The Model Wife

Early in her marriage Natalie's mother-in-law had given her a small book, written in 1928, entitled The Model Wife.  This book became an annotated guide to marriage but also a diary of significant events in the life of the family.

Natalie King married Milt almost thirty-five years ago and during that time has endeavoured to be an ideal wife devoting herself to her family as well as assisting to run the family property. She also continued to teach part-time at the local primary school but after facing a medical emergency she realises that not only has she lost her identity she has also lost faith in her marriage. Natalie needs time out from the family routine and, when her husband says he is too busy to go on holiday with her, she decides to go alone.

Author, Tricia Stringer, has set the location for the novel on a property in South Australia and also in the town of Broome and its surrounding area in Western Australia. The book deals not only with the relationship between Natalie and Milt but also examines individual decisions facing the couple's three adult daughters.

Readers who enjoy reading the books of Monica McInerney and Maeve Binchy should enjoy this book.

Dead Man Switch

Dead Man Switch is the first book in a new crime series by Tara Moss, an author who lives in New South Wales and Canada.

It is 1946 and Billie Walker has taken over the Sydney private investigation agency previously operated by her father. Billie had spent much of the war in Europe covering war stories so she is used to many forms of danger, however it takes a strong character to adapt to the prejudice she faces when working in what is perceived to be a strictly male occupation.

When a woman arrives at the office asking Billie to find her missing son, Billie is pleased to have the opportunity to work on a case that does not involve tracking unfaithful marriage partners. However it is not long before Billie and her assistant, Sam, find that they are investigating  not only a possible kidnapping but proceedings tied in with criminal activities during the war. Set in parts of post war Sydney and in the Blue Mountains this book is another welcome addition to the expanding world of Australian crime fiction.

Tidelands

Philippa Gregory has been writing books, particularly historical fiction, since 1987. She is perhaps best known for her series of books on the women associated with the Plantangents and the Tudors. As co-author of Women of the Cousins' War  she described in the introduction how she undertakes the research for the stories that she writes, when information is available, but also it is often necessary to imagine what life would be like living in the historic period described based on the known facts.

Tidelines is the first novel in a new series - The Fairmile series. It is set in the year 1648 and tells the story of Alinor and her family who live in a small fishing village an hour or twos walk from Chichester. Alinor's husband has disappeared so she is left to bring up her two children working as a midwife and a herbalist plus any other work that she can find. This is a time of prejudice and fear of witchcraft making life particularly difficult for a young woman trying to make an honest living without the support of a man.

This is the time of the English Civil War (1642-1651) and the parallel story in this novel concerns James, a priest and loyal supporter of King Charles I, who is on a mission from the King's wife living in France to assist the King to escape from his captors in England. Alinor's brother, Ned was a soldier in the army fighting the supporters of the king. Consequently the reader is aware of the tensions the Civil War has created in different parts of the country and the constant state of fear in which people live.

Tidelines is a detailed and sometimes dark novel conveying a picture of life in a small village during these troubled times. It will be interesting to read the second novel in this series when it is published.

Philippa Gregory takes a new direction in four book deal - The Bookseller 21 April 2017

Philippa Gregory on the challenges and thrills of launching her new series - Explore Entertainment 19 August 2019

Philippa Gregory biography 

Twisted 26

In 1994 American author, Janet Evanovich, wrote her first Stephanie Plum mystery - One for the money. The twenty-sixth book in the series is Twisted 26. Each year we look forward to more wacky adventures from the regular cast of these books - bounty hunter Stephanie and her colleague Lula, Joe Morelli and Ranger and, of course, Stephanie's family.

The plot of this installment concentrates on the marriage of Grandma Mazur to a gangster, Jimmy Roselli - a marriage that lasts 45 minutes before Jimmy has a heart attack and dies. Stephanie has to support her grandmother from the wrath of members of Jimmy's family, including a former wife, who suspect that they may be deprived of their cut of the family fortune. A greater threat comes from members of Roselli's former gang who are looking for keys that Roselli possessed. As well as facing these challenges Stephanie and Lula also have a number of bail absconders to apprehend. And yes, a car does explode. Looking forward to next year's episode in the chaotic life of Stephanie Plum.

Meet me at Lennons

In October I read Khaki Town by Judy Nunn which was predominantly about the effect of the arrival of American soldiers in Townsville during the Second World War. Meet me at Lennons by Melanie Myers is a novel set in Brisbane during World War II also looking at relationships between the military stationed in that city, both US and Australian, and the general public.

Events are revealed via two time frames: the present - concerning PhD student, Olivia Wells and her attempts to  write a thesis about women in Brisbane during the war, particularly the writer Gloria Graham - and the past - recounting stories of experiences of women during the war years. A focus of the book is the story of the River Girl murder, an event which was glossed over at the time by the press and hidden from the public by the military.

Relationships between some Australian women with  American soldiers, jealousies between some of the Australian soldiers regarding the Americans moving into their city plus the insistence of the American military hierarchy that only they would deal, quietly, with possible crimes committed by American soldiers are some of the themes in the novel. There is, however, also a strong focus on the lives of the Australian women living and working in this new environment created by the war.

It took a while to really become involved with events in this book as, particularly initially, there are many stories about different women and their experiences. Over time the varying threads begin to make sense and I eventually became involved with the story. I suspect that this is a book that should be read when there is plenty of time to really become involved with the story and the characters. The novel certainly provides an overview of life in Brisbane in the early 1940s.

Confessions of a bookseller

This is the second volume about Shaun Bythell's life as a second-hand bookseller in Wigtown, Scotland. It is therefore the sequel to The diary of a bookseller. Shaun Bythell also has a Facebook page, The Booshop, in which he regularly publishes updates of his experiences with customers.

Each chapter covers a month from January 2015 until the end of December. At the commencement of each chapter is a quote from Augustus Muir's book, The intimate thoughts of John Baxter, bookseller (1942) followed by the author's comments on the passage. He then includes daily sections from his diary of sales, the weather, comments made by customers, life in Wigtown plus the activities of his cat, Captain. An important part of a second-hand book shop is the need to access collections of books as possible stock for sale and this takes up much of his time. Increasingly he also (much to his disgust) has to rely on sales of books via online sellers such as Amazon.

The two volumes provide a commentary not only on the state of the book trade but also on life in a small town in Scotland. Wigtown has a variety of bookshops and book festivals and author events are featured during the year. The bookshop is a central part of the community with a number of groups regularly meeting in the building, especially in the room upstairs. This is not, therefore, just an amusing account of the experiences of someone trying to make a living selling second-hand books. It is also a record of living in a small Scottish community in 2015.

