The Drover's Wife: Difficulties of Outback Life The story "The Drover's Wife" is written by Henry Lawson, Australia's most famous short story writer and poet . "The Drover's Wife" is probably Lawson's best-known work and was first published in the collection titled "While the Billy Boils" in 1892. Lawson was deeply interested in the effects of the harsh Australian outback on people's lives, having spent 18 years months in the bush. This was expressed in a series of so-called "bush ballads" and short stories, including "The Drover's Wife". This story takes place in the Australian bush or outback. This is revealed in the first two paragraphs, where the author gives a brief and precise description of the house and the surrounding landscape. Telling the story moment is, however, more difficult. The text gives us only a few clues as to when this might have happened. The most obvious is: "The 18-year drought ruined him." I originally thought 18 meant 1918, but considering the story was written in 1892, that must be wrong. The year referred to is most likely 1818. The main conflict in "The Drover's Wife" is perhaps not as obvious as we might think. At first it is quite easy to imagine that there is a conflict between the wild woman and the snake. The reason for this is that the snake poses a threat to the woman. If it doesn't kill him, the snake may bite one of the children, which will be a disaster since he is nineteen miles from his nearest neighbor. The child would die before they could get help. However, this conflict is only a consequence of the main conflict, which is mentioned in a sentence at the beginning of the text: "The herdsman, a former squatter, is away with the sheep. His wife and children are left here alone." The main problem is that the wife is left alone to face the difficulties of life in the Australian bush. In my opinion Lawson uses the incident with the snake to reveal the struggles of the forest woman against the hinterland. The point of view used in "The Drover's Wife" is third-person limited voice. Lawson told the story from the bush woman's point of view. This allows us to see into his thoughts and feelings.