This book combines the life story and the poetry of one of the most admired personalities of early Rhodesia. Kingsley Fairbridge was a visionary whose idealism was supported by action and a remarkable resourcefulness. Born at Grahamstown in 1885, he became a pioneer when, at the age of eleven, his family moved to Umtali in the eastern highlands of Rhodesia. His formal schooling unfinished, the wilds became his classroom. While wandering "on the outskirts of the Empire" he had his "splendid vision" of peopling the vast empty spaces with child immigrants. Winning a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford, he studied forestry, wrote verse, was awarded his "blue" for boxing - and founded The Child Emigration Society, later to become the Fairbridge Society. His scheme was considered impracticable for Rhodesia, but it took root in Australia, where he did impressive work in giving many hundreds of underprivileged children from the overcrowded cities of Britain new opportunities in life. This edition, published on the 50th anniversary of Fairbridge's death, carries an informative Publishers' Introduction (in which there is new material on the Fairbridge family history), a Foreword by Rhodesian poet Noel Brettell, and an Epilogue covering the years in Australia, as well as Fairbridge's classic Autobiography and his rare Veld Verse.

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