The women of the cousins' war

This non-fiction book contains sections by Philippa Gregory, David Baldwin and Michael Jones about three of the women prominent in the Wars of the Roses - the Duchess (Jacquetta of Luxembourg), the Queen ( Elizabeth Woodville) and the King's Mother ( Margaret Beaufort).

In the introduction Phillipa Gregory writes about her love of history plus the writing of historical fiction. She then relies on original documents, plus some site visits and archaeology, to write a short biography of Jacquetta of Luxembourg. David Baldwin then writes about Elizabeth Woodville, the wife of Edward IV while Michael Jones writes about the mother of Henry VII, Margaret Beaufort. The Woodville and Beaufort families figure prominently in the story of the Wars of the Roses.This book provides interesting background to attempting for understand events in English history from 1455-1485.

Bruny

Heather Rose has set this novel in the south of Tasmania. It is November 2021 and the bridge being built between the Tasmanian mainland and Bruny Island is nearing completion. Then early one morning part of the the bridge collapses after a bomb explosion. The premier announces that the bridge will be rebuilt by the beginning of March with the assistance of teams of Chinese workmen brought to Australia to do the work.

Astrid (Ace) Coleman is summoned from New York to return to Hobart to act as an arbitrator between the various parties for and against the building of the bridge. The Coleman family are prominent in Tasmanian politics with her father a former long time member of parliament, her brother the current premier and her sister leader of the opposition. The family situation is further complicated by her mother receiving cancer treatment and her father only speaking in Shakespearean quotes after a stroke.

This novel contains many political themes including foreign investment and interference in another government, the increasing power of China in the region, references to current events in the USA, climate change etc. Ace takes some time discovering what is really going on in Tasmanian and Australian politics and who she can trust. The book also explores family relationships. It is some time into the novel before the reader learns the real reason why Ace has returned to Australia.

Silver

Silver, the new book by Chris Hammer, is the sequel to Scrublands.

When journalist Martin Scarsden returns to Port Silver, the coastal town where he lived as a boy, he did not expect to find the body of his best friend lying in a pool of blood in the apartment. He also did not expect his girlfriend, Mandy Blonde, to be the main suspect.

Martin and his lawyer assist the police with their inquiries but also work to try and find not only who murdered Jasper but what is happened at a settlement on the beach resulting in the deaths of another seven people. Martin has a strict deadline in which to work as his newspaper wants to be the first to break aspects of the story.

This is a story with many twists and turns as the plot is revealed. Martin is also forced to revisit his past and come to terms with previous family relationships and events that occurred as he was growing up. As in Scrublands, the town of Port Silver and the surrounding environment and its community are crucial to the story.

Why you should read children's books

The full title of this short book about reading by Katherine Rundell is Why you should read children's books even though you are so old and wise.

Rundell argues that adults should read read or reread children's books as adults in order 'to enlarge their world'. She discusses the childhood joy of reading books and discovering new worlds, the joy of entering a world of imagination and encountering a love of words, even when they may not be fully understood. She discusses the emergence of books written specifically for children dating back to the fifteenth century, the genre of fairy tales told in many versions, plus how political themes can be found in many early twentieth century children's books.

The author concludes:

Children's books are not a a hiding place, they are a seeking place. Plunge yourself soul-forward into a children's book: see if you can find in them an unexpected alchemy; if they will not un-dig in you something half hidden and half forgotten. Read a children's book to remember what it was to long for impossible and perhaps-not- impossible things. Go to children's fiction to see the world with double eyes: your own, and those of your childhood self. (page 62)

See also Storytime by Jane Sullivan

Owl be home for Christmas

This title is the sixth Meg Langslow book by Donna Andrews with a Christmas theme. Like all the books in this series a bird features in the title.

Meg's grandfather has organised an Owl Fest at the Caerphilly Inn a few days before Christmas. When a severe snow storm hits the area cutting off the ornithologists and other guests from the outside world it looks as if Christmas may need to be spent at the Inn. As usual Meg and her family have to create contingency plans.

Most of the conference attendees join in the spirit of the season except for Dr Frogmore so when he dies at a conference dinner there are many suspects to investigate. Another murder mystery with many twists and turns laced with the antics of a range of entertaining characters, plus a dose of Christmas (and other festivals) cheer.

Storytime

Jane Sullivan has selected a list of her favourite children’s books that she enjoyed as a child. These books include: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll, Winnie the Pooh by A A Milne, The Castle of Adventure by Enid Blyton, Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson, The Silent Three by Horace Boyton and Stewart Pride, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham, The Enchanted Castle by E Nesbit, The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay, The Warden’s Niece by Gillian Avery, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C S Lewis, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner plus stories from The Myths of Greece and Rome by H A Guerber and The Great Tales of the Supernatural edited by Phyllis Cerf Wagner and Herbert Wise.

In each chapter the author recalls her memory of the book as a child and then, after rereading a copy of the book, provides her view of the story today analysing why the book appealed to her as a child and why the book still appeals or does not appeal to her now. She also provides information about each book’s author. Included in each chapter is a short piece, usually half a page, providing an Australian author’s view of a favourite children’s book (or books). The effect of the illustrations in a book in conveying the story is also discussed.

In the first and last chapters the author discusses her introduction to reading books plus the hypotheses for the young Jane enjoying children’s books that she constructed before taking on this project. She later makes a revised list in this book about the experience and joy of reading. In Storytime the reader is invited to take a step back in time to revisit their experience of reading in childhood which may have impacted on their reading choices today.

See also Why you should read children's books ... by Katherine Rundell.

Retro Melbourne

Published in 2014 Fred Williams has collected in this book photographs showing the city of Melbourne (and Victoria) in the 1950s and 1960s. Sections of the book include the city, suburbs, lifestyle and recreation, sport and entertainment, churches, railways plus a section on country towns. The book provides a snapshot of our recent past. Some photos of the buildings are familiar while others show views of Melbourne and suburbs that have disappeared.

Remember the State Savings Bank of Victoria, the newspaper sellers outside Flinders Street Station, the State Library, Art Gallery and Museum housed in one set of buildings, Coop's Shot Tower before the building of Melbourne Central and Ansett-ANA.

With the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday there are photos of fashionable ladies in 1952, 1963 and 1969 as well as photos of the actual race. The Olympic Games in 1956, Australian Rules Football including a photo of Richmond winning the 1980 VFL grand final, Davis Cup tennis at Kooyong and cricket at the MCG feature in the chapter on sport.

