Out and about in the back country

Most of us know little of high country farming although we have to look no further than the Southern Man commercials to realise that the way of life in the remote back country and the South Island foothills and mountains has become a favourite New Zealand myth.

This is perpetuated to some extent in High Country New Zealand (Te Papa Press), by photographer Antonia Steeg, which has an informative and evocative introduction by Philip Temple. They capture some of the beauty of the landscape, the history, dangers, hardship, and some of the timeless practices of high country life through the seasons, particularly of shepherds, musterers and farm workers, their horses and dogs and the sheep, cattle and deer they farm.

Fragments of poetry from James K. Baxter, Denis Glover and other writers give different glimpses of the land and its addictive charms and hard work.

A beautifully produced book that enhances, and brings some reality to, one of our national myths.