This contribution looks at a broad selection of books or publications read over the first three months  of 2024, and is provided for the general interest of readers of this Column.

A range of decades, and subject matters, are represented covering the years of publication from 1949 through to 2024.

• Mr Einstein’s Secretary by Matthew Reilly;
• Australian Foreign Affairs’ Issue 20 –  ‘Dead in the Water: The AUKUS delusion;
• ‘The Last Charge of the Australian Light Horses’ by Peter Fitzsimons;
• ‘One Wet Season’ by Ion L. Idriess [published in 1949, including the author’s biography];
• ‘Call Of The Raven’  by Wilbur Smith [with Corban Addison];
• ‘Kidnapped’ by Mark Tedeschi QC [the true story of the kidnapping of 10 year old Graeme Thorne];
• Australia’s Light Horse: The Campaign in the Middle East, 1916-1918, by Phillip Bradley;
• National Geographic special edition – ‘The Story of Jesus’; and,
• Quarterly Essay 93: Bad Cop: Peter Dutton’s Strongman Politics by Lech Blaine.

20^th January

 ‘Mr Einstein’s Secretary’ by Matthew Reilly, published in 2023, 450 pages. This is the first book I have read by that author, generally a writer of crime and thriller fiction which I usually don’t bother with these days.  The title attracted me when I was the QBD bookshelf last Friday when I was in Melton recently..  Described as about ‘A secretary like no other in a Epic spanning 40 years’  – leading up to the 2^nd World War, during the war and beyond, mainly set in either Nazi Germany or the USA throughout that period. A form of historical novel of the kind I usually enjoy – as described by the author himself  –  “This a work of fiction.  Hanna Fischer [the Secretary] is fictitious. But many of the events depicted in this novel really happened and many of the characters in it actually existed.”  He then goes on to describe the real fates of those ‘real’ characters, or events,  such as the Nazis, Bormann or Hitler;  the Ku Klux Klan march of 1925; the Manhattan nuclear project; the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games; the Muhlviertal ‘Hare’ Hunt; and so on.

The book tells  the story of Hanna Fischer, a young woman who aspired to study physics under Albert Einstein. However, her life takes a dramatic turn when she becomes a student, a secretary, a sister, and a spy. The novel takes the reader on a thrilling journey through some of history’s most dangerous times, from racist gangs in Berlin to gangsters in New York City, Nazis in the 1930s, and Hitler’s inner circle during World War II.

As Goodreads describes the novel ……………………

“All Hanna Fischer ever wanted to do was to study physics under the great Albert Einstein. But when, as a teenager in 1919, her life is suddenly turned upside-down, she is catapulted into a new and extraordinary life – as a student, a secretary, a sister and a spy.  From racist gangs in Berlin to gangsters in New York City, Nazis in the 1930s and Hitler’s inner circle during the Second World War, Hanna will encounter some of history’s greatest minds and most terrible moments, all while desperately trying to stay alive.   She is a most unique secretary and she will work for many bosses – from shrewd businessmen to vile Nazis, to the greatest boss of them all, Mr Albert Einstein…  Spanning forty years, this is the thrilling tale of a young woman propelled through history’s most dangerous times. But read it carefully, because all may not be as it seems”.

The book is certainly written in an interesting style  –  in an interview with the author about the book which is a novel about a secretary navigating her way through a world of gangsters, the 1929 stock market crash, Nazi Germany and World War II, with flashbacks and flash-forwards, multiple points of view and characters including Albert Einstein, Albert Speer, Werner Heisenberg, and several geniuses of the atomic age, well does a novel like this even come about?

Reilly:  “I think it’s safe to say….it’s unlike any of my other novels….. In short, I wanted Mr Eistein’s Secretary to be an epic. To be a story that spanned decades. In doing that, I wanted time and place to be characters in the story. Structurally, the story is built on Hanna remembering her life, either during her fake funeral or through the three interrogations she endured [and everything that went in-between].  So if she is recalling been in a particular place or situation, that triggers other memories of being in that place at another time.

Most of the book is written in the first person, from Hanna’s viewpoint and memories, but on occasions, it is her dangerous twin sister [Ooma] relating the memories!!

In writing about the sister, Reilly explains that “I wrote Ooma as a selfish, petty yet brilliant person who has what’s known today as ‘borderline personality disorder’. This story is about Hanna’s remarkable journey – and remarkable growth – through her life. I wanted Ooma to be a wildcard in that life, a constant danger lurking at the edges of Hanna’s world. The way she can change emotions in a heartbeat makes her unpredictable and very dangerous”

I don’t know if I’ll read anymore of Reilly’s books –  as indicated earlier the ‘inclusion of historical reality in the fictionized story’ is what attracted this reader on this occasion………………..

11^th February 2024

Finished reading ‘Australian Foreign Affairs’ Issue 20 –  ‘Dead in the Water: The AUKUS delusion.

The latest issue of Australian Foreign Affairs examines Australia’s momentous decision to form a security pact with the United States and the United Kingdom that includes an ambitious, expensive and risky plan to acquire nuclear-power submarines – a move that will have far-reaching military and strategic consequences.

Dead in the water looks at whether the AUKUS deal will enhance or undermine Australia’s security as tensions between China and the US rise, at the impact on Australia’s ties with its regional neighbours, and at whether the submarines plan is likely to ever be achieved.

Essays by four writers cover the question of whether the deal is a futuristic delusion.

Hugh White examines whether Australia needs nuclear-powered submarines and whether the AUKUS plan will deliver them.

Susannah Patton looks at the lessons for Australia from the region’s responses to AUKUS.

Elizabeth Buchanan explores how Australia could use its valuable geography to enhance ties with AUKUS allies and other partners.

Andrew Davies weighs the benefits of nuclear-powered submarines against the costs of acquiring and maintaining them.

Other writers, such as Hervé Lemahieu propose that Australia pursue a common travel area and an integrated digital market with the Pacific, while Jack Corbett considers Solomon Islands’ economic options in an era of great power rivalry

Meanwhile, from the introductory comment by Jonathan Peasrlman, editor of the Quarterly Essay –

Australia is embarking on the most expensive – and arguably the most ambitious – defence acquisition in its history. Yet the decision to buy nuclear-powered submarines has been subject to little scrutiny, partly because Labor – given hours to consider the AUKUS deal by the Morrison government – duly fell in behind it.  Serious questions are now emerging about the plan’s risks and costs. As Hugh White concludes in a scathing assessment: “Coalition and Labor governments have committed Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines that we do not need, via a plan which will almost certainly fail”. And time is pressing: if AUKUS is destined to fail, it needs to be abandoned quickly – to lower the wasted costs and to ensure that Australia is not left defenceless.

So in summary,  Hugh White [an Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre of the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, long-time defence and intelligence analyst, and author who has published works on military strategy and international relations] in particular, argues in much detail, while considering the pros and cons, that AUKUS is ‘a grave mistake’ He concludes his essay with the statement that ‘our political leaders have given us the charade of AUKUS, which will stand as a fitting symbol of our failure, as a country, to respond effectively to the biggest shift in our strategic circumstances since 1788. If we are to recover from this blunder, and do better, we must start by understanding and accepting how much our region, and the world beyond it, is changing’.

The other writers in the issue explore the prospects of AUKUS succeeding, the logistical challenges [i.e., the enormous costs and challenges in terms of ongoing support and maintenance requirements needed should the scheme ever eventuate], the regional responses, and alternative options.

If the subject and its broader implications are of interest, you may consider it worthwhile purchasing a copy, usually available at most good bookstores, or through Schwartz Books, or www.australianforeignaffairs.com

13^th February 2024

 ‘The Last Charge of the Australian Light Horse’ by Peter Fitzsimons, published in 2023, 497 pages

A great read, as always from this author, and another brilliant depiction of an event and circumstances leading up to it from the early ‘European’ history of Australian.

The book description, as provided by Amazon and various other suppliers reads that  –

On 31st October 1917, as the day’s light faded, the Australian Light Horse charged against their enemy. Eight hundred men and horses galloped four miles across open country, towards the artillery, rifles and machine guns of the Turks occupying the seemingly unassailable town of Beersheba. What happened in the next hour changed the course of history.

This brave battle and the extraordinary adventures that led to it are brought vividly to life by Australia’s greatest storyteller, Peter FitzSimons. It is an epic tale of farm boys, drovers, bank clerks, dentists, poets and scoundrels transported to fight a war half a world away, and is full of incredible characters: from Major Banjo Paterson to Lawrence of Arabia; the brilliant writer Trooper Ion Idriess and the humble General Harry Chauvel; the tearaway Test fast bowler ‘Tibby’ Cotter and the infamous warhorse, Bill the Bastard. All have their part to play in the enthralling, sprawling drama of the Australian Light Horse.

Theirs was a war fought in an ancient land with modern weapons; where the men of the Light Horse were trained in sight of the pyramids, drank in the brothels of Cairo and fought through lands known to them only as names from the Bible.

[That fact alone provided a very poignant aspect to the story –  read, and basically written at the same time as the  modern day tragedies of death and displacement take place in areas of the Middle East which feature so prominently in the book such as Gaza].

The Last Charge of the Australian Light Horse traces the hard path of the Light Horse from the bleakest of starts – being deprived of their horses and fighting at Gallipoli in the tragic Battle of the Nek – to triumph and glory in the desert. Revealing the feats of the Australians who built the legend, it is a brilliantly told tale of courage, resilience and derring-do from Australia’s favourite storyteller.

The text included a couple of quotes from Verner Knuckey [my Mother’s father]. One of those –

“Lone comrades are found too, including the discovery of one Australian trooper of the 8th Light Horse who, Trooper Verner Knuckey will recount, ‘had been shot in both legs and lay out for three days and nights..  When the Turks had found him, they had, ‘made him as comfortable as possible and left a bottle of water beside him. That water saved his life.  Any dirty action done can I think be traced to the German and Austrian officers in charge of these Turks”

[from ‘The Last Charge of the Australian Light Horse’ by Peter Fitzsimons, pub. 2023, page 121]

21^st February

Today [or tonight] I finished reading ‘One Wet Season’ by Ion L. Idriess, published in 1949 [272 pages].This book was a Christmas gift by my Mother to my Father in 1949, one of a number of books written by Idriess that were in my father’s possession and passed down to myself.  I’d read a couple of them previously – my attention was drawn back to him after reading Peter Fitzsimons’ latest book about the charge of the Light Horse [previous review], where a number of quotations throughout the book were attributed to the writings of Idriess who also served with the Light Horse in WWI

‘One Wet Season’  is a book about life in the Kimberley region of Western Australia[1] during the wet season of 1934. The book records true stories of the lives of the pioneers and Aboriginals of the Kimberley, centring predominantly on those living in the King Leopold Ranges and spending the wet season in the town of Derby, Western Australia.

Ion Idriess, who has spent many a long ‘Wet’ in the West Kimberley, puts into print a thrilling account of this aspect of Australian life.  Perhaps I mightn’t use the term ‘thrilling’ in describing the book, but certainly enlightening and of historical interest in depicting not just the life of that time & part of Australia, but the attitudes and perspectives from the point of view of those living there and/or passing through. I was especially interested in the attitude to the Aboriginal population by the whites in the area and the many descriptions of interaction between the two races. While far from perfect, in this area of WA in particular, those interactions seemed to come over as less violent in nature, as compared for eg, with the latter part of the C19th century in Queensland.

Times have changed [to some degree] and much of the language used in describing the Aboriginal peoples is no longer acceptable, and rightly so,  would simply not be tolerated in today’s society. But in the 1940s and in writing about our native Australians, Idriess was speaking to the culture of the time. Take the following brief selection of quotations from my copy [originally published by Angus and Robertson].

• “Poor old Venus, [from page 250] I believe she really was the ugliest lubra in the Kimberleys, but that dog loved her.  ‘Google-eyed Maggie on Napier Downs is about the ugliest gin I ever met’, said an old-timer quietly, ‘but I’m not holding that against her. Many a gin in this country has done a white man a good turn’. The boys puffed silently at their pipes a moment; the old-timer had spoken truly. ‘Ever you noticed,’ remarked Jack Knopp, ‘how the abo when he’s been working for a few years with the whites, but particularly the statin bred abo, turns around on his brother’….”
• Yarning the time away [page 260] – “’There’s still a few more or less wild munjons over the Range,’ mused a stockman, ‘but I suppose they’ll all be broken in time, ‘ he added regretfully. ‘They’re all tame along the Fitzroy now,’ yawned a teamster from Go-Go Station, ‘fat as prime beef. And plenty of piccaninnies amongst them’”
• And speaking of a chase by white authorities [page 263] tracking a group of  ‘bush niggers’ who has been spearing the settler’s cattle , but who made their escape despite all precautions by the trackers, one of those chasers noted that  – “And yet those low-browed sons of apes knew exactly  when we were coming, just strolled out of the trap at their leisure”.

Finally, the following description provides an interesting portrayal of the  station Aborigines, certainly on those properties where they were better treated and/or regarded by those they worked for.

From pages 260-261

“The big stations along the Fitzroy, and further east to the Territory border treated their aboriginal stockmen and families well. Food, clothes, quarters, medicines, all that they needed. And all are free to come and go as they wish. The stations were very desirous of holding their aborigines, to keep them contented and healthy, and to encourage families.  The result was that most of the river aborigines clung to the local stations, quite contented, until annual walkabout – the walkabout that every aboriginal must have,  when he and she must return to the Wilds, right back to the primitive for a time. Every wet sees the exodus. Loaded up like camels under food and blankets and billy-cans and all the little treasures accumulated throughout the Dry, the mob stream out  from the station, men, women, children, and digs, the river waterholes ringing with  their farewell calls and promises of speedy return. Soon they will be right out in the bush. And there with cries of relief they throw off the last vestige of clothing in hilarious corroboree, anoint their bodies with bungarra [goanna] fat and worse,  paint themselves with the ochred bars of warriorhood, seize their weapons and stamp and chant and set straight out on the hunt. Once again, they feel they real men and women. And hungry for bush food from Mother Earth.

Well-conditioned now, after nine month’s station feeding. But, after the Wet they will come streaming back to the stations hollow-gutted, ribbed like a stock-horse in drought-time, voracious for plover [flour], tea and tchugar [sugar], and that heavenly luxury, tobacco.

They will gorge like famished wolves until they begin to build up again. For often, during their walkabout, they have gone hungry, cold and wet. Although there is native food in the bush, the hunter must employ constant effort and unremitting bushcraft to secure it. And the station black loses his keen edge of bushcraft, loses his kinship with the Wild, is a child divorced from his Mother Earth.

Yes, most of the ‘tame’ blacks are glad to come back whooping back to the station after a three months’ walkabout. But if tea, sugar, flour, and the precious tobacco grew ready-made in the bush, they would not come back at all”.

About the Author [compliment of a summary from a Wikipedia article].

Ion Llewellyn Idriess  OBE (20 September 1889 – 6 June 1979) was a prolific and influential Australian author.  He wrote more than 50 books over 43 years between 1927 and 1969 – an average of one book every 10 months, and twice published three books in one year (1932 and 1940). His first book was Madman’s Island, published in 1927 at the age of 38, and his last was written at the age of 79. Called Challenge of the North, it told of Idriess’s ideas for developing the north of Australia.  Two of his works, The Cattle King (1936) and Flynn of the Inland (1932) had more than forty reprintings.

Idriess was born in Waverley, a suburb of Sydney, to Juliette Windeyer (who had been born as Juliette Edmunds in 1865 at Binalong) and Walter Owen Idriess (a sheriff’s officer born in 1862, who had emigrated from Dolgellau, in Wales). At birth Ion Idriess’s name was registered as “Ion Windeyer”, although he never seems to have used this name.

From his late teens, he worked in rural New South Wales, particularly in the Narrabri and Moree districts. He travelled extensively around the state, working in a variety of itinerant jobs including employment as a rabbit poisoner, boundary rider, drover, prospecting for gold as well as harvesting sandalwood. He also worked as a shearer and dingo shooter. While working as an opal miner at Lightning Ridge in about 1910, he wrote short pieces for The Bulletin about life on the opal fields. He later headed north, working in several tin mines around Cairns and Cooktown including his own claim. In 1913 he moved to Cape York Peninsula, where he lived with an Aboriginal clan, learning their customs and lifestyle.

With the outbreak of war, in 1914 he returned to Townsville and enlisted in the 5th Light Horse Regiment, AIF, as a trooper.  He saw action in Palestine, Sinai and Turkey, being wounded at Beersheba and Gallipoli – where he acted as spotter for noted sniper Billy Sing.  

After returning to Australia and recuperating from his wounds, he travelled to remote Cape York, and worked with pearlers and missionaries in the Torres Strait islands and Papua New Guinea where he worked as a gold miner. Other ventures included buffalo shooting in the Northern Territory, and journeys to Central and Western Australia.

In 1928 Idriess settled in Sydney where he wrote as a freelance writer. His writing style drew on his experiences as a soldier, prospector, and bushman. He wrote on a multitude of topics, including travel, recollection, biography, history, anthropology and his own ideas on possible future events. His books were generally non-fiction, but written in a narrative, story style. Most of his books were published by Angus & Robertson. Idriess wrote from real life experiences using knowledge he had personally gained by travelling extensively and working at a variety of occupations. “Idriess was no stylist, but his writing was immediate, colourful, well paced and, despite the speed at which it was written, always well structured.”

Although he generally wrote under his name, some early articles for The Bulletin were written under the pseudonym of “Gouger”. When travelling, Idriess was known as “Jack”.

In 1968 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his services to literature.

Idriess died at a nursing home in Mona Vale in Sydney on 6 June 1979, at the age of 89.[8]

His work slipped from favour after his death, but has experienced a renewal of interest. In 2017, Nicolas Rothwell said: “As so often in Australian letters, an initial fall into obscurity and the harsh judgments of the literary establishment serve as good indicators of a writer’s pre-eminence”. His work was never adapted for the screen although several books were optioned by producers.

8^th March 2024

Read  ‘Call Of The Raven’  by Wilbur Smith [with Corban Addison], published in 2020, 410 pages.

Getting into the final few books by Smith –   I don’t whether this is a sign of my age, but   Smith’s novels have always had a strong element of violence in them, but the last couple I have read, and especially this one, the extremity and prevalence of violence, I found much more noticeable, and at times almost disturbing.

Nevertheless, despite that factor, this novel was another great read by this author whose novels I have been reading since  January 1973 [The Lion Feeds was his first novel].

The action-packed and gripping new adventure by number one bestselling author, Wilbur Smith, about one man’s quest for revenge, and the brutality of slavery in America, and the imbalance between humans that can drive, or defeat us. –  THE DESIRE FOR REVENGE CAN BURN THE HEART OUT OF A MAN.
The son of a wealthy plantation owner and a doting mother, Mungo St John is accustomed to wealth and luxury – until he returns from university to discover his family ruined, his inheritance stolen and his childhood sweetheart, Camilla, taken by the conniving Chester Marion. Mungo swears vengeance and devotes his life to saving Camilla-and destroying Chester.  Camilla, trapped in New Orleans, powerless as a kept slave and subject to Chester’s brutish behaviour, must do whatever it takes to survive.  As Mungo battles his own fate and misfortune, he must question what it takes for a man to regain his power in the world when he has nothing, and what he is willing to do to exact revenge

14^th March 2024

This next book was Kidnapped by Mark Tedeschi QC, published in 2015, 317 pages.   It is the  true story of Australia’s only known kidnapping of a child for ransom, from Barrister and Crown Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi. An easily read but fascinating detailed insight into the crime and the investigations that followed, perhaps at a level not seen previously.

 It was 64 years ago, when eight-year-old Graeme Thorne was kidnapped on his way to school in July 1960, Australia was gripped with fear and loathing. What monster would dare take financial advantage of the most treasured bond of love – between parent and child? Just weeks earlier, Graeme’s parents had won a fortune in the Opera House Lottery, and this had attracted the attention of the perpetrator, Stephen Bradley.
Bradley was a most unlikely kidnapper, however his greed for the Thorne’s windfall saw him cast aside any sympathy for his victim or his victim’s family, and drove him to take brazen risks with the life of his young captive.
Kidnapped tells the astounding true story of how this crime was planned and committed, and describes the extraordinary police investigation that was launched to track the criminal down. Mark Tedeschi explores the mind of the intriguing and seriously flawed Stephen Bradley, and also the points of view of the victim, his family – and the police, whose work pioneered the use of many techniques that are now considered commonplace, marking the beginning of modern-day forensic science in Australia.
Using his powerful research and storytelling skills, Mark Tedeschi reveals one of Australia’s greatest true crime dramas, and what can only be described as the trial of the 20th century.