Moomba, early television (covers from TV Week), the making of the film, On the Beach, plus phots of the Seekers and Normie Rowe bring back memories. Many of the photographs show buildings built in the 1800s showcasing part of the history of Victoria. The section on the railways provides another glimpse of Victoria's past.

Growing up in Melbourne in the 1950s and 1960s, Metro Melbourne is a book of memories.

A breath on dying embers

Denzil Meyrick has written another gripping installment in the DCI Daley series set in Kinloch, Scotland. When the cruise liner Great Britain spends a few days in the loch so wealthy passengers can learn more about what the area has to offer, go sightseeing and play golf, what could go wrong?

The story is revealed through a variety of voices as gradually the puzzle regarding an impending crime is unravelled. A bird watcher is murdered when trying to locate a rare gull. When a drone crashes into the Great Britain a body is located at the bottom of a cliff. A member of the ship's crew disappears and a police hunt is also underway for another man. Meanwhile authorities have placed a ban on the reporting of any of these events, making it difficult for the Kinloch police to carry out their investigations.

Along with the scenery around the ficticious Kinloch, the life events concerning Jim Daley and his team continue to form an important part of the book. Jim Daley discovers health problems that may terminate his police career. Liz, his wife, returns home with their son and her own issues. Much to his amazement DS Brian Scott is temporarily promoted to cover for Jim during his illness.

Once started, this novel was difficult to put down and the conclusion leaves the reader waiting for the next book to discover the result of the final episode in this book.

James Hardy Vaux's 1819 dictionary of criminal slang

The full title of this work is James Hardy Vaux's 1819 dictionary of criminal slang and other impolite terms as used by the Convicts of the British Colonies of Australia with additional true stories, remarkable facts & illustrations by Simon Barnard. It is two hundred years since the first publication of Vaux's work and with twelve convicts in the family prior to 1808 this was an obvious work to borrow from the library.

The alphabetical listing of terms provides a short explanation of the term.
For example: Kelp: a hat; to kelp a person, is to remove your hat to him.

A more detailed explanation to the use of the term with examples of use and how it came to be is usally then provided by Simon Barnard.
For example: Kelp is a pun on cap. According to an eighteenth-century treatise on thieving, 'pinchers' bumped into their victims and picked their 'cly' when they raised their hands to secure their 'kelp'. etc (p129)

A cly is a pocket.

Pinch: To purloin small articles of value in the shops of jewellers, etc; while pretending to purchase or bespeak some trinket. This game is called the pinch - I pinch'd him for a fawney, signifies I purloined a ring from him; Did you pinch any thing from that crib? Did you succeed in secreting any thing in that shop? This game is a branch of shoplifting; but when the hoist is spoken of, it commonly applies to stealing articles of a larger, though less valuable, kind, as pieces of muslin, or silk handkerchiefs, printed cotton, etc. See: Hoist (p185)

Pinch-Gloak: A man who works on the pinch

Many hours could be spent following these terms.

'Is that bum trap missing a flesh-bag?' article in The Guardian 20 August 2019

The Land of Dreams: How Australians won their Freedom 1788-1860

Recently I did the Future Learn course, Peterloo to the Pankhursts: Radicalism and Reform in the 19th Century, examining British politics from the end of the 1700s to 1918 when male suffrage was finally achieved.  This course covered the period when the convicts were sent to Australia, looked at revolutions in America and France, England's relations with Ireland, the development of democracy  plus the campaign for political reform, particularly the suffrage campaigns. During the course references were made to political reforms in Australia such as the secret ballot and suffrage campaigns which enabled Australians the right to vote before their relatives in England.

The Land of Dreams by David Kemp looks at the political movements occurring in England during the nineteenth century and their influence on the foundation of the new colony and its management. It investigates how Australians gained the right for self governance and developed solutions to political problems in their own way gaining their own political identity.

The nineteenth century was a time of political change in England as workers banded together to express their need for improved working conditions, increased pay and the right to vote. It was a time when there were movements to improve working conditions, particularly in factories, abolish Britain's involvement in the slave trade, reform parliament creating representation for all men.

Kemp looks at the development of liberal thinking and reform that occurred during the nineteenth century in both England and Australia. Developments in England impacted on Australia however in this country changes affecting employment and political conditions occurred earlier than in England. The movement to create an independent country rather than being a colony of the Britain helped accelerate these changes.

The Land of Dreams is volume one in a proposed five volume series Australian Liberalism. Volume two, A Free Country: Australia's Search for Utopia 1861-1901, was published in April 2019 and describes the challenges of creating one nation from a group of colonies. Three more books are planned for this series which greatly adds to the understanding of the development of Australia into the country that it is today. Detailed notes, biliography and index provided at the end of each volume.

King and emperor

King and emperor: a new life of Charlemagne is a detailed study by Janet L Nelson of the life of Charles the Great, King of the Franks. In this scholarly study of the life of Charlemagne, the author attempts to dispel many of the myths that surround his life and investigates the available resources to explore the life of a man who made and ruled a great European empire. After Charles' death this empire was dismantled by his sons.

Living from 748-814 during the period referred to as the Dark Ages many of the records that may have existed about the life of Charlemagne and his empire have disappeared. However the author has made a detailed study of the records that she has been able to locate and quotes from many of the documents to help record her story.  Each chapter consists of quoted material from documents followed by the author's account. The Carolingian Empire or Holy Roman Empire covered most of Western and Central Europe. Throughout his reign there were many battles and campaigns to expand and protect the borders.

This story of Charlemagne's life consists of 493 pages followed by another 173 pages of notes, bibliography and index. Consequently this book would be an essential guide for anyone researching this period of European history. This is a book that I will need to refer to again when time permits.

Khaki Town

Set in Townsville (Far North Queensland) in 1942 Judy Nunn has written a novel about the effect of the town tripling its population when American and Australian soldiers arrived to fight the Japanese who were considered a threat to the region.

Racism is a major theme of the book, not just the affects of having black American soldiers in a country where the White Australia policy still existed but the tension that existed in the American ranks between white and black soldiers, especially white soldiers used to segregation back home.

The story focuses on the 96th Battalion of US Corps Engineers - coloured soldiers who are considered unsuitable as fighting men but useful to build airstrips and other construction projects. Company C is the focus of this novel with two contrasting white leaders - one sympathetic to discrimination received by the men while the other can only be described as a bigoted bully. When the men from C Company are forbidden to go to the town to socialise it soon becomes obvious that trouble is brewing. A young journalist who is also aware that all is not well among the American forces is determined to uncover as much of the story as he can, even though he is aware that the truth may never  be revealed.

