The Bush-Fire by Henry Lawson — Read

I. SQUATTER AND SELECTOR

Wall was a squatter and a hard man. There had been long years of drought and loss, and then came the rabbit pest-the rabbits swarmed like flies over his run, and cropped the ground bare where even the poor grass might have saved thousands of sheep-and the rabbits cost the squatter hundreds of pounds in "rabbit-proof" fences, trappers' wages, etc., just to keep them down. Then came arrangements with the bank. And then Wall's wife died. Wall started to brood over other days, and the days that had gone between, and developed a temper which drove his children from home one by one, till only Mary was left. She managed the lonely home with the help of a half-caste. Then in good seasons came the selectors.