Mark Tedeschi KC has worked as a Barrister and Crown Prosecutor for more than forty years, working on some of Australia’s most significant criminal cases. He was the Senior Crown Prosecutor in New South Wales for twenty years, during which he also served as President of the Australian Association of Crown Prosecutors. Mark has published many articles on the law, history, genealogy and photography, and is the author of critically acclaimed non-fiction titles Eugenia, Kidnapped, Murder at Myall Creek and Missing, Presumed Dead.

Better Reading provided the following Synopsis of the book

Kidnapped is about Stephen Bradley, who perpetrated the 1960 kidnapping for ransom and murder of eight-year-old Sydney schoolboy, Graeme Thorne. This was not only a vivid example of murder for greed, but also marked the beginning in Australia of modern forensic science as a tool in the investigation of serious crime. Many of the techniques of scientific detection used to implicate Bradley had never before been used in a police investigation, but have since become commonplace. Certainly, there had never before been a case in which so many methods of forensic investigation had been used in combination to detect and implicate the perpetrator of this terrible crime. This case therefore marks a watershed in the annals of modern criminal investigation. Mark Tedeschi has prosecuted many people who were prepared to kill to acquire the object of their desires. As such he is uniquely placed to present an insight into the mind of Stephen Bradley. A man so motivated by greed and self-entitlement that when he read about the winner of the Opera House Lottery, his first thought was how much more he deserved the money. From there he located the Thorne family in Sydney’s Eastern suburbs and proceeded to plan the kidnap and ransom of their young son, Graeme. The taking of Graeme off a Sydney street in daylight hours caused shock and horror across the nation and when his body was found the police used all means available, both old and new, to track down Stephen Bradley and convict him.. Mark’s new book is a gripping account of a terrible crime that many people today still remember.

17^th March 2024

‘The Australian Light Horse: The Campaign in the Middle East, 1914-1918’ by Phillip Bradley, published in 2016, 196 pages.  Again, an interesting [and disturbing in view of the enormous casualties faced on all sides] generally overlooked in comparison with the fighting on Gallipoli and the Western Front  during WW 1.

Again, Grandfather Verner Knuckey is quoted on a number of occasions, in the early part of the campaign, as he did not remain with the Light Horse much beyond the end of 1916.

It was interesting comparing this ‘history’ with the book summarised earlier on the Light Horse by Peter Fitzsimons. In this case Bradley provides a much broader and extended history of the Australian Light Horse during WW I, in comparison with Fitzsimons specific concentration on the events leading up to the Charge of the Light Brigade and that event itself. That ‘historical’ battle is treated no differently to many other battles and campaigns b the Light horse in terms of he space in the book devoted to it.

As with the following review [re. National Geographic] I found it of particular interest to read of the geographical locations of so much of the travails of the Light Horse, especially in view of the current events in the Middle East.

From the Australian War Memorial site. We read that:

“The story of the famous Australian Light Horse in the desert campaigns of World War 1. Throughout history, mounted troops have been known as elite men of arms and the Australian Light Horse is a part of that legendary tradition.

Part cavalry and part infantry and often recognised by the emu feathers in their slouch hats, the light  horsemen, were described by the official historian, H.S. Gullett, as ‘in body and spirit the true product of the Australian countryside’. They remain, today, the embodiment of the digger ethos..

After the Gallipoli campaign most of the Australian Light Horse, commanded by Major General Harry Chauvel, remained in Egypt to defend the Suez Canal. After thwarting the Turkish advance at Romani in August 1916 the Light Horse led the advance into Palestine with sparkling victories at Magdhaba and Rafa.

Twice checked at Gaza despite their bold courage, the light horsemen then broke that stalemate following the legendary charge at Beersheba on 31 October 1917. The fall of Jerusalem, the perilous raids on Amman, the trials of the Jordan Valley and the final breakthrough to Damascus followed before Turkey surrendered on 30 October 1918…In Australian Light Horse their story is brought to vivid life through the diaries, letters and photographs of the light horsemen who took part in the bloody battles of the desert campaigns o f the Sinai and Palestine from April 1916 to October 1918”…

On a personal note, my grandfather is referred to a number of occasions early in the book, though he did not remain long enough with the Light Horse, to participate in the more active campaigns described in this book. For the record, his diaries [which are now held in the Australian War Museum] are referenced on page 8, and on various occasions through pages 36-39.

One of those reads as follows:

“The 8th Light Horse was soon in contact and the firing was pretty brisk. Verner Knuckey was behind the top of a sandhill but was being fired on from the flank. The first thing he knew there was a vicious zip and sand rose about two feet to his right. When the second shot hit the same distance to his left, Knuckey knew it was time to move and sure enough the third bullet hit the ground where he had been lying. His squadron retired soon thereafter, the light horsemen suffering terribly in the heat. The only shade was what the horse threw, Knuckey wrote. In the middle of the day, each man would try to sleep under their horse, which would not move an inch..” …The next four hours was agony for us, wrote Verner Knuckey. Five Echuca boys copped it and only two survived to be invalided home. Knuckey’s tent mate and great friend, Dick Chambers, was one of those killed, along with twelve horses. Poor brutes, Knuckey wrote, there are no half measures about shrapnel pellets…..………“The heat was merciless, the temperature 44 degrees Celsius in the shade, which does not exist. If ever the sun burnt it did that day, Knuckey wrote. The hot sun scorched our skin. Wounded men would crawl off for help. In several cases I saw them crawling on one hand and the other arm practically blown off, blood was everywhere and at last we knew what war was………….[from ‘Australian Light Horse’ by Phillip Bradley, published in 2016, pages 36-39]

The Light Horseman quoted above and in various parts of the two publications was Corporal Verner Knuckey.  From the Writer Biographies [quoted on page  179]:

“Corporal Verner Knuckey served with the 8^th Light Horse Regiment in the Sinai Campaign before transferring to the Australian Flying Corps as a mechanic in January 1917. Before the war, Knuckey was a clerk at the Commonwealth Treasury from East Malvern in Melbourne, Victoria. He enlisted in July 1915 and returned to Australia in September 1919”.

He later married an English girl from Newcastle, UK, whom he met through family friends while on leave in England during WWI.

Verner Knuckey, and that English lass were my Grandparents, and the parents of my mother, Betty Knuckey. His War Diaries from which the foregoing quotes were taken, are in the possession of the National War Museum in Canberra – eight pocket sized booklets, which my wife initially photocopied in their entirety during the 1970’s while she worked for the Army Department. Later, while the diaries were still in  her possession, my Mother painstakingly typed them in full on an ancient typewriter in the late 1970s, while in recent years, those foolscap sized pages were used by my brother, to have the diaries retyped and printed into a modern bound A4 size booklet.

26^th March 2024

I’ve just read a National Geographic special edition – ‘The Story of Jesus’, a publication from around December, 2021. While I have not subscribed to National Geographic for some decades, I was a little surprised to find this subject matter in the magazine, suggesting that National Geographic had substantially broadened the scope of the articles they publish. However, on reflection, I should not have been surprised, as the following second paragraph below,  clearly indicates the relationship of geography as such to the topic in question, as I recall now, have many articles in past years.

Before Jesus became one of the most famous figures in the world, he was a shepherd and teacher in Galilee living an unremarkable life. In this lavishly illustrated portrait of the life of a prophet, scholars unveil what is known and speculated about Jesus’s youth, life, work, plus the larger events that combined to shape the world in which he lived.

Following in Jesus’s footsteps from Bethlehem to Nazareth, some highlights include: Maps of Jesus’ path across the Holy Land, forensic reconstruction of key biblical sites, and insights into Jesus’ childhood and young adulthood. this writer – with most of the story taking place in the Middle East, and having just read two books about the Australian Light Horse serving in that part of the world  – this publication included a number of very detailed maps related to the life of Jesus, and one couldn’t help but take note of the names of towns, rivers. Lakes, etc, all of which had historical Biblical connotations’ –  brought to real life today in view of the current war and conflict involving Israel and Palestine and other sites in the wider Middle East  environment.

30th March 2024

The Quarterly Essay, No: 93, released in March, 2024  is titled ‘Bad Cop: Peter Dutton’s Strongman Politics’, and authored by Lech Blaine, whose writings have appeared in publication such as the Good Weekend, Griffith Review, The Guardian, and the Monthly, and who is currently the 2023 Charles Perkins Centre writer in residence. Covering some 119 pages,

Blaine traces the making of a hardman, from Queensland detective to leader of the current Federal [Liberal] Opposition in Australia, from property investor to minister for Home Affairs. The essay is described as the story of ambition, race and power, and a politician with a plan – to reach the top!

An interesting Essay, which covers Dutton’s family ancestral background, and Dutton’s early career in the police force in Queensland, which would mould many of his attitudes and policies in his political career, especially in respect to security, crime and the risks of immigration and refugees  – perhaps always looking for and anticipating the worst in people and organisations.

In a selected extract from the Essay, we read:

“Peter Dutton eats bleeding-heart lefties for breakfast. He is tall and bald, with a resting death stare. His eyes – two brown beads – see evil so that the weak can be blind. His lips are allergic to political correctness. Peter preaches the gospel of John Howard with the fanaticism of Paul Keating. He wants to do the Labor Party slowly, slowly, slowly, and defeat the woe-is-me heroism of identity politics.

“It’s a movement that seeks to define and divide us by class, sex, race, religion and more besides,” said Dutton in 2023. “Worse, such movements seek to undermine traditional values of ambition, gratitude and forgiveness and replace them with resentment, envy and anger.”

Once upon a time, the federal Opposition leader was a cop in clammy Queensland. He was a listener, a lurker, a watcher; not a storyteller, nor a performer. He set traps for suspects and waited for them to make a mistake. For poker-faced Dutton, leadership isn’t about kissing the cheeks of babies, or the arses of journalists. It is about bleeding for your beliefs and denying the griefs of your enemies. White lies are often the cost of beating the bad guys. “In a different age, we’d be clashing swords,” Dutton told journalist Madonna King in 2014. “I see myself as a contestant in that battle.”

In May 2022, Australia just so happened to elect a good cop as prime minister. Anthony Albanese promised a cuddlier, less bloodthirsty form of leadership. “Safe change,” with a patient embrace of democratic rituals………… Dutton isn’t so happy-go-lucky. He views the world with the pessimism of a Russian novelist. The son of a Brisbane bricklayer, he bombed out of university to become a copper. His earnest conservatism comes from the gut instincts of a suburban upbringing and the racial tensions of being a police officer in Queensland; not from the anti-abortion bootcamps of Bob Santamaria, nor the sermons of Brian Houston.

“I am not the evangelical here, not out and proud on abortion,” Dutton told Niki Savva for her book Plots and Prayers. “I voted for gay marriage.”

Dutton hasn’t fabricated an identity based on feedback from focus groups. “ScoMo” spoke like a NIDA student’s idea of a Queenslander. “Dutts,” as mates call him, doesn’t strain for an ocker accent or drape himself in sporting paraphernalia. His persona? A sombre straightshooter. One tough hombre. The bad cop.”

Worth a read to get a clearer version of the man –  not sure how biased the author is, but Dutton is not generally presented as someone you would especially like, but maybe that’s not a handicap to future aspirations?

Blaine ends the essay with “Dutton wants a country where people don’t worry about the powerful and feel threatened by the defenceless…..This is Peter Dutton. Tall and strong at first glance. But when you watch him for a long time, you can see that the man is small and scared”.

Over the years, I’ve shared articles about Jelena Dokic, and have reviewed her first book ‘Unbreakable’, and generally had much respect for the way she has survived through so much personal and professional adversity. The following article I’ve copied for my Column as a further illustration, of why I’ve maintained that respect. Jelena, who is a former champion tennis player, was one of the principal commentators for the just completed Australian Open, a role she has performed admirably for a number of years now, both here and overseas.

The Age newspaper recently published an interview with Jelena by Australian renowned author, Peter Fitzsimons, and I’ve copied that interview to the Coachbuilder’s Column for the interest of readers.

Why I and so many others needed to apologise to Jelena Dokic –  a Story by Peter Fitzsimons  [as appeared in the Age newspaper, late January 2024]

Fitz: Jelena, congratulations on your successful transition from champion tennis player to the tennis media. Is there a particular commentator you like to emulate?

JD: Yes – Todd Woodbridge and Jim Courier. Todd, particularly, has been a massive influence on me, my friend for 15 years and a great mentor, and I certainly wouldn’t be here in a lot of areas post-tennis if it wasn’t for him, but especially in the commentary box and TV world.

Fitz: And did John McEnroe give you any advice?

JD: No! But I learnt from him. He’s very different. He’s obviously fun and likes to joke around and I actually like the way that he’s quiet, kind of easy going, and he just kind of goes with the flow as well. Everyone’s different: Jim, Todd, and John. But I’ve been able to learn from all of them and I still get very nervous, particularly when I am with John. I just have so much respect for him, and he is my idol of idols when it comes to reinventing yourself after being a tennis player.

Fitz: Most sports people who become commentators and stay around the game can’t help but compare the current crop with their own generation and wonder how they’d go against them. Do you look at the women’s game right now and then think, “I could clean them up”, or do you look at their generation and think, “They have taken the game to a level we weren’t even close to”?

JD: No, I don’t like to compare generations. I don’t think it’s fair. You know, I tried playing with a wooden racket and couldn’t get the ball over the net. It’s just a whole different ballgame and something that you can’t compare. And I think there’s amazing and wonderful players in all generations. I’m lucky that I played in the era of Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Jennifer Capriati, Lindsay Davenport and Kim Clijsters – and they’re all amazing champions.

Fitz: Did you form friendships with those players?

JD: Yes, and even though we don’t live in the same place, we stay in touch. And when I see them, it’s actually really nice now because there is no pressure and we have the best conversations ever.

Fitz: All of those players you mention won many grand slam events. In the 1999 Wimbledon championships you burst on the scene, beating world No.1, Martina Hingis 6-2, 6-0 as a 16-year-old qualifier – perhaps the biggest upset Wimbledon ever saw. Your glorious future was obvious. Do you have any regrets that one way or another, you didn’t end up winning Wimbledon or other majors?

JD: No. I think if you take into account my whole life experience both on and off the court and everything that I went through, to be honest, to have gotten as far as I did is quite an achievement. And I think when I look back, I am very, very lucky to have even survived and to be here today. After what I went through, I’ll take a grand slam semi-final in singles, a final in doubles, and No.4 in the world any day, because at one stage there was a real chance that I was not going to ever be able to live a normal life or even be here, so … no regrets. And especially because a lot of the things that did happen were out of my control. I was a child as well. I’m very proud of where I am today and how far I’ve come.

Fitz: On that subject, you’ve been extraordinarily open about the “mental, emotional and physical abuse” you received from your infamous father, Damir, from the age of six. His explosiveness was no secret. Did the tennis world do enough to protect you, to at least reach out and say, “Hey, Jelena, are you OK?”

JD: Look, I think that’s probably a question for others. Do I know people that definitely knew of things that were going on? Absolutely. Is it a very different world to what it is today, in terms of how we look at general child abuse and domestic violence? Absolutely. But look, that was the whole point of me writing my books and being open about it, to help someone else and to see what changes we can make. I never told my story to blame anyone. We didn’t have enough measures in place to protect kids like me. But we do now.

Fitz: But what of us in the media? I remember having many goes at Damir Dokic, and making merry at his expense, but not doing what we should have done, which was inquiring after your welfare.

JD: I do talk a little bit about the media because I just felt, at the time, they all did interviews with my father who was obviously very aggressive and drunk nine out of 10 times when he was doing interviews. And I just wish someone would have said, “Look, there are two underage kids going home with this person, and that’s not OK,” because my brother was eight years younger than me. And I wish maybe that there was a little bit more concern instead of making him a joke and a punch line. When my book, Unbreakable, came out, I can’t tell you how many journalists came to me personally and apologised, and I really appreciate that.

Fitz: Well, you have my apologies, too. If this is too painful, please ignore and we’ll move on, but when was the last contact you had with your father? And were you able to say, “What you did to me was totally unacceptable”?

JD: [Softly.] I last had contact about 10 years ago. And yeah, I even tried to reconcile with him once or twice … I think no matter what happens, you kind of hope that maybe you can kind of salvage a relationship when it comes to family. Those dynamics are always very difficult. But it’s very hard, when someone doesn’t have any remorse or can’t say sorry. In fact, what he says is that he would do it all again. So, for me, that is very, very hard. I had to make a cut and go, “I don’t need a toxic person or a toxic relationship in my life.”

Fitz: What about your mother and brother? Are you in contact with them?

JD: Yeah, I have a great relationship with my brother, which I’m really glad about because my father used my brother and weaponised our relationship – not allowing me to talk with him for about seven years, because he was so much younger than me. But yeah, today we have a wonderful relationship. We pretty much talk every day, and with my Mum as well. I’ve had some tough conversations with her because she was on my father’s side – but we’re in a good place today.

Fitz: Your mental strength is inspirational, and I also admire very much the way you stand up to trolls on social media. I was shocked, however, by the piece you wrote in the Herald last year, on how vicious those trolls are on body-shaming and so forth. Despite your mental strength, is it not wise for you just to stay away from social media and not read that toxic sludge?

JD: I could take that road. Absolutely. But I don’t want to. I want to be very open and honest. And I want to fight for things that are important – whether it’s domestic violence, child abuse, mental health, or trolling. The easiest thing would be to block the trolls, but why should I? I’m not hurting anyone. I’m not doing anything wrong. In fact, I try and use my platform for something good. So I wanted to take that toxicity on. I want to send the right message out there that we shouldn’t hide behind it every time we stay silent with abuse. It’s kind of like we were allowing it to happen. Silence is the worst thing that we can do when it comes to abuse.

Fitz: When you’re playing, your ambition was to win Wimbledon. What is your ambition now?

JD: Look, I am very content with where I am in my life and professionally. I just want to continue doing what I’m doing. I want to fight for the right things and really important issues in society. I want to be the best commentator I can possibly be, as well as doing a lot of public speaking. I want to continue that and continue spreading that message and continue trying to make a difference.

Fitz: I know I speak on behalf of everybody, Jelena, when I say that although life has dealt you a very strange deck of cards, you’re playing them wonderfully well. Good luck.

JD: Thank you so much.

@Peter_Fitz

[Age Editor’s note: this is an edited transcript of the conversation’.

Australians of the Year Awards for 2024

There were 8 nominees in each category of Award from each of the States & Territories

Melanoma treatment pioneers Georgina Long and Richard Scolyer have been named 2024 Australians of the Year.

Yalmay Yunupiŋu, Emma McKeon, and David Elliott were named winners in other categories. The winning nominees were announced at an awards ceremony in Canberra on Thursday night. More detail of the winnerts follows.

2024 Australians of the Year for New South Wales – Prof Georgina Long AO & Prof Richard Scolyer AO (Sydney)

Their work has already saved the lives of thousands of residents across the country from what is considered our “national cancer”. The pair then turned their treatment in a new direction when Scolyer, 57, was  diagnosed with incurable grade 4 brain cancer in June last year. He risked shortening his lifespan with an experimental treatment based on his and Long’s own work, becoming the world’s first brain cancer patient to have pre-surgery combination immunotherapy.  About eight months later, he has still not seen any recurrence of his incurable brain cancer. Chair of the National Australia Day Council John Foreman said the scientists represented the “very best” of the country.  “Georgina and Richard are leading work which is saving countless lives now and, thanks also to the personal commitment of Richard, will lead to an even more extraordinary impact on the health of people around the world in the future,” he said.

Other nominees were

2024 Australian of the Year for the Australian Capital Territory – Joanne Farrell (Canberra) – a champion for females in the construction industry.
2024 Australian of the Year for the Northern Territory – Blair McFarland (Alice Springs) – Central Australian Youth Link-Up Service founder
2024 Australian of the Year for Queensland – Marco Renai (Gold Coast) – Men of Business founder
2024 Australian of the Year for South Australia – Tim Jarvis AM (Hyde Park) – Environmental scientist and advocate Tim Jarvis is recognised for his work seeking solutions to climate change and biodiversity loss.
2024 Australian of the Year for Tasmania – Stephanie Trethewey (Dunorlan) – rural women’s advocate and Motherland founder 
2024 Australian of the Year for Victoria – Janine Mohamed (Gisborne) – Indigenous health leader
2024 Australian of the Year for Western Australia – Mechelle Turvey (Perth) – Mechelle Turvey is a Western Australian advocate for victims of crime. In 2022, her 15-year-old son Cassius Turvey was assaulted while coming home from school. The Noongar Yamatji boy died of his injuries 10 days later.

2024 SENIOR AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR

Yalmay Yunupiŋu of Yirrkala in the Northern Territory has been named the Senior Australian of the Year for her decades-long work as a teacher and linguist.

Ahead of her retirement last year, she guided teaching at Yirrkala Bilingual School.

She spent the years translating Dr Seuss books at the community library into her local Yolŋu Matha language.

She went on to develop a bilingual teaching approach with her late husband M. Yunupiŋu – of Yothu Yindi fame – and is still in constant demand for consultations, projects and her traditional healing work.