Many of the Australians, particularly the military, are not happy having the American soldiers swanning into town monopolising the local girls. The novel also describes the relationships of some of the Townsville residents with the newcomers in their community.

This book provides a different aspect of war by focusing on the tensions caused when various military forces have to coexist during the Second World War.

A Better Man

 I always enjoy returning to the community of Three Pines and becoming, once again involved in the life and work of Armand Gamache and his family and friends.

Armand Gamache returned to work at the Surete du Quebec to find animosity, not from his immediate colleagues, but from those higher up the ladder. A vicious campaign on Twitter has been instigated to destroy his reputation.

However there is work to be done especially as a severe flood alert has been issued for the region. There is also a crime to solve. A young woman has been reported missing and there are fears for her safety.

This is Jean-Guy Beauvoir's final case before he and his family start a new life in Paris. Once again the story centres around the small settlement of Three Pines where the inhabitants work together to construct a wall of sand bags to try and save the village from the rising flood waters. Clara's confidence has also been shattered by the barrage of Twitter hateful comments that are circulating about he art. As to be expected the inhabitants of Three Pines work together to support each other.

Like the other crime novels by Louise Penny this story is largely about people, their relationships and how they cope in good times and in times of stress. In this book the use of social media to inflict harm is also a theme.

Outlander series

At the end of the Future Learn course, Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites, the interest created by the Outlander series of books by Diana Galbaldon and the subsequent television series was discussed.

Many years ago I read the first three books in the series - Cross Stitch in England and Australia and Outlander in the USA (1991), Dragonfly in Amber (1992) and Voyager (1993). There are nine books so far in the series including a sub-series of books - the 9th will be published shortly.

The first books centre on the Jacobite war in Britain in 1745-1746  when Prince Charles Edward Stuart (the Young Pretender) attempted to take back the throne of England and Scotland. 

These books are a mixture of time travel, adventure and large quantities of romance (sex) scattered with some historical facts. In an interview Diana Galbaldon said that when she write Cross Stitch she was experimenting writing a novel and did not expect to publish it. Therefore she combined a variety of genres and styles in the one book. As we know the book was published and the rest is history.

Claire time travels from the mid twentieth century back to Scotland during the Jacobite revolution. There she meets Jamie who becomes the heart throb of the novel and his friends and becomes involved in their adventures.

I skipped sections of these books when I was reading them but I still read them to the end. However once I had finished the third book I decided to take a (long) break from the series.

Outlander series
http://www.dianagabaldon.com/books/outlander-series/

FAQ

https://www.dianagabaldon.com/resources/faq/faq-about-the-books/#whatiscrossstitch.

The football solution

This book was partly written in response to Richmond Football Club winning the Australian Rules Premiership in 2017. Richmond has now won twelve premierships since the club joined the Victorian Football League in 1908. As there had been a 37 year drought between the premierships of 1980 and 2017s the 2017 victory was well and truly celebrated by members and fans of the Richmond Football Club. Since then the success of the club has continued with the team finishing on top of the AFL ladder in 2018, but not making the Grand Final, followed in 2019 with both the first and second teams winning premierships.

Many articles have recently been written along with discussions in the media that Richmond Football Club is special in Melbourne not just because it has the largest membership of any AFL team but because there is a distinct and special culture within the club which affects the on field and off field performances of the team. Richmond Football Club has faced many ups and downs and for years there was a feeling of 'not 9th again' at the end of each season. However good club management, long term goals, faith in the coach and players (even in tough times) and a feeling of inclusion and support among team members has resulted in a cohesive team of skilled, dedicated and successful players.

George Megalogenis has written this book analysing the history and development of the club since its inclusion in the VFL / AFL and equating it with how leaders in Australian politics and economics could learn from observing how the Richmond Football Club is managed.

The book is divided into three time periods - 1850s to 1960s, 1970s to 2000s and 2010-2017. The author looks initially at the development of Australian Rules Football from its beginnings to the place it holds in many states today. Starting in Victoria it has grown into a natioanl sport although the stronghold is primarily in the southern states. Megalogensis looks at the suburb of Richmond and the relevance of football to that suburb over the years.Support for Richmond Football Club has now extended across the state of Victoria.

The author argues that, as in sport, tribalism has become a part of Australian politics with policy often driven by opinion polls rather than by sound management. He compares this with the changes made in the management the Richmond in 2010 which included the introduction of collaborative management, stable leadership plus  long term goals to improve the perfomance of the club. Despite criticism from the public at one stage the board continued to back the coach and players and, as they say, the rest is history.

Buckley's chance - #BRPreview

Buckley's chance: the incredible true story of William Buckley and how he conquered the world was written by Garry Linnell and recently published by Michael Joseph (Penguin) Books.

Growing up in Victoria I occasionally heard mention of a convict, William Buckley, who lived in the bush with Aborigines for more than 30 years before approaching a party of white men, part of the European settlement of Port Phillip in 1835. In this book Garry Linnell brings the story of William Buckley to life.

 At 6 foot 6 inches, Buckley was a man who stood out in a crowd. In the army he stood head and shoulders above his fellow soldiers. The Aborigines who discovered him in the bush were astonished by this huge white ghost and thought that he was one of their tribe who had returned from the dead. Among the settlers in the new colony at Port Phillip and later in Hobart the large frame of William Buckley was always noticed, although he probably preferred to be left in peace.

William Buckley's life could never be described as dull. Buckley was born in Cheshire, England, in 1776. His first job was that of a bricklayer before enlisting in the army encountering the carnage of the Napoleonic Wars in August 1799. Three years later Buckley was charged with stealing fabric, a crime he may or may not have committed, and sentenced to death, commuted to transportation for life. He arrived at Sullivan Bay in Port Phillip aboard the Calcutta in October 1803 where David Collins planned to establish a convict settlement. It was soon obvious that this was not the best location for a new settlement but before the convicts could be taken to Van Diemen's Land a number of convicts, including William Buckley, had escaped into the bush. The other escapees eventually returned to the camp but Buckley was to spend the next 32 years living with the local Aborigines.

