Pat Ritter. Books

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Hannah stood on the veranda waving in the darkness, hoping Joe saw her. A loud voice echoed, ‘What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing?’ Her father yelled.
‘I’m saying goodbye to Joe. He’s leaving this morning to go to the next shed. I wanted to say goodbye to him because I don’t know if I’ll ever she him again,’ Tears flowed down her face; her body shook.
‘How many times have I told you not to speak with the hired help?’ Her father exploded, to stand in front of her.
‘I know Pa, but Joe is different. He loves me and I love him.’
‘Love! You wouldn’t know the meaning of the word.’ He stormed off in the direction of the kitchen. Hannah returned to her bedroom.

Joe and Bluey walked swiftly for a couple of hours until they stopped at Moonjaree Crossing for a break. Moonjaree Crossing joined Moonjaree Creek which flowed onto the Paroo River, a major tributary to the Darling River south to Bourke in New South Wales which flowed into the Murray River and out to sea in South Australia.
Before leaving, the cook gave Joe sufficient damper and tea to carry them to Tilbooroo Station. Bluey quickly threw sticks together and soon had a fire blazing whilst Joe filled their billycan from the creek.
‘This is the life,’ Bluey mocked. ‘Out in the bush, no worries, no women and no bloody sheep.’
‘I don’t agree about no women mate. After this past week I never thought I’d meet a woman like Hannah,’ Joe said with a smile in his voice.
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'The Shearer' - Page 38:

‘Yeah, I must say she’s a beauty alright. How do you think you’ll go?’ Bluey rose from his seat and threw a hand full of tea leaves into the boiling water.
‘I don’t know yet but I’ll marry her if I have to wait my whole life. I think I’m in love, whatever love means,’ Joe explained, rising to his feet to pick the billy up from the fire. He swung the billy around three times in a circle with his right arm outstretched, then reversed the swing twice before he settled the billy on the ground to allow the tea leaves to settle on the bottom.
‘Here’s some damper the cook packed.’ Bluey handed Joe a piece of damper whilst Joe picked up the billy can to pour their tea into pannikins. They sat against the trunk of a huge gumtree eating the damper and sipping their tea.
‘This is the life, isn’t it?’ Joe exclaimed with a smile, a cool breeze refreshing their faces.
‘It sure is. What could be better? You gunna have a bit of shut eye before we head off?’ Bluey asked. ‘Have a look at those clouds in the north.’ Bluey pointed to dark clouds in the direction they were travelling. ‘Wonder if there’s any rain in them? They look dark and smell moist like it’s going to rain. Smell the gidgee. We’ll have a shut eye for half-an-hour and hit the trail, and see how we go.’ Bluey said.
Both men rested their eyes. After a time Joe awoke with a start to see lightning splitting across the sky and heard thunder echoing, ‘Hey Bluey, wake up mate.’ He shoved his mate to wake him, ‘We’d better get going before the storm hits.’
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'The Shearer' - Page 39:

Covering the fire with sand they threw their swags over their shoulders and hit the trail. If rain came they would walk to Moonjaree Homestead, to stay overnight and head off next morning after the rain stopped.
With Moonjaree Homestead in sight they quickened their pace to reach the cover of the veranda before heavy rain fell.
‘You’d better come inside before you fellars get drenched,’ a voice called. Joe didn’t know anyone at Moonjaree Station and assumed the voice must belong to the manager or owner. A man stood before them. ‘Peter Greig’s, the name, I’m manager here.’ They shook hands. ‘Come in. Wonderful to have rain. I’ll get my wife to put the kettle on.’ Peter left the two men standing on the veranda shaking the rain from their clothes.
Peter returned with a woman. ‘I’d like you to meet my wife, Rose, now I didn’t get your names?’
‘I’m Joe Ryan, Mr & Mrs Greig. This is Bluey Simpson and we’re shearers heading to Tilbooroo Station. Sorry to call in unexpected like this,’ Joe explained.
‘We’re pleased to have company. Would you like a cuppa?’ Peter asked.
‘Would be wonderful, thank you. As soon as the rain stops we’ll be on our way.’
‘Don’t think the rain is going to stop tonight fellers. Better camp here tonight and take off in the morning. You can throw your swags on the veranda here if you want.’
‘We can use your quarters. We don’t want to put you to any trouble,’ Joe said. There was always a demarcation between cocky and shearer.
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‘No trouble. I’ll put something extra on for lunch,’ Rose said and left her husband with Joe and Bluey.
‘Well, that’s it boys, the boss has spoken. You’ll be our guests until morning and I won’t hear of you camping in the quarters. You’ll camp here on the veranda. The bathroom is inside if you want to wash before lunch, then find your way into the kitchen. See you both in there. We can’t let the lady of the house down, can we?’ He left Joe and Bluey to ponder their next move.
After Joe and Bluey washed their hands and faces from a wash basin they joined Peter and his wife in the kitchen. Warmth filled the room from the stove blazing in the corner. ‘Take a seat, any where. Lunch will be ready in a moment,’ Rose said.
Bluey and Joe sat opposite Peter; Rose placed plates of food before the two shearers. ‘This looks great, Mrs Greig, thank you.’ Joe stammered.
‘Can’t have you starving, can we.’ All started to eat.
‘Where have you been shearing?’ Peter asked, with a mouth half filled with food.
‘‘Kahmoo Station.’ We left this morning after shearing for a week.’ Joe told him.
‘Nat Young’s place. How’s the cranky ole bugger?’ Peter asked.
‘Joe almost got the sack when he cut a belly of one of the sheep,’ Bluey answered, enjoying his meal. ‘This is great, Mrs Greig – thank you.’
‘I’m pleased you like it. Peter enjoys his midday meal.’
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'The Shearer' - Page 41:

