Ode to finishing a novel – March 2024
Here it is ready for the baptismal font a baby in the making for two whole captivating years of undying devotion and mind-numbing frustration. Of chasing crumbs of knowledge through wooded glens and falling down [...]
Conjuring fiction from family legend in ‘The Last Station’.
Quite often when I’m writing I’ll recall a story my father told me, or dig through our archives and find a forgotten document. This happened when I began crafting The Last Station. Rummaging through the [...]
Dabbling in Central West Queensland’s recent past.
Central West Queensland is a vast area. Bordered by the Northern Territory and South Australia to the west the region covers about 400,000 square kilometres but is sparsely populated. Towns such as Longreach, Winton, Birdsville, [...]
A Bush Education
I was a child of both home schooling and our local public school, before being sent to boarding school. Mum taught myself and my siblings around the dining room table as by that time the [...]
State Parliament – Recognition in the Legislative Assembly
This is an absolute first for me! Being mentioned in State Parliament. A huge honour. Thankyou @adammarshallmp Image: Hansard site which is the written record of proceedings and debates in Parliament. It is a verified [...]
The Cedar Tree (published 2020) at #19 on Better Readings Top 100 Books
Drum roll! Super excited that The Cedar Tree was voted in at No. 19 for Better Reading s Top 100 Books, and particularly chuffed that I'm rubbing shoulders with the likes of Tim Winton (#18) [...]
Paddle-steamers on the Murray-Darling River.
The river-boat era carries with it an inherently romantic history in Australian lore but like most industries it started through need. In 1851 Australia’s first gold rush took place at Ophir near Orange. Barely three [...]
Waterloo Teeth
‘Alfred clacked his dentures in irritation. He was fond of the teeth left him by his father. ‘Waterloo teeth’ he called them, a grisly reminder of their battlefield provenance.’ The Last Station In the seventeen [...]