Wayleggo

by Peter Newton

This is perhaps Newton's most well-known book about the mustering life. "Wayleggo", as he explains in the foreword is a strange word, but also the command a shepherd gives to call his dog off sheep, presumably an abbreviation of "come away and let them go."

This book is all about mustering life in the 1920s and 1930s and there's a poignancy to the memories of high country life. With chapters on Castle Hill, Lake Coleridge, Mesopotamia and other well known South Island spots, Newton tells a story of dogs, sheep and horses in remote corners of the Southern Alps. 

"Mustering calls for the resilience of youth and one finds musterers forsaking the life at an early age. It is to those men - many of them my friends - for whom happy days on the hill are but a memory, that I dedicate my book." From the Foreword. 

This is a hardback with no dust jacket, but all pages intact, no rips, tears etc and still well bound. Foxing on some of pages and fading on cloth cover hardback. All reflected in price.