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SELF-PUBLISHING SOLUTIONS: Non-Fiction Library Extracts from a selection of Dragonwick’s non-fiction books, their ‘blurbs’ and information about the authors Alstonville Plateau Historical Society Inc. Established on 21 October 2001 and affiliated with the Royal Australian Historical Society, Alstonville Plateau Historical Society’s aims are to collect, preserve, display and provide documents and photographs of an historical nature of the Alstonville Plateau and Ballina Shire for current and future generations. The society meets on the third Sunday of each month and welcomes stories, photographs, artefacts and family histories for its records. Crawford House, at 10 Wardell Road, Alstonville, is now the home of the historical society. Originally known as ‘Olivene’, the house was built in 1910 by DC Connor of Ballina, for William Ambrose Crawford, eldest son of one of the original settlers. In 1982, the house was sold to the Ballina Shire Council and was used by community groups, until it was restored by the society in 2003, and officially opened as a museum in October 2004. It features many interesting household objects dating from the turn of the century to 1960, along with local historical items and documents. Research facilities are provided upon request at the museum and the society has published a series of books, covering many facets of the area’s history. Milestones and Memories – Alstonville District This collection of milestones and memories from the past and present residents of the Alstonville District was originally inspired by Foreman Crawford’s well-known book, Duck Creek Mountain Now Alstonville. In it, he asked that someone should take over the task of recording the growth of the district and the Alstonville Plateau Historical Society have attempted to do this. Featured are stores and photographs of the people, places and events from Andrew Freeborn’s 1865 Big Scrub selection to today. … at first, our only cooler for food was a Coolgardie drip safe on the back verandah. It comprised a wooden framework, standing in a flat pan of water, with its sides made of hessian. A leaking water tank was suspended at the pyramid top of the hessian, the water drops keeping the whole structure damp and cool – as long as the top water tank was kept full. Instead of buying an icebox cooler when the drip safe needed renewing, Dad took a fancy to some crazy contraption powered by wind. It was called a Morkool. I have never in my life seen another. Everyone else had sensible iceboxes, cheaply supplied with a few pennyworth of ice per week and delivered to the front door. Our Morkool was nothing more than a food ventilator, with wind shaft out through the roof and rotor fan at the top. The thing roared like a bull when the wind got up and we lived with that roar day and night for all those years. Then, to crown the orneriness, when we moved to our new place – and bought our first refrigerator – Dad insisted on dismantling the monster and re-erecting it in the laundry of our new home. It did make a useful vegetable container. © Forgotten Railways of the Northern Rivers Second edition of Ian Kirkland’s very knowledgeable book about the history of the Ballina–Booyong Railway and the Casino–Tenterfield Line. Alstonville’s Heritage Trail A guide to the historical properties in Alstonville village, containing a map, photos and information about the buildings that are part of the town’s heritage. Researched by Jane Gardiner and Marguerite Fuller. Game, Set, Match Neil Bartlett’s history of the Alstonville Tennis Club from its beginnings in 1912 to the present day. Alstonville District Farm Life Photographic display of farming over the years in Alstonville and the surrounding areas. Memories of Alstonville Photographic display of early Alstonville – street scenes, historic buildings and more. Out of Puff: The Ballina Train Ian Kirkland’s story of the Booyong to Ballina Railway Line, which operated until 1948. Duck Creek Mountain Now Alstonville The second edition of Foreman Crawford’s book, describing life in the early years, and the development of Duck Creek Mountain into the Alstonville of the 1980s. School of Arts: Alstonville’s Hall Marguerite Fuller’s history of the hall from the first meeting held in 1896, until the present day as home to the Alstonville RSL Sub-Branch. Six or Nothing Ian Kirkland’s book chronicles the matches and the players of the Rous Cricket Association. … a match was played between Wyrallah and Marist