The Foxes of Yallamatta Swamp

If you ever wanted to go back in time, then this book is for you. Think back to when you shopped with your mum, carrying her cane basket at the local grocery store, with the butchers and the bakers. Days when small family businesses thrived and country towns enjoyed prosperity with dog trials, races, shows and gymkhanas being the order of the day.

This is my story of growing up on the family farm, Rosebank in the Bringalbert South district between Edenhope and Apsley in Southwest Victoria, Australia.

The story is told through the eyes of a fox named Peter. Peter Fox was my great-great-grandfather who came from Ireland and selected land under the 1860s Land Settlement Act, and he named his farm Yallamatta. His son-in-law, Peter Ruth, purchased this selection and it became part of his farm, Rosebank.

Based on historical facts, Peter is a combination of three generations of ancestors, but not in chronological order. The book is based on my childhood memories, what I have been told by old-timers and local history books I have read-and a small dose of fox dung, be warned!

And yes, I was probably born in the wrong era, but can't go back to those simpler times. But we can all go back in our minds with the help of storytellers like Peter, and get him to tell this story.