“Yalmay’s long dedication to the education of the Yolŋu people, her cultural stewardship and leadership as a natural teacher continues to bring communities together,” Foreman said. 

Yunupiŋu’s late husband was named the Australian of the Year in 1992.

Other nominees were

2024 Senior Australian of the Year for the Australian Capital Territory – Ebenezer Banful OAM (Canberra) – is  a volunteer and multiculturalism advocate. He arrived in Australia from Ghana more than three decades ago and has dedicated countless hours to helping others understand Ghanaian and African values, and spends much of his free time offering advice and assistance to newly arrived community members.
2024 Senior Australian of the Year for New South Wales – John Ward (Georgetown, Newcastle) – is dedicated to providing medical care for disadvantaged people and ageing Australians. He is the director of the Prison Medical Service and has provided care to inmates and advocated for prison reform.
2024 Senior Australians of the Year for Queensland – Reverend Robyn & Reverend Dr Lindsay Burch (Gold Coast) – who founded Gold Coast food charity Havafeed
2024 Senior Australian of the Year for South Australia – Sister Meredith Evans (Underdale) – Sister of Mercy 
2024 Senior Australian of the Year for Tasmania – Reverend James Colville AM (Bagdad) – who founded Tasmanian housing not-for-profit Colony 47.
2024 Senior Australian of the Year for Victoria – Glenys Oogjes (Heidelberg) – has been a quiet force behind historic changes in Australian animal policy.  She was one of the instigators behind the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy, and the Australian Animal Welfare Standards for Poultry, under which battery cages for egg-laying hens will be phased out across the country.

2024 Senior Australian of the Year for Western Australia – Charles Bass (Applecross) – Centre of Entrepreneurial Research and Innovation founder

2024 YOUNG AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR

2024 Young Australian of the Year for Queensland – Emma McKeon AM (Gold Coast)

Emma McKeon, the country’s most successful Olympian, was named this year’s Young Australian of the Year.

The Queenslander, 29, became the first female swimmer and the second woman in history to win seven medals in a single Olympics at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

She has also broken a host of Commonwealth Games, Olympic and world records.

“Emma shows us, with grace and humility, how commitment, hard work and passion can lead to greatness,” Foreman said.   “She is a true role model for all Australians, young and old, on how to pursue your dreams.”

McKeon became Australia’s most decorated Olympian before her 28th birthday, making her family of swimmers proud. Her father, uncle, brother and mother have all represented the country in the sport.

Other nominees

2024 Young Australian of the Year for the Australian Capital Territory – Caitlin Figueiredo (Canberra) – co-chair of the Australian Youth Affairs Coalition 
2024 Young Australian of the Year for New South Wales – Nikhil Autar (Voyager Point) – Researcher and disability advocate 
2024 Young Australian of the Year for the Northern Territory – Peter Susanto (Darwin) –  medical student and community volunteer,
2024 Young Australian of the Year for South Australia – Tiahni Adamson (Adelaide) – wildlife conservation biologist 
2024 Young Australian of the Year for Tasmania – Naarah (Glenorchy) – is an actor, musician and Indigenous activist. She uses social media to spark important conversations about First Nations identity, culture, and representation and advocates for a diverse entertainment industry.
2024 Young Australian of the Year for Victoria – Bhakta Bahadur Bhattarai (Wodonga) – was born and raised in a Bhutanese refugee camp in Nepal, and came to Australia with his family in 2012.  While he was studying, he founded the Albury Wodonga Multicultural Community Events Inc to foster care and connections in multicultural communities.

2024 Young Australian of the Year for Western Australia – Kate Kirwin (Perth) – founder of She Codes and women in STEM advocate

2024 AUSTRALIA’S LOCAL HERO

2024 Local Hero for Queensland – David Elliott OAM (Winton)
The co-founder of the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History, David Elliott has been named Australia’s Local Hero for his contributions to science, paleontology and tourism.

His chance discovery of a dinosaur fossil in outback Queensland in 1999 during a routine sheep mustering sent palaeontologists to the region to investigate.

He and his wife Judy would later co-found the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History in 2002 as a not-for-profit charity.

It has risen to become a popular tourist attraction and serves as a centre for the country’s paleontological research and discovery.

“David, an everyday Queensland pastoralist who discovered something extraordinary, has dedicated himself to sharing Australia’s dinosaur history and the importance of keeping regional Australia viable and sustainable,” Foreman said.

Other nominees

2024 Local Hero for the Australian Capital Territory – Selina Walker (Canberra) – co-chair of the ACT Reconciliation Council
2024 Local Hero for New South Wales – Angus Olsen (Katoomba) – illustrator and author who raises funds for childhood cancer research
2024 Local Hero for the Northern Territory – Witiyana Marika (Yirrkala) – musician and filmmaker he has spent his life celebrating and teaching his culture.  The Rirratjingu (Yolngu) Elder is best known as one of the founding members of famous rock band, Yothu Yindi, but has also worked across other musical projects, films and cross-cultural education.

2024 Local Hero for South Australia – Rachael Zaltron OAM (Ridgehaven) – Backpacks 4 SA Kids founder
2024 Local Hero for Tasmania – Clair Harris (Blackmans Bay) – founder of Tassie Mums
2024 Local Hero for Victoria – Betul Tuna (Shepparton) – co-founded the Point Of Difference  to support vulnerable and marginalised people in regional Victoria.She also co-founded the ‘Hijack’d’ mobile food van, which provides culturally-appropriate food and creates jobs for local young people.

2024 Local Hero for Western Australia – Nick Hudson (Wembley) – founded the push-up challenge to raise awareness and funds for mental health. He experienced depression after having surgery, and focused on making the challenge a public event, which has now raised over $40 million.

The other night on ABC TV, there was a fascinating little program titled ‘A Symphonic Odyssey with Professor Brian Cox.’, a program which took place at the Sydney Opera House early in December, last year. Those who attended, and TV viewers such as myself were invited to share and explore the secrets of the universe with the Professor, who combined groundbreaking science with the power of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra [SSO].

Through the latest extraordinary imagery [portrayed on a huge screen set up behind the orchestra] and some of greatest orchestral music ever written, Professor Cox examined astonishing cosmic ideas and created the links between cosmology and music, showing how both can teach us what it means to be human, and what it means to live in a small, finite life in a vast, spectacular universe. He basically suggested at the end, that despite all that mankind on earth has created and developed, in the total scheme of things at the universe level we are insignificant!  Or as noted in the ‘Guardian’ newspaper at one stage – ‘A jaw-dropping reminder that human life is both irrelevant and hugely precious’.

Who is Professor Cox?  Brian Edward Cox CBE FRS is an English physicist and musician who is a professor of particle physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester and the Royal Society Professor for Public Engagement in Science.   Brian is best known however as the ‘unofficial’ face of science in the UK, where he has hosted dozens of BBC programs and TV specials on everything from the solar system to the science of time. He has set world records with sell-out world tours, and through his ‘Horizons Tours’.

In describing the latter tour, we read that – “Horizons has taken over 250,000 people across three continents on a dazzling journey; a story of how we came to be and what we can become. Using state of the art screen technology, venues across the world from New Zealand to the Arctic Circle have been filled with images of far-away galaxies, alien worlds, supermassive black holes and the latest theories of the origin of the Universe.  What is the nature of space and time? How did life begin, how rare might it be and what is the significance of life in the Cosmos? What does it mean to live a small, finite life in a vast, eternal Universe? “

All of these aspects, and more were covered in some way or other by the Sydney Opera House presentation.

I’ve always found science in its many guises [in particular, science associated with the wider cosmic universe] a fascinating subject matter, while at the same time, admittedly having a lot of trouble understanding most of it. I studied science to the Form 4 level [Year 10 these days] in 1962, and while I admit now that my work effort in wanting to understand what I was been taught at the time was lacking, I’ve always regretted not trying a bit harder, and continuing on with that subject in later years.  With respect to astronomy and all of the scientific findings and discoveries in that area alone, I find it difficult to comprehend the size and complexity of the universe[s], and particularly the concepts when they start talking about millions of light years, eg, photos received of planets and stars which actually ceased to exist millions of years ago!!! In fact, at times I find it difficult to comprehend a period of just 60,000 years [in comparison to cosmic timelines] when we are thinking of the longevity of our original Australians and their time on this continent!!

[Perhaps further expressing my ‘ignorance’,  the other night I watched for the first time the movie ‘2001 Space Odyssey’ – I’d often played the music from that film on my radio shows, but never seen the movie – until now – and while I guess it was made in the early days of that kind of film, I wasn’t sure afterwards if I’d  really understood where the movie was going, or where it got to??  No doubt many of you can ridicule for that impression!!  So be it!!]

Anyway, back to the Opera House performance  –  and also noting one statement that came across during Professor Cox’s address was that   “The arts have a really crucial role to play in actually communicating complex ideas.”

The music provided by the SSO was  intended to provide a calming and moderating mood for the audience, following different parts of the address by Professor Cox   –  which he delivered for an hour without notes, but accompanied by a series of beautiful photos taken over the years from various international space telescopes etc  –  portrayals of exploding galaxies, dying stars, black holes in creation, with sundry other depictions and the stories behind them,  often quite frightening in nature, so much so, that the music presented at each break in the talk, had just that aim –  to provide a calming and safe environment, to encourage the audience to stay around and keep listening to the Professor [and I think it succeeded in that aim]!

Together with the Professor, the musical artists were of course the Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by Benjamin Northey, with guest soprano soloist, Jess Hitchcock, while the classical music presented as as complement to the verbal address was:

SIBELIUS Symphony No.5: 3rd Movement
WESTLAKE Missa Solis – Sidereus Nuncius (The Starry Messenger)
MAHLER Symphony No.5: 4th Movement, Adagietto
STRAUSS Thus Spoke Zarathustra [the music from this composition featured quite prominently throughout the program].

On another matter, while thinking of things viewed on TV, I was touched by a movie on one of the SBS channels the other night, titled  ‘Hachi, a Dog’s Tale’ – a story of a dog’s lifelong loyalty to its master, for some years after that master died suddenly.  The original film told the true story of the Akita dog named Hachiko who lived in Japan in 1923-1935. This film was an American adaptation of that story, and was set in 1985.

Hachi: A Dog’s Tale is a moving film about loyalty and the rare, invincible bonds that occasionally form almost instantaneously in the most unlikely places. College professor Parker Wilson (Richard Gere) finds a young Akita puppy that’s been abandoned at the local train station, and he’s instantly captivated by the dog. Assuming the dog’s owner will return to the train station to claim him in the morning, Parker takes the puppy home overnight. But when no one comes to get the dog, Parker convinces his wife, Cate (Joan Allen), to welcome him as part of the family. He dubs the puppy Hachiko–Hachi, for short–because of the Japanese symbol for good luck that’s hanging from his collar. Hachi is a somewhat peculiar dog that refuses to learn to fetch or master other people-pleasing tricks, but he is a faithful companion and friend to Parker, alerting him of potential dangers and accompanying him to the train station each morning and meeting him there after his return trip each evening.  As their bond grows deeper, a beautiful relationship unfolds embodying the true spirit of family and loyalty, while inspiring the hearts of an entire town.

 An unforeseen event will continually test Hachi’s devotion, and for the rest of the dog’s life [suggested at 10 years] it will continually return to the train station waiting for its master to return. Prepare to be moved to tears by this beautiful, seemingly simple film—described as been about  so much more than just the relationship between a man and his dog….[and move to tears it certainly did]

A bit of lighter reading this period interspersed with a couple of more serious publications. In summary form:

• The Perfect Wife by Katherine Scholes;
• Black Sheep by Judy Nunn;
• Colonial’s Son by Peter Watt;
• Call of Empire by Peter Watt;
• Quarterly Essay No. 92: The Great Divide: Australia’s Housing Mess & How to Fix it by Alan Kohler;
• The Naturalist of Amsterdam by Melissa Ashley;
• Killers of the Flower moon by David Grann; and,
• Labyrinth by Kate Mosse.

14^th November 2023

‘The Perfect Wife’ by Katherine Scholes, published in 2013;  473 pages.  Read over a couple of days, another enjoyable and interesting read by this African born author, now residing in Australia – a easy read, less strenuous than some of the books I’ve read recently

Another historical fiction novel set in Africa, as I think are most of her other books. Unless there has been a recent publication, there is only one more of her novels I need to obtain.

From the broad general synopsis – A breathtaking story about duty and desire, and about following your heart, wherever in the world it may lead you.  Kitty Hamilton arrives in Tanganyika with high hopes for her new life. An exciting adventure halfway across the world could be just what she and Theo need to recover from the scandal that almost tore them apart.  But in this wild and foreign land, her dreams soon begin to unravel. And there is much more at stake than her quest to be a perfect wife. As old wounds resurface and new passions ignite, Kitty and Theo confront emotions that push them beyond the boundaries of all that they know and believe in.

Katherine Scholes was born in Tanzania, East Africa, the daughter of a missionary doctor and an artist. She has fond memories of travelling with her parents and three siblings on long safaris to remote areas where her father operated a clinic from his Land Rover. When she was ten, the family left Tanzania, moving first to England and then settling permanently in Tasmania. As an adult, Katherine moved to Melbourne with her film-maker husband. The two worked together for many years, writing books and making films. They have now returned to Tasmania, where they live on the edge of the sea with their two sons. Katherine is the author of eight novels, all of which I have and Have read, except for one  –   : The Rain Queen, Make Me An Idol, The Stone Angel, The Hunter’s Wife and The Lioness, plus The Perfect Wife, and Congo Dawn as of 2017. Published in 2020 –  ‘The Beautiful Mother’, still to be purchased.

22^nd November 2023

‘Black Sheep: There’s one in every family..’  by Judy Nunn, published in 2023, 502 pages. 

Anyone who has read and enjoyed any of Australian author, Judy Nunn’s books, will have probably noticed the reviews, etc, relating to her latest novel – ‘Black Sheep’  Another interesting storyline from Nunn which I thoroughly enjoyed, except for the finish – I felt it ended ‘up in the air’ – unanswered questions!! Or at least one specific subject, relating to a theme which seemed to raise it’s head at various points of the story, to such an extent, that this reader was left with some anticipation as to the eventual outcome – yet it faded into oblivion at the sudden end of the story. Perhaps a subtle hint that there might be a sequel? I would be interested to know if any other readers were left with that ‘hole’ from the reading, without my actually revealing what it was I felt was missing! 🙂
Apart from that point, the storyline, together with the historical aspects of both rural life [sheep farming communities in particular] and that of inner Sydney in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s, and Australia’s participation in WW I, allied with the way those aspects were incorporated into the lives of the novel’s characters, I thoroughly enjoyed, being another pleasant sojourn into a touch of ‘lighter’ reading.

As a general synopsis: from ‘Better Reading’

Judy Nunn knows how to deliver a historical blockbuster. Black Sheep is Nunn’s hugely anticipated new novel. It’s a sweeping family saga about a prosperous sheep-farming family and the enigmatic young man they let into their lives. This is historical fiction at its best, pulling on the heartstrings whilst creating a vivid setting that transports us back to another era.  In Black Sheep, we follow the story of two friends brought together by fate and their shared secrets. The action moves from the Shearing Wars of Queensland to the exclusive gentlemen’s clubs of Sydney, Melbourne and London; from the woolsheds of Goulburn to the trenches of the Western Front. Nunn weaves place through this story like she’s sitting right there on the doorstep of history herself. Into these meticulously crafted eras she introduces her main characters, as well as a cast of extras who are as well-rounded as their leads.

Orphaned at sixteen, James Wakefield was determined to be a gun shearer just like his dad. Only his path is not a smooth one; he’s killed twice, changed his name and ended up on the run from the law. But fate steps in in the form of Ben McKinnon, heir to the vast Glenfinnan sheep property near Goulburn. Ben has a secret of his own, one that would shatter the privileged lives of his father and sisters if it were to come out. These two form an unlikely yet powerful friendship and become the keeper of each other’s secret.

When Ben takes his friend back to his family’s sheep station, the drama and intrigue builds as the family saga plays out. Has James finally found the family he’s always longed for? Or has the McKinnon dynasty unwittingly adopted a black sheep?

Nunn’s career has been as multifaceted as the novels she began writing back in the ‘90s, after many successful years as an actor and scriptwriter. She’s a master at bringing Australian history to life. Nunn excels at merging fact with fiction, evident in her long list of previous bestsellers such as Showtime!, Khaki Town and Spirits of the Ghan. All of these deliver a pitch-perfect combination of page-turning drama, relatable characters, and real historical events.

Nunn says that while her latest release, Black Sheep, is ostensibly about the breeding of fine Merino sheep, it’s really more about the genetic strains of those humans who are breeding them. It’s a ‘good seed, bad seed’ story set on a sheep station but with a big twist – and we are all there for it! Nunn once again shows why she’s considered one of Australia’s great storytellers.

26^th November 2023

 ‘Colonial’s Son’ by Peter Watt, published in 2021, 367 pages, the 4^th of the Colonial series

As always, a wonderful mix of history and fiction – of particular interest, the sections dealing with the Palmer River [in Queensland] and the gold rushes of that area and era  – centred on C19th Australia, Europe, London, Afghanistan and onto the battlefield of Kandahar [India].

As a brief precis – As the son of ‘the Colonial’, legendary Queen’s Captain Ian Steele, Josiah Steele has big shoes to fill. Although his home in the colony of New South Wales is a world away, he dreams of one day travelling to England so he can study to be a commissioned officer in the Scottish Regiment. After cutting his teeth in business on the rough and ready goldfields of Far North Queensland’s Palmer River, he finally realises his dream and travels to England, where he is accepted into the Sandhurst military academy. While in London he makes surprising new acquaintances – and runs into a few old ones he’d rather have left behind.  From the Australian bush to the glittering palaces of London, from the arid lands of Afghanistan to the newly established Germany dominated by Prussian ideas of militarism, Josiah Steele must now forge his own path.

As described by the Canberra Weekly, Peter Watt – ‘Australia’s master of the historical fiction novel’ –  I first came across his books, when he was a guest of the Sunbury Library at a reading session I attended many years ago. Have read all of his published books since that day.

I reviewed the first three books in this series in the Coachbuilder’s Column in recent years.

The author, Peter Watt  has been a soldier, articled clerk to a solicitor, prawn trawler deckhand, builder’s labourer, pipe layer, real estate salesman, private investigator, police sergeant and adviser to the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary. He has lived and worked with Aborigines, Islanders, Vietnamese and Papua New Guineans and speaks, reads and writes Vietnamese and Pidgin. He now lives at Maclean, on the Clarence River in northern New South Wales. He is a volunteer firefighter with the Rural Fire service, and is interested in fishing and the vast opens spaces of outback Queensland.

30^th November 2023

 ‘Call of Empire’ by Peter Watt, published in 2022, 352 pages – another enthralling story by this author – the 5^th book in the Colonial Series [and a direct follow-on from the book reviewed above], and judging by the ending pages, possibly at least one more to come. Watt’s usual wonderful mix of fiction and history – not just within Australia, but various conflicts in the latter part of the 1800s around the world, as noted in the following broad review of the book [from the book cover, and various publishers and suppliers].

‘It is 1885. After a decade spent fighting for Queen and Country across the globe, Colonel Ian Steele is enjoying the quiet life in the colony of New South Wales, reunited with his friend Conan Curry and watching over his children and numerous business enterprises. But the British Empire’s pursuits are ceaseless, and when the colony’s soldiers are required to assist a campaign in Sudan, North Africa, Ian’s son Lieutenant Josiah Steele heeds the call, despite an ultimatum from the love of his life, Marian. Meanwhile, Ian’s younger son Samuel is learning the family business in the Pacific islands with his friend and colleague Ling Lee. However, Lee has become embroiled in a scheme to smuggle guns for the Chinese, which sees the pair sailing directly into danger in Singapore. As the reign of Queen Victoria draws to a close and new battles loom on several frontiers, the Steele family must face loss and heartbreak like never before.

A couple of individual comments , which illustrate my feelings of encouragement to learn more about the different conflicts referred to.

• This book was excellent. Although its number 5 in the series it can easily be read as a standalone. The book moves at a medium pace and is easy to keep up with the story. Peter Watts writing style is easy to read and he is an exceptional storyteller. The chapters in the book are short and set in different countries all over the world. It starts in 1885 and involves different wars.  I connected mainly with the father and his two sons as they are the main characters in the storyline. The characters involved in this book were from the same families but different generations.
• What a brilliant saga, from the first book to the fifth. Memorable characters – men and women behaving well and behaving badly – plenty of globe-spanning action and intrigue, and a wonderful glimpse into Australia’s colonial past.
• Another in the colonial series. I did enjoy the call backs to earlier books, particularly where our protagonists are at fault. An interesting read about some of the conflicts Australians have been involved in that don’t necessarily get the media attention.
• Excellent read covering the formation of Australia and early deployment of Australian troops. Entertaining to the end.

