The Penguin Book of Australian Balladsoffers a rich mixture of old favourites and re-discovered verse and song. From the horrors of convict floggings to the pleasures of a cheerful glass; from the defiance of Bold Jack Donahoo to the desire to strangle Billy if he sings 'The Wild Colonial Boy'; from the squatter's wife trapped in the bush to the woman who rejoices when her husband falls down a mine shaft. These are the voices of the Australian experience from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries.