The North-West of Australia is full of characters…and so is this story of the early Nor-Westers who pioneered the outback Pilbara and the struggling little Port Hedland which was to become a top export port of the nation.”Jenny Hardie knows and understands the Nor-Westers…. “…Sea Captain Peter Hedland, explorer F.T. Gregory, shire presidents, pioneer pastoralists and mining engineers, you meet jackaroos, publicans, Bill the Bulocky, a parson who sewed a tennis ball into his hat to keep it afloat when he went swimming, a millionaire who received his first lessons in money management from a Chinese cook and a Malay houseboy, an air ace who traveled from Broome to Port Hedland sitting on the wing of the plane because there was no room inside, and a horrified hostess who discovered too late, at her formal Christmas party, that her housegirls had gambled their pants and lost.” pp. 264 illusts #1117R/0119/0521/060122