8^th December, 2023

Quarterly Essay No. 92: The Great Divide: Australia’s Housing Mix and How to Fix It by Alan Kohler. today.

One of the great mysteries of Australian life is that a land of sweeping plains, with one of the lowest population densities on the planet, has a shortage of land for houses. As a result, Sydney is the second most expensive place to buy a house on Earth, after Hong Kong.

The escalation in house prices is a pain that has altered Australian society; it has increased inequality and profoundly changed the relationship between generations – between those who have a house and those who don’t. It has caused a rental crisis, a dearth of public housing and a mortgage crunch.

Things went seriously wrong at the start of the twenty-first century, when there was a huge and permanent rise in the price of housing. In this crisp, clarifying and forward-looking essay, Alan Kohler tells the story of how we got into this mess – and how we might get out of it

Written  by Alan Kohler, and while some of the charts and graphs sometimes got beyond my comprehension, the general content was highly informative, and interesting. Some readers will be familiar with Alan Kohler, who among other attributes [including former editors of the Age, and the Australian Financial Review], presents the finance report on the weeknight ABC news bulletins

As recorded on the back cover of the Essay  – 

‘The growth in the value of Australian land has fundamentally changed society, in two ways. First, generations of young Australians are being held back financially by the cost of shelter, especially if they live somewhere near a CBD and especially in Sydney or Melbourne; and second, the way wealth is generated has changed. Education and hard work are no longer the main determinants of how wealthy you are; now it comes down to where you live and what sort of house you inherit from your parents. It means Australia is less of an egalitarian meritocracy’

One of a number of solutions that Alan Kohler  proposes in the Essay,  relates to attention to a fast rail network in Australia –  not so much between the capital cities [which has been, and still is in the ‘pipeline’ for decades], but between their CBDs and regional cities and centres. He is talking about where people are forced to live in relation to where they work.

He writes: “At the moment the viable commuting distance in Australia is no more than 50 kilometres, because the trains are slow and traffic is a nightmare even on expensive toll roads. This can involve a commute of an hour and a half. The fact that most people want to crowd into that fifty-kilometre radius, and that it consists of mostly single dwellings on large blocks of land, is the fundamental cause of Australia’s unaffordable housing……..Unless there is a big and unlikely increase in the density of housing within 50 kilometres of the CBD, the commuting radius needs to extend to 100 to 200 kilometres. To make that happen, commuter trains need to travel 150 kilometres an hour, and preferably 200 kilometres per hour, so there can be a few stops while keeping the travel time to an hour……To be a housing affordability solution, high-speed rail needs to radiate inland from the CBD, as well as up and down the coast. Specifically, commuters need to be able to live in Bathurst, 200 kilometres  from the Sydney CBD and currently a four hour train journey, and get to work in the city within an hour.  Or Bendigo, 150 kilometres from Melbourne. Or Toowoomba, 125 kilometres from Brisbane, which currently takes two hours on the train”. ……..All the talk about a lot more medium-density housing  is just that – talk. It will never actually happen. What’s needed is transport infrastructure”

Kohler goes on to say that –

“There has been talk of fast trains in Australia for about forty years, but the discussion has always been about fast train travel between capital cities to replace air travel, not within the cities to extend them. And even on that subject, Australia has been left standing at the platform. There are now about 60,000 kilometres of high-speed rail in the world…..and there’s a lot more coming……None of them are or will be in Australia……which has stuck with cars and planes. The result is expensive housing.” 

So why are there no fast trains in Australia:

Kohler suggests that  “Transport infrastructure in Australia is controlled by the airlines and the toll-road operators, but no-one rich and powerful is pushing trains, and the projects that are put up are either too ambitious, not ambitious enough or ambitious in the wrong way”.

[Extract from Quarterly Essay 92].

Incidentally, QE 91, the previous essay, provided an excellent expose and personal experience, of the present state of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, written by a ‘recipient’ under NDIS, Micheline Lee, who has lived with a motor neurone disability since birth. Both Essays well worth a read to gain a detailed understanding of both topics.

12^th December

While the subject matter may not appeal to everyone, this book is the beautifully written The Naturalist of Amsterdam, by Melissa Ashley, published in 2023, 393 pages: for someone interested in the natural world, this is based on an historical story of exploration and research, in an age of discovery as naturalists raced to discover the secrets of the world.  Centred in Amsterdam at the turn of the C18th –  where that city is at the centre of that intellectual revolution by artists and scientists seeking the wonders of the natural world.

Of all brilliant naturalists in Europe at the time, Maria Sibylla Merian is one of its brightest stars, and it is she about whom this book is centred.

As per the book description –  ‘From the jungles of South America to the bustling artists’ studios of Amsterdam, Melissa Ashley charts an incredible period of discovery. With stunning lyricism and immaculate research, The Naturalist of Amsterdam gives voice to the long-ignored women who shaped our understanding of the natural world – both the artists and those who made their work possible’

From the author’s words  – “Maria Sibylla Merian was an extraordinary woman: a naturalist, artist, entrepreneur, and claimed by some scholars as the very first ecologist…………..The range of expertise required by Merian and her daughters [and one in particular, Dorothea who attempted to carry on her mother’s work after her death] to create her opus [The Metamorphosis of the Insects of Suriname’] was vast: sketching, composition and watercolour painting; etching and engraving; field observations and laboratory investigations; teaching and operating a successful business, and so much more…”

17^th December.

Of a very different subject, and genre, and written six years ago is Killers of the Flower Moon’ by David Grann, published in 2017, 339 pages  –  again, meticulously researched  over many years, to create a narrative of non-fiction, set in Oklahoma in the 1920s.  A story of oil, money, murder, and the creation of the FBI.

In Osage County, on land which had been allocated to the Osage Indians, oil was subsequently discovered beneath that land, resulting in the Indian population suddenly owning untold wealth. But then, one by one, they began to be killed off as the white population in the area tried to gain control of that wealth. Collusion, cover-ups and corruption within most sections of the non-Indian populace, would mean many of those murders would never be able to be attributed to a particular individual. When the FBI eventually took up the case, they began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.

While as revealed in the book, convictions were eventually made relating to some of those murders, the case has never really closed, and in the end, dozens if not hundreds of murders would never be solved  –  as the author reports in the closing sections:  “While researching the murders, I often felt as though I was chasing history even as it was slipping away..” That outcome was despite extensive investigations and research, even up until just prior to the book’s publication. In a note to the sources, the author writes that “This book is based extensively on primary and unpublished materials. They include thousands of pages of FBI files, secret grand jury testimony, court transcripts, informants’ statements, logs from private eyes, pardon and parole records, private correspondence, an unpublished manuscript co-authored by one of the detectives, diary entries, Osage Tribal Council records, oral histories, field reports from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, congressional records, Justice Department memos and telegrams, crime scene photographs, wills and last testaments,  and the murderers’ confessions…”

The author writes on page 286 – “In cases where perpetuators of crimes against humanity elude justice in their time, history can often provide at least some final accounting, forensically documenting the murders and exposing the transgressors. Yet so many of the murders of the Osage were so well concealed that such an outcome is no longer possible. In most cases, the families of the victims have no sense of resolution…”

25^th December

‘Labyrinth by Kate Mosse, published in 2005; 708 plus pages –  I began reading this book a couple of years ago, came back to it in recent days. It is set in two time periods – July 1209 in Carcassonne [old France], and July 2005, in the French Pyrenees.

An interesting story – I sometimes found the switching back and forth between periods a little annoying, in a  story described by the promotors  as an action-packed adventure of modern conspiracy and medieval passion, set in France, covering a period or gap of 798 years.

In the Pyrenees mountains near Carcassonne, Alice, a volunteer at an archaeological dig, stumbles into a cave and makes a startling discovery-two crumbling skeletons, strange writings on the walls, and the pattern of a labyrinth.

Eight hundred years earlier, on the eve of a brutal crusade that will rip apart southern France, a young woman named Alais is given a ring and a mysterious book for safekeeping by her father. The book, he says, contains the secret of the true Grail, and the ring, inscribed with a labyrinth, will identify a guardian of the Grail. Now, as crusading armies gather outside the city walls of Carcassonne, it will take a tremendous sacrifice to keep the secret of the labyrinth safe.

In summary:

July 1209: in Carcassonne, a seventeen-year-old girl is given a mysterious book by her father which he claims contains the secret of the true Grail. Although Alaïs cannot understand the strange words and symbols hidden within, she knows that her destiny lies in keeping the secret of the labyrinth safe…
July 2005: Alice Tanner discovers two skeletons in a forgotten cave in the French Pyrenees. Puzzled by the labyrinth symbol carved into the rock, she realises she’s disturbed by something that was meant to remain hidden.
Somehow, a link to a horrific past – her past – has been revealed.

I was just thinking the other day that there is too much international cricket being played these days, with barely a week passing that some other tournament is underway, so often involving India.

Subsequently, I found the following article from the Sydney Morning Herald of interest, written by Daniel Brettig, on the 24^th November, following on from the just completed World Cup of One Day Cricket.

I thought it was worthwhile copying and sharing the full article by Daniel,  on these pages.

‘Cricket’s greatest obstacle is not an outdated format. It is the proliferation of meaningless matches in any form.

One-day cricket was seen, in the lead-up to the World Cup, as the problem area for the game. Lacking the longevity of Tests or the frisson of Twenty20, ODI games appeared to be caught hopelessly in the middle – or so the perceptions were.

But if Australia’s World Cup victory in Ahmedabad proved anything other than the greatness of the current team, it was that 50-over cricket has many enduring virtues, provided it is played in matches with genuine meaning.

As he often does, captain Pat Cummins distilled the value of the cup win beautifully in the moments after accepting the trophy from India’s nonplussed Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

“Every international team comes together,” Cummins said. “You only get a shot at it every four years. Even if you have a 10-year career, you might only get two chances at it. The whole cricket world stops with this World Cup. So it doesn’t get any better.”

Cummins’ generation, and those of the other competing teams, grew up watching 50-over games at World Cups and elsewhere. For that reason, it was telling to hear Cummins speak of the challenge they provide with the sort of affection once used exclusively by players when talking about Tests.

This is not just nostalgia. It comes from the same place as the admiration for Tests, namely in terms of how the format pushes players and identifies the best practitioners. Tests do so more readily than ODIs, but ODIs are also truer indicators than T20.

The physicality and mental strength of players is tested by a one-day game: Greg Chappell and Aaron Finch are two former captains who have each said they sapped more energy than other forms. Australia’s committed fielding across 50 overs, at the end of such a long year of overseas trials, was as clear a marker of champion status as batting or bowling.

It is also harder to “hide” in ODI matches. The allocation of 10 overs to each bowler allows for multiple spells of varying rhythms, and batters need to be able to play at more than one speed. Two of the best knocks of the cup were by Travis Head in the final, but also by South Africa’s David Miller in the semi. Each had to absorb pressure before returning fire.

Thirdly, the history of ODIs provides a genuine marker point for successive generations to prove themselves. Head joined Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards, Aravinda de Silva, Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist as centurions in a men’s World Cup final.

If Ponting and Gilchrist were both proven great players by the time they made their bows, Head’s career arc is closer in line with Lloyd, Richards or de Silva. Spectators at Lord’s in 1975 and 1979, then Lahore in 1996, did not yet know how good they might become, but the finals provided a fairly good idea.

All that said, the problem for all of cricket’s formats lies in the space between big events. The game’s economy is largely run from the broadcast money reaped by bilateral events. In most cases, it comes down to how often India tour another country and what that tour is worth to the hosts.

Australia’s current T20 series in India is an obligatory one for Cricket Australia to pay back India for playing matches on these shores. But there is no meaning whatsoever to the games beyond the broadcast arithmetic.

Similarly, the white-ball series to be played against the West Indies – who failed to qualify for the World Cup – in February will have very little contextual resonance, even though the games are still valuable in terms of CA’s broadcast deal with Foxtel. Bilateral ODI matches have been paywalled in Australia since 2018, further limiting their audience size.

Context is not necessarily a new issue. Many will point to the “golden era” of white-ball games where the World Series Cup dominated every January: Michael Bevan’s night of nights in Sydney in 1996 stands as the single most indelible memory. White-ball triangular series also filled stadiums from Sharjah to Singapore.

But don’t forget that those series were the epicentre of cricket’s match-fixing epidemic in the 1990s – a scandal that really could have put world cricket on its knees through the loss of credibility. Meaningless games make for all manner of troubles.

Last week, CA’s chief executive Nick Hockley and chair Mike Baird went to India with the goal of regenerating discussion about reinstating an ODI league between World Cups, turning those series into qualifying matches with wider context.

At the same time, the BCCI remade the case to stick with the current 10-team format for the World Cup. Ostensibly this is because it will mean more guaranteed matches for India, and therefore more broadcast rights value for the International Cricket Council’s main rights holders Star Sports, soon to be sold by Disney to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries.

But in the exhausted satisfaction of Cummins and company, another argument could be made for its retention. Unlike in other cup formats, Australia had been forced to play, and beat, every team in the tournament to win the trophy.

To do so successfully provided a reminder that ODI cricket is not the problem child many around the game have perceived. Just keep it meaningful, and the game played over 100 overs in a single day can have a future just as long as Test matches.’ [Daniel Brettig, Sydney Morning Herald]

Regarding ‘Killing For Country: A Family Story’, by David  Marr, published in 2023 by Black Inc; 468 pages

First published in 1991, David Marr’s massive biography of Australia’s Nobel Prize winning author, Patrick White [over 727 pages] was a fascinating if not time-consuming read. Marr’s written much since then, but I think in 2023, he has exceeded all previous achievements with his latest contribution.

That publication, titled “Killing For Country: A Family Story”, is a book which I believe every Australian should read, but which Marr himself suggested in a recent TV interview, that if you don’t want to hear about what our ancestors did to the Aboriginal people of Australia in the colonial period of the 1800’s and beyond, then ‘don’t read my book’!! If that concerns you, perhaps don’t read any further here, either!

As Richard King wrote in a recent edition of the ‘Weekend Australian’, the book, while “Modestly described as a ‘family story’, it is in fact as solid a work of history as one could hope to find on the shelves….Marr brings the same forensic approach to this narrative of the frontier wars as he did to his celebrated biography of Patrick White, to his monographs of Tony Abbott and George Pell, and to his indispensable account of the Tampa/Children Overboard affair and Pacific Solution, Dark Victory. It is a magnificent achievement, and a necessary intervention on a subject that still divides Australia: the violent dispossession of its native people”.

It’s also a book with a very personal taste to it. Prior to and during his research and writing ‘David Marr was shocked to discover that some of his own forebears served with the brutal Native Police during the bloodiest years on the frontier, hence the sub-title of a family story!

This contribution aims to include some ‘quotations’ from the book [most of which are tragic and heart-rending] as examples of many of the instances the writer refers to.  Initially however, allow me to quote David Marr’s own thoughts, as they appear in his closing chapter. The book arose partially from the discovery that his great grandmother’s father served with the Native Police, and he and his contemporaries’ figure prominently throughout the story, little of it favourably.  Marr’s words are worth reflecting upon because quite likely there are many Australian families of today’s generations, whose ancestral backgrounds go back to those times and people, but the stories associated with those connections, have not been passed down through the family generations since, perhaps for obvious reasons!!

From pages 408-409, as Marr writes

“We can be proud of our families for things done generations ago. We can also be ashamed. I feel no guilt for what Reg did. But I can’t argue away the shame that overcame me when I first saw that photograph of Sub-Inspector Uhr in his pompous uniform. I checked with Wikipedia. The Native Police were exactly who I thought they were. Wikipedia even had thumbnail accounts of Reg’s and D’arcy’s massacres. I pulled from my shelves everything I had on the frontier wars. The brothers were there but I hadn’t made the connection. It embarrasses me now to have been reporting race and politics in this country for so long without it ever crossing my mind that my family might have played a part in the frontier wars. My blindness was so Australian.

There are many of us descendants of the Native Police. The 442 officers and 927 troopers who served in its ranks over half a century bred many hundreds of families. Because I made no secret of what I was writing over the last few years, people have told me of their own murdering ancestors. Some were in the Native Police. Others were squatters. One was a magistrate. The great-great-grandfather of a colleague of mine poisoned two dozen men and women on the Clarence River in New South Wales in the 1840s. She will tell that story one day. [Poisoning became a cheaper option than expending time and money on bullets!! Groups of Aboriginals would be invited to share a meal, which included flour laced with arsenic!].

I have been asked how I could bear to write this book. It is an act of atonement, of penance by storytelling. But I wasn’t wallowing in my own shame. None of us are free of this past. James Boyce told me: ‘Men like D’arcy become a part of the story that we are ALL implicated in. His deeds are our responsibility, his legacy belongs to us all’. My links to the Uhr brothers made the obligation to come to grips with this past personal. For a man of my trade, the outcome was obvious – I had to write their story.

What began as an account of the bloody exploits of the brothers turned into a history of an invasion in which they were foot soldiers. I was drawn into the worlds of sheep, money, merchants, the press, the church, the law and London’s imperial cowardice. I was intrigued by the shadowy forms of today’s politics emerging from the frontier wars – particularly the still potent belief in many quarters that the Aboriginal people deserve nothing for the continent they lost. Polls show hostility is strongest where most blood was shed [Queensland]. Despising those we have wronged is another way we humans have of dealing with our shame.

But these investigations always led me back to the killings and unaccountable victims from Maryborough [Qld] to the Cape, across the Gulf, into the Territory and down to the West Australian goldfields. There were days at my desk I was ambushed by dread and disgust. I tried as best I could to stick to the promise I made myself at the start – no excuses.”

In a review of Marr’s book, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald on the 4^th October, Frank Bongiorno [Professor of History at the Australian National University] notes that in reading the book, he “was sometimes reminded of Robert Hughes’ study of convict transportation, The Fatal Shore (1987), in the epic quality of this book. And as Marr occasionally reminds us, he is traversing some of the territory also travelled by Judith Wright, in her admired family histories of colonisation. Like that great poet’s writing last century, which contributed to the reappraisal of the darker aspects of Australia’s history, Killing For Country is a timely exercise in truth-telling amid a disturbing resurgence of denialism’.

That review by Bongiorno is worth highlighting in full, as it provides an excellent synopsis of Marr’s story-telling.

As Bongiorno writes:

“In the early years of this century, Keith Windschuttle produced two volumes of a projected trilogy, The Fabrication of Aboriginal History, which became central to the history wars of the era. The first, published in 2002, purported to show that the colonisation of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) was a relatively peaceful affair. The numbers killed in frontier violence, he argued, were far fewer than historians had claimed. Volume three in the trilogy claimed to demonstrate that the Stolen Generations were a myth. Oddly, no volume two has ever appeared. As a result, we have never been allowed to see how Windschuttle might go about proving that the notorious Queensland frontier, or, for that matter, the blood-soaked estates of the other mainland colonies, were tranquil places where God-fearing colonists attached to British law and order established their sheepwalks and cattle runs without much bloodshed.

David Marr’s powerful Killing For Country: A Family Story might help explain, as well as to fill, this apparent gap. Marr’s account is a relentless exposé of the violence at the heart of the colonisation of Australia. It is also something of a family saga: Marr is a descendant of the migrants on which the book focuses, the Uhr family.

Their Australian career unfolded mainly under the patronage of a sticky-fingered emigrant merchant, pastoralist, politician and philanthropist, Richard Jones. Jones engaged a brother-in-law, Edmund Uhr, in helping him to expand his pastoral holdings. With ambition that well and truly outstripped his ability, Uhr later ran – badly – a sheep boiling-down works in Maryborough, served as a magistrate, and ended up as Sergeant-at-Arms of the Queensland Parliament.

Killing Aboriginal people became a family business when Reg, Edmund’s son, established a career as an officer in the Native Mounted Police. Younger brother D’arcy, also in this force for a time, and rather more wild and more famous, was celebrated as a cheeky and hard-living larrikin of the type Australians are said to love. A compulsive liar, aggressive racist and serial killer, he was responsible over many decades for murders of Indigenous people in Queensland’s Gulf country, the Northern Territory, and the Western Australian goldfields.

Land-grabbing and its corollary, the massacre of Indigenous people, provided the unifying theme of this family’s early history. There must be many Australians who have such stories in their genealogy. They, like the rest of us who have inherited this history, will recently have heard from Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price that, far from having suffered from colonisation, Indigenous people have it to thank for benefits such as running water. Those being killed in their tens of thousands in frontier warfare would not have been aware of such advantages, even if they had been invited to consider them before they were shot.

Marr shows that colonists evolved a discreet system for clearing Aboriginal people from their land through slaughter without incurring serious risk of interference by the authorities. Indeed, the vague instructions issued by British-appointed governors and, later, elected colonial governments about what was and was not permissible gave something close to carte blanche to white vigilantes and Aboriginal “police” charged with keeping order.

