Willstown

She rode into Willstown in the darkness at about seven o'clock, a very tired girl on a very tired horse with a black ringer beside her.

A Town Like Alice Shute, Nevil, 1899-1960 1950

It was worth trying, anyway; the worst that could happen would be that she would get it stuck and have to send Bourneville back to Willstown with a note for them to send up somebody more competent.

A Town Like Alice Shute, Nevil, 1899-1960 1950

The matter was a nine days 'wonder in Willstown and old men used to stand around wondering at this midsummer madness of an English girl, a stranger to the Gulf country, who proposed to make shoes there and send them all the way to England to be sold.

A Town Like Alice Shute, Nevil, 1899-1960 1950

Willstown lay about four hundred miles to the west-north-west; the first seventy miles of this course lay over the Atherton Tableland with mountains up to three thousand five hundred feet in height With no radio navigational aids he would have to fly visually all the way, scraping along between the clouds and the treetops as best he could.

A Town Like Alice Shute, Nevil, 1899-1960 1950

Joe asked, "Did you hear anything about Miss Paget, down in Willstown?"

A Town Like Alice Shute, Nevil, 1899-1960 1950

He drove her into Willstown at about nine o'clock that night; they halted for a while outside the town to say goodnight in proper style.

A Town Like Alice Shute, Nevil, 1899-1960 1950

From Sydney it would have to be flown up with her to Cairns and Willstown at some considerable expense, but it seemed to me to be worth it since it was then the hottest time of the year.

A Town Like Alice Shute, Nevil, 1899-1960 1950

There was, of course, no church in Willstown at that time though one is to be built next year; they were married in the Shire Hall, and all the countryside came to the wedding.

A Town Like Alice Shute, Nevil, 1899-1960 1950

It was new since he had last been in Willstown, and he stared around him with amused wonder.

A Town Like Alice Shute, Nevil, 1899-1960 1950

He came to Willstown and flew round the few houses at a hundred feet to tell them he was there, and landed on the airstrip.

A Town Like Alice Shute, Nevil, 1899-1960 1950