Brothers, Lismore. Brother Columbus had defied the Wyrallah bowling attack to great effect and was posing captain, Sandy Clifton, a big problem. Where orthodoxy had failed, Sandy threw the ball to ‘Razor’ Stork, who never bowled. He rushed to the wicket with a great flurry of arms and legs and let fly at Brother Columbus. His direction was fine, but the length left much to be desired. The ball hit the ground a little more than two yards from Razor’s windmilling body and proceeded towards the troublesome batsman. Brother Columbus’s first reaction was to advance down the wicket to hit the ball out of the ground. However, the bounces didn’t suit this stroke, so this necessitated a retreat to the crease and an endeavour to cut the ball, but the speed had diminished with each bounce so all that was left was to hoist it over the square leg boundary. After much changing of mind, confusion reigned, and the ball yorked Brother Columbus on about the fourth bounce and bowled him. Dumbfounded, he looked in turn at the broken wicket and then up the pitch at Razor who no doubt was equally amazed, but pleasurably so. The umpire, a very staunch Protestant with a ready wit, smiled and nodded in Brother Columbus’s direction, saying, “Yes, you’re out, Christopher!” © Lodge 259: Alstonville 1909–2002 Marguerite Fuller writes about Alstonville’s famous lodge – from the beginnings until its closure in 2002. Effort Earns Success Alsonville Public School 1875-2008 IAN KIRKLAND’s history of the academic, cultural, sporting and social achievements of the students of Alstonville Public School from the beginning in 19875 to the present day. All these titles published by the Alstonville Plateau Historical Society Inc. Enquiries: <bnbworth@nor.com.au> JENNIFER SUTTON A Nurse’s Waltz with Jimmy Dancer All nurses deal every day with people who are unwell, who are suffering. The difference for those of us involved in caring for people who have cancer is that all our patients are eyeballing the Grim Reaper. For some it is a quick glance, the ultimate confrontation deferred for now. For others it is the great staring contest and one they really don’t want to lose. Jen Sutton decided to add a nurse’s voice to the many others raised on the subject of cancer. The doctors, researchers, and the famous patients and their families speak out frequently in the media. The nurses are rarely, if ever, mentioned. The nurses who care for cancer patients, who see what cancer really means, are invisible. Jen tells of her involvement with such patients, the poignant moments woven into a background tapestry of her family life … a life lived in the hills with no electricity, no services and very few mod cons. She shares her highs and lows, laughter and tears, in and out of uniform. In A Nurse’s Waltz with Jimmy Dancer, Jen provides an insight into nursing that she hopes will be enjoyed by other nurses as well as readers outside of the profession. … she is twenty-four when I meet her, her little boy is two, and her little girl is a newborn premmy baby, still in hospital. The baby’s name is April and she is a gift. Her very life is a gift, given by her mother. Jacqui had chosen to give life to this little one even though it would ultimately take her own. She chose to continue her pregnancy and forego lifesaving chemotherapy. What a choice! Abortion and chemo and the chance of beating breast cancer, or give birth to her child, the pregnancy-induced hormones accelerating the spread of the cancer and shortening her own life considerably. Give life then leave life. Be there for her two-year-old, Josh, or give him a sister and never see them grow up. She chose life for her daughter. © A Nurse’s Waltz with Jimmy Dancer Enquiries: <jjsut@bigpond.com> A5, 224 pages, perfect bound, Printed by SCU Digital Printing Services, Lismore ISBN 978-0-9803396-5-9
Milton F Owen Overlanders and Inlanders Milton Owen is the eldest son of Len and Jean Owen, born 1922 in Port Lincoln, SA. The family first moved to the Northern Territory in 1939, and Milton lived there through the 1940s and 1950s. After several years with the Post Master General’s department, he went into business with Dave Baldock, a road transport pioneer. Milton has had a continuing interest in the Territory and its people. Overlanders and Inlanders is testament to his wish to ensure that succeeding generations know about and understand the contributions made by the pioneers, both black and white, in the early development of the pastoral industry of the ‘top half’. … in the 1850s Mrs