In almost all respects I found Australian ranching customs and traditions far more intriguing, more dangerous, more ''western'' than those of North America' - Professor Jim Hoy, Emporia State University, Kansas. Previously overshadowed in the public imagination by notions of American cowboys and the wild west, Big Mobs gives Australian stockmen the place they so richly deserve in pastoral and Australian history. From the lonely months on a long cattle drive to the boots they wore and the places they lived in, this comprehensive work provides a fascinating insight into a unique way of life.