Extract from the foreword to "If that man comes here, I'll shoot him : reminiscences of High Country women".

Foreword by Klaus Hueneke.

This book is a collection of poetry by Gladys Weston. Publishing details can be found at the National Library of Australia

Gladys Weston (born August 20, 1897) and Emily McGufficke (born January 23, 1900), were the daughters of George Wallace of Jindabyne. Gladys first went to the mountains with her father in her teens.

Although part of the sheep and cattle-grazing era, which eventually led to the destruction of much mountain growth by over-grazing, she remembers with love and excitement still, the wild flowers, the horse riding, and hut-living as if it were yesterday. "When we grew up, the first thing you wanted was a horse, and the next thing was a saddle. Horses were part of our lives, always."

Her sister remembers Gladys riding on horse-back from the time she was tiny. "She had two brothers much older than she was, so she had no children to play with. You'd see a horseman going across a paddock, and a bump on the back - a long way off - she'd be sitting behind!"

Gladys so loved the mountain life as she grew older, spending summers in the high country with her father, that when she wasn't riding the fences or cooking for the men, she wrote poetry about the mountains.

"I used to memorise poems while I was riding around, and then come home and write it easily at night. Or I'd write on days when it was too cold to go out!"