Elizabeth Jessie Hickman

Portrayed in recent years as the infamous Lady Bushranger of the Wollemi Valleys of New South Wales, she had a very colourful life. Hers was a world of bush carnivals and buckjumping, cattle duffing, arrests and escapes, gaolings, reforms and more. Exposed here for the first time is a tale of deception surrounding a newborn infant, relationships, divorces, love, hate and heartbreak all mingling to create the complex life that was Jessies.

Her granddaughter, Di Moore, was sixty-seven when she learned the truth about her biological grandparents from an elderly country saddler. By the time he had finished talking, Di's perception of her family's history was shaken—and her curiosity aroused. With the enthusiasm of a new family researcher on a mission, she began to look into the life-changing revelation she heard that day. With no prior inkling of what her inquiries might uncover, she entered a world that had remained safely hidden in that well-stocked cupboard of disreputable skeletons. It is said that truth is stranger than fiction, and Di's research has given her new appreciation for that aphorism.

Out of the Mists is by far the most accurate account of Elizabeth Jessie Hickman's unusual life, compiled with respect and honour by her own granddaughter. This is Jessie's true story—warts and all.