Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} On Our Selection by Steele Rudd On Our Selection. Published at Sydney by the Bulletin Newspaper Co., Ltd. Mcmiii. The contents of this book were originally published in The Bulletin. PIONEERS OF AUSTRALIA! To You "Who Gave Our Country Birth;" to the memory of You whose names, whose giant enterprise, whose deeds of fortitude and daring were never engraved on tablet or tombstone; to You who strove through the silences of the Bush-lands and made them ours; to You who delved and toiled in loneliness through the years that have faded away; to You who have no place in the history of our Country so far as it is yet written; to You who have done MOST for this Land; to You for whom few, in the march of settlement, in the turmoil of busy city life, now appear to care; ISBN 13: 9781438594859. Steele Rudd was the pseudonym of Arthur Hoey Davis (1868 -1935) an Australian author best known for On Our Selection. At 15 he became a junior stockrider on a station on the Darling Downs. In 1889 he worked in the sheriff's office and in his spare time took up rowing. When he began writing a column on rowing in a weekly paper he chose the pseudonym Steele Rudder, the first name from the English essayist Richard Steele, the second chosen because he wanted to bring into his name some part of a boat. On Our Selection first appeared as a sketch about Rudd's father's experiences. He later expanded this to 26 sketches which formed the book On Our Selection. Sketches include Starting the selection, Our first harvest, Before we got the deeds, When the wolf was at the door, The night we watched for wallabies, Good old Bess, Cranky Jack, A kangaroo hunt from shingle hut, Dave's snakebite, Dad and the Donovans, A splendid year for corn, Kate's wedding, The summer Old Bob died, When Dan came home, Our circus, When Joe was in charge, dad's "fortune", We embark in the bear industry, Nell and Ned, The cow we bought, The parson and the scone, Callaghan's colt, The agricultural reporter, A lady at shingle hut, The man with the bear-skin cap, and Christmas. "synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title. Australian author Arthur Hoey Davis wrote under the pseudonym of Steele Rudd. His short stories about country life were extremely appreciated by his country men. His works reflect his personal experiences of life. On our selection. It's twenty years ago now since we settled on the Creek. Twenty years! I remember well the day we came from Stanthorpe, on Jerome's dray- eight of us, and all the things-beds, tubs, a bucket, the two cedar chairs with the pine bottoms and backs that Dad put in them, some pint-pots and old Crib. It was a scorching hot day, too-talk about thirst! At every creek we came to we drank till it stopped running.Dad did n't travel up with us: he had gone some months before, to put up the house and dig the waterhole. It was a slabbed . Read More. It's twenty years ago now since we settled on the Creek. Twenty years! I remember well the day we came from Stanthorpe, on Jerome's dray- eight of us, and all the things-beds, tubs, a bucket, the two cedar chairs with the pine bottoms and backs that Dad put in them, some pint-pots and old Crib. It was a scorching hot day, too-talk about thirst! At every creek we came to we drank till it stopped running.Dad did n't travel up with us: he had gone some months before, to put up the house and dig the waterhole. It was a slabbed house, with shingled roof, and space enough for two rooms; but the partition was n't up. The floor was earth; but Dad had a mixture of sand and fresh cow-dung with which he used to keep it level. About once every month he would put it on; and everyone had to keep outside that day till it was dry. There were no locks on the doors: pegs were put in to keep them fast at night; and the slabs were not very close together, for we could easily see through them anybody coming on horseback. Joe and I used to play at counting the stars through the cracks in the roof.The day after we arrived Dad took Mother and us out to see the paddock and the flat on the other side of the gully that he was going to clear for cultivation. There was no fence round the paddock, but he pointed out on a tree the surveyor's marks, showing the boundary of our ground. It must have been fine land, the way Dad talked about it! There was very valuable timber on it, too, so he said; and he showed us a place, among some rocks on a ridge, where he was sure gold would be found, but we were n't to say anything about it. Joe and I went back that evening and turned over every stone on the ridge, but we did n't find any gold.No mistake, it was a real wilderness-nothing but trees, "goannas," dead timber, and bears; and the nearest house-Dwyer's-was three miles away. I often wonder how the women stood it the first few years; and I can remember how Mother, when she was alone, used to sit on a log, where the lane is now, and cry for hours. Lonely! It WAS lonely.Dad soon talked about clearing a couple of acres and putting in corn-all of us did, in fact-till the work commenced. It was a delightful