Nimblefoot

Johnny Day was known as The Pedestrian Child Wonder. He started taking part in walking races from around eight years of age and he is recorded as winning 101 races in Melbourne, Sydney and London by the age of ten. He was a small but seemingly tireless walker winning races against adults. As well as prize money, Johnny's father made money by taking bets on his son's races. When walking opportunities started disappearing, Johnny became a jockey and in 1870 won the Melbourne Cup on a horse named Nimblefoot. By this time Johnny was fourteen. This is the last we hear of Johnny Day.

Robert Drewe has taken what is known about Johnny and continued the story in the novel, Nimblefoot. He therefore mixes fact with fiction in the novel. He continues the early story of Johnny's life weaving snippits of historical facts with imagination to continue Johnny's story.

The action of the novel originally takes place in Ballarat and Melbourne and then in Western Australia. Lola Montez and Captain Standish are some of the historical characters receiving mentions as the story unfolds and the author provides glimpses of what trying to make a living in parts of southern Western Australia may have been like in the 1870s. All in all Robert Drewe provides a great yarn as Johnny tries to make a new life far away from people who are following him and probably want him dead.

Master Johnny Day, Australian Champion Pedestrian

He won the Melbourne Cup at 14 then vanished - Sydney Morning Herald 4 August 2022

The shark net

The shark net: memories and murder was written by Robert Drewe and first published in 2000. It records the memories of Drewe growing up in Perth in the 1950s and 1960s. His father worked for the Dunlop Company and the family transferred to Perth when Robert was six. Amongst the description of suburban life there is the undercurrent of fear created by a series of apparently unrelated murders which for many years baffle police. One of the victims was a friend of Robert. An implement used owned by another friend was a weapon used for another murder. It was later discovered that the murderer, Eric Edgar Cooke, once worked for the Dunlop Company. The effects of the murders played a significant part in the minds of the local citizens and as a journalist Robert Drewe was particularly interested in the case.

As well as describing the life of the Drewe family in Perth and the constrictions of being part of the Dunlop family the book recalls the murders and associated crimes committed by Cooke and the fear these crimes created in the community. Interspersed are chapters where Drewe attempts to portray the thoughts, feelings and actions of Cooke as the series of crimes are committed. This is an interesting, readable book based strongly on fact but with sections written as fiction.

Water, water everywhere

Landscape plays an important part in many novels, especially in Australian novels, and in Australian fiction water is often a theme. The large coastline of the island continent ensures that much Australian fiction is set near beaches. As well as physical descriptions of the landscape the power of water, especially of the ocean, can be viewed as a force to be challenged, a world of freedom or as an opportunity for escape. It can also be portrayed as part of the Australian psyche.

Two authors whose books often feature water in their books are Robert Drewe and Tim Winton.

Most of the short stories in Robert Drewe's latest book, The Rip, involve water in some way. In a number of the stories water is in the background, not a dominant force, but in some of the stories water is a central character. The author examines a range of relationships in the stories and the reactions of people to situations but in many of the stories the catalyst for the events that occur is water. The analogy of a prison to an aquarium, the reactions to a possible tsunami, the escape of swimming laps in a pool, the need to impress someone by challenging the sea are a few of the scenarios in this book of Australian short stories.

In 1993 Robert Drewe edited The Penguin book of the beach, a collection of 25 short stories written by authors from many countries including Australia. In the introduction Robert Drewe writes that he chose these stories "not only because I think they represent the best of contemporary shorter fiction writing about the beach - the coasts, ocean shores, bays, dunes, lagoons and rivers... They share a concern with pressing personal, social and political questions,, their satiric, humorous or fantastic sidelong glance often revealing more than direct realistic examination. ... The role of the beach in contemporary fiction may be literally gauged by the stories' subject matter. The vast majority deal with escape, often from the next most possible category - family and sexual relationships. These are followed in popularity by drowning, growing up and the mysterious voyage/journey to the Apocalypse." (p 4-5) Authors in this anthology include Graham Swift, Ian McEwan, Frank Moorhouse, Helen Garner, David Malouf and Tim Winton.

Water is a theme in much of the writing of Tim Winton. This is particularly the case in his latest novel, Breath. Set in Western Australia two young boys, Pikelet and Loonie, enjoy taking risks first in the river and then in the surf some miles from where they live. The book deals with relationships between the two boys and Sando and Eva but it also revolves around the relationship of the boys with the surf - the power of the surf, the danger of the surf, the allure of the surf. The need to conquer bigger and bigger waves. The need to take risks, to face death, to survive. The novel also explores sexual risk taking. Throughout the book there are references to breathing, the necessity for life. This is a beautifully written book.

The power of the surf to take over one's life is also observed in Di Morrissey's latest novel, The Islands. A love story set in Australia and in Hawaii, primarily in the 1970s, Catherines' life changes when she discovers the freedom brought about learning to surf and meeting challenges. The power of the ocean over the lives of many of the characters that Catherine meets when living in Hawaii is a major component of this book.

Learning to conquer fear of the ocean and learning to surf is a also a theme in Kathy Lette's new book, To love, honour and betray, a zany account of coping with a broken marriage and living with teenage daughters. Set in Sydney much of the action occurs at the local surf club where Lucy faces the challenges of gaining the Bronze Medallion as well as travelling down the hard road of self discovery.