Back in South Alligator Travis was even more depressed by his surroundings. He had seen, however vicariously, a glimpse of another kind of life, and his own ocher and scrubby world filled him with dread. On his fourth attempt to run away from home Travis was successful, and he found himself back in Darwin, the Territory's capital... ...but still a dusty country town for all that. There wasn't too much of a market for his songs in the local pubs so Travis gravitated towards the docks, landing a job on a fishing trawler.

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