topic before we started; but in two weeks the clusters of fires that illumined the whooping bush in the night, and the crash upon crash of the big trees as they fell, had lost all their poetry.We toiled and toiled clearing those four acres, where the haystacks are now standing, till every tree and sapling that had grown there was down. We thought then the worst was over; but how little we knew of clearing land! Dad was never tired of calculating and telling us how much the crop would fetch if the ground could only be got ready in time to put it in; so we laboured the harder.With our combined male and female forces and the aid of a sapling lever we rolled the thundering big logs together in the face of Hell's own fires; and when there were no logs to roll it was tramp, tramp the day through, gathering armfuls of sticks, while the clothes clung to our backs with a muddy perspiration. Sometimes Dan and Dave would sit in the shade beside the billy of water and gaze at the small patch that had taken so long to do; then they would turn hopelessly to what was before them and ask Dad (who would never take a spell) what was the use of thinking of ever getting such a place cleared? And when Dave wanted to know why Dad did n't take up a place on the plain, where there were no trees to grub and plenty of water, Dad would cough as if something was sticking in his throat, and then curse terribly about the squatters and political jobbery. He would soon cool down, though, and get hopeful again. Read Less. All Copies ( 51 ) Softcover ( 39 ) Hardcover ( 12 ) Choose Edition ( 21 ) Book Details Seller Sort. 1996, ETT Imprint. Brownstown, MI, USA. Edition: 1996, ETT Imprint Paperback, Good Details: ISBN: 1875892338 ISBN-13: 9781875892334 Pages: 256 Publisher: ETT Imprint Published: 1996 Alibris ID: 16613735953 Shipping Options: Standard Shipping: €3,60. Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination. Seller's Description: Good. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. 1996, ETT Imprint. Edition: 1996, ETT Imprint Paperback, Good Details: ISBN: 0207174237 ISBN-13: 9780207174230 Pages: 256 Edition: New edition Publisher: ETT Imprint Published: 05/1992 Language: English Alibris ID: 9948103893 Shipping Options: Standard Shipping: €3,60 Trackable Expedited: €7,20. Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination. Seller's Description: Good. Published by Angus & Robertson (HarperCollins, 1992). Pages unmarked, modest wear. ► Contact This Seller. 1996, ETT Imprint. Edition: 1996, ETT Imprint Paperback, New Available Copies: 10+ Details: ISBN: 9352970756 ISBN-13: 9789352970759 Pages: 256 Publisher: ETT Imprint Published: 2018 Language: English Alibris ID: 15383953724 Shipping Options: Standard Shipping: €3,60 Trackable Expedited: €7,20 Two Day Air: €13,50 One Day Air: €18,00. Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination. Seller's Description: New. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 136 p. ► Contact This Seller. 1996, ETT Imprint. Edition: 1996, ETT Imprint Paperback, New Available Copies: 10+ Details: ISBN-13: 9798661223920 Pages: 256 Publisher: ETT Imprint Published: 2020 Language: English Alibris ID: 16194757401 Shipping Options: Standard Shipping: €3,60 Trackable Expedited: €7,20 Two Day Air: €13,50 One Day Air: €18,00. Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination. Seller's Description: New. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 118 p. ► Contact This Seller. 1996, ETT Imprint. Wilmington, DE, USA. Edition: 1996, ETT Imprint Hardcover, Good Details: Pages: 256 Publisher: ETT Imprint Published: 1973 Alibris ID: 14252975453 Shipping Options: Standard Shipping: €3,60. Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination. Seller's Description: Good. DJ is clean, has fresh colours and has little wear to edges. Book has clean and bright contents. Gift inscription to endpaper. ► Contact This Seller. 1996, ETT Imprint. Edition: 1996, ETT Imprint Paperback, New Available Copies: 10+ Details: ISBN: 1438534167 ISBN-13: 9781438534169 Pages: 256 Publisher: ETT Imprint Published: 2009 Alibris ID: 10943472408 Shipping Options: Standard Shipping: €3,60 Trackable Expedited: €7,20 Two Day Air: €13,50 One Day Air: €18,00. Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination. Seller's Description: New. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 120 p. Black & white illustrations. ► Contact This Seller. 1996, ETT Imprint. Edition: 1996, ETT Imprint Paperback, New Available Copies: 10+ Details: ISBN: 1409917436 ISBN-13: 9781409917434 Pages: 256 Publisher: ETT Imprint Published: 2008 Language: English Alibris ID: 12284792649 Shipping Options: Standard Shipping: €3,60 Trackable Expedited: €7,20 Two Day Air: €13,50 One Day Air: €18,00. Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination. Seller's Description: New. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 140 p. Contains: Illustrations, black & white. ► Contact This Seller. 