.jpg)
The New Zealand Novel 1860-1965
Kiwi Cowboy
Kiwi Cowboy. Another standard line in male fiction is the cowboy story, not easily naturalised in New Zealand, where a cow is a cow, and not glamorous at that. Our only equivalent for the page 92 cowboy is the sheep king, but it seems to be the women who have cornered him.
Albert Lord's Kauri Hill, 1957, was first published as a serial in the Auckland Star. It is a sheep king yarn in the cowboy manner, with more of the outdoors than the women usually manage. There are horsemanship, some clean fisticuffs, riding, gumland fires in the fern, Maori lasses, and some nice guitar work. The dialogue is natural, the plot simple, the writing often fresh. At the level of entertainment, this has distinct merits.