Henrietta Smith died at Dunesk in Scotland. She had read about the possibility of the Australian Aboriginal race dying out and decided to do something to prevent it. Some historians say that she bequeathed a sum of money for this purpose and others have said that she bought land in the colony and the income from this asset was to be used for the same purpose. In any case the money lay dormant for some years but eventually became available to the Presbyterian Church authorities, who decided to establish a mission to serve both black and white people in the remote northern region of the colony of South Australia. The Smith of Dunesk Mission was commenced at a small South Australian settlement named Beltana, forty kilometres to the east of Lake Torrens and 550 kilometres north of Adelaide, when the Reverend Robert Mitchell arrived there in 1895. His untiring efforts during four years of service to the inlanders resulted in the firm establishment of the mission. There is no doubt that Mitchell’s work provided the foundation which grew into the famous Australian Inland Mission and the Royal Flying Doctor Service. The Reverend Frank Rowland followed Mitchell and continued his missionary work. A nursing service was begun at Oodnadatta when Sister Main arrived there in the early 1900s. The Reverend John Flynn followed Rowland in 1911 and one of his first tasks was to oversee the construction of a hospital in Oodnadatta. The dedication of this building was performed by John Flynn and Robert Mitchell in December 1911. The following year the Australian Inland Mission was formed by the church with the visionary John Flynn at the helm. His ‘Mantle of Safety’ to cover all the people of the inland and remote areas of the continent had begun. © Overlanders and Inlanders Enquiries: <enton@tadaust.org.au> A5, illustrated, illustrated, perfect bound ISBN 978-0-9804930-4-7 DREADNOUGHT ASSOCIATION INC. They Passed This Way The Dreadnought Scheme, inaugurated in 1911, was a plan for British boys to immigrate to Australia and become farm labourers in the labour-starved rural economy. This is the story of those adventurous young souls who left family and friends to find a new life. Their memories deserve preservation as part of our rural heritage and, more importantly, the Dreadnought Boys deserve our admiration for their courage and perseverance in circumstances where most grown men would despair. They met the vicissitudes of life in a strange land with an indomitable resoluteness of spirit that enabled them to come through this ordeal, and eventually to settle down, marry and raise a family in this adopted land – to the point where the label of Dreadnought took on its other connotation – they dreaded nought. Because of the popularity of the first edition of They Passed This Way, published ten years ago, many other stories and photographs have been added to this volume, edited by Gordon and Olwen King, making it an essential historical record of the Dreadnought Boys and their lives in Australia. … Bob Hankins was born in London during March 1923. He left school at thirteen and later participated in a training scheme for farm work conducted by the Salvation Army. He came to Australia on the SS Oronsay under the auspice of the Dreadnought Scheme in 1939. Upon arriving in Australia he went to Lower Duck Creek (near Bonalbo) and later lived at Bonnie Creek via Lismore, where he worked as a dairy hand. Bob attempted to enlist in the AIF early 1940 but was rejected owing to his age (sixteen). Changing his name to Darling (his mother’s maiden name) he was successful during May 1940 in joining the 2/15 Infantry Battalion, a Queensland unit. The battalion landed in the Middle East in February 1941 as part of 20 Brigade. The troops disembarked from the Netherland’s ship Indrapoera. A 9 Division Battalion, the 2/15 was posted to assist in the defence against Rommel’s North African eastward thrust. During April 1941 the enemy savagely shelled and bombed the battalion position. Private RA Hankins (Darling) was wounded and died on 29 April 1941. He was aged eighteen years. Bob rests with his comrades at the Tobruk War Cemetery, on the Mediterranean Sea coast. They Passed This Way Published by the Dreadnought Association Inc. Enquiries: 02 6628 0522 A5, 368 pages, illustrated, perfect bound, Printed by SCU Digital Printing Services, Lismore ISBN 978-0-9804930-5-4