1996, ETT Imprint. Edition: 1996, ETT Imprint Paperback, New Available Copies: 10+ Details: ISBN: 1438594852 ISBN-13: 9781438594859 Pages: 256 Publisher: ETT Imprint Published: 2010 Language: English Alibris ID: 11431194616 Shipping Options: Standard Shipping: €3,60 Trackable Expedited: €7,20 Two Day Air: €13,50 One Day Air: €18,00. Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination. Seller's Description: New. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 132 p. Contains: Illustrations, black & white. Intended for a juvenile audience. ► Contact This Seller. 1996, ETT Imprint. Gloucester, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM. Edition: 1996, ETT Imprint Paperback, New Available Copies: 10+ Details: ISBN: 1419138510 ISBN-13: 9781419138515 Pages: 256 Publisher: ETT Imprint Published: 2004 Language: English Alibris ID: 16689969036 Shipping Options: Standard Shipping: €3,60. Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination. Seller's Description: New in new dust jacket. ► Contact This Seller. 1996, ETT Imprint. Exeter, DEVON, UNITED KINGDOM. Edition: 1996, ETT Imprint Paperback, New Details: ISBN: 1419138510 ISBN-13: 9781419138515 Pages: 256 Publisher: ETT Imprint Published: 2004 Language: English Alibris ID: 16594708937 Shipping Options: Standard Shipping: €3,60. Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination. On Our Selection. LibriVox recording of On Our Selection by Steele Rudd. Read in English by Son of the Exiles. The humorous account of Dad and Dave and the rest of the Rudd clan as they attempt to carve a farming 'selection' out of the Australian wilderness in spite of fire, famine, snakebite, and a loony hired hand. - Summary by Son of the Exiles. For further information, including links to online text, reader information, RSS feeds, CD cover or other formats (if available), please go to the LibriVox catalog page for this recording. On Our Selection by Steele Rudd. He was the son of a Welsh convict and a mother driven from Ireland by the potato famine, but the man who would change his name from Arthur Hoey Davis to Steele Rudd, began life as one of thirteen children at Drayton, near Toowoomba,Queensland. Whether he was interested or not in a formal education, the need to earn a living interceded and by the age of twelve he’d left school. By 15 years of age he was a junior stock-rider on a station on the Darling Downs, but somewhere along this track of horses, outback living and the need to grow up fast, his ability diverted him away from the life of a stockman. After a period of time working as a junior clerk in an intestate estates office in Brisbane, he was transferred to the sheriff’s office. While there, he took up rowing as a hobby and went on to write a column in a local paper on the subject. Deciding he needed a pseudonym he adopted ‘Steele Rudder’, which was a mash-up of two very different things. The first name came from the English essayist Richard Steele, the second chosen because he wanted to include a reference to boats in his new name. Eventually, Rudder was changed to Steele Rudd, and the man who would become famous for the ‘On Our Selection’ stories was on his way to becoming an icon. Rudd went on to use his own father’s experiences as a selector in the area of Emu Creek to write a series of sketches which The Bulletin published. They later collated the series into an illustrated collection which centered on the difficulties of a selector’s life. In Australian history, a selection was a ‘free selection before survey’ of crown land, however selectors often came into conflict with squatters who already occupied the land and often managed to circumvent the law. Within four years 20,000 copies of On Our Selection had been printed. It afterwards appeared in numerous cheap editions and by 1940 the number of copies sold had reached 250,000. The stories were so popular that they were used as the basis for the Australian radio serial, Dad and Dave from Snake Gully. More often referred to as Dad and Dave , the series centered around two families living at Snake Gully, with episodes featuring national events such as Australia Day, The Sydney Royal Easter Show as well as the Snake Gully Cup. The characters and story-lines soon found a wide audience and with the distinctive theme tune, The Road to Gundagai, streaming across wireless sets four nights a week on Sydney’s 2UW a hit was born. Starting on 31st May 1937, the show ran for 15 years. The stories that comprised On Our Selection may never have been adapted to radio were it not for the chewing gum manufacturer, Wrigleys. The company wanted a radio serial created that was Australian in character and would appeal to a national audience, and so Dad and Dave was born. Despite On Our Selection being made into a movie in 1920, and the publication of two further books, The Romance of Runnibede and Green Grey Homestead , Rudd was disappointed that these more serious novels were not taken up by the reading public. He died at Brisbane on 11 October 1935, aged 66, having struggled in his final years to make a living. It was a rather sad end for a man who wrote of the courage, optimism and humor required by those who embarked on a selector’s life and in doing so appealed to generations of Australians.