When Buckley left the bush to live again in a white community it took time before he could understand and speak English but eventually he acted as an interpreter between the Europeans and the Aborigines. After several years in the fledgling settlement that was to become Melbourne, Buckley relocated to Hobart where he eventually married and attempted to lead a normal life. Newspaper articles about William Buckley and his life with the Aborigines attracted huge interest and in 1852 the newspaper editor, John Morgan, wrote a book about Buckley's life - The life and adventures of William Buckley, thirty-two years a wanderer amongst the Aborigines of the then unexplored country round Port Phillip, now the Province of Victoria. James Bonwick also wrote a book about Buckley's life - William Buckley, the wild white man and his Port Phillip Friends - in 1856. William Buckley died in Hobart in January 1856.

Garry Linnell has written this book in a conversational style as if he is discussing Buckley's life with Buckley himself.

But this is not just a book about the life of William Buckley; it is also an account of life in the Port Phillip District in the initial days of European settlement plus a description of life in Hobart Town from 1838 to 1856. Many of the characters involved in those settlements are described in detail, particularly the rivalries between John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner. The initial contact between Aborigines and white settlers is also a theme of this book.

The book is therefore a useful, readable, contribution to the history of Victoria and Tasmania.

Earlier this year I read a copy of Strandloper by Alan Garner, a fictional account of William Buckley's life comparing the influence of legends and folklore of Cheshire, which would have been part of Buckley's early life, with his experiences of living with Aboriginal culture for 32 years.

Many thanks to Better Reading for providing a preview copy of this book. #BRPreview

Preview reviews of Buckley's Chance

Fairvale Ladies Book Club

Fairvale, a cattle station out of Katherine in the Northern Territory was a  property owned by Joe and Sybil Baxter who worked the station with the aid of their son, Ben, and his English born wife, Kate, plus additional full time and part time staff, primarily members of local Aboriginal communities.

When Sybil decided to start an occasional book club she invited Della (an American working on a neighbouring property), Rita (a long time nursing friend living in Alice Springs and working with the Royal Flying Doctor Service), and Sallyanne (a mother of three young children living in Katherine and a member of the CWA where she met Sybil) plus Kate to join. Due to distance and the extreme seasons experienced in the Northern Territory it was decided that they would try and meet at the beginning and end of the Dry Season.

The book club proved to be not only a place where the women could discuss books but also offered the opportunity for friendship among the five women helping to reduce the loneliness which often occurred when living in isolated area. Gradually the reader, as well as the book club members, learn more about the lives, past and present, of each book club member and the challenges they face. Racial discrimination is also a sub-plot.

This book is primarily about friendship as the women learn that when times are tough support is readily available and they are not alone.

The Railway Children

This children's classic by E (Edith) Nesbit was originally published in 1906 though originally it had been serialised in The London Magazine during 1905. I is the story of the adventures of three children, Roberta (Bobbie), Peter and Phyllis who move with their mother to a cottage in the country. The cottage, Three Chimneys, is near a railway line and the children enjoy the experience of watching the trains pass and getting to know the station master and the porter. They also enjoy the experience of roaming around the countryside and the village. and having adventures.

The author has the talent of describing real children who argue often but also help each other and work together when the need arises. The book however has different levels. As well as the adventures of the children the author based part of the story on incidents that occurred shortly before the writing of the book - a man being framed and gaoled for being a spy and the persecution of a  Russian author for criticising life in Russia.

Currently I am doing the Future Learn course - Living Lives on British Railways. The Railway Children was mentioned so I decided to read it and found that it provides an interesting account of how the public may have observed and used the railways at the end of the nineteenth century. E Nesbit must have liked trains. This is a book that is still being enjoyed more than 100 years after publication.

Voyages of the South Seas: in search of Terres Australes

While in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the English were exploring the Pacific Ocean and establishing a penal colony on the east coast of Australia the French  also sent scientific expeditions into the region. In this book Danielle Clode explores the voyages of a number of French explorers including Bougainville, Laperouse, dEntrecasteaux, Baudin, Freycinct and Dumont d'Urville between the years 1768-1828. The names of some of these explorers are commemorated as place names in Australia and and other countries in the region.

The author examines the reasons for the voyages and the discoveries made. Her writing provides different perspectives of a voyage by showing the significance of the voyage for different people. For example the first section on the explorer Laperouse imagines the thought of Louis XVI as he is about to be executed wondering about the fate of the explorer and his ship as news of the expedition was long overdue. The next person imagined in this section is the botanist Labillardiere  who wanted to amass a collection to rival the British botanist, Joseph Banks. The next person is d'Entrecasteaux who was commissioned with the task of searching for Laperouse in 1791. The journals of d'Entrecasteaux were completed and published, after his death by Rossel. There is also a section on the thoughts of Joseph Banks about the French expedions undertaken at the time. This style of writing by the author provides an interesting insight into French explorations in the Pacific, adding another layer to nineteenth century history in this region.

The Boy from Brunswick: Leonard French - a biography

The Australian artist, Leonard French (1928-2017), in Melbourne is possibly best known for the stained glass window forming the ceiling of the Great Hall, National Gallery of Victoria since the opening of the building in August 1968. He used the glasswork in the ceiling 'to paint with light' and the work has become a feature of the art gallery. It is not unusual to see people lying on the floor gazing at the magnificent ceiling.

 

Reg MacDonald, in this impressive publication, has attempted to write a history of this Australian artist and his work. This is a detailed biography of the artist who was born in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick.

Autumn in the garden 1960

 The book contains photographs showing examples of some of his work which included colourful abstracts using enamels on hessian or board as well as his work in stained glass.

The stained glass window at Robert Blackwood Hall at Monash University is another of his stained glass masterpieces.

This book makes a useful contribution to the telling of the story of the history of Australian art.

When roads were tracks

The subtitle of this book, produced by the Monbulk Historical Society, is 'a history of the roads of Monbulk, Kallista, The Patch & Sherbrooke'. This is a largely pictorial work with photographs, maps plus a brief history of the community at the beginning of the chapter. Information is also provided about individual streets in the area plus details of walking tracks, particularly in Sherbrooke. At the back is an index to streets plus an index to tourist teacks as well as a general index. This is an excellent addition to the history of communities in the Dandenong Ranges near Melbourne.

Winner of the 2019 Community History Awards - Local History Project Award

The rich man's house

In The Rich Man's House Andrew McGahan has created a world surrounding the overpowering presence of a gigantic mountain located between Tasmania and Antarctica. Included in the story are names of famous explorers and mountain climbers that become involved in the author's imagined world.

