt the sharp edge of the shelves digging into her back. Harry scooted behind his mother’s wide skirts. Abner stepped between the children and the convict.
Hogan slammed the door. ‘Listen hard,’ he said. ‘I’m Clem Grey, and them’s the shearers.’ He gestured towards the men at the shed. ‘Ye’ve never heard of any bushrangers, and ye don’t have nothin’ the troopers want. Or else – we’ll set fire to yer wool. The gang have lit a nice fire for a billy at the shearing shed.All that oily fleece will burn a treat.’
‘Come here,’ Hogan told Mary. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her to him.
‘No!’ said Harry. ‘You can’t take her!’ His hands balled up into fists and he charged at the convict. Letty grabbed him by the collar. She was afraid Hogan might hurt him. Harry kicked her in the shin instead, but Letty held on until Abner held him still and quieted him.
Hogan opened the front door. He and Mary went out together on the front steps like a married couple.
The policemen rode up.
Letty and Abner watched from the kitchen, holding their breath.
‘Morning all.’ An officer with gold braid on his shoulder lifted his hat politely. ‘We’re hunting a band of bushrangers,’ he said. ‘They’ve been robbing people on the road near here. Seen anything unusual?’
‘No, nothing,’ said Mary and Hogan together.
‘It’s only me and me wife and a few shearers here,’ said Hogan.
‘Oh.’ The police looked disappointed. ‘Could you spare us a feed perhaps?’
‘We’re very sorry, but me wife’s poorly,’ said Hogan. ‘The servant girl’s a shocking cook and she’s ruined our tucker. We’re right out of tea, too.’
The troopers looked even more put out.
‘We’ll be off then,’ said the officer. ‘They’ve been bailing up homesteads,’ he warned. ‘You people should be careful.’
‘We will, officer,’ Hogan said with a grin.
The troopers tipped their hats again and rode away.
Letty let her breath out slowly and shakily.
Hogan escorted his ‘wife’ back to the kitchen. One of the bushrangers came in with a brace of skinned rabbits in his hand.
‘What’s happened?’ he demanded.
‘All dandy,’ said Hogan. ‘We sent the Queen’s men on their merry way. Give the woman the rabbits and we’ll have a proper feed.’
The bushranger tossed the rabbits on the table. He glared at Mary, Letty, Abner and Harry. ‘Don’t move from this room, you hear?’
They nodded. The men went back to the shearers’ shed.
Mary sat down and put her face in her hands.
LETTY sat beside Mary at the kitchen table. She touched her gently on the arm.
‘We have to reach the policemen,’ Letty said. She was frightened, but she felt they had to do something while there still might be a chance.
‘It’s too dangerous to go after them,’ Mary said.
‘Is there another way?’ Abner asked.
Mary shook her head. ‘You can see the road to Hartley from the top north paddock. But you can’t reach that paddock unless you cross the creek. Even if you get up there, there’s still a cliff between our land and the road.’
‘You could yell,’ said Letty, remembering the way Clem’s voice had echoed off the rock face on the trip to the farm.
‘No,’ said Mary. ‘The bushrangers would see anyone before they got down to the creek.’
‘Shame I’ve already got you-er water,’ said Abner. ‘Give us an excuse to go that way, it would, and holler to the troopers like Letty says.’
They had a whole bucketful. That was enough, except on washing days. Thinking of washing gave Letty an idea.
She unpinned Victoria’s nappy. It wasn’t filthy, like the time on the coach, but it was wet and it smelled. Letty picked the nappy up by one corner and dropped it in the bucket. Of course a used nappy didn’t belong in the cooking water. But for once Letty hoped a ‘mistake’ was a good thing to do.
‘What –’ Mary started to tell her off.
‘Now we need fresh water,’ Letty said. ‘Unless those men want nappy-flavoured pie.’
Abner laughed. So did Harry. Harry thought it was so funny he rolled around on the floor.
‘I’ll go talk to them,’ Abner said.
