James K. Baxter's first play has all the richness and exciting imagery which filled his poetry in the fifties.
Jack Winter, the old swagman, lies down for his last sleep in the ruins of "The Drover's Rest" and dreams of the colourful characters of gold-digging days who one stormy night filled the shanty pub with song and argument; laughter and deceit.
Baxter uses the shaping power of his imagination to give a moment in the history of Otago the weight of myth and the resonance of poetry.
Originally written for radio.