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 rabbit holes in search of shimmering nuggets to fill empty space and startle the defiant blinking cursor. Now the pages [...]
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 years earlier gold had been discovered in California and now the mighty rush of humanity turned an eager eye towards [...]
‘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 and eighteen hundred’s people were dabbling in dentistry. The wealthy were eating more sugar and teeth-whitening treatments were highly acidic [...]
Fancy having your waist strangled by whalebone? Or using coal-heated tongs and risking your hair burning? At the turn of the century women's fashion was very feminine, but also restrictive and modesty prevailed. Long sleeved blouses, skirts and dresses ensured skin was covered. Tops were billowy and loose, and sleeves exaggerated, the extra fabric enhancing [...]
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 [...]
The Last Station Well, here it is at last. My eleventh novel. Out March 1st. It took some wrangling to get this one into shape. The initial concept came to me some years ago, having decided upon the Darling River as the touchstone for the work. A river that is vital, changeable, and ultimately unreliable [...]
What an honour it has been to be Chair of judging for this years ARA Historical Novel Prize. Along with fellow judges Carmel Bird and Roanna Gonsalves it has been a fiendishly difficult task. The shortlist has recently been announced, and the three wonderful novels in contention for Australia's richest genre-based literary prize are noted [...]
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 [...]
It’s said that everything and everyone is interconnected in some way. I often find when I’m sleuthing for facts when writing that some snippet of information will pop up and I’m left pondering the events that link people and places together. This happened about twelve months ago when I was reading up on the Strzelecki [...]
