There are books aplenty about legendary stockman, drovers and station cooks, but the equally legendary station 'missus' has been neglected. Woman in the outback faced greater challenges than the men. After all, the men had plenty of their own company, and they didn't become pregnant! The 'missus' often endured great isolation, & had to master many skills - butchering cattle, salting beef, making bread, minor surgery, peace-keeping , cooking for fifteen or twenty, helping out in the bronco yard, killing the odd snake, & 'managing' some of the cantankerous white men who drifted through the outback. Lexie Simmons mastered all these skills, & more, & survived to become a great 'bush misus'.