This entertaining account of a childhood in the Australian bush provides two stories in one. First, the book gives a fascinating description of the life of a young boy in remote and isolated parts of the alpine region of north-east Victoria eighty years ago. Second, it provides a record of how school teachers then were trained and of the challenges faced by primary school-teachers sent to serve in Australian bush schools in that distant era. Life was not easy. Teachers were responsible for every aspect of the running of their school including dealing with the school's toilets. Their families had to cope with privations unknown to modern Australian society; dependence on rain water collected in a tank, no electricity for lighting or heating, reading by candlelight, the use of a wood stove, no refrigeration, limited access to shopping and transportation, and no telephone.