The latter were usually recruited from distant places such as the southern colonies, so that they would be as foreign to the Aboriginal people of Queensland as the white colonisers who had hired them. The violence was often extreme and fuelled by the “spoils” that the Native Police, in essence a military force, gained from their efforts, such as access to women.David Marr has uncovered a huge amount of evidence. The recruitment of other Aboriginal men to do this dirty work also gave white officers an alibi should the killing be questioned by their superiors. They could allow the Aboriginal men under their command to kill freely in the bush and then obfuscate about what had gone on. That killing did not only happen in the backblocks: Marr details a chilling massacre in the town of Maryborough itself, in plain sight of residents. There was, as usual, no punishment for the perpetrators.

Marr suggests that after the Myall Creek massacre of 1838, that saw the execution of some of the killers of Aboriginal women and children, colonists adapted. Some turned to poisoning, which would be nearly impossible to trace and punish. Colonists also became more discreet, establishing what Marr calls “a curious but brutally effective omertá … a code that let so much be written in the papers about massacres but saw nothing done about them in the courts”.

“Dispersal” was a favourite euphemism, but colonial scribes were masters of evasion. It is chilling to read the offhand way a contemporary could refer to police having “inflicted punishment on the savages in the usual manner.”

Marr has uncovered a vast array of evidence of this killing in a monumental research effort. He has made excellent use of the richness of colonial newspapers, now accessible via the National Library of Australia’s superb Trove database. These are often surprisingly revealing of frontier violence. Marr’s archival research is also deep, and he has been assiduous in working with family and local researchers, as well as historical societies and regional archives. He is familiar with all the major historical and archaeological research. It is a fabulous feat of scholarship.  This evidence is brought to life by one of the country’s most accomplished non-fiction writers” [Frank Bongiorno, 4^th October 2023]

Finally, a selection of quotations from the book, which only give a very partial indication of the research and investigations that Marr put into the writing of it.

• [1] from page 126:  “On board the Shamrock’  with Uhr was Colin Mackenzie of Kilcoy, one of the lairds of the upper Brisbane Valley.  A week after he disembarked, at least fifty Aboriginal people were poisoned on his run. The deaths of two shepherds and the spearing of a bullock had provoked the Mackenzies’ supervisor to ask: ‘Don’t you think it would be a good thing to give these fellows a dose?’. When blacks next gathered asking for flour, tobacco and sugar, a meal of maize porridge – or perhaps stewed mutton – mixed with arsenic – was given to them.  Back at their camp on the lagoon, the poison soon took effect……In the grim history of frontier slaughter in Australia, the Kilcoy poisoning of 1842 carries a unique stench. Blacks thereabouts came to call poison Mackenzie. Bloody as the fighting had been at Moreton Bay, it grew even bloodier. The Kilcoy killings set off a war that lasted many years. Yet no one was ever punished for this crime. It was barely investigated”.
• [2] from page 131: “The preferred squatter strategy was to attack their sleeping camps at dawn. It didn’t matter that in the barely lit confusion of horses, bodies and guns it was impossible to identify the men the vigilantes were pursuing. Nor did it give them pause that only after the sun came up could they hunt for some shred of evidence – a shirt, a tomahawk, a book or a side of beef – to justify the attack”.
• [3] from page 192:  “Transportation was again at the centre of contention, with squatters demonised everywhere for polluting a pure young nation – not by slaughtering the original inhabitants, but by importing British prisoners to mind their sheep”.
• [4] from page 202:  “The squatters knew…who was guilty of murdering their shepherds and stealing their sheep. But the courts asked for proof. What was the point of tracking down malefactors, taking them to a lock-up, turning up art a trial to give evidence against them only to have a judge acquit them for want of witnesses to their crime? Justice was surely more efficiently delivered in the bush with a gun”.
• [5] from page 222 -23:  “ Not content with scouring the scrubs and forest country they were bold enough to ride up to the Head statins and shoot down the tame blacks whom they found camping there….the party in scouring the bush perceived an old blind blackfellow whom they immediately fired [upon]…this old man had been for a long time a harmless hanger on at the different head stations and of course could have been in no Way identified with the [sought after] murderers”…… “Where, he asked, were the magistrates of Maryborough”.  ‘I reply our magistrates are all here and they might as well be at Jericho they do not care a fig for either law or justice and in short knowing how matters stand they are as guilty of every act of cruelty as the actual perpetuators of them. They are traitors every man of them and unworthy the confidence of the people’”.
• [6] from page 271:  Reg [Uhr] spent three of the next four years clearing the Biri, Yangga, Miyan and Yilba people from the hinterland of Bowen. The squatters wanted an empty landscape for sheep to graze. It was an article of faith with them…that peace was only possible if the blacks were gone. From time to time, squatters were reminded that the terms of their leases guaranteed the right of the first inhabitants of the country to continue hunting and fishing on their land. This was ignored. Already it was been taken for granted in Australia that the men of the bush could decide which laws applied to them. Stockmen and shepherds were armed and put to the task. So were the Native Police”.
• [7] from page 298: “The Native Police  was a reckless force, and its only effect was the extirpation of the blacks. He admitted that when blacks committed crimes they ought to be punished, and there was only one way of punishing them, namely, shooting them down”.
• [8] from page 311, spelling, etc, as originally written: Isaac Watson, a resident of the Gulf, complained to the Colonial Secretary in 1880, as follows [and as was customary at the time, nothing was done about the complaint, other than squatters complaining about do-gooders]. He wrote: “It has been customary for several years past and also up to the present time for the Sub Inspectors [the white officers in charge] and their troopers to go into the Bush round up the Blacks and shoot them indiscriminately and Kidnap the Gins and little Boys and take by force either to stations or to the township of Normanton and their made slaves of and if any attempt to escape is made they are shot down like wild beast…I think therefore it is quite time to put an end to such disgraceful proceedings”.
• [9] from page 314 [a slur on Queensland’s history] – despite attempts by some at the time to see those guilty of massacres etc of the native populations, the general tone of response was “I don’t think there is any means of punishing  these men…The obvious solution to the problem – legislation in the Queensland parliament, enforced by the colonial authorities – never happened. Despite the lives ruined and blood spilt, slavery and kidnapping were everywhere and officially tolerated in Queensland”,
• [10] from page 322-323: ‘D’arcy then took his men down to Urilla to avenge the death of two shepherds’ – as reported in the Brisbane Courier at the time: “Mr Uhr went off immediately in that direction, and his success I hear was complete. One mob of fourteen he rounded up; another mob of nine, and a last mob of eight, he succeeded with his troopers in shooting. In the latter lot was one black who would not die after receiving eighteen or twenty bullets, but a trooper speedily put an end to his existence by smashing his skull. Everybody in the district is delighted with the wholesale slaughter dealt out by the native police, and thank Mr Uhr for his energy in ridding the district of fifty-nine myalls”.

[NB, if you read that quote outside of the context of the book, you might think the newspaper was writing about the ridding of a group of feral animals, such was the broad attitude of the European populace of the time urged on by the squatter class, and ignored by those in authority and the powers that be back in the ‘old country’!!].

• [11] from page 325: “Lieutenants Uhr and Murray, two first-class officers, were quickly at the scene of the murder and after running the tracks of the blacks with their troopers, came upon the camp, where the police found sundry articles  of Mr Clarke’s clothing, and inflicted punishment  on the savages in the usual manner”.
• From page 336 [adverse reaction back in Britain] – “When a man because his skin happens to be black can with impunity be shot dead with a rifle for an offence punished with a few weeks’ imprisonment when committed by a European, civilisation has evidently sunk  to a very low degree in the individual guilty of such a deed.  But when armed men in the government employ surround and shoot down scores of unarmed and defenceless wretches, for the pettiest of larcenies, the crime become national and affects the character of the entire population”.

And finally, though far the complete story;

• From page 378:  Senior officials, police and civilians, knew what was happening and they did nothing:  “Despite this knowledge, the native police, particularly in central Australia, operated with only minimal controls. Police records were brief and sometimes written up from memory. The native police were brutal and operated outside the law when they wantonly killed other Aboriginal people. Police violence was at the extreme coercive end of the violence continuum and remained there until the native police were disbanded”.

Those very isolated selected passages will either encourage the reader to seek out the full story as told by David Marr, or alternatively, convince he or she to ignore the whole thing, and like many of Australians, even today, turn a blind eye and pretend none if these events happened. But as research of history is continuing to prove the authenticity of this disgraceful aspect of this country’s development since 1788, the truth continues to be ignored at all our peril!!

[Bill Kirk]

This contribution relates to both an exhibition recently held at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, and a book, which was partially published as an outcome of that exhibition held in the UK and USA in recent years.

At the historical Art Gallery of Ballarat, in Victoria, there were two exhibitions run in conjunction with each other  earlier this year –   the ‘Pre-Raphaelites: Drawings and Watercolours’, and ‘In the Company of Morris’. The term Pre-Raphaelite is now used to encompass a style of art that proliferated in Britain for much of the second half of the nineteenth century.

From the Gallery’s promotional material and associated sources, we learn, that in 1848, seven rebellious young artists formed a secret society called the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood [PRB]. This international exhibition drew from the extraordinary collections of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford [UK], to tell the story of the artists, their lives and loves, bringing to life the world of John Ruskin, William and Jane Morris, Edward Burne-Jones, John Everett Millais, Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Lizzie Siddall.

Their mission was to challenge and change the popular style of art of the time. These artists loved 15^th century aet, and were inspired by nature, stories, and poetry. The Pre-Raphaelite artists often turned to stories from history for example from Greek mythology, or the tales of King Arthur, and even fairy tales for ideas, as well as illustrating the works of poets of the likes of Geoffrey Chaucer.  It was felt that the literature provided a stimulating springboard for the artists to generate new ideas in relation to narrative, memory, religion, and romance. Tropes of love, heroism, and beauty were subverted and Pre-Raphaelites portrayed knights and damsels in complex social situations.

During their strongest period of influence, they were generally friends, who enjoyed making and producing drawings, paintings, etc, of each other, sharing ideas, and supporting one another, particularly when their work faced criticism.  They often turned to nature for inspiration, concentrating on smaller details, as well as a preference for making art outside, rather than drawing plants or animals from their imagination. In fact, they were described  as the first artists to paint en plain air or outside in nature and were meticulous in their adherence to truth in nature

Meanwhile,  the exhibition held in conjunction the Pre-Raphaelites  In the Company of Morris]  celebrated the ongoing legacy  of the Pre-Raphaelites  and William Morris, in the work of Australian artists in the Art Gallery of Ballarat Collection from the 19^th century until today.

William Morris, was described as a Pre-Raphaelite visionary thinker, designer, writer, artist, poet, environmental crusader [well before his time] and social activist. He believed in the rights of individuals –   to improve the world and that good design should be available for all. Morris’ dream was to bring art into the daily life of every person; he believed that filling a person’s soul with beauty was as important as filling their belly with food.

Further, in reaction to the Industrial Revolution of the time, Morris argued for a rejection of mass production; he was appalled by the cheap ugliness produced by industrial manufacturing and championed the beauty of methods based on medieval craft societies and as an active socialist he advocated that the maker be involved in all aspects of production. In terms of the emphasise of the Group on landscaping, Morris in observing the ill effects of factory on workers, realised that a healthy environment was linked to psychological as well as physical health and that the landscape itself contributed to well-being.

In the gift shop of the Art Gallery, there was a large ‘coffee table’ sized book titled the  ‘Victorian Radicals: From the Pre-Raphaelites to the Arts and Crafts Movement’ published in 2018 by the American Federation of Arts [New York] and Del Monico Books -Prestel, 280 pages.   An expensive purchase in my normal terms, but I would later consider it a well worthwhile acquisition; certainly the many wonderful illustrations of the various genres of art undertaken by the movement  were a delight to examine and learn from.

From the inside front cover:

‘Three generations of British artists, designers, and makers revolutionised the visual arts in the second half of the nineteenth century. The reforming zeal and creative brilliance of the Pre-Raphaelites, William Morris and his associates, and the members of the Arts & Crafts movement transformed art and design. Selected from the outstanding collection of the city of Birmingham, England, Victorian Radicals brings together a rich variety of paintings, works on paper, and the decorative arts to tell the story of this most dynamic period of English art.  Many of the works have never been published before.  Among the world’s first and most productive industrial cities, Birmingham holds one of the greatest civic collections in Europe.  It includes extraordinary holdings of Victorian fine and decorative art, and the finest collection of works by the Pre-Raphaelites and their associates and followers anywhere in the world.

Victorian Radicals features key paintings and drawings by the leading figures of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Elizabeth Siddall, and their mentor John Ruskin, and the second wave of Pre-Raphaelite artists, including Arthur Hughes, Frederick Sandys, and Simeon Solomon, as well as the later generation of young men and women around 1900 whose art was influenced by them.

The fine and decorative art featured in this book represents almost the full range of Pre-Raphaelite practice. Included are world-famous paintings, drawings and watercolours, delicate studies from nature, and exquisite illustrations for printed books and magazines. This fine art narrative is balanced by concurrent, interrelated developments in design and the decorative arts. Outstanding examples of stained glass, ceramics by William De Morgan, vessel glass by  James Powell & Sons, textiles and printed books by William Morris, and silver and metalwork  designed by leading architects  of the day all extend an understanding  of the diversity and richness of visual arts in England during the years1840 to1910……..This book also explores key ideas that preoccupied artists and critics at the time, relating to the status and purpose of beauty and the arts in an industrial world, the value of the handmade, and tensions between the concepts of making and designing. These are issues as relevant and actively debated today as they were a century and a half ago.’.

From the Yale Centre for British Art – about this book.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, three generations of young rebellious artists and designers revolutionized the visual arts in Britain and challenged the new industrial world around them. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, William Morris and his associates, and the champions of the Arts and Crafts movement offered a radical artistic and social vision that found inspiration in the preindustrial past and decisively influenced visual culture in Britain and beyond. Victorian Radicals brought together approximately 145 paintings, works on paper, and works of decorative art—many never shown outside the UK—to illuminate this most dynamic period of British art in an exhibition of unparalleled historical and visual richness.

Showcasing the work of Ford Madox Brown, Edward Burne-Jones, William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, William Morris, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Elizabeth Siddall, among others, this display represented the spectrum of avant-garde practices of the Victorian period. These artists’ attention to detail, use of vibrant colours, and engagement with both literary themes and contemporary life were illustrated through a selection of paintings, drawings, and watercolours presented alongside superb examples of decorative art.

From Prestel Publishing

This generously illustrated and exciting new study of the Victorian era features rarely seen works, provocative essays, and a striking, period-inspired design.

Although the word “Victorian” connotes a kind of dry propriety, the artists working in the Victorian era were anything but. Starting with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and lasting through the dawn of the 20th century, the era’s painters, writers, and designers challenged every prevailing belief about art and its purpose.

The full spectrum of the Victorian avantgarde is in magnificent display in this book that features nearly 150 works drawn from the Birmingham Museum’s unparalleled collection.

Characterized by attention to detail, vibrant colours, and engagement with literary themes and daily life, the paintings, works on paper, and decorative objects featured reveal the myriad ways Victorian artists and artisans made sense of a rapidly changing world.

Perceptive essays and the latest scholarship illuminate the issues these artists contended with, including the relationship to art and nature, questions of class and gender identity, the value of handmade versus machine production, and the search for beauty in an age of industry.

Designed to reflect the tactile nature of the work and featuring typography inspired by the Victorian era, this beautiful volume is as fresh and bold as the visionaries it celebrates.

One reviewer wrote:

‘The book is a hefty and gorgeous illumination into the Pre-Raphaelite and Arts & Crafts Movement in England. The eleven full page colour details at the front of the book are sublime as well as the full detail colour photographs of objects starting each chapter.

This is first-rate, highest quality printing and after having had a brief chance to view the exhibit in Reno at the Nevada Museum of Art, I was thrilled to come home and read in much more detail the back stories of the artists. I am particularly interested in the women’s roles in this movement and also love seeing the archival photos of the artists themselves.

 Also of keen personal interest are the books and printed materials of this time and this book is loaded with examples. Anyone with an interest in the Arts & Crafts Movement should have this book in their library. I am thoroughly enjoying the design and content of this book!’

These are a few brief comments and general views on a number of books read over recent weeks, continuing with my series of book reviews and comments. The dates indicated are when I completed the book in queation.

15 August 2023

‘The Farmer’s Wife’ by Rachael Treasure, published in 2013, 390 pages –  another light easily read novel of rural life in Australia by this popular author who is also a farmer herself, and often writes from experience.  An enjoyable read again, although on this occasion, I did find the constant references to sex and the male organs a bit off-putting! Putting that aside, a wonderful story read over a couple of nights.

As her website states: ‘Author Rachael Treasure currently lives in southern rural Tasmania with her fiancé Daniel, two comedic teenagers and a collection of blissfully indulged animals’

From a broad range of suppliers and reviewers, the relevant synopsis of the novel reveals the following –

The Deniliquin [NSW] Ute Muster had always been on Rebecca’s wish list, but with the farm and babies, she’d never managed to make it. Tonight, she decided to reclaim herself. After ten years being married to larrikin Charlie Lewis and living on her beloved property, Waters Meeting, Rebecca is confronted by a wife’s biggest fear, a mother’s worst nightmare and a farm business that’s bleeding to death.Can Rebecca find the inner strength she once had as a young jillaroo, to save everything she cherishes? Or is life about to teach her the hardest lesson: that sometimes you simply have to let go.This uplifting and insightful tale deals with the truth about love that the Cinderella stories never tell us. Rebecca’s journey is everywoman’s journey, and a resonant tale for our times.The long-awaited sequel to Rachael Treasure’s bestselling debut, ‘Jillaroo’.

23^rd August 2023

‘The Keeper of Hidden Books’ by Madeline Martin, published in 2023, 387 pages…a tragic, heart-rending, but a wonderfully inspiring story. As the promo on the book cover states: “A heartwarming story about the power of books to bring us together, inspired by the true story of the underground library in WWII Warsaw…”

A couple of quotes taken from the latter stages of the story touched at my feelings and heart.

[1] – ‘They entered the library together, followed by scores of readers ready to celebrate how their love of books helped them through the terrible days of the occupation. For it truly was an event to celebrate when a library whose existence had originated in donated collections almost forty years ago, had now risen from the ashes of war and oppression by virtue of donations once more’ [pages 380-381]………’Good books were like amazing sunsets or awe-inspiring landscapes, better enjoyed with someone else. There was no greater experience in the world than sharing the love of a book, discussing its finer points, and reliving the story all over again’ [page 299].

[2] – ‘Now that it is done, I know I must share these stories so they can never be forgotten. We cannot let the atrocities and persecution of the Jews slip between the cracks of history. We cannot allow education to be stifled or cultures to be erased or books to be banned. Nor can we let the memory of those brave men and women who fought for freedom and what is right disappear in the turning pages of time’ [page 387];

[3] – When Hitler first took Poland, his intent was to relocate or murder 85 percent of Poles, leaving around 15 percent to be used for slave labor, along with completely eradicating the Jewish population. This was part of his Generplan Ost and Lebensraum plans for genocide and German settlement in Eastern Europe, which resulted in the murder of almost three million Polish Jews and almost two million non-Jewish Polish civilians’ [Author’s note];

[4] – ‘The Polish Underground State and Home Army [the military branch of the Polish Underground State] were what coordinated the official Warsaw Uprising [or Rising, as it is referred to in Poland]. In late July, 1944, the Soviet Union promised to help the Home Army defeat their Nazi oppressors. When the Red Army was visible on the other side of the Vistula River in the Praga district, the Home Army assumed their support to be fully ready and decided to attack an August 1 at 5.00 p.m. [a day and time still celebrated in Warsaw today]. It was believed by many that it would be a quick battle lasting only one to three days. As the Polish Home Army and the Nazis fought, however, the Soviets remained in place without offering aid, abandoning the Poles so that they could easily defeat the beleaguered victor and absorb Poland into the Soviet Union……In the end, the Polish Warsaw Uprising that was supposed to last one to three days went on for just over two months. During this time, 150,000 civilians were killed by German troops [40,000 to 50,000 of those were slain in just a few days in the Wola district], with around 20,000 soldiers killed. Of the soldiers fighting with the Home Army, this also included the Gray Ranks, the boys and girls belonging to Poland’s Guides and Boy Scouts, meaning many of these soldiers were between the ages of eleven and eighteen’ [Author’s note].

