The Gifts of Frank Cobbold

This biography of Frank Cobbold opens when Frank goes to sea on a Clipper aged 14. It follows him through inexperience as a Fijian trader who escaped the cannibals’ cook pot and survived one of the worst hurricanes in living memory. In Australia he learned the skills of a surveyor and quickly became a sought-after and trusted station manager. Despite problems that would have defeated a less resolute man he took droughts, cheats and unyielding land tenure regulations in his stride to become one of Australia’s great pioneering pastoralists. Admired by fellow bushmen, trusted by his partners and wooed by bankers, his gritty determination earned him a small fortune which he gave away. It’s a remarkable story.