He walked out slowly across the paddock, his hands in the air. Letty’s heart thumped. She worried what the bushrangers might do.
But a short time later, he came back safely. He had got permission to fetch water, as long as the bushrangers saw him come straight back. ‘Hogan’s right jumpy,’ he said.
In hushed voices, with an eye on the window, Mary and Abner talked about how to alert the police. Mary would not leave her children while the bushrangers were there. Besides, she needed to make the pie. Harry was too little.
‘Let me go,’ said Letty. ‘Hogan thinks I’m useless.’ Maybe he was right, but at least she could try.
‘How will you get across the creek?’ said Mary.
‘Climb the gum tree over the sheep dip?’ Letty suggested. ‘You know the really big one that stretches right across the water?’
‘Aye,’ said Abner, looking at her thoughtfully. ‘I’d say you-er the one for the job.’ He looked around the kitchen. ‘It’s high up, though, Letty. To get you down safe, we need rope.’
But the rope was kept in the shed. They couldn’t go there without the bushrangers seeing.They looked at each other helplessly.
‘My bed has some,’ Harry said.
‘Yes!’ Mary pulled up the mattress so Abner could cut a length of rope free. He took off his shirt and wound the rope around his torso, then put his shirt back on. Mary handed him the spare bucket. She kissed Letty on the forehead.
‘Good luck,’ she said.
Letty waved. She nearly choked as she blew a kiss to Victoria, who was happily sucking her fist. Harry watched, round-eyed.
Letty followed Abner out the back door. Their safety rested on her, and she was only one small girl herself.
ABNER swung the bucket in his big hand. Letty carried the pot she was supposed to be washing.
‘Don’t look at the shearing shed, Letty,’ Abner said. ‘Just walk calm. I won’t let ’em touch you.’
Letty looked into Abner’s eyes. They had brown-flecked depths, like the water of the creek. She believed him.
They crossed the top paddock, Abner always walking between Letty and the men. No one yelled after them. There were no gunshots. Abner glanced over his shoulder as they started down the slope. They could no longer be seen from the farm buildings.
‘Quick now!’ he said.
Letty and Abner reached the creek, panting. All was quiet, other than the frogs calling from the banks. They looked around. Still no one was in sight.
‘What if the bushrangers see you come back alone and want to know where I am?’ Letty suddenly asked.
‘I’ll say you stopped at the dunny.’
Letty giggled. It was embarrassing, but a good excuse.
Abner stripped off his shirt. Then he pulled himself onto the long arch of the gum tree’s lowest branch. He wriggled along the branch, out over the water, until he was perched high above the opposite bank. There he tied loops along the rope, before fastening one end to the tree.When it hung down to the ground on the other side of the creek, Letty could see that Abner had made a rope ladder for her, each loop like a step.
He wiggled back to the homeste
ad side of the creek again. ‘Give me you-er hand.’
Letty glanced up the hill. She was scared – of the bushrangers, the water and falling out of the tree.
‘I don’t think I can do it,’ she said.
‘If you can trust me,’ Abner said gravely, ‘the rest is easy.’
Letty thought of Mary and her children, waiting and hoping in the house. Only she could get help. She gave Abner her hand.
Abner’s palm was warm, and a little rough. He heaved her up onto the branch in front of him with only a few scratches.
Letty inched her way along the branch toward the rope, gripping tightly. Watching the eddies in the water underneath made her dizzy.
‘Even thicker than my head, this tree is,’ Abner said encouragingly from behind her. ‘Nothing’s going to break.’
When she got to the ladder, she circled her foot in mid-air, feeling for the rope below. There seemed to be a lot of empty air beneath her. Ah – there was the rope.
Letty slid her boot into the first loop. Slowly she shifted her weight off the branch, onto her secure foot. Then she slid her other leg gradually downwards. She couldn’t find the second loop but she could feel her arms and legs trembling. She stretched her foot a bit further. Suddenly she was off balance. Her hands were slipping down the scratchy bark. ‘Help!’ Letty squeaked. She was falling …
Until Abner reached down and clamped his hand over her wrist.
