S G Bryant

Boss chronicles the life and times of Mary Emily Susannah (Minnie) Hunter, and her experiences on the frontiers of nineteenth century Australia.  Born into a family of famous horsemen and pioneers, Minnie inherits her family’s love of horses as well as an affinity with the wild landscape at the edge of settled Australia.

As a child she meets John Brewer, a self-made pastoralist and outstanding young horseman.  She quickly comes to idolise the man she calls ‘Boss’, and the friendship she strikes up marks the beginning of a devotion that lasts her whole life.

The book also charts the terrible fate that befell the Boandik and Wiradjuri tribes, who Minnie lived with and befriended over her life.  In the space of a generation, disease and white apathy and neglect wiped out these people and their traditional way of life.

Boss is based on the published diaries of Minnie Hunter, creatively interpreted to highlight the remarkable lives of Minnie, her family, and the people she encountered over her life.