Shortly after the book was released for publication, Madeline Martin had this to say on her writer’s page, as reviewed on Goodreads    –  “Also, I officially turned this in last month and put everything into writing this book!! What you can expect from The Keeper of Hidden Books – An unbreakable friendship   – Books (including classic authors you know and maybe some Polish ones you don’t)   – A secret book club (oh, yes – I went there)   – Intrepid librarians and true events surrounding the Warsaw public library   – Acts of bravery and kindness and love   – My heart, which I poured into these pages   – To have your tissues handy

26^th August

‘The Sultan and the Queen’  The Untold Story of Elizabeth and Islam  by Jeremy Brotton, pub in 2016, 338 pages.  An interesting book, a little difficult at times to keep track of places, people, etc And, like the ‘Family History of the World Book’ by Simon Sebag   –  which I’m part of the way through at present, and struggling with, mainly because of the extreme violence depicted page after page    – Bottom’s story also depicts the not so pleasant descriptions of the way royalty and leaders treated their own families let alone their perceived enemies.

A different style of history, where in relating his story of the subject, Brotton often uses the works of writers and playwrights like William Shakespeare and others of that era, to illustrate how the relationship between England [and Elizabeth I] and the Islamic world  was presented to the public of the time [at least those who had the time, interest or money to go to the theatres of the day] – this technique is especially prevalent in the second half of the book, where plays of Shakespeare such as Othello, Twelfth Night and Titus Andronicus amongst others,  are often described in  substantial detail as an illustration of what the book’s author is trying to relate in his writings.

A brief precis of the book, as described by Goodreads, puts it into perspective.

The fascinating story of Queen Elizabeth’s secret outreach to the Muslim world, which set England on the path to empire, by The New York Times bestselling author of A History of the World in Twelve Maps
We think of England as a great power whose empire once stretched from India to the Americas, but when Elizabeth Tudor was crowned Queen, it was just a tiny and rebellious Protestant island on the fringes of Europe, confronting the combined power of the papacy and of Catholic Spain. Broke and under siege, the young queen sought to build new alliances with the great powers of the Muslim world. She sent an emissary to the Shah of Iran, wooed the king of Morocco, and entered into an unprecedented alliance with the Ottoman Sultan Murad III, with whom she shared a lively correspondence.
The Sultan and the Queen tells the riveting and largely unknown story of the traders and adventurers who first went East to seek their fortunes—and reveals how Elizabeth’s fruitful alignment with the Islamic world, financed by England’s first joint stock companies, paved the way for its transformation into a global commercial empire.

From the writer’s point of view, as he describes what he is attempting to depict from the following quotation, on page 299 in the Epilogue

“The story told in this book is one of a largely unknown connection between England and the Islamic world, one that emerged out of a very specific set of circumstances during the European Reformation. English history still tends to view the Elizabethan period as defined by the timeless rhythms of agrarian Anglo-Saxon traditions, ethnically pure and exclusively white. But, as I hope this book has shown, there are other aspects to this island’s national story that involve other cultures, and in the Elizabethan period one of them was Islam. To occlude the role Islam played in this past only diminishes its history. Now, when much is made of the ‘clash of civilizations’ between Islam and Christianity, seems to me a good time to remember that the connections between the two faiths are much deeper and more entangled than many contemporary commentators seem to appreciate, and that in the sixteenth century Islamic empires like those of the Ottomans far surpassed the power and influence of a small and relatively insignificant state like Elizabethan England in their military power, political organisation and commercial reach.. It turns out that Isla in all its manifestations – imperial, military and commercial – is part of the British national story.

One way of encouraging tolerance and inclusiveness at a time when both are in short supply is to show both Muslim and Christian communities how, more than four centuries ago, absolute theological belief often yielded to strategic considerations, political pressures and mercantile interests.  In a period of volatile and shifting political and religious allegiances, Muslims and Christians were forced to find a common language of messy and uneasy coexistence. Despite the sometimes intemperate religious rhetoric, the conflict between Christian Europe and the Islamic world was then, as now, defined as much by the struggle for power as precedence as by theology”.

29^th August

‘Restless Dolly Maunder’ by Kate Grenville [published in 2023], 242 pages.  An interesting historical fiction novel, easily reads, and quite enjoyable. I would add the following quotation to my Family History, because the story-line was I thought, reflective of much of the family history I have been writing about, even if much of my writings are guesswork, or family assumptions based on what records were or are available at the time of my research..

“I’ve noted, while working through this document, that so often, the ladies in our story, especially through the C19th and early C20th centuries, often don’t seem to have a great deal to add to the family life, eg, on electoral roles their occupation after marriage is usually described as ‘Home Duties’ [once married, any employment ambitions they may have hoped for, disappear] . That’s not the way I want to present them, but often there is little other information to provide, as perhaps illustrated by the following quotation. From a recent book release, which allows us to put that situation into some kind of perspective. The book ‘Restless Dolly Maunder’ by Kate Grenville [published in 2023] is an historical novel where the author uses family memories to imagine the way into the life of her grandmother, a woman who worked her way through a world of limits and obstacles.

Kate writes near the end of the story:

“The only way we know many of these women born in the 1880’s is from stiff, unreal old studio photos. Unless they were privileged or exceptional, most women vanished from the record. Their lives often can’t be reconstructed beyond a few dates – their births and deaths, when their children were born – and maybe a recipe for drop scones or oxtail soup……It’s only two generations ago, but Dolly’s world seems a foreign country. In the old photos those women in their impossible clothes seem like another species, their lives unimaginable” [p.238-89]”

Dolly Maunder , the subject of this book, was born at the end of the nineteenth century, when society’s long-locked doors were starting to creak ajar for women. Growing up in a poor farming family in country New South Wales but clever, energetic and determined, Dolly spent her restless life pushing at those doors.

Most women like her have disappeared from view, remembered only in family photo albums as remote figures in impossible clothes, or maybe for a lemon-pudding recipe handed down through the generations. Restless Dolly Maunder brings one of these women to life as someone we can recognise and whose struggles we can empathise with.  In this compelling new novel, Kate Grenville uses family memories to imagine her way into the life of her grandmother. This is the story of a woman, working her way through a world of limits and obstacles, who was able—if at a cost—to make a life she could call her own. Her battles and triumphs helped to open doors for the women who came after.

From the Art House Book Review [by Ellie Fisher, 22/8/2023]

In her new novel, Kate Grenville takes her grandmother as muse. Weaving familial histories with graceful prose, she uses memory and research to reimagine the life of Dolly Maunder – bringing into being a textured, nuanced appraisal of intergenerational dynamics.

Born in New South Wales in the early 1880s, Dolly is part of a sprawling sheep-farming family. Quick and intelligent, she excels at school. There, Dolly learns that women can live beyond the scope of the domestic. One of the student teachers is ‘the only woman’ she knows who isn’t ‘at home all day, banging the stove door open and closed, heaving the wet sheets around on washday’. Gradually – ‘like water seeping into sand’ – Dolly grasps the idea that the life ahead of her does not promise much in the way of liberation. ‘If you were born a girl,’ Dolly realises, ‘the life you’d have to live’ was that of obedience. Unless, of course, ‘you could find a way out’. Locating a doorway to autonomy, however, proves difficult within the societal confines of the period.

At the age of 14, like most girls, Dolly leaves school. She works in the familial home, the shadow of her father staining her days. Yet Dolly retains her sense that there is more to life than this obedient drudgery. She earns the eponymous epithet of ‘restless’ from the fact that she pushes at the boundaries set down upon her because of her gender – boundaries that are, gradually, flexing at the seams. Dolly is part of a ‘transition generation’, out of which is birthed the prospect of ‘a different future’ for women.

Marriage presents a trap – but also a potential window to freedom for Dolly. Bert Russell, whom she eventually weds, seems to understand that she is more than simply a reproductive vessel or domestic skivvy. While Bert has a wandering eye, he also allows Dolly space to exercise her faculties through business – and, eventually, teaches her to drive. Together, they build a string of enterprises, which leads to financial success.

Yet Dolly is not invulnerable to the structures of misogyny that surround her, or immune to enacting them upon others. While she finds some sense of liberation through her engagement with capitalism, she inflicts the wounds of intergenerational trauma upon her own daughter – Grenville’s mother, Nance – which leads to interesting writerly positionalities the author explores in the novel.

The scope of Nance’s view of Dolly – who forcefully trampled her daughter’s dreams of an artistic career in order to direct her towards a life of relative financial independence – shifts Grenville’s narrative to a place of speculative understanding. Grenville moves to enact a distant reading on her own family history, in an attempt to understand how her grandmother was shaped into appearing ‘uncaring’, ‘unloving’ and ‘dominating’ to her children. Here, the liberties of fiction allow Grenville to theorise, freeing her to examine the subtleties and ‘complicated feelings’ of her family’s history.

In her closing chapter, ‘Thinking About Silences’, Grenville writes towards an acknowledgement that the life of her grandmother took place on the ‘taking of land’, but that the personal archive of remembered family histories from which she wove the novel ‘record no awareness of the enduring sorrow all the taking meant – and means – for First Nations people’. She recognises that the history of her family is but ‘one story’, and that ‘standing beside it is another’, which, while recognised, goes untold.

In Restless Dolly Maunder – which successfully interweaves memoir, biography and remembrance of things past into a nuanced piece of fiction – Grenville has produced a novel that is unafraid of pushing the scope of what it means to unpick the intricacies of family history. There is a tenderness to the weight of the realities Grenville offers us – an awareness that love can wound, but that it can also redeem.

31^st August

‘That Bligh Girl:  by Sue Williams, published in 2023, 391 pages [a gift prize from National Seniors]. This was another wonderful way to recall a bit of history, and from a different viewpoint, albeit, written as a fascinating piece of historical fiction, easily read and enjoyed.  A story written from the perceived point of view of Mary Blyth, daughter of William Blyth [of Mutiny on the Bounty fame] as she unwillingly accompanies him to New South Wales where he is to take up the role of Governor. But as the book describes, she is no ‘shrinking violet’, and after an horrific six-month sea voyage from Britain, she proves as strong-willed as her bloody-minded father.

But despite being bullied, belittled and betrayed, Mary remains steadfast, even when her desperate father double-crosses her yet again in his final attempt to cling onto power. The pair immediately scandalise Sydney with their personalities, his politics and her pantaloons. And when three hundred armed soldiers of the Rum Rebellion march on Government House to depose him, the governor is nowhere to be seen. Instead, Mary stands defiantly at the gates, fighting them back with just her parasol.

But despite being bullied, belittled and betrayed, Mary remains steadfast, even when her desperate father double-crosses her yet again in his final attempt to cling onto power.

While researching the story for the book  ‘Elizabeth & Elizabeth’, Sue Williams was intrigued by the life of Mary Bligh and found it had a few touchpoints with her own. Both Mary and Sue grew up in London, spent time in Portsmouth, lived in Potts Point and were daughters of a strong-willed father. 

Publishers Allen & Unwin say, ‘Sue Williams returns to give a voice to the previously untold stories of the women in colonial Sydney. Sue is known for her meticulous research and fascinating narratives. That Bligh Girl is no exception.  This is her second novel as she continues to explore the untold stories of the women of colonial Sydney, her previous effort being ‘Elizabeth & Elizabeth’ [Elizabeth Macarthur and Elizabeth Macquarie], both of whom feature prominently in this story of the Bligh’s.

A fascinating imaginary depiction of two lives, based on factual events of the early days of Sydney.

19^th September

‘Bryce Courtney: Storyteller” A Memoir of Australia’s most beloved writer by Christine Courtney, published in 2022, 431 pages [completed 3 August 2022]

This was a wonderful read about one of my favourite readers, only one of whose novels I’ve not been able to obtain so far, ‘The Night Country’ which I noted in this book, was no longer in print, and was difficult to come by.  Christine spent years of research writing this book, especially about his early years in Africa –   apart from  the incorporation in the ‘writings and characters’ of many of his novels, Bryce generally revealed little of  his life in apartheid Africa.  Much of that has been discreetly revealed through the characters and lifestyles depicted in his many novels.

From Booktopia:

When Christine Courtenay began penning her own life story during the 2021 lockdown, she found herself increasingly drawn into the story of her late husband and bestselling author Bryce Courtenay. The manuscript that evolved is the memoir his readers have longed for, and is the first biographical work of one of Australia’s most beloved authors.
Bryce Courtenay was a figure larger than life, and his extraordinary, adventurous, rags-to-riches life story reads like one of his epic fictions – and indeed characters, places, episodes and themes have made their way into his novels. He was born in South Africa, an illegitimate son to Maud Jessamine Greer, who gave him the name ‘Courtenay’, and spent his challenging childhood in a number of small African towns. He was later schooled at an exclusive boarding school in Johannesburg, and worked the dangerous mines of Rhodesia in the fifties to pay his way to journalism school in London, where he met his first wife Benita Solomon. Bryce followed Benita home to Sydney, where they married and raised three sons.
He embarked on a career in advertising, first as a copywriter, that spanned 34 years, and was Creative Director at McCann Erikson, J.Walter Thompson and George Patterson before following his childhood dream to become a novelist. The Power of One was published in 1989, and quickly became an international bestseller. Bryce went on to write another twenty bestsellers, and can only be described as an Australian publishing phenomenon. Bryce and Benita parted ways in 1999. Bryce engaged Christine Gee as his publicist in 1997. She became his partner in 2005, and they married in 2011. Bryce passed away on 22 November 2012, ten days after the publication of his last book, Jack of Diamonds.
Bryce Courtenay: Storyteller is a personal memoir and tribute, featuring untold stories, original insights, extracts from his personal letters and previously unpublished photographs – from the woman who knew and loved him dearly.  That author:  Christine Courtenay (nee Gee) was born in north-eastern Victoria in 1954 and grew up on a cattle property before graduating with a Bachelor of Arts from the Australian National University. In 1975 she co-founded Australian Himalayan Expeditions, which offered trekking trips to the Himalayas, and became a world leader in adventure travel. In 1989 she created her own marketing company and was engaged by several pioneering tourism projects. She also worked alongside acclaimed authors, world-renowned mountaineers and polar explorers. Christine served as the Nepalese honorary consul-general in NSW from 1987, and as Nepal attaché during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, and was a founding director of the Australian Himalayan Foundation. She was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in 2013. Christine was Bryce Courtenay’s partner from 2005, and they married in 2011. She has a son called Nima, and continues to enjoy travelling, writing, and walking in wild and beautiful places. She lives in Sydney.

From the Canberra Times [19/11/2022]

Christine Courtenay, the widow of the best-selling Bryce Courtenay, says she felt she knew what it took to write a book. Until she wrote one herself.

The discovery of a cache of letters Bryce Courtenay had written to his mother throughout his life spurred Christine Courtenay to write a memoir of her late husband, the South African-born ad-man turned novelist who dominated the best-seller lists in Australia from 1989 to his death a decade ago, aged 79, in Canberra.

Every year on February 1, Bryce Courtenay started writing a novel. And every year on August 31, he finished the book. Except the year gastric cancer forced him to miss his usual deadline.

“Sometimes I honestly wished he would maybe take a year off, spend more time relaxing, spend more time with his family, friends. And I think, in the end, you just have to respect that that’s like trying to talk a mountaineer out of climbing mountains,” Christine Courtenay says.  Christine Courtenay had started on another book, a record of her life in and amongst the business of adventure travel, before she stumbled on her late husband’s letters home.

“Bryce had never mentioned it. I’ve never seen them. He had a vast archive of things from his life, his working life, his writing life. He was a bit of a bower bird. He sort of never threw things out, but he also didn’t ever go through them,” she says.  “But when I took them upstairs and sat down to read them, I couldn’t believe it. I just couldn’t believe it.  “And also that I could see that there were gaps, but they were written from early childhood years right through until when he was writing The Power of One. And they sort of stopped, I guess, after the next couple of books. And then I guess he probably went on to computers, because people didn’t stop writing letters, I guess.

2^nd October

Finally the book   ‘Saga Land: The island of stories at the edge of the World’  by Richard Fidler and Kari Gislason, published in 2017, 447 pages. A combined travel/personal lifestyle and history of Iceland, and the sagas [stories] that were passed down and saved through the centuries. – these sagas revealing the true stories of the first Viking families that settled on that remote island in the Middle Ages. An unusual book, written jointly by two chaps travelling and living in Iceland for 2 months –  an author [Gislason] and radio blogger & presenter and author [Fidler] who share the input to the writing of the book [their research was also presented as a Series on ABC Radio National].

I’ve previously read two of Fidler’s history-based books [and referred to them at the time through this Column] – The Golden Maze [the biography of Prague] and The Book of Roads and Kingdoms [explorations from Baghdad], both fascinating examinations of the history of those two cities.”

From Saga Land – a quote from page 397/398: “Icelanders didn’t forget about the sagas. The stories of the first settlers were reproduced in manuscripts long after the loss of the commonwealth, and over the centuries came to form part of an array of storey types and scholarly works, from fantastical works to royal biographies. But there were few libraries, and for hundreds of years it fell to farmers and merchants to keep the manuscripts in their own private collections. It wasn’t until the sixteenth century, when the first schools were established, that priests and teachers began to look for the most precious of the documents. Even then, they did so with a view to sending them to Sweden and Denmark, as treasures for the royal households of the most powerful nations in the region”.

From the general reviews of the book, we read:

Broadcaster Richard Fidler and author Kári Gíslason are good friends. They share a deep attachment to the sagas of Iceland – the true stories of the first Viking families who settled on that remote island in the Middle Ages  These are tales of blood feuds, of dangerous women, and people who are compelled to kill the ones they love the most. The sagas are among the greatest stories ever written, but the identity of their authors is largely unknown.  Together, Richard and Kári travel across Iceland, to the places where the sagas unfolded a thousand years ago. They cross fields, streams and fjords to immerse themselves in the folklore of this fiercely beautiful island. And there is another mission: to resolve a longstanding family mystery – a gift from Kari’s Icelandic father that might connect him to the greatest of the saga authors.

Reviewing the book for Readings Books, Marie Matteson writes

Fidler and Gíslason met over a radio interview and immediately hit it off. As firm friends, who Kári describes as having a conversation that will never end, it seemed to make sense when Kári said he was off to Iceland, and Richard said he’d go with him. Saga Land starts as many good Icelandic sagas have: two men head off on an adventure. Along the way, they stop to tell stories of the past, to encounter new people, and to reaffirm their friendly and familial bonds. In alternating chapters, Richard and Kári travel to Iceland with the intention of recording a radio series about the sagas, as they travel to the places they belong to. The Icelandic Sagas form one of the great bodies of literature. Written during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, they tell the stories of the Icelanders: from the establishment of Reykjavik in 874 (dated by a volcano eruption) up until the time of writing. They also include the most complete remaining account of Norse mythology.

While the sagas capture and hold the imagination as Richard and Kári travel around Iceland, another family saga closer to home is woven through the tale. Kári’s relationship to his Icelandic heritage has always been complicated by his relationship with his Icelandic family, which had been unacknowledged for much of his childhood. In one of their rare meetings, his father had mentioned a connection to the sagas that Kári had never anticipated. Now was the time to find the end of the tale.

This contribution aims to share my views and those of various more professional reviewers of a number of books I’ve read over recent months.  Books referred to are as listed below.

• The Cartographer’s Secret by Tea Cooper [2021];
• Go As A River by Shelley Read [2023];
• The Digger of Kakoda by Daniel Lane [2022];
• Bill Wannan Selects Stories of Old Australia by Bill Wannan [1976];
• The Porcelain Moon by Janie Chang [2023];
• Rose by Suzanne Faulkner [2022];
• The Fossil Hunter by Tea Cooper [2022];
• The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams [2023];
• The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop [2023];
• Homecoming by Kate Morton [2023];
• The Naked Island by Russell Braddon [1952].

5^th April 2023

‘The Cartographer’s Secret’ by Tea Cooper, published in 2021, 362 pages  –  the second of Cooper’s novels I’ve read, and completed the book over 2 days.  Another one of those rural based novels, with a touch of mystery about it, and written as an historical novel, essentially dealing with the unsolved disappearance of the explorer Ludwig Leichhardt.  An entertaining, easy to read Australian based novel – as with all local novels of this sort, I enjoy the historical element applied to a fictional story.

The book synopsis.

A map into the past. A long-lost young woman. And a thirty-year family mystery.  The Hunter Valley, 1880. Evie Ludgrove loves to chart the landscape around her home—hardly surprising since she grew up in the shadow of her father’s obsession with the great Australian explorer Dr. Ludwig Leichhardt. So when an advertisement appears in The Bulletin magazine offering a thousand-pound reward for proof of where Leichhardt met his fate, Evie is determined to use her father’s papers to unravel the secret. But when Evie sets out to prove her theory, she vanishes without a trace, leaving behind a mystery that haunts her family for thirty years.
Letitia Rawlings arrives at the family estate in her Ford Model T to inform her great-aunt Olivia of a loss in their family. But Letitia is also escaping her own problems—her brother’s sudden death, her mother’s scheming, and her dissatisfaction with the life planned out for her. So when Letitia discovers a beautifully illustrated map that might hold a clue to the fate of her missing aunt, Evie Ludgrove, she sets out to discover the truth. But all is not as it seems, and Letitia begins to realize that solving the mystery of her family’s past could offer as much peril as redemption…………………..Described as a gripping historical mystery, the Cartographer’s Secret follows a young woman’s quest to heal a family rift as she becomes entangled in one of Australia’s greatest historical puzzles –  a Daphne du Maurier Award Winner, 2021.

