Harry Heathcote of Gangoil

Dry weather turns a dispute between neighboring properties into an immediate threat at Gangoil. In Anthony Trollope's Harry Heathcote of Gangoil, the young English leaseholder manages 120,000 acres of Australian bush and 30,000 sheep with his wife, two sons, and sister-in-law Kate Daly. His temper and fierce sense of ownership have left him isolated when the range most needs allies.

Giles Medlicot owns the river frontage beside Gangoil and has built a sugar mill there. Harry treats that purchase as a personal affront. Kate's affection for Medlicot makes the quarrel impossible to contain within property lines. Beyond them stand the Brownbies, a lawless cattle-raising family whose hostility is reinforced by workers Harry has dismissed.

When the Brownbies and two former sheepmen attempt to burn the range during the December fire season, vigilance becomes physical endurance. Harry and his men ride day and night to defend the station, yet stopping the flames may require help from the neighbor he resents. Trollope uses the compressed crisis of bush fire and contested land to test pride, cooperation, and belonging in a colonial pastoral setting. The novel's tension comes from watching private grievances collide with a danger that respects no boundary fence.