New chums, bosses and braggarts have long been traditional butts of Aussie humour, which usually relies for much of its effect on dead-pan delivery. For sheer presence of mind, take the swaggie caught by the squatter in the act of killing a sheep: 'Caught red-handed!' roars the squatter. 'Yes! And I'll kill and man's sheep that tries and bites me!' came the undaunted reply. Then there's the tall story vein of humour, like the one about the seize of the mozzies at a certain waterhole near Newcastle. The shaggy dog story is yet another favourite brand of Australian humour to be found in this entertaining collection of funny yarns and verses. Illustrated by Vane Lindesay.