 ""Jack's Last Muster" is one of the few instances of [Boake's] work, where we experience the rhythm of joy and the feeling of carefreeness.Could Boake have dragged himself from the melancholia and hopeless outlook on life that obsessed him he might have given us an epic of bush life.He conceived the idea of one when it was too late; when life had destroyed his hope, and he had invited death to put an end to his hopelessness.