It tells of a boy who leaves home at the start of the harvest to move to the city, an unheard of and unforgivable thing for a Scot to do in the early 1900s, according to the poet: "They were Scots of the Riverina, and to run from home was a crime."
The passage tells the story of a young man who leaves his rural home at the start of the harvest season to relocate to an urban area, which was seen as a serious breach of tradition and family obligations by the poet: "They were Scots of the Riverina, and leaving one's family was considered a grave offense."