For over a hundred years, from the founding of Botany Bay to the end of the nineteenth century, a vernacular architecture of wood flourished in Australia. At first it included elegant town and country houses, but with the growing prosperity of the colony it retreated to the countryside - the woolsheds, hay barns and cattle stations of the outback. Many of these structures are of outstanding beauty. Unpretentious, honest, simple and strong, they project the image of old Australia more powerfully than any other buildings. Includes glossary of technical terms.