As reviewed by Gini Grossenbacher for the Historical Novel Society  –

[a couple of errors below –  her brother dies after a boat explosion, and the timeline between the two parts of the story is 30 years].

In 1880, at her house at Yellow Rock, New South Wales, talented Australian sketch artist Evie Ludgrove shares her father’s obsession with the famous explorer Dr. Ludwig Leichardt, who vanished in the Australian wilderness. After creating a map that follows her father’s leads and seeking The Bulletin magazine’s thousand-pound reward, she heads out into the wilderness on a quest to find Leichardt’s last known whereabouts. On her expedition, she vanishes without leaving any clues to her disappearance.

In 1911, following the loss of her brother Thorne in an automobile accident, Letitia Rawlings escapes her wealthy mother’s house in Sydney. She moves to Evie Ludgrove’s former dwelling to stay with her aunt Olivia, who remains haunted by Evie’s disappearance after twenty years. Captivated by Evie’s story and curious about what happened to her, Lettie follows points north from Yellow Rock toward Aberdeen. With the help of the drover Nathaniel and the blacksmith Denman, she embarks on a quest to follow Evie’s map and discover where she vanished. After a series of loops following the crash of her tin lizzie, the group makes startling discoveries that may lead her to Evie’s last known place.

Lettie’s growing attraction for Nathaniel highlights the social rift between the drover society and the landed gentry in Sydney. He becomes involved with Lettie in her search for Evie, helping her navigate her journey’s challenging physical and emotional landscape. Yet, they face an unknown future since they are from different social classes.

Tea Cooper’s meticulous prose and deft phrasing delight the reader. Her storytelling weaves the places on Evie’s map in tandem with the search Lettie makes so that the reader becomes immersed in a distant world. The reader yearns along with Lettie (and Evie, too) for the answer to Leichardt’s disappearance and wants Lettie and Nathaniel to surmount the chasm that separates them. This fascinating novel informs the reader about Australia’s storied past.

8^th April 2023

‘Go As A River’ by Shelley Read, published in 2023, 305 pages –  tuned out to be a beautiful story!

In summary form –    Victoria Nash is just a teenager in the 1940s, but she runs the household on her family’s peach farm in the ranch town of Iola, Colorado—the sole surviving female in a family of troubled men. Wilson Moon is a young drifter with a mysterious past, displaced from his tribal land in the Four Corners region, who wants to believe one place is just like another. When Victoria encounters Wil on a street corner, their unexpected connection ignites as much passion as danger and as many revelations as secrets. Victoria flees into the beautiful but harsh wilderness of the nearby mountains when tragedy strikes. Living in a small hut, she struggles to survive in the unforgiving conditions with no clear notion of what her future will be. What happens afterward is her quest to regain all that she has lost, even as the Gunnison River rises to submerge her homeland and the only life she has ever known. Go as a River is a story of love and loss but also of finding home, family, resilience—and love—where least expected.

From Readings Review [March 2023] – “Nestled in the foothills of the Elk mountains and surrounded by sprawling forests, the Gunnison River rushes by the tiny town of Iola. For 17-year-old Victoria Nash, the day promises to be ordinary. But the mysterious drifter who crosses her path that afternoon will set in motion an unstoppable chain of events.  Victoria will be forced to run for the forests, leaving her life – and her most precious possession – behind’

A general synopsis

On a cool autumn day in 1948, Victoria Nash delivers late-season peaches from her family’s farm set amid the wild beauty of Colorado, then heads into the village. As she nears an intersection, a dishevelled stranger stops to ask her the way. How she chooses to answer will unknowingly alter the course of both their young lives.

So begins the mesmerising story of split-second choices and courageous acts that propel Victoria away from the only home she has ever known and towards a reckoning with loss, hope and her own untapped strength.

Gathering all the pieces of her small and extraordinary existence, spinning through the eddies of desire, heartbreak and betrayal, she will arrive at a single rocky decision that will change her life for ever.

From Booklovers’ Review

Go As A River is truly haunting historical fiction. 

Shelley Read’s debut novel has one of the most impactful Prologues I have ever read.

“My home is at the bottom of a lake. Our farm lies there, mud bound, its remants indistinguishable from boat wreckage. Sleek trout troll the remains of my bedroom and the parlor where we sat as a family on Sundays. Barns and troughs rot. Tangled barded wire rusts. The once fertile land marinates in idleness.”

This first-hand perspective really hammers home the impact of building dams has not just on the natural landscape, but also people and their history. 

Go As A River is a literary novel in the sense that Shelley Read’s descriptions are uncommonly vivid, perceptive and nuanced. She brings alive on the page our capacity to connect with and derive energy from nature. But the Prologue aside, Victoria Nash’s heart wrenchingly stoic first-person narrative and painfully swift coming-of-age is basically told chronologically. There’s no overt structural complexity or linguistic swordplay so often found in the genre. For me this novel’s power stems from the depths to which it plumbs raw and authentic emotions.

In Go As A River Shelley Read explores with an engaging juxtaposition of sensitivity and pragmatism, the scars of bigotry, racism, war and women’s inequality. And more specifically the trauma some individuals had to, and in many contexts continue to, endure in society’s painfully slow journey towards open minds and hearts.

Like so many throughout history, Victoria Nash’s fictional life story was no Disney movie. She carried burdens larger than she ever should have had need to, but did so with inspiring grit, determination and dignity.

… I’ve come to understand how the exceptional lurks beneath the ordinary, like the deep and mysterious world beneath the surface of the sea.”

I highly recommend Shelley Read’s Go As A River to those looking for earthy, simply told yet powerful historical fiction that provokes reflection.

12 April 2023

I finished reading ‘The Digger of Kokoda [The Official Biography of Reg Chard]  by Daniel Lane [published in 2022], 333 pages  – in this book, 98 year old Reg Chard shares his story of courage and resilience on the Kokoda Trail [or Track] –   a wonderful, enlightening read, inspiring, deeply moving, healing,  but also sadly in part because of the nature of the story,  horrifically traumatic, with vivid descriptions  of the sheer extreme inculcated brutality, emotional detachment and unrelenting fanaticism of the troops our soldiers were trying to protect Australia from invasion  in the early 1940s.!!.

Brief overview:  Reg Chard endured hell as an 18-year-old Australian soldier who fought in 1942 on the infamous Kokoda Trail in World War II.
Ironically, Kokoda rescued Reg decades later when he decided to take his own life. After losing Betty, his wife of 66 years, the grief-stricken great-grandfather lost the will to live. But he found new purpose through educating young people, giving guided tours of Sydney’s Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway.  On these tours, Reg relives Kokoda every day. He sees an image on the wall of a soldier – a comrade – who succumbed to disease weeks after the photograph was taken. He feels his heart beating as his patrol chases down Japanese troops who had mutilated women in a jungle clearing. He hears the war cry of a samurai sword-wielding officer charging towards him. And he tells these stories along the walkway, preserving the memory of those who never came home.

As one of the last surviving diggers of Kokoda, Reg Chard has become a custodian of its legacy. This deeply moving, healing and inspiring biography of the 98-year-old veteran tells us of Reg’s war in the jungle and how, 80 years after the battle that saved Australia, Kokoda still lives within him.

Some of the praises for this book.

• ‘Reading the story of Reg Chard and his fellow servicemen only reinforces how grateful we all should be to the soldiers who sacrificed everything in order for us to have the privileged life we often take for granted. These men were full of bravery, courage and conviction yet were regularly battling against the odds in the knowledge they may not see out the day. Every word of this story has meaning, importance and impact and I for one am indebted to those who have served our nation to make it what it is today.’ – Steve Waugh
• ‘The Digger of Kokoda is a gripping read about an all-Australian hero, Reg Chard, who like so many of that WWII generation had greatness in him, only revealed when he was called on to put everything on the line for his country. This biography evocatively portrays the hardships of the Kokoda campaign, the sacrifices made, and the irrepressible spirit of the Australian soldiers and nursing sisters. Bravo the lot of them, and this book.’ – Peter Fitzsimons
• ‘The lessons and life experiences of Reg Chard are ones all Australians today could learn a lot from. The Digger of Kokoda was very honest and gave me a new perspective and understanding of what they went through and why. Warm, moving, heartbreaking and inspiring in equal measure. The greatest lesson I take from Reg is his quote: “Make the most of life, because no matter how bad something may seem, life goes on – just make sure you go with it.”‘ – Emma McKeon
• ‘A lifetime ago, no series of battles were more critical nor horrendous than those of the New Guinea campaign – Kokoda and the likes of Sanananda. Reg Chard was a typical and thus extraordinary digger who fought in those battles and survived, to this day mourning and honouring his many mates who fell. This brilliant account by Daniel Lane, of Reg’s war service, reminds us all of the price of peace so many of our predecessors have paid. A great story.’ – General Sir Peter Cosgrove
• ‘I have an immense respect and admiration for Reg Chard – the Digger of Kokoda. He’s a genuine Australian hero whose story could help teach our nation’s youth the importance of resilience, grit, and mateship. Reg, and others like him, should be honoured in our school system to ensure the Anzac/Kokoda spirit thrives . . . reading this man’s powerful story is a perfect start to guaranteeing that.’ – Danny Green
• ‘Reg Chard’s biography transported me straight back to the jungle in New Guinea and rekindled memories of walking the Trail later in my life. The written word of the Kokoda Trail will last long into history like the track itself. The Digger of Kokoda is essential reading for any Australian.’ – Keith Payne VC
• ‘The Digger of Kokoda offers a deeper understanding of what it means to be an Australian and the inspiration to be a better person.’ – Dr Brendan Nelson
  ‘In a world where an internet outage is deemed a catastrophe, The Digger of Kokoda is a masterclass in perspective and relativity. If this book doesn’t get you to the Dawn Service on Anzac Day, nothing will.’ – John Schumann
• ‘Grittily honest, told with great sensitivity, this is the finest account of Kokoda by a front-line soldier that I’ve read. Reg Chard, only 18 when he fought the Japanese in Papua, tells much more than another “mud and blood” story. Now 98, he shows how the experience touched his life and, in an extraordinary twist, saved him from his own demons after his wife died. The true story of a boy soldier who faced some of the worst battles of the Pacific War.’ – Paul Ham
• ‘In Reg Chard’s compelling account of Kokoda, we gain a unique insight into war’s madness … The Digger of Kokoda is a modern digger’s time capsule full of the human lessons of war and soldering that never change.’ -Anthony ‘Harry’ Moffitt
• ‘Reg’s memoir reminds us of all the extraordinary acts committed by ordinary people and fills a Digger like myself with pride in the honour of donning the same badge they wore.’ – Damien Thomlinson
• ‘Raw, vivid and searingly honest, Reg Chard’s personal account of Kokoda is one of the most moving I’ve ever read. From the nightmare of Eora Creek to the terrible swamps of Sanananda, I felt I was right there, and it’s not a pretty place. One of the last true voices, Reg reaches across the decades to remind us of what our men did, and how much they endured.’ – Michael Veitch

The author, Daniel Lane, has been a sports journalist for over 30 years, including time with Australian Consolidated Press, AAP, Network 10 and the Sydney Morning Herald. He has written 18 books, and scripts for three televised documentaries/shows. He has visited the battlefields of Gallipoli, the Western Front, El Alamein, Singapore and Malaya, and for decades has interviewed veterans of the Boer War and both world wars, including Kokoda. The biography of Reg Chard, The Digger of Kokoda, is his first military memoir.

13^th April 2023

This was a little book given to me by a friend back in  2013 – I had kept it in my car glovebox, and was reading a few pages at a time when waiting for an appointment, etc. I finally  decided to take it out of the car,  and finish it.  ‘Bill Wannan Selects Stories of Old Australia ‘ edited by Bill Wannan, published in 1976, with 158 pages.  This edition published by Sun Books, Melbourne.

An interesting selection of stories, and poems from the past, some a bit doubtful as far as comprehending the point of the story was [especially the odd poem], but overall a worthwhile historical collection.

‘Australia’s great store of folklore so richly mined and revived by Bill Wannan contains gems that can be readily retold –  he called them ‘tales of common acceptance’. Stories which have been passed from generation to generation, traditional stories, folk-tales and bush jests  – often changed as they were retold to assure them of a permanent place in Australia’s folk literature.

There are 28 stories and poems, arranged in order of their first appearance in print, and provided with a brief historical background to both story and author..

The collection is a valuable rendition of some of the common themes of Australian folklore, such as the noble savage, the ghostly happening, the lost child, the swearing teamsters and bush giants, gentlemen convicts and bushrangers

23^rd April 2023

Born in Taiwan, author Janie Chang has lived in the Philippines, Iran, Thailand, and New Zealand. She now lives on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada with her husband.

Janie Chang’s latest novel [The Porcelain Moon, published in 2023] is an historical novel about a little-known piece of history, that of the 140,000 Chinese workers brought to Europe as non-combatant labor during WWI, and ‘employed’ by either the British forces, or the French – 90,000 of them as part of the British Expeditionary Forces, while the rest were signed up with the French working for private French companies in war related industries and in agriculture. When the Americans entered the war, the French loaned about 10,000 of the labourers to the Americans.

The Chinese were in fact the largest and longest-serving contingent of non-European labor, manpower that kept the machinery of war running. Afterwards they cleared up battlefields, and cleaned the rubble from devastated towns, so that the local population could start to get back to a normal life; they cleared the trenches and bomb craters, ridding them of decomposing corpses of men and animals,, abandoned equipment, clothing and blankets. . This was particularly the case with those employed by the British military who insisted they had to fulfill their contracts before being allowed to return home. Most were peasants and only about 20% were literate, and the British in particular took full advantage of their lowly status. And while as non- combatants they supposedly were to work behind the frontlines, those lines continually shifted, and many died during their time in Europe from aerial attacks, wartime incidents and accidents, and from disease.

How they were treated [apart from the general hostility from the French population to hundreds of foreigners being present during and after the war, remembering that in 1911, a Census revealed only 238 Chinese living in France], in particular by the British, quite often depended on which military commander was in charge of a particular group

Well, the book ‘The Porcelain Moon’ is a tale of forbidden love, identity and belonging, and what we are willing to risk for freedom., a beautifully written story about this little-known piece of history from the 1st World War, presented for the readers as an historical novel of that time. Worth a read, another lesson in history.

General summary

France, 1918. In the final days of the First World War, a young Chinese woman, Pauline Deng, runs away from her uncle’s home in Paris to evade a marriage being arranged for her in Shanghai. To prevent the union, she needs the help of her cousin Theo, who is working as a translator for the Chinese Labour Corps in the French countryside. In the town of Noyelles-sur-Mer, Camille Roussel is planning her escape from an abusive marriage, and to end a love affair that can no longer continue. When Camille offers Pauline a room for her stay, the two women become friends. But it’s not long before Pauline uncovers a perilous secret that Camille has been hiding from her. As their dangerous situation escalates, the two women are forced to make a terrible decision that will bind them together for the rest of their lives.

Set against the little-known history of the 140,000 Chinese workers brought to Europe as non-combatant labor during WWI, The Porcelain Moon is a tale of forbidden love, identity and belonging, and what we are willing to risk for freedom.

From the Asian Review of Books

During the Great War, 140,000 Chinese laborers were recruited to work in England and France in order to free up men in those countries to fight. Janie Chang uses this corner of history as the backdrop of her new historical novel, The Porcelain Moon. While the two characters at the center of the story—a young Chinese woman named Pauline Deng and a French woman named Camille Roussel—are fictional, Chang indicates in her author’s note that many of the landmarks and other details of the Chinese labor camps she writes about are based on real places.

Pauline is orphaned at a young age after her parents die in an automobile accident and is taken in by her uncle Louis. She moves from Shanghai to Paris a decade before the war when her uncle and cousin Theo set up an antique store called La Pagode, a real shop dating back to the late 1920s. The Dengs take their time getting used to their new city.

 During their first weeks in Paris, the three of them lived in a small hotel, a pension de famille, while her uncle looked for a building suitable for both store and home. Sometimes Theo and Pauline went with him, trailing behind as he inspected one building after another, accompanied by an estate agent and a translator hired through the Chinese consulate in Paris. More often than not, one or two men from Paris’s small community of Chinese merchants also joined them, curious to meet the new arrivals and eager to offer opinions.

 Louis finds the perfect building on the Rue de Lisbonne for both La Pagode and their home. The Dengs establish their new business in Paris and a decade later the story jumps to Noyelles-sur-Mer, a rural town that faces the English channel. It’s there that Chinese workers would be employed three years into the war.

 On a fine April afternoon in 1917 the first Chinese laborers arrived on the train from Calais. They formed rows of four on the platform and then marched smartly through town, following a British officer to the new camp. The entire population of Noyelles—women, children, and old men—rushed out to see them. Children ran alongside the impromptu parade.

 Louis wants Theo to return to Shanghai to marry the woman betrothed to him years earlier, but in order to delay this inevitability, Theo finds work as a translator in the British Chinese Labour Corps, which ran this outpost in Noyelles. He meets a young married woman named Camille in Noyelles and falls into a dangerous affair with her. At the same time, Pauline is pursued by a creepy Chinese national named Mah while her interests instead lie with a young foreign correspondent named Henri Liu.

Camille has her own ties to China, although nefarious. She grew up surrounded by almost as many Chinese antiquities as found at the Dengs’ La Pagode. Her father Auguste had been in the military in Peking during the Boxer Rebellion.

 When Auguste’s troop was dispatched to rescue European civilians and soldiers inside the International Legations, under attack by Chinese Boxers and the Imperial Chinese Army, he had been told they would be fighting barbarians. But everything he saw, the architecture and gardens, the exquisite craftsmanship, the private libraries, told him otherwise. They were plundering a civilized society.

 And plunder they did. Auguste went to confession as soon as he could, but the priest assured Auguste he was just doing his duty as a soldier and that what he took from Peking was simply “spoils of war”. Auguste was haunted by this all his life and made his own confession to Camille while he was on his deathbed.

Other parts of the story also take on a Hollywood ambiance, as most of the loose ends seem to be resolved by the end of the book. Even so, Chang’s storytelling is compelling because she combines this cinematic story with an overlooked part of the Great War.

By Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author

rom the critically acclaimed author of The Library of Legends comes a vividly rendered novel set in WWI France about two young women—one Chinese, one French—whose lives intersect with unexpected, potentially dangerous consequences.

“East meets West in World War I France. In The Porcelain Moon, Janie Chang exhibits her signature trademarks—lyrical prose, deftly drawn characters, and skillful excavation of little-known history—to give us a rare jewel in a sea of wartime fiction!”

22^nd May 2023

For readers of history – a book about a subject and personality that’s probably not familiar to most people  –  ‘Rose’ by Suzanne Falkner, published in 2022.   Not an easy read with regular quotations in the original French used by our correspondent, the main character in the book. This is the extraordinary voyage of Rose de Freycinet, the stowaway [with the knowledge and approval of her sea-faring captain husband] who sailed around the world with him, for love over the years 1817-1820.

I found this a fascinating description  of a world sea voyage of that time, which included visits  to much of the Pacific area, South America, and Australasia as well as a stopover in Sydney Cove in 1819, and much earlier, a period on the isolated west coast of the new colony. Beginning with an exploration of the voyages of  Nicolas Thomas Baudin (1754 –1803) ,  a French explorer, cartographer, naturalist and hydrographer, most notable for his explorations in Australia and the southern Pacific, many of which outcomes were in conflict with the explorations of Matthew Flinders. Those voyages provided the impetus for the three year journey by  Rose’s husband, Louis de Freycinet.

From the book summary  – ‘In 1814,  in the aftermath of the French Revolution, nineteen-year-old Rose Pinon married handsome naval officer Louis  de Freycinet, fifteen years her senior. Three years later, unable to bear parting from her husband, she dressed in men’s clothing and slipped secretly aboard his ship the day before it sailed on a voyage of scientific discovery to the South Seas. Living for three years as the sole female among 120 men, Rose defied not only bourgeois society’s expectations of a woman at that time, but also a strict prohibition against women sailing on French naval ships.  Whether dancing at governors’ balls in distant colonies,  or evading pirates and meeting armed Indigenous warriors on remote Australian shores, or surviving shipwreck in the wintry Falkland Islands, Rose used her quick pen to record her daily experiences, In doing so, she became the first woman to circumnavigate the world and leave a record of her journey”.