Tom Maxwell Proud Past – Memories of the Lismore District Ambulance The Lismore District Ambulance Service started in auspiciously in an old piano box and car body in 1928, using a stretcher handed down from Lismore Hospital. Since then it has grown to become one of the most important stations in northern New South Wales, with a reputation for superb expertise, consideration and health care. Many faces and names have passed through its training curriculum to become leaders in ambulance services throughout the state. Proud Past is a story of its beginnings and of the men and women who served in its growth. … one of Stan Nolan’s earliest memories as a rookie ambulance officer was a trip to The Channon to collect a patient. On arrival, and by himself, he found the old gentleman slumped over the back stairs. To all intents and purposes, he appeared dead. Stan managed to load him into the ambulance and as he thought there was nothing to lose, attached an oxygen mask to the old bloke and proceeded to drive back to Lismore. After some time and coming through Dunoon, Stan received the fright of his life when the patient suddenly shot up from the stretcher and loudly said, ‘Where’s my dinner?’ Stan decided that this oxygen treatment was the best thing he had ever come across and, from there on in, used it frequently. © Proud Past – Memories of the Lismore District Ambulance Enquiries: <gg@dragonwick.com> B5, 188 pages, illustrated, perfect bound, Printed by SCU Digital Printing Services, Lismore ISBN 978-0-9803396-0-4 Quendryth Young The Grandfather Diaries James Arthur Somerville, at the age of seventy, embarked upon an around-the-world trip, which lasted from April to December 1934. He travelled via the Suez and Panama Canals and wrote of his impressions in three 100-page diaries. Over sixty years later, as Quendryth began the task of typing up this record, she found that the admirable personality of her grandfather came to life through his journals. At night we joined a large party and visited Chinatown [San Francisco] around which we were conducted by a most entertaining and humorous Chinese guide, a university man who spoke perfect English and kept the company laughing at his jokes, some of which were very good. In San Francisco there is a larger Chinese population than in any other city outside of China. They have their own telephone exchange containing subscribers who are ‘called’ by name, not by number. The Chinese switchgirls memorise the numbers. We were taken to see the switchgirls at work and I was surprised to see that the majority were elderly, so much so that I asked our guide at what age a Chinese girl became a woman? This question raised a good laugh. We saw through several Chinese ships, also a joss house, and had some of their customs explained. I had my name written in my pocket book in Chinese characters. As you know, Chinese writing is read up and down. One of our guide’s pleasantries was this, as he was talking of the method of reading Chinese: ‘Although I am a good heathen, I have a friend who is a Roman Catholic priest who says that Chinese is the proper way to read the Scriptures because in doing so you move the head up and down indicating Yes, Yes. Whereas in the European way you shake it from side to side, No, No.’ QUENDRYTH YOUNG is a wife, mother of a daughter and a son, and a grandmother to five. She was born in 1935 and grew up in Sydney, the fifth of six children, and she suspects it was this situation that urged her to make her voice heard. Quendryth graduated as a Bachelor of Science from the University of Sydney in 1955 and was offered membership of the International Academy of Cytology in 1974. Her career as a cytologist spanned forty years. Marriage to a bank officer took her to many parts of New South Wales, but she and her husband have now retired to Alstonville, on the Far North Coast. She has been a member of the Fellowship of Australian Writers since 1987, and became a Writing Fellow of the FAW in 1998. The Grandfather Diaries Enquiries: <quendrythyoung@bigpond.com> B5, 224 pages, illustrated, perfect bound, Printed by SCU Digital Printing Services, Lismore ISBN 978-0-9804030-0-9 Marie Bohman Sakra Sahib It was suggested to Marie Bohman that she write about her family’s life in India. She agreed but then wondered what one could possibly say of interest about life in a medieval backwater or about a couple of dank, cold Victorian schools in a tiny hill station shrouded in mist? Marie and her brothers spent much of their childhood and early youth in India, where their home was a microcosm of Czech culture from décor to food to customs and festivals. It never occurred to them that life