Hell West and Crooked

The bestselling story of a real-life Crocodile Dundee. the bestselling story of a real-life Crocodile Dundee. In this remarkable memoir, tom Cole tells the stories of his life in the outback during the 1920s and 1930s. With great humour and drama, he recounts his adventures as a drover and stockman in the toughest country in Australia and later on as a buffalo shooter and crocodile hunter in the Northern territory before the war. First published in 1988 and having sold over 100 000 copies, Hell West and Crooked is perfect for anyone who enjoys a classic outback yarn. ‘A real-life story of the pioneering days of the top End that out-adventures anything fiction writers could hope to produce.’ – tHE WESt AUStRALIAN ‘tom Cole is a living legend, a real-life Crocodile Dundee. His stories paint a vivid picture of wild and exciting times in the Australian outback.’ – MELBOURNE SUNDAY EXPRESS ‘A story of the outback and cattlemen and women, stripped of glamour, that will become an Australian classic to rub covers with authors like Ion Idriess.’ – GOLD COASt BULLEtIN

Author Biography

Tom Cole worked as an expert stockman on properties throughout northern Australia, as a repairman of the Overland Telegraph Line and manager a coffee plantation in Papua New Guinea before retiring at seventy-two years old. Born in England in 1906, Cole became a real-life Crocodile Dundee, renowned for an adventurous spirit that first brought him to Australia at the age of seventeen. Awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1994 for his contribution to history, his experiences inspired his collection of short stories Spears and Smoke Signals and his memoirs Hell West and Crooked and, its sequel, The Last Paradise.