The firewood had all been chopped and stacked beside the back door. The stove had been lit and the men would soon be in for tea.

Sheila walked down to the village common to collect the milking cow as wood smoke began curling up from the chimneys of the cottages. As each household prepared for the evening meal the young people of the village went about the last chores of the day.

The evening air was fragrant and birdsongs were all around Sheila as she walked down the narrow lane that past behind each house in her street.

Tall and willowy, Sheila was the envy of every girl in the village, her thick chestnut hair hung down to her waist and her flashing emerald eyes entreated all who met her.

Sheila had an air of elegance about her and tomorrow was her wedding day.

The house cow knew her way up the narrow back lanes of the village as she had walked this way every day of her life. The cow took no notice of Sheila wandering off on the way home.

The magnificent Red Gums and the horses splashing through the creek at the back of the village common were treasured sights for Sheila, and the distant sounds of men winding their way home across the hills always comforted her.

Sheila let the cow go on ahead of her as she drank in these favorite sounds one more time, for tomorrow she would cross the mountains and look for a new life on the Condermine.