44 Australian Life 



sapling uprights and boarding of shingles from 

 the splitter's camp. Slabs of bark make the roof, 

 and the only materials purchased are a couple of 

 glazed window-sashes and a door. The bare 

 earth serves as floor, a slab table is knocked to- 

 gether and a home-made form, and two or three 

 gin-cases serve for chairs. Beds are made by 

 stretching canvas or hessian upon sapling frames, 

 and the house is ready for occupation. 



The cockie himself is a young Australian, who 

 has had several good seasons in the shearing- 

 sheds, and has been steady enough to save his 

 cheques. His wife is a bush girl, jolly, fond of 

 fun and dancing, and equal to any emergency. 

 Chopping wood, milking cows, riding barebacked 

 horses, and killing snakes are among her many 

 accomplishments, all of them of the greatest use 

 on a selection. Her domestic utensils are in- 

 teresting. First comes the camp oven, a large 

 iron pot with three short legs and a close-fitting 

 lid. The camp oven is placed in the fire, the 

 ashes are heaped over it, and anything can be 

 baked in it from a loaf of bread to a leg of mutton. 

 An iron bar stretches across the fireplace, from 

 which there hangs by a hook the griddle a plate 

 of iron on which scones and bannocks can be 

 rapidly baked. The inevitable frying-pan and 

 billy-can complete the list, unless a boiler im- 

 provised out of a large paraffin tin be included. 

 The same simplicity characterises the rest of the 

 household equipments, for the bush home is a 



