21 h 43 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 21 h 43 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
On a lonely bush road, the stranger beside you may be an honest worker—or an outlaw.
In Bad Company, and Other Stories takes you into the colonial Australian bush, where sheep stations stand far apart and help is distant. Rolf Boldrewood follows shearers, stockmen, squatters and troopers through a country of dusty tracks and lonely camps. A shared fire or a stretch of road brings people together, but a companion’s past may remain hidden.
These short adventures explore bushrangers, station work and the thin line between honest living and trouble. In New South Wales and Victoria, the muster, the shearing shed and long rides between properties shape daily life. Boldrewood draws on his own experience as a squatter and magistrate, with a close eye for horses, weather and talk around the fire.
What you’ll discover
- The bush sets the terms Discover a hard country where distance shapes work, travel and the need for help.
- Company worth questioning Share the uncertainty of meeting strangers whose pasts are unknown.
- Life in the shearing shed Meet travelling workers whose skill, endurance and humor bring station life into focus.
- Outlaws and mounted troopers Follow bushrangers and policemen along roads where honest travellers and dangerous men cross paths.
- An eye for everyday work Explore musters, flocks and long rides through the plain storytelling of an experienced pastoralist.
Who will love it
Readers who love Australian bush stories, shearing sheds, bushrangers and old racehorses will enjoy this collection. It also suits those who like clear villains and loyal wives.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A careful selector builds his name by labour
- Jenny warns Bill about Janus Stoate
- Bill sees the huts and cuts loose
- Tandara's shearers vote against a sudden strike
- An armed camp turns shearers into prisoners
- Jenny and her friends fight the charge
- Bushranger tales strip away the romance
- Bush work is told by a man who did it
- Memory turns the book into a life
- Comedy, essays and a warm opinionated voice
Who’s who
- Bill HardwickA sober, strong Tumut selector and top shearer who wants to take his earnings home to his family.
- Jenny HardwickBill's clear-sighted wife, who runs the dairy, distrusts Stoate, and fights to protect her husband and children.
- Janus StoateA Londoner and union delegate who begs rations, stirs up strikes and nurses a grudge against Bill.
- Jack MacdonaldThe Australian-born manager of Tandara, quick-tempered and loyal to his employers, who wants his sheep shorn.
- Jim StanfordA giant shearer and sound unionist who proposes a sensible vote instead of an instant strike.
- Mr. CalthorpeThe Talmorah bank manager who respects the Hardwicks and organises help when Bill is in trouble.
- Mr. BiddulphThe shrewd Wagga lawyer who takes Bill's defence and searches for witnesses.
- Dick DonahueBill's neighbour, once reckless and in debt, who stands by the Hardwick family in their trouble.
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- Hardcover
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Dans la mauvaise compagnie et autres nouvelles
by Rolf Boldrewood · 1901
Bill Hardwick, a sober Tumut shearer, rides to the sheds beside a smooth talker who wants him in a strike.
Challenging10–20 hours to readfrançais
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In short
What does it cost a careful man to share a road with the wrong companion? Bill Hardwick of Tumut is sober, strong and the fastest shearer in his district.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A careful selector builds his name by labour
Bill Hardwick, born at Tumut, is the author's fine example of an Australian.
Bill drinks moderately, avoids wasting his earnings at the public house, and saves. With two hundred pounds he takes up a selection of three hundred and twenty acres and builds a four-room slab cottage with his own hands. Then he marries Jenny Dawson, whom he has known since he first cracked a stockwhip.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1901
- Language
- français
- Reading time
- 14 h 5 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Boldrewood, Rolf. In Bad Company, and Other Stories. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-bad-company-and-other-stories.
Boldrewood, R. (2026). In bad company, and other stories. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-bad-company-and-other-stories (Original work published 1901)
Boldrewood, Rolf. In Bad Company, and Other Stories. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-bad-company-and-other-stories.
@book{boldrewood2026bad,
author = {Boldrewood, Rolf},
title = {In Bad Company, and Other Stories},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-bad-company-and-other-stories},
note = {First published 1901}
}
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What is In Bad Company and Other Stories about?
It joins a short novel about a farmer-shearer caught up in the 1890s shearers' strikes with about forty shorter pieces. These cover bushrangers, droving, shearing sheds, horses, dogs, school days and memories of old Sydney and Port Fairy.
Who is Janus Stoate in In Bad Company?
Stoate is a Londoner and union delegate who talks of rights while begging rations from the squatters he criticises. He travels with Bill Hardwick, loses his friendship, and sets out to get even with him.
What does taking up a selection mean in the story?
A selection is a block of Crown land bought on easy terms under New South Wales law. Bill pays two shillings an acre at first and owes the rest later, then builds a home and works the land.
The author
Rolf Boldrewood
1826–1915 · Australian novelist
Rolf Boldrewood was the pen name of Thomas Alexander Browne, born in London in 1826. He moved to Australia in 1831 and worked as a pastoralist and magistrate. He wrote novels and short stories, including Robbery Under Arms, published as a book in 1888. He died in Melbourne in 1915.
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