This timeless image of Matthew Naughton (pictured with a rabbit trap around his neck) made The Valley Voice front page in 1978.
Naughton was one of three local boys who had made a temporary home in the bush, only a few miles from suburbia, to escape the pressures of being young and unemployed.
The "runaways", who were sitting around a fire drinking billy tea when I met them, agreed to tell their story to the newspaper on the proviso that their hideaway remain a secret.
**This photograph is part of an IA series that looks at Australia through the lens of award-winning photojournalist Bill McAuley.**
Editor's note — This photo features in the collection, 'The Valley Voice: Eltham's Newspaper of the times 1978-1979'.
Bill McAuley's 40-plus-year news career began in 1969 as a cadet photographer at 'The Age' in Melbourne. He has several published collections, including 'Portraits of the Soul: A lifetime of images with Bill McAuley'. To see more from Bill, click here.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
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