AustLit

'As a genre, the western springs from colonial tension: tension between the old ways and the new; between the native people and an invading population; between humans and the land itself, between lore and the law. There are no westerns set in Britain. And while the gun-slinging adventures of cowboy frontiersmen have receded into the background of American culture, the genre remains ripe with critical and narrative potential for more freshly colonised countries like Australia.' (Introduction)