‘Take your time,’ he said. His grip was firm.
Loop by loop Letty climbed down, until she was low enough for a wobbly hop to the ground.
‘I did it!’ she said triumphantly.
Abner grinned down at her. ‘Of course. A good ‘un, you are. Go!’
Letty felt Abner’s confidence pulsing through her. She ran up the far slope like the hill-wind. She ran along the criss-crossed sheep trails, and onward to where the blue sky touched the grass of the north paddock.
At the top of the far ridge, she looked down into the river valley, where she had travelled with the Greys. Patches of navy moved amongst the trees below. The troopers!
‘Stop!’ yelled Letty, at the top of her voice. ‘Please!’
Please, please, please, the rocks seemed to whisper back.
Had the troopers heard? Their horses wound around a bend in the track. Letty was looking at the troopers’ backs now. They were continuing on.
Letty pushed through the bushes along the ridge. Twigs caught in her hair. Just ahead was a big rock that leaned out over the cliff. Letty scrambled up it.
‘Help!’ she yelled, gasping for breath.
Below her, the white oval of the lead trooper’s face tilted in her direction.
Letty waved her arms. ‘Stop!’
The trooper waved back. ‘Whoa there!’ He signalled his men to stop.
‘Bushrangers!’ yelled Letty. ‘At the Greys’ place! With guns – in the shearing shed. The real Mr Grey is on the road ahead of you!’ She was nearly hoarse when she finished shouting down to the men. But they understood. One policeman set off to find Clem, while the rest spurred their horses back to the homestead.
Letty had done it – she had reached them in time. She had helped the Greys when they really needed it. Letty rested her face on the rock until her legs had stopped shaking.
BY the time Letty climbed back across the stream, Mary’s pie had finished baking. The Greys’ kitchen was full of people and the crusty scent of pastry.
It wasn’t the bushrangers who were going to eat the pie, though. Hogan and the gang had been captured by the troopers. So had the weapons and loot hidden they had in the wool bales.
Abner told Letty that when the bushrangers saw the troopers creeping up on them, they had tried to retrieve their hidden stores. But they were too late. They’d run out of bullets and the police closed in on them.The troopers planned to march them off to Hartley the next day.
The precious wool was safe and so were all the Greys. Letty was tired but glad.
Now, there was a rabbit pie to share. The troopers were given the kitchen chairs as special guests. Mary sliced the pie into fat golden triangles. Curls of steam rose from the dish.
‘Is this Letty’s pie?’ Harry asked suspiciously.
‘You saw your mother make it,’ said Clem. ‘It’s the best rabbit pie ever.’
‘But if it wasn’t for Letty, and these men,’ Mary told him, ‘you wouldn’t have any.’
Harry shivered. Clem pulled off his boots and stretched his legs towards the fire. Harry put his arms around his father.
‘Don’t go away ever, ever again,’ he said fiercely. ‘I hate people going away.’
The troopers laughed, but Clem pulled the little boy onto his lap.
‘Even Letty?’ he said, teasing.
Harry gave an embarrassed wriggle.
‘I have to say, Letty,’ Clem continued, ‘I had my doubts when I first saw you. And your pie was the strangest thing I’ve ever eaten. But,’ he grinned at Mary, ‘I should listen to my wife. She’s right, as usual.’
Letty smiled. She felt encouraged because the Greys knew she wasn’t perfect and they liked her anyway.
Letty and Abner took their dinners and perched on the frame of Letty’s bed, since there wasn’t room in the kitchen. The pie was wonderful – hot, rich and herby.
‘Ah,’ said Abner contentedly. ‘This aren’t ship food.’
Letty stopped mid-mouthful. ‘Will the troopers arrest you?’ she whispered.
Abner shrugged his square shoulders. ‘If I must, I’ll do time in the lock-up and get it over with. But I don’t think they care.’ Abner’s freckles drew smile lines around his eyes. ‘They’ve got they-er hands full with bushrangers.’
