The Lost Valley

This Australian mystery, published in 1921, is set in the Western District of Victoria. It concerns the robbery of a gold escort in 1881 and the attempts in 1919 to recover the gold that was buried by the robbers in a small hidden valley. The air of mystery is added to by awareness of the paranormal in Carstairs, the central character. He refers several times to premonition. One of the robbers has only partial memory due to brain damage and is unsuccessful in his attempt to discover the valley. Carstairs pieces together the clues in order to locate the treasure.

The author, James Morgan Walsh (born 23 February 1897), whose father was from Co. Galway, was an avid reader as a child and had his first short story published in 1913 and his first novel in 1921. The success of The Lost Valley encouraged him to pursue a full-time writing career and he went on to write more than 60 novels as well as scores of short stories.
    

Some of the warfare mindset is present in the author, particularly in his attitude to violence. We can imagine how the following passage is reflective of a soldier’s response to his comrade having been killed:
“It was a monstrous and incredible thing that this quite little corner of the quietest little state in Australia should be polluted by the presence of the incarnate fiends that had murdered... A cold, pitiless anger took possession of me and I set about my work of vengeance as calmly as if I were going rabbit-shooting. I knew now of a surety that I could shoot at any man who came within range without fear or favour.”