CQU Press is currently promoting 'The Outback vs The Wild West' (The Wild West in Australia and America, Volume 2) by Jack Drake, which is available for $33.95.

In Volume 1 of this 2 volume set, outback historian and bush poet Jack Drake wrote about the white European invaders, gunfights, law officers, settlers, land-grabbers, bush rangers, outlaws, stockmen, cattlemen and buffalo hunters in both Australia and America.

Now in Volume 2, Jack tells readers about the fantastic journeys of Australian drovers compared with America's cattle drives.

Readers can find out about ‘Old Bluey’, Nat Buchanan, the world's greatest drover. We also learn about the longest dry stage ever when cattle travelled 200 kilometres without water, and other harrowing trips with stock on two continents.

Jack writes about the chilling conflicts and massacres on both continents as Indigenous peoples fought their hopeless and heroic battles against invading Europeans.

Australia had its freedom fighters like 'Bielbah' who incited three separate tribes to resist white takeover in a desperate fight to regain their lands. America has carved a mountain in the image of 'Crazy Horse' but few have ever heard of the Australian resistance fighters.

Civil conflict between Europeans on both continents is covered with Australia's shearers' wars, miners and convict uprisings taking their place in history as they are compared with America's Mountain Meadows Massacre, and the Johnson County and Tonto Basin range wars.

The women of the Outback and the Wild West appear in all their various guises - heroine, harlot, harpy, fellow-workers and loyal wives - adding colour, romance, spice and sometimes stability to some of the harshest regions in the world.

Memorable frontier females like Australia's Annie Oakley, Claudie Lakeland, the Cape York Sharpshooter, and the Eulo Queen take pride of place and are compared with western women of the Americas and the scandalous Lola Montez who entertained gold rushers in both Australia and California.

Volume 2 also features the transport epics of both countries. There are incredible feats of horse-riding endurance related here such as when John Dickie 'The Stringybark Fox' crossed Australia from west to east through the dead heart with three gallant horses.

There are stories about the outback’s notorious buckjumpers and the men and women who rode them. There are stories about Cobb and Co, Wells Fargo and Pony Express riders from both America and Australia, as well as the teamsters, bullockies, stagecoach drivers and packhorse mailmen who supplied transport, news and necessities on 2 continents.

Volume 2 concludes with a look at the legends of Australia’s Outback and the myths of America’s Wild West.

Historian and bush poet Jack Drake is by profession a horseman, saddler, farrier and bushman.

He writes in his own down-to-earth style on a subject that has been his passion for over 40 years. These stories are the result of thousands of hours of study on the comparative history of 2 wide open and lawless frontiers.

Details are available via:.

CQU Press & Old Silvertail's Outback Books.

PO Box 1615, Rockhampton Qld 4700.

Phone: 07 4923 2520 Fax: 07 4923 2525.

Email: cqupress@cqu.edu.au .

www.outbackbooks.com .