The epitome of the concept of mateship.

The barrow men had very hard work on the road, many of them being old verging on sixty years of age. A young Russian made light work of it, however. He is a great, strong bullock of a fellow, and went ploughing through the heavy sand as though it were a macadamized road. His barrow, which was badly built, creaked and groaned, and laboured like an ancient craft at sea.

When within twenty miles of the fields he came up with another man lying utterly exhausted by the side of his barrow.  The Russian picked up the exhausted man’s load and placed it on top of his own, exclaiming, ‘Here mate, if you’re too tired to walk, jump up on top’.  Mate managed to walk but the Russian wheeled the double load right into the fields.

P. Bridge, Russian Jack, Hesperian Press, Carlisle, Western Australia, 2002
 

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