The noise of the rain almost deafened them. ‘Looks like the rain is constant. He has a nice place over there, and you two must have left early this morning to reach here at this time.’
‘Yeah, we left before daylight and moved along a bit until we saw the dark clouds. Lucky we reached here before it really came down. We appreciate your kindness, thank you.’
‘Our pleasure’, Peter said. ‘Did Hannah arrive there while you were shearing? Hannah is Nat’s daughter.’ Peter asked, between mouth full of food.
‘Sure did,’ Bluey said, ‘Joe here wants to marry her.’ Bluey grinned.
‘I don’t know if Hannah is old enough to marry, is she?’ asked Rose looking directly at the two shearers.
‘I want to marry her, and I will one day if I’ve got anything to do with it. I’ve given her my ring to show my love I have for her,’ Joe admitted to the others confidentially.
‘You think Nat would let his daughter marry a shearer?’ Peter asked, ‘I’ve known him a long time and I doubt it.’ He placed his knife and fork beside his plate.
‘Don’t ya think I’d be good enough to marry Hannah?’ Joe blasted, his anger reaching fever pitch.
‘I’m not saying you’re not good enough, but if you know Nat Young like I do he’d want his daughter to marry a cocky’s son.’ Peter admitted.
‘Well, I’m going to marry her if it’s the last thing I do.’
‘Then it might be the last thing you do,’ Peter admitted with a smile.
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'The Shearer' - Page 42:

Chapter 6

Throughout the night constant rain poured, causing dampness along the veranda where Joe and Bluey slept soundly in their swags. With a slight morning light creeping on the veranda Joe leaped from his swag, rolled it tightly into a bedroll secured by two thick leather straps. He kicked Bluey in his swag, ‘Come on Bluey, we’d better get going.’
‘You’re up and about early,’ Peter’s voice echoed along the veranda. ‘We’ve had a good drop of rain. You fellars heading off?’
‘Thanks for your kindness and allowing us to camp on the veranda but if we don’t get moving we’ll never reach Tilbooroo Station before tomorrow night.’ Joe explained.
‘Rose made something for the road.’ Peter handed Joe two parcels.
‘We appreciate this and would you thank her for her hospitality? Come on Bluey we need to hit the trail mate.’
‘Ah, one thing before you go fellars, watch Moonjaree Creek. When we’ve had this amount of rain it comes up quick but goes down just as quickly when the rain stops. Walk along the bank for about twenty miles heading toward Eulo and you should be safe to cross anywhere there about. Be careful. We might catch up with you fellars some other time - you never know you could be shearing here one day.’ Peter shook hands with Joe and Bluey and wished them all the best for the rest of their trip.
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'The Shearer' - Page 43:

With the rain pelting down on their hats, Joe and Bluey walked through the mud followed Moonjaree Creek as Peter suggested. ‘Is it ever going to stop?’ Joe called to Bluey, who walked a couple of steps behind slushing his way through the thick black goo. Alongside Moonjaree Creek, the black soil stuck to their boots and constantly they stopped to scrap off the access mud.
‘Don’t think so, you know the ole saying about black soil, you stick to it in the dry and it’ll stick to you in the wet.’ Bluey ed, pulling the front of his hat down over his eyes to stop the rain hitting them. At times he walked blind.
‘What say we stop for awhile to see if this damn rain doesn’t slow and eat this food Rose made?’ Joe shouted above the noise so Bluey could hear. They sat together under the branches of a mulga tree huddled with their swags above their heads to shelter them from the pouring rain.
‘Hope the bloody hell it stops soon otherwise we’ll never get to Tilbooroo Station. They can’t start without us and we can’t be expected to shear wet sheep,’ Joe shouted in Bluey’s ear as he took a mouthful of mutton sandwich.
‘All I know is at this rate we’ll never get there unless this blessed rain doesn’t stop or slow down.’ Bluey grumbled. They sat in silence to finish eating their food. ‘Do you know where you’re going?’
‘Yeah, I reckon if we cross Moonjaree Creek and head toward those hills over there, a couple of miles away, we’ll hit Tilbooroo Station boundary fence.’ Joe explained. He pointed in a northerly direction. Through the rain a shadow of hills could be seen in the distance.
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