The Wheel is a huge, imposing, mountain, three times the height of Mount Everest, rising from the ocean. Many mountaineers have attempted to climb its slopes but only Walter Richman succeeded. Ten miles away is an island where Richman later built his home, The Observatory. Much of The Observatory is built inside the mountain on this island and provides excellent views of The Wheel. It was designed by Richard Gausse who died during the construction of the building. Gausse's daughter, Rita, was surprised when she received and invitation demanding that she stay at the The Observatory for several days before its official opening.

This book is largely the story of Rita as she is confronted with past experiences and fears that she has tried to forget. Once on the island she is aware of the power of The Wheel in the distance and that extreme danger is not far away. Confronted by the extravagance of Richman's new accommodation Rita becomes aware of the The Wheel's growing displeasure with events occurring on the island and impending doom.

Reading this novel I became immersed in much of the story, especially at the beginning and end of the novel, but generally I thought that the book was far too long, especially in the middle section. In the first sections of the book the author also includes articles about the mountain and attempts to conquer it plus chapters from Rita's book that she wrote ten years previously together providing background to the story.

In The Rich Man's House Andrew McGahan has produced a powerful novel involving the foibles of humanity and the power of presences beyond our understanding.

Peterloo

2019 is the 200th anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre which occurred in Manchester on St Peter's Field on 16 August 1819. Four years earlier the British army had defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. The returning soldiers, however,  found an England where jobs were scare and wages were low. There was a shortage of grain not helped by the implementation of Corn Laws prohibiting the import of grain from other countries. Price of food was high. People were starving.

This was an environment ripe for ordinary people banding together demanding parliamentary representation for all men. Sixty thousand of men, women and children gathered at St Peter's Field to show their support for reforms improving the lifestyle of ordinary people and to listen to the guest speaker, Henry Hunt. It was a peaceful meeting but unfortunately many of the magistrates and business men in the city were unnerved by the event and the militia was called in. Eighteen people were killed and hundreds were injured.

Earlier this year Royal Holloway, University of London, ran a four week course on Future Learn - Perterloo to the Pankhursts: Radicalism and reform in the 19th century which explored how suffrage for all was obtained in Britain and examined the various political movements, plus their leaders, which enabled this to happen.

The Peppermint Tea Chronicles

Another look into the lives of the inhabitants of 44 Scotland Street and the surrounding area in this thirteenth book in the series by Alexander McCall Smith.

Since the last installment Bruce Anderson has decided that perhaps he should settle down but with whom? Big Lou considers selling her shop and the Duke of Johannesburg decides to build a seaplane. Matthew, Elspeth and the twins, Pat, Angus and Domenica also feature in this collection of episodes. But, as usual, it is Bertie who is the standout character as he revels in his new found independence when his mother leaves home to study at Aberdeen University providing her husband and two sons the freedom to live their own lives. Bertie and Ranald Braveheart Macpherson go on a series of adventures while Stewart renews an old friendship over peppermint tea.

The Shelly Bay Ladies Swimming Circle

This novel by Sophie Green is primarily about the special friendship that develops in 1982 between four very different ladies when they meet on the beach each day for an early morning swim.

Marie has lived at Shelly Bay, north of Sydney, all her life. Since her husband died five years previously, she now lives alone in the family home with her dog, Charlie Brown, for company. Marie is lonely but the real escape for her is the morning swim which she undertakes throughout the year unless the weather is really bad and the surf too rough. She is used to swimming alone but then she meets Theresa on the beach one morning as she is about to go for a swim and invites her to join her.

Theresa lives with her husband, two children and her grandmother in Shelly Bay. As well as looking after the house and her family, Theresa volunteers at the local hospital a couple of days a week. A comment from her husband that she is overweight motivates Theresa to take up swimming again, not just for exercise but also for some  'me time'.

At the hospital Theresa meets and befriends Leanne, a nurse in the childrens' department. Leanne has been having swimming lessons and eventually decides to give ocean swimming a try.

The fourth member of the swimming circle is Elaine who has left her home and children in England when her husband decides he wants to return to Australia. Looking for something to do she decides to attempt swimming in the sea.

As friendships among the women develop we, with members of the swimming circle, gradually learn of the problems that each member has experienced in the past as well as in the present. A strong support group develops from the morning swim as each of the swimmers gradually faces up to issues from their past plus current challenges. This results in lifestyle changes for all members of the group.

Once again it is interesting to read a book exploring, as one of its themes, the power of the sea over an individual.

The wasp and the orchid

This book by Danielle Clode has the subtitle: The remarkable life of Australian naturalist Edith Coleman.

Edith Coleman was born in Surrey England on 29 July 1874. Her parents were Henry Harms and Charlotte Edmunds and Edith was the sixth of seven children. The family left England for Australia in August 1887. Edith became well known in the 1920s for her writing in scientific journals and talks to the Field Naturalist Club of Victoria about Australian native orchids. In 1949 she was awarded the Australian Naural History Medallion. Edith was well known during her lifetime in the World of Science but after her death in 1951 her work tended to be forgotten.

When working in the basement of the Museum of Victoria some years ago, Danielle Clode rediscovered the work of Edith Coleman and decided to write about her life. Edith's story has been compiled from journal articles - particularly the Victorian Naturalist -  newspaper and magazine articles and examples of her research. The author has constructed what she could of Edith's story from these sources and with the help of members of Edith's family. Each chapter contains one of Edith's articles, a fictional account of part of Edith's life as well as a reconstruction of the life and work of Edith Colman pieced together from a range of sources.

For much of her life Edith and her husband, James Coleman, lived in a house and garden, Walsham in Blackburn. James was involved with bicycles, motor bikes and motor cars and was a co-founder of the Automobile Club of Victoria (later the RACV). Edith and James had two daughters.

The book provides descriptions of Edith's work with orchids including photographs of many species. At the back of the book are detailed end notes, an index of names and an index of species.

Edith Coleman (1874-1951) - ADB

The Nancys

Eleven year old Tippy Chan waited excitedly at the airport for her Uncle Pike to arrive from Australia.  Pike brings with him his new boy-friend, Devon, and they are returning to Pike's home town in New Zealand to look after Tippy while her mother goes on a cruise.

Growing up Pike loved reading Nancy Drew books and had passed his collection to Tippy who was also a fan. So when Tippy's school teacher is murdered Tippy, Pike and Devon decide to form a group, the Nancys, to investigate the crime, especially when the police appear to arrest the wrong suspect. Tippy is also concerned about a friend, Todd, who fell from a bridge several days before the death of the teacher.