Letty was glad. She didn’t want to see Abner marched away like a criminal. She wanted him around for a long time yet. Letty thought about Abner, and Harry, and Hogan, and herself.
‘People are sort of the opposite to sheep,’ she observed.
‘Mm?’ Abner waited for Letty to explain.
‘Sheep are all grubby on the outside. Underneath, their wool is clean white,’ said Letty. ‘But people keep all their burrs and bad stuff inside.’
‘Aye.’ Abner smiled. ‘More like ships, we are. We do up the top decks for people to like us. But down in the hold, there’s dead rats and rotten cargo.’
Letty nodded. It felt good to be truthful. She was glad Abner understood. ‘I still like you, Abner,’ she said.
‘That’s a very fine thing,’ he replied. ‘Even better than this pie.’
I am an immigrant Australian girl, too.
I came on a plane from the USA, with my mum, dad and baby sister, for my dad to start a new job. We moved into a new house, in a new suburb, in the new city of Canberra. We owned more stuff than Letty, but not DVDs, a computer or a colour TV. Our backyard was a bare slope of orange clay, which my sister and I used for making mud pies. I also loved reading, playing dress-ups and pretending to live in the olden days. Nowadays I live in Melbourne.
Writing Letty’s story felt a lot like those games I used to play with my sister and my schoolfriends. Writing is another way of travelling by imagination back into the past.
I was born and grew up in Italy, a beautiful country to visit, but also a difficult country to live in for new generations.
In 2006, I packed up my suitcase and I left Italy with the man I love. We bet on Australia. I didn’t know much about Australia before coming – I was just looking for new opportunities, I guess.
And I liked it right from the beginning! Australian people are resourceful, open-minded and always with a smile on their faces. I think all Australians keep in their blood a bit of the pioneer heritage, regardless of their own birthplace.
Here I began a new life and now I’ m doing what I always dreamed of: I illustrate stories. Here is the place where I’ d like to live and to grow up my children, in a country that doesn’t fear the future.
BY 1841, the British population of Australia was spreading very fas
t. Some were free emigrant settlers like Letty. Others were convicts sent to Australia as punishment. Most New South Wales convicts worked for settlers. Once they were free, ex-convicts often ran farms and businesses and had families.
Aborigines, on the other hand, were quickly losing their land to farms. At this time, Aboriginal people had almost disappeared from the back of the Blue Mountains where the Greys’ sheep run is set.
Farming sheep for wool was big business in New South Wales. Life on the sheep runs was often hard work and lonely for women and children. Food was simple compared with today, but there was plenty of meat. Australian-born children were called ‘cornstalks’, because they grew so tall and healthy compared to English children. Rabbits were set loose in New South Wales in 1859, but settlers had been breeding captive rabbits to eat long before that.
All the characters in this book are made up. But there really is a little town called Hartley, with a courthouse built by convicts. There are still sheep farms in the Abercrombie area, and a Bushranger’s Cave, which was used as a hideout in the 1830s.
A Colonial Sheep Run
On Monday we’ve mutton, with damper and tea;
On Tuesday, tea, damper and mutton,
Such dishes I’m certain all men must agree
Are fit for peer, peasant or glutton.
On Wednesday we’ve damper, with mutton and tea;
On Thursday tea, mutton and damper,
On Friday we’ve mutton, tea, damper, while we
With our flocks over hill and dale scamper.
This poem was written by Francis Lancelott in 1852. The painting is of an ‘OldWoolshed, Challicum, 1844.’
DID YOU KNOW THAT SETTLERS TO AUSTRALIA HAVE COME FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD?
While the Indigenous people of Australia have been here for many thousands of years, since the First Fleet people like Letty have been coming to Australia from far and wide …
The first settlers came to Australia on 26 January 1788. Eleven ships arrived holding 1350 people, lots of whom were convicts.
Letty on the Land Page 5
