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 schoolhouse on our property had been converted into extra accommodation for jackeroos. The last time the building had been used [...]
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 as in the case of The Last Station, and presto. Rummaging through the past can yield fascinating information and it was while doing just that a few years ago that I recalled [...]
From the 1860s to the 1930s Afghan cameleers were indispensable in servicing Australia’s inland pastoral regions. Although known generically as Afghans these expert teamsters came from the North-West frontier province (then under British rule) now known as Pakistan as well as Iran, India, Afghanistan, Egypt and Turkey. ‘Harry’ the first camel to arrive in Australia [...]
As March 1st is publication day for The Last Station., I thought I'd share why I wanted to write it. When it comes to deciding on the subject matter for a historical novel some of the questions I ask myself include; is it a fascinating period in Australian history and if so are the actual [...]
The 1960s. Life in the bush is filled with busy work days, long hours spent out in the sun working with livestock, planting or harvesting crops, or in the paddock mending or constructing fences, sheds and yards, delving bore drains, fixing windmills or digging new dams so vital water flows. The weekends however are bliss. [...]
Cover reveal! The Last Station will be out March 1st. It's been three years in the crafting, from initial concept to outline (6 if I count the initial idea), numerous drafts, a first chapter that I rewrote 14 times, not to mention the other chapters and a couple of characters who didn't make the cut, [...]
Yesterday morning the Murki Homestead burnt to the ground. Four generations of Alexanders lived there, from my great-grandfather’s time through to my generation; 1893-2016. It was here that the early beginnings of our business were established, and over the years the house grew to accommodate successive families. Beneath its roof men and women discussed the [...]
Quilting and patchwork have long been associated with Europe and the Americas, and the arrival of this particular brand of needlework from the northern hemisphere to Australia came with the transportation of convicts in the 1800s. There is evidence of a woman named Elizabeth Fry giving migrating women material patches so that they could sew [...]
Artist Tom Roberts is perhaps best known in Australia for his iconic paintings which depict our rural life and pastoral history, such as The Golden Fleece painted in 1894 or the romantic and dangerous era of the bush-ranging years in Bailed Up. Never one to stay long at home, even after marrying relatively late in [...]
On the 3rd March 1885 an infantry and artillery battalion of 758 men and officers set sail from Sydney for the Sudan with great fanfare. By the end of the month they had reached their destination. It was an important milestone, for never before had an Australian colony sent paid soldiers to fight in an [...]