R W R (Rob) McDonald is a New Zealander who now lives in Australia. In this book he has created a collection of eccentric, and sometimes flawed, characters who live in Tippy's community and support her.

As well as being a murder mystery the book is concerned about people, their perceptions of themselves and of others plus the different ways that people cope with grief. Tippy's father had died in a car crash nine months earlier and she is struggling to understand how and why it happened. Her mother is also struggling with coping with the death of her husband and has not told Tippy the full story. She is also cross that Pike left New Zealand when he was young to find a new life.

This is a very readable crime novel, often amusing with loads of over-the top humour.  

R W R McDonald https://rwrmcdonald.com/
AustCrime  https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/nancys-rwr-mcdonald
Nancy Drew books  https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/NAD/nancy-drew

Room for a stranger

In Room for a stranger, the first novel by Melanie Cheng, the author writes about the unusual, tentative friendship between Meg Hughes, aged 75, and Andy Chan, a student from Hong Kong studying Biomedicine at university.

Meg has always lived in the family home in Melbourne and has spent much of her life caring for her parents and her sister. Meg now lives alone in the house except for an African grey talkative parrot, Atticus. When she enters into a home sharing arrangement she encounters twenty-one year old Andy who moves into the spare bedroom. It is soon obvious that Meg and Andy are very different people, each attempting to cope with a range of issues. However an understanding gradually begins to develop between the two of them.

The book covers a range of issues including loneliness, cultural differences, problems faced by overseas students in Australia, racism, family expectations, aging, health issues and difficulties in communicating with other people. However throughout the book a major theme is the inability of the characters to really be able to communicate with each other, to say what they really mean and to have real and meaningful conversations with friends and family. Meg also has to come to terms with what will happen with the family memories that exist in her home after she is gone.

A spanner in the works

The extraordinary story of Alice Anderson and Australia's first all-girl garage is the subtitle of this book by Loretta Smith. I had heard of Alice Anderson and her garage, possibly when I worked at the Royal Historical Society of Victoria in 1995 and again from 2002 to 2011. We may have received an enquiry about Alice and her garage though one of the members of the RHSV, Mimi Colligan, had researched the life of Alice Anderson and published chapters in books on the topic - Double Time Women in Victoria 150 years edited by Marilyn Lake in 1985. Chapter 6 of Eat My Dust: Early Women Motorists by Georgine Clarsen (2008) is based on research undertaken by Mimi Colligan. The topic may have therefore come up in conversation with Mimi.

Alice Anderson was born in Australia in 1897, the daughter of Irish parents. Her father was a talented engineer who at one time worked with John Monash, however his temperament made him difficult to work with and he was frequently in financial trouble. The family moved to New Zealand for a time and then returned to England and Ireland, before, once again, settling in Australia. Alice's education was interupted though she did complete the equivalent to year 10. Automobiles were growing in popularity and when her father decided to run a business transporting passengers between Healesville and Alexandra Alice joined him. Eventually Alice decided to run her own business and, after overcoming a variety of obstacles, established the Miss Anderson's Motor Service staffed exclusively by women. Alice loved driving and earned money driving  groups around Melbourne and to the Dandenongs, plus some interstate trips to New South Wales and Tasmania. The garage also provided driving instruction for ladies as well as training for women to be mechanics. In 1926, Alice and Jessie Webb drove from Melbourne to Alice Springs in a small car to prove that it could be done. Alice was also interested in aviation and had plans to learn how to fly a plane. Alice's death, aged 29, in 1926 left lots of unanswered questions. Friends ensured that her business continued to operate until the early 1940s.

As well as being the story of Alice's short life, this book is a study of the changing role of women in the early twentieth century plus providing an account of the growth and acceptance of the automobile industry in Victoria. This is the story of a determined young woman trying to make a living in a 'man's world'.

Detailed notes and bibliography are included.

How Australia's female garage owner Alice Anderson helped change social attitudes

The story of Alice Anderson and Australia's first all-female garage

Australian Dictionary of Biography - Alice Anderson 

Terns of endearment

This book is number 25 in the Meg Langslow series of books by Donna Andrews. Meg's grandfather has been hired to give a series of natural history talks on the Pastime cruise ship, Wanderer. As family and friends can travel at a reduced rate, a contingent of Meg's family decide to go on the cruise from Baltimore to Bermuda and return. However it does not take long for Meg and her father to realise that this cruise will not be smooth sailing.

Meg meets and becomes friends with a group of writers who each year get together to discuss their work and encourage each other in their endeavours. There is also another author, Desiree St Christophe, aboard the ship who appears to have a grudge with Meg's new friends. During the first night of the trip the ship stops and next morning it appears that Desiree has fallen / or jumped from the ship leaving behind her shoes, a shawl and a suicide note. The chief officers on the ship are reluctant to investigate.

The passengers are not told why the ship has stopped except that it should be fixed soon. In the meantime there is no power, no water, little food and no way to contact the shore for assistance. Most of the crew have disappeared. Meg and her family, with the aid of other passengers, take over the running of the ship to try to make conditions bearable until help arrives. Meanwhile Meg and her father discover a body in a cupboard. What is going on aboard this ship?

Another Donna Andrews cosy crime mystery with a cast of slightly eccentric characters who work together to relieve the discomfort of their fellow passengers and also solve the mystery of why they have been stranded at sea.

The Ravenmaster

This book has the subtitle My life with the ravens at the Tower of London and it is written by Christopher Skaife, Yeoman Warder of Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, the Tower of London.

The author has been the Ravenmaster at the Tower of London since 2011, in charge of a team responsible for the welfare of the seven ravens currently in residence. He has been a Yeoman at the Tower of London since 2005. Christopher Skaife obviously loves the ravens in his charge though he treats each individual bird with great respect.

Christopher Skaife outlines the personalities of the current raven population at the Tower of London. He also describes what is involved in looking after the ravens each day as well as the other duties involved in being a Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London plus the prerequisites for such a job. As well as learning about the lives of the ravens and their role at the Tower of London we learn about the life of Christopher Skaife including his twenty-four years in the the army as well as some of his adventures with the ravens.He also discusses the legend of the ravens and the Tower.

At the end of the book there is a list of resources on ravens and another list on books relating to the Tower of London for those who want to do additional reading.

Big sky

This is the fifth Jackson Brodie novel written by Kate Atkinson and the first that I have read. I found it took time to become used to the way the story is presented. In the first one hundred pages we are introduced to most of the elements and characters before the story starts to come together in the latter two thirds of the book. It can also be a little confusing in that the author describes what is happening in one time frame and we then are presented with the back story. However once I became used to the way the plot was written I became involved in the story and with the characters.

