The book often melds city and bush. The opening story, The Old Tin Mine, features a cantankerous, weed-smoking elder, a ranger who is responsible for running a âsurvival campâ for town-raised lads who have lost their connection to Country. The program is loosely set up for âtraditional food, yarns, roughing itâ: so for the boys to snare a roo or two and to gather some low-tide limpets among other tribal wisdoms. Here and all throughout the book, Thompson displays a fine calibration of characterisation and voice. âUncle Benâ (not an honorific heâd chosen) is gruff and sardonic, and like a number of the other stories, thereâs humour and a twist in the end too.