Those writings – through her diary, and letters to her mother and sister [most of which took six months or more to reach their destination in France, if they arrived at all] – form the basis of the story of this journey. While various histories of Rose have tendered to doctor her writings to make them more acceptable to the reaching public.  Falkiner’s novel reveals them as they were written.  If you can get through a very concise and detailed piece of writing, through 404 pages  –  where while now and then, Rose’s  French is not always  translated into English   and which ends with an excellent summary of Rose’s legacy to history, and a section on the translation techniques used  –  cope with all that, and it’s worth the effort,.

29^th June 2023

This book is titled  ‘The Fossil Hunter’ by Tea Cooper, an  historical novel, published in 2022, 374 pages.   Another somewhat unusual story, the usual mix of historical facts and the kind of novel which I generally enjoy, also the 3^rd of her books I’ve read in recent months.  A story dealing with archaeology and that general vein of subject matter..

A fossil discovered at London’s Natural History Museum leads one woman back in time to nineteenth century Australia and a world of scientific discovery and dark secrets in this compelling historical mystery.

Buried secrets. An ancient fossil. And one woman’s determination to unravel a nineteenth-century mystery.

Australia, 1847. The last thing Mellie Vale remembers before the fever takes her is sprinting through the bush with a monster at her heels—but no one believes her. In a bid to curb Mellie’s overactive imagination, her benefactors send her to visit a family friend, Anthea Winstanley. Anthea is an amateur palaeontologist who is convinced she will one day find proof that great sea dragons swam in the vast inland sea that covered her property millions of years ago. Mellie is instantly swept up in the dream.

Australia, 1919. Penelope Jane “PJ” Martindale arrives home from the battlefields of World War I intent on making peace with her father and commemorating the deaths of her two younger brothers in the trenches. Her reception is disappointing. Desperate for a distraction, she finds a connection between a fossil at London’s Natural History Museum and her brothers’ favorite camping spot. But the gorge has a sinister incident from seventy years ago, several girls disappeared from the area. When PJ uncovers some unexpected remains, she’s determined to find answers about what happened all those years ago … and perhaps some closure on the loss of her brothers. Weaving together these two timelines, The Fossil Keeper offers everything you need –  history, mystery, suspense, romance, and startling discoveries that will keep the pages turning. Praise for The Fossil “This elegant dual narrative historical from Cooper follows a young woman as she pieces together the fate of a 19th-century paleontologist …

“This elegant dual narrative historical from Cooper follows a young woman as she pieces together the fate of a 19th-century paleontologist … Cooper’s confident prose and deep empathy for her characters will keep readers hooked as she unspools her intrigue-filled mystery. Historical fans will want to dig this one up.” — Publishers Weekly

Tea Cooper writes Australian contemporary and historical fiction. In a past life she was a teacher, a journalist and a farmer. These days she haunts museums and indulges her passion for storytelling.

16^th July 2023 

A wonderful read –   ‘The Bookbinder of Jericho’ by Pip Williams, published in 2023, of 438 pages  –  a beautifully written historical novel, set during the years  of WW I, and into the period of the post-war world wide plague. It is basically written through the eyes of the women of that time in Britain [and in first person narrative by the central character, a bookbinder named Peggy] and relates especially to the effects of the war on employment in Britain as women are required to take over many of the roles formerly carried out by their menfolk, the consequences of the arrival of  Belgian refugees repatriated to Britain after the devastation of that small nation by the Nazis, and the lives of the many volunteer nurses and others on the immediate front lines of battle. In the words of one reviewer – ‘‘Heart wrenching and bittersweet, The Bookbinder of Jericho is a lovingly woven story of hardship, longing and hope. Pip Williams writes with great insight and fascinating detail of working-class women, the war effort and World War I refugees. It was such a pleasure to spend time with these completely charming women.’                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                          . 

A couple of promo reviews.

• In 1914, when the war draws the young men of Britain away to fight, it is the women who must keep the nation running. Two of those women are Peggy and Maude, twin sisters who work in the bindery at Oxford University Press in Jericho. Peggy is intelligent, ambitious and dreams of studying at Oxford University, but for most of her life she has been told her job is to bind the books, not read them. Maude, meanwhile, wants nothing more than what she has. She is extraordinary but vulnerable. Peggy needs to watch over her.  When refugees arrive from the devastated cities of Belgium, it sends ripples through the community and through the sisters’ lives. Peggy begins to see the possibility of another future where she can use her intellect and not just her hands, but as war and illness reshape her world, it is love, and the responsibility that comes with it, that threaten to hold her back.
• In this beautiful novel from the internationally bestselling author of The Dictionary of Lost Words, Pip Williams explores another little-known slice of history seen through women’s eyes. Evocative, subversive and rich with unforgettable characters, The Bookbinder of Jericho is a story about knowledge – who gets to make it, who gets to access it, and what is lost when it is withheld.
• ‘A boldly feminist novel that sings with the joy of life and the miracle of the printed word. Williams’ second novel was absolutely worth the wait.’ – Ben Hunter, fiction category manager [Booktopia]

Writing for Readings, by Kate McinIntosh

This story begins in July 1914, several years after Esme hid her first word in The Dictionary of Lost Words. Another young woman is hard at work, this time at the Oxford University Press. The Press was (and still is today) responsible for publishing academic books of all kinds, and the ‘girls’ fold and sew the pages together at the bindery, only ever seeing tiny sections of the pages, a line, half a sentence, enough to tease but not to know. For Peggy Jones, the not knowing is almost too much to bear. Having left school early to help her mother and twin sister at the bindery, being surrounded by books and yet kept away from a decent education, hurts more than she could ever admit. That the bindery sits across the road from Somerville College, a women’s college created when women could not obtain a degree, only adds salt to the wound every working day. And to be folding page after page and not a single one of them written by a woman – why should it be ‘a woman’s place to inspire stories, not to write them’?!

With the outbreak of war, life changes for Peggy. While her sister, Maude, is ‘one of a kind’ and Peggy has always felt responsible for her, that feeling has only increased since the death of their mother. An opportunity arises for Peggy to try to get into Oxford, but her class, role as a carer, her gender, and self-doubt all hold her back. Can she be everything she needs to be to all of those around her, and fulfill her dreams as well? (What woman hasn’t asked herself that exact question at some point in time?)

Williams has given us a historical novel full of relevance for today. She describes a world where women were held back by a lack of education and a voice. Over one hundred years later, women are still prevented from attending school in some countries, and class can still dictate how much a person can achieve. And yet, what I loved most about this story was that in a book about the importance of having a voice and being able to express yourself, it is the characters who say the least, those of Lotte and Maude, who still haunt me. The empathy, the love and the steadfast stubbornness of all of the women in this book make it a joy to read, and the passion for creating something beautiful, something that will last, will resonate with everyone who has ever held a treasured copy of a much-loved book in their hands.

A thoroughly enjoyable, at times disturbing, story  –  I recommend it  to discerning readers out there  😊

19^th July 2023

Another novel from 2023 –   ‘The Anniversary’ by Australia’s Stephanie Bishop,  published in 2023, with 424 pages.  and another  great read  – very in-depth literary writing, perfectly described by one scribe  in terms of ‘Stephanie Bishop’s attention to detail reveals the minutiae of an intimate relationship, pitched against the backdrop of a life-changing traumatic event  –  a style which left myself, who has written various contributions on all manner of subjects [including the written family history still in progress] to realise just how far out of depth I was in terms of ‘real’ writing skills  As the Weekend Australian noted in a recent review – ‘A surprisingly dark and complex novel. It is intelligent and literary in the best sense of the word: fluent in style, self-aware in its deployment of genre’, or from the Saturday Age: ‘The Anniversary is bejewelled with lovely moments and undeniably exquisite writing’. While ‘Good Reading’ simply states – “With its beautiful prose and vivid imagery, this novel  belies the intense emotional turmoil at its heart’.

Written in the first person again  –  “There were things that I wanted to say. Things I knew I couldn’t say but needed to tell someone. And then the things I knew I should say. What they wanted to hear. There is never only one version” [perhaps a reflection of life generally!!].

The outline  –  Novelist JB Blackwood is on a cruise with her husband, Patrick, to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Her one-time professor, Patrick is much older than JB. A maverick when they met, he seemed somehow ageless, as all new gods appear in the eyes of those who worship them. He is a film director. A cult figure. But now his success is starting to wane and JB is on the cusp of winning a major literary prize. Her art, that has been forever overseen by Patrick, is starting to overshadow his.

For days they sail in the sun. They lie about drinking, reading, sleeping, having sex. There is nothing but dark water all around them.  Then a storm hits. When Patrick falls overboard, JB is left alone, as the search for Patrick’s body, the circumstances of his death and the truth about their marriage begins, with all the wrong, sometimes right, assumptions made by the media and public about their relationship!!

The Sydney Morning Herald review [by Helen Elliott, on April 7^th] is worth sharing here.’

That Friedrich Nietzsche. You might roll your eyes and wonder if he could still be saying things folk in 2023 might find interesting. Well, get past that moustache and listen. Here is what he said about desire: “Ultimately, it is the desire, not the desired, that we love.”

He wrote this acute line nearly 150 years ago. And here, in The Anniversary, Stephanie Bishop is doing the forensics on Nietzsche’s astute line in a stout new novel. Because women had yet to be invented, his truth was purely male. Stephanie Bishop’s truth is purely female. She has this enigmatic epigraph (never neglect the epigraphs) from Simone de Beauvoir: “To be sure, the future of the woman I have been may turn me into someone other than myself.”

J. B. Blackwood is a novelist in early middle age. She has just heard that she has won one of the glittering literary prizes and is expected in New York to accept it. Her partner, Patrick, is a famous film director and public intellectual and considerably older. J. B. had met him when she was taking his course at university, she so in awe that she could scarcely speak, and “he one of the most beautiful and elegantly dressed men I had known: crisp shirts and shiny Italian shoes.”

But things happen – desire happens – and they become lovers. They marry. The anniversary of the title is the celebration of the 14th wedding anniversary, the year of ivory, symbolising patience and stability.

J. B. books a luxury cruise of 18 days, starting from Alaska, travelling through Japan and ending in America. The cruise is booked before she knows about the prize because she is determined to do something pleasurable and romantic with an altered Patrick, a man always frantic with work, who falls asleep in front of television and, most appallingly, is no longer elegant. He is even disinclined to showering. The prize ceremony can be tacked on to the end of the cruise, so ever So this bleak tale rolls out. In a wild storm in waters close to Japan’s northernmost island Hokkaido, there’s an accident. Patrick falls overboard and his body is not found until days later. The novel, at this point, turns into a thriller. Or perhaps a mystery? The courteous Japanese investigators seem to believe that someone pushed him into the sea, and J. B. is escorted from the ship to face endless questioning by people who are from a very different culture. The Japanese assume her guilt.

But we are allowed to enter into another tale, told by her, the almost-famous author who, it seems, is no longer the passive, admiring young woman who was only too happy to sleep with the famous professor when he invited her into his taxi one wet night. To her credit, she did not know immediately that he had a partner with a very new baby.

The baby, Joshua, is now an implacable, hurt 17-year-old and it is his behaviour that causes J. B. to insist on the cruise. One established fact about desire is that it has consequences in the real world.

The Anniversary has a wide list of characters, all necessary to the plot, but it is narrated by J. B., so we are constantly in her head. It takes energy to remain there because, like hearing other people’s dreams, it just is not that interesting much of the time. Deep into the book she writes about her own way of writing and compares it to Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, the famous 1975 film by Chantal Akerman in which Akerman let the camera stay for a very long time on the face of the female actor.

“We watch her watching her thoughts, watch her having them, sitting so still at the glass-topped dining table.” J. B. continues to explain that when she is writing a novel “there is always something I am waiting to find out”.

The Anniversary is bejewelled with lovely moments and undeniably exquisite writing, a fine education about desire, but perhaps we have to wait too long before we know what we need to find out. It is, though, never less than an admirable and ambitious investigation into some troublesome contemporary things about men and women and the forces of desire, not just sexual but creative desire.

Marcel Proust, always helpful, should have the last word: “Desire makes everything blossom; possession makes everything wither and fade.” Proust? Nietzsche? De Beauvoir? Still here, still relevant, still necessary.

From The New York Times [C.J.Hauser, July 16]

In love, in art, in crime, what is done intentionally and what is done unintentionally? This is the question at the core of Stephanie Bishop’s fourth novel, “The Anniversary.”

When we meet our narrator, J.B. Blackwood, a mixed-race Australian author, she has just learned she’s won a major literary prize for a still-unreleased semi-autobiographical novel. The news hasn’t been announced publicly and she has yet to tell her husband, Patrick, a white, British, indie-darling filmmaker 20 years her senior and her former college professor. It will be a nice surprise for him, she tells the reader, but after the international cruise she and Patrick have planned to celebrate their 14th anniversary and to get away from their troubles at home in England.

On the cruise, Patrick and J.B. fight, Patrick gets drunk, and then falls overboard during a storm. Afterward, authorities search for, and find, Patrick’s body; J.B. winds up giving a witness report to police officers in Japan; and she is feted onstage at the prize ceremony for her novel, all in the same week. The cause of the accident and the high-profile publicity for J.B.’s book in the wake of Patrick’s death form the plot of the story, but it’s J.B. herself, an unreliable narrator at once completely confessional and narratively coy, who is the major engine that drives it.

The first half of the novel is eventful and atmospheric. J.B. describes the circumstances of her life — a mother disappeared in her youth, an affair with her professor-now-husband and even his death — with what feels like an eerie calm. Yet this narration turns deliciously complex when the known facts are reshaped as J.B. returns to them with increasing honesty and nuance. In its latter half, “The Anniversary” grows into a feminist commentary on the nature of mysteries and marriages.

Bishop skillfully invokes and revises the “forbidden passion” trope of a relationship between an older teacher and a young ingénue. J.B. tells us that as a student, she climbed into a cab with Patrick both to avoid the rain after a seminar and to satisfy her girlish crush, a small choice that changed the rest of her life. “Maybe I wanted only to want,” she recalls, “but did not really know what it was, exactly, that I desired.” In a virtuosic move, Bishop allows her narrator to recall the early days of their relationship in a romantic way only briefly before revealing the grotesqueness of the power imbalance between the lovers.

The insights throughout the novel, especially the second half, are astute and affecting (“It was here that I discussed the structures of power which a woman’s art must wrestle with before it is permitted to flourish,” J.B. thinks of the author’s note she added at the end of her novel), but the reader might feel wearied by their volume. The meta-conversation in the book is smart — What does it mean to tell a true story? Who is responsible for what? — but it also swamps the action and leaves the novel a little unbalanced and unsatisfying.

Still, when we return to the action at hand, Bishop’s scenes are engaging and unsettling. As J.B. becomes a suspect in Patrick’s death, she returns to Australia for the first time since she got married. There she reunites with her sister and niece, and their moments of conflict are riveting. They have an uncanny, dreamlike quality, unfolding without J.B. quite being able to participate in them fully. Eventually, J.B. becomes disoriented about which parts of her life are memory and which parts are her own fictional creations; which parts were her choices and which were the outcomes of her passivity?

“The Anniversary” is similar to contemporary books like Meg Wolitzer’s “The Wife” and Liane Moriarty’s “Big Little Lies” in the ways it tackles gender and power, but it offers the pleasures of the Gothic novel too — houses and relationships full of secrets, and a narrator with an uncertain grasp on reality. When J.B. first explains her marriage, it seems that she is telling us a romantic tale, but as the details pile up, the story starts looking like something else entirely. J.B. is a very good narrator, but I suspect she is not recounting her saga for the reader — she’s telling it for herself.

30 July 2023

Another wonderful read, albeit a lengthy novel –  ‘Homecoming’ by Kate Morton, published in 2023, with 631 pages.  A quotation from near the end of the book, which touched a nerve, I think.

 “Most of the time, though, Percy was alone. Being old, he had come to realise, was like being stuck inside an enormous museum with hundreds of rooms, each crammed full of artefacts from the past.  He understood now why the elderly could sit, seemingly still and alone, for hours on end. There was always something else to take out, t look at from a fresh angle and become reacquainted with”

From Kate Morton website, we read:

Adelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959: At the end of a scorching hot day, beside a creek in the grounds of a grand country house, a local man makes a terrible discovery. Police are called, and the small town of Tambilla becomes embroiled in one of the most baffling murder investigations in the history of South Australia.

Many years later and thousands of miles away, Jess is a journalist in search of a story. Having lived and worked in London for nearly two decades, she now finds herself unemployed and struggling to make ends meet. A phone call summons her back to Sydney, where her beloved grandmother, Nora, who raised Jess when her mother could not, has suffered a fall and is seriously ill in hospital.

At Nora’s house, Jess discovers a true crime book chronicling a long-buried police case: the Turner Family Tragedy of 1959. It is only when Jess skims through its pages that she finds a shocking connection between her own family and this notorious event — a mystery that has never been satisfactorily resolved.

Some brief opinions of Kate Morton’s writing”

Kate Morton is the award-winning, worldwide bestselling author of The Shifting Fog (known internationally as The House at Riverton), The Forgotten Garden, The Distant Hours, The Secret Keeper, The Lake House and The Clockmaker’s Daughter. Her books are published in 38 languages across 45 territories and have been #1 bestsellers around the world. She holds degrees in dramatic art and English literature and lives with her family in London and Australia.

2^nd August

‘The Naked Island’ by Russell Braddon [ex-POW], 1^st published in 1952 [this edition 1975 ‘Australian Classics’], 266 pages.     Shattering reading depicting life as a Japanese POW from someone who was there, written a few years after the war’s end. One particular paragraph towards the end of the book [page 207] sums up many of the sadly vivid descriptions  of what went on, and the conditions under which the POW survived or died.

From page 207 [of the edition I read], a paragraph which illustrates much of what is described throughout the book…………….“The I.J.A. [Imperial Japanese Army] were now confronted with the problem of what to do with the wreckages of humanity which were the survivors of their Railway.  These did not look like men; on the other hand, they were not quite animals. They had feet torn by bamboo thorns and working for long months without boots. Their shins had no spare flesh at all on the calf and looked as if bullets had exploded inside them, bursting the meat outwards and blackening it. These were their ulcers of which they had dozens, from threepenny bit size upwards, on each leg. Their thigh bones and pelvis stood out sharply and on the point of each thigh bone was that red raw patch like a saddle sore or a monkey’s behind. All their ribs showed clearly, the chest sloping backwards to the hollows of throat and collar bone.  Arms hung down, stick-like, with huge hands, and the skin wrinkled where muscles had vanished, like old men. Heads were shrunken on to skulls with large teeth and faintly glowing eyes set in black wells: hair was matted and lifeless.  The whole body was draped with a loose-fitting envelope of thin purple-brown parchment which wrinkled horizontally over the stomach and chest and vertically on sagging fleshless buttocks….This was what the Japanese and Koreans did to the men who went on Forces F and H and lived. Of the total number who left Singapore , about half had survived. Now, what to do with this wreckage? And when they looked at it, even the Nips were a little unnerved.”

From Penguin Books……

The innocence of the young Australian soldiers sent to Malaya during the Second World War to halt the territorial expansion of the Japanese was quickly shattered by defeat and surrender. Russell Braddon, who himself became a prisoner of war, graphically describes the ghastly suffering and wanton neglect of the Allied soldiers in some of the most infamous Japanese POW camps, from Pudu in Malaya to Changi in Singapore. For more than three years he watched as these men were ravaged by disease, tortured, and deprived of their most basic needs. Braddon recounts his horrifying story with barely suppressed rage, but also with enormous admiration for the amazing ingenuity, spirit and determination of the prisoners, who created a semblance of order out of nightmarish chaos. His remarkable book makes grim but compelling reading.

From Amazon:

In 1941, after graduating from the University of Sydney, Russell Braddon enlisted in the Australian army. Together with thousands of other young Australian soldiers, he was sent to Malaya, where Allied forces were attempting to halt the territorial expansion of the Japanese. Although much vaunted as an impregnable fortress, Singapore proved instead to be a deadly trap, and Braddon spent almost four years as a prisoner of war after the city fell to the Japanese. This is not only the harrowing record of the years he spent struggling for survival in the notorious Pudu Gaol, in Changi, and in the tragic H Force on the Thai-Burma railway, but also of the equally brutal treatment of the native populations by the Japanese and the hollowness of the Greater Asian Co-prosperity Sphere they promised. Braddon emerged from Changi on swollen legs and ulcerated feet, from calls with desperate illnesses such as beri-beri and other starvation diseases, malaria and dysentery. Intelligent, tough, resourceful and tough in body and spirit, he was determined to surmount his ordeal. He even sharpened his mind by memorising the sole available book Mein Kampf!   The Naked Island vividly portrays battle and prison life as experienced in the ranks. It is a tale of heroism, horror, squalor, starvation and disease endured with fortitude, ironic humour and extraordinary ingenuity.