Jackson Brodie, a former police detective and member of the army, is now trying to earn a living as a private detective in a small North Yorkshire coastal town. One day when out with his son and his dog he thinks he witnesses the abduction of a young girl but when he reports his concerns to the police they are not interested. As the novel unfolds it is obvious that all is not well in this community which has a history of men procuring young girls for the entertainment of their friends. But this is in the past or is it?

There are a number of overlapping stories in the novel including the attempts of two female detectives to investigate recent information about the original sex crimes in the area - their investigations running parallel the unraveling of a current sex trafficking scheme.

This novel is very much character driven and the reader becomes involved with the lives of members of a number of families including Jackson's teenage son, Nathan, and Harry, another teenager caught up in the situation created by his parents. Dogs also feature throughout the book.

The maddest place on earth

The 1850s in Victoria and Melbourne had grown to a large city with people travelling to the state to search for gold and for adventure. The sudden influx of additional people put a strain on the infrastructure of the new city, especially when the mental health of a number of the newcomers was considered to be unstable and they required housing.

In The maddest place on earth Jill Giese examines documents and newspapers from the second half of the nineteenth century to learn about the conditions in which inmates lived in asylums, especially the asylum at Yarra Bend and a second asylum across the river at Kew. These were large establishments but they soon became overcrowded and additional  accommodation, usually in the form of cottages, was built.

Jill Giese looks at the treatment of the patients primarily through the eyes of three people - the artist, George Foley, who spent his life in and out of asylums; Dr Edward Paley who for twenty years was in charge of the lunatic asylums in Victoria, especially Yarra Bend and Kew; and 'the Vagabond', a journalist who went undercover and wrote about social issues in the State.

This book provides an informative look at a little known part of Melbourne's history. It is listed as the book to be discussed at the RHSV Book Club in May 2020.

Lanny

Lanny, a short novel by Max Porter, is a book that I read in one sitting. It is divided into three distinct sections. The first half of the book is devoted to providing information about the small village and its occupants, sixty miles from London, where Lanny's family now live. Lanny is a young sensitive, certainly different, boy who lives with his mother, Jolie, an actress and aspiring writer, and his father, Robert, who commutes to London on the train to work. The family, newly settled in the village, is not readily accepted by the other villagers but Lanny becomes friends with the local artist, Pete, who in many ways is also an outcast as far as the villagers are concerned. The village dates back hundreds of years and has a presence, Dead Papa Toothwork, whose spirit observes and inhabits the village from time to time. Dead Papa Toothwork reawakens as the the story begins. The second section of the novel is an account of the villagers' reactions to the disappearance of Lanny, written as a stream of consciousness, while the third section is concerned with locating the child, alive or dead.

The writing, sometimes dark, looks at the prejudices of people who are unable to accept that some people may be different, but still human. It also involves the mystical world of past legends still influencing the present.

Sixty summers

Sixty Summers by Amanda Hampson is about three Australian women, Fran, Rose and Maggie, who have been friends for forty years since they had the adventure of travelling around Europe together in a kombi van. Fran and Rose met at school while they met Maggie in London. In the intervening years the women have remained firm friends though they have each encountered many challenges in their lives, especially in regard to relationships.

Fran stayed in London while the other two returned to Sydney, married and settled down to new lives. Each year they had a get together, including an online hook-up, to celebrate another year of friendship. But this time it is obvious that all is not well, particularly with Maggie who appears close to having a breakdown. The decision is eventually made that they all need a break from their present lives, particularly family commitments, and should meet again in London to try and recapture some of their lost youth and once again experience the joy of of life.

Consequently, Rose creates an itinerary for the new adventure and the new challenge begins. Initially all does not go well with the women carrying too many worries and responsibilities of life at home and several times it looks as if the trip will be a failure. There are also many secrets that they have not shared before the trip. However the women eventually begin to relax especially when things begin to go wrong and they have to react to new situations.

When Rose and Maggie return home they are determined to make changes in their lives and relationships ensuring that they have more time to be themselves and lead more independent lives. Back in London Fran also makes a decision that will dramtically change her lifestyle.

This book is a most enjoyable study of how life and the needs of others can dramatically impact on the freedom of individuals to be themselves and how difficult it can be to take back some control of ones life.

The Land Girls

Women in the Australian Women's Land Army played an important role in assisting with agricultural projects, especially assisting with harvesting, when there was a shortage of labour due to men joining the armed forces during the Second World War. This novel by Victoria Purman is a tribute to those women.

The novel tells the story of three women, Flora from Melbourne, Lily from Adelaide and Betty from Sydney, who for a variety of reasons decide to join the Women's Land Army. It is a story of love and loss, hope and resilience as the women adapt to their new lifestyles, make friendships and learn more about themselves and what they can achieve. It is also an interesting account of another aspect of life in Australia during World War II. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and will look for more books by this author.

Kindred: a Cradle Mountain love story

The story of Gustav Weindorfer and Kate Cowle is told by Kate Legge. Gustav was born in Austria in 1874 and came to Australia in 1901. As a naturalist and conservationist he enjoyed exploring the bush, especially mountain areas, of his his new country. It was at the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria that he met Kate Cowle who also enjoyed climbing mountains and bushwalking. Gustav and Kate married in February 1906 and they purchased a farm at Kindred, near Devonport in Tasmania. Kate's family owned another property near by. Gustav was eleven years younger than Kate but they became inseparable due to their mutual love of exploring the Australian bush.

In 1909 an expedition was arranged to explore the area now known as Cradle Mountain and Gustav became determined that it should become a national park. As well as being interested in the natural environment they were also very aware of Aboriginal connections to the region. In 1912 Gustav began building the chalet that became Waldheim so those visiting the area had a base with somewhere to stay. Kate died in April 1916. Gustav sold the farm and worked from Waldheim as a ranger. He died in 1938.

Kate Legge also enjoys mountain climbing, exploring Cradle Mountain National Park in 2015 where she first heard of Gustav and Kate. Two years later she climbed the mountain. Kate Legge set out to find all she could about Kate and Gustav's story and the result is this book. At the end of the book are extensive notes plus an index. The book also contains photographs of Kate and Gustav and of course the area they loved at Cradle Mountain.


Waldheim Chalet - History 

Companion to Tasmanian History - Gustav Weindorfer and Kate Lowe

Cradle Mountain Lodge

 Gustav Weindorfer - Australian Dictionary of Biography