was anything out of the ordinary. … the bazaar at Mokameh Junction was a hotchpotch of silversmiths, goldsmiths, sweet shops, snack bars, tea stands, letter writers, darzis, homeopaths, a bank and post office; shops selling saris, materials, pots, pans, groceries, a few clay or wooden toys and kites. Every shopkeeper and stall holder displayed a favourite deity flanked by marigolds, burning oil lamps and smoking incense sticks, sandalwood and jasmine temporarily overriding street stench. Through a narrow lane completely hidden from the outside was a quadrangle. Seasonal fruit, vegetables, flowers; colours, smells and vendors vied for attention. Walking around a raised pyramid it was possible to see all that was on offer. Terrace upon terrace of cabbage, tomatoes, cauliflower, peas, cucumber, potatoes, kohlrabi, onions, spinach, beans, okra, chillies, carrots, mangoes, leechees, bananas, gooseberries, coconuts, custard apple, papaya, guava, marigolds, frangipani and roses. In winter apples and pears, an expensive treat, were imported from the Kulu Valley in Kashmir on the other side of the country. © Sakra Sahib Enquiries: 02 9449 2462 A5, 152 pages, illustrated, perfect bound, Printed by SCU Digital Printing Services, Lismore Paul Pratt Helping Your Child Solve the Reading Writing Puzzle A plain English guide for parents describing how children acquire reading and writing skills, detailing how they can support and tutor them in these endeavours, together with specific suggestions for helping failing students. … when children first encounter books, the writing that they see must appear to be just a set of meaningless squiggles, just as meaningless to them as a book in Japanese or Arabic is to those of us who have no knowledge of those languages. But these squiggles contain many clues that you can use to solve the puzzle. Well before formal instruction begins, children have learnt a good deal about these squiggles from exposure to reading and writing in their homes. From these experiences, many will learn to recognise and write individual letters and even words. In this way, some of the squiggles become demystified. As their knowledge about print grows, they will learn that they can use the squiggles they know to help them work out the squiggles they don’t know, so it is truly a puzzle. When they are able to unravel all the clues in a given puzzle (i.e. a story) they will be able read it and so comprehend the message. They have solved that particular puzzle. Further, when they engage in writing, they are constructing a puzzle for someone else to solve. © PAUL PRATT trained at Sydney Teachers College and taught Infants and Primary children in NSW public schools from 1956 to 1996. In 1978 he studied full-time at Newcastle University gaining a diploma in Special Education. In 1981-1982 he studied part-time at Southern Cross University gaining a Graduate Diploma in Educational Studies (Remedial Teaching). From 1980 to 1996 Paul was a Special Education Teacher. Much of time was spent tutoring remedial readers. Helping Your Child Solve the Reading Writing Puzzle Enquiries: 02 6686 3860 A5, 72 pages, perfect bound, Printed by SCU Digital Printing Services, Lismore ISBN 0-9757588-2-9 Jim Migdoll Meher Baba and me In the early 1960s an adolescent male was watching TV in the middle of the day. What Jim Migdoll saw rocked him to his foundations. A man in a classroom setting was talking about the ‘Silent Messiah’, Meher Baba. Thus began one soul’s incredible journey. Meher Baba and me presents a refreshingly different perspective on the lover/Beloved ‘play’. By turns poignant, irreverent, earthy and zany; the book clearly conveys the joy and wonder … in having the God-man as one’s intimate Friend and confidant. (See Woolies: the great leveller and The mutant McDonald’s birds in Poets’ Corner) Meher Baba and me Enquiries: <www.meherbabaandme.com> A5, 172 pages, illustrated, perfect bound, Printed by SCU Digital Printing Services, Lismore ISBN 978-0-9775224-1-5
Brett J Stubbs Thematic History of the Richmond Valley LGA This book was prepared by Brett Stubbs as part of a community-based heritage study of the Richmond Valley Local Government Area, commissioned by the Richmond Valley Council, and supported by the NSW Heritage Office. Its original purpose was to aid the process of identifying items of heritage significance, and making recommendations for their future management and promotion. Beyond that, it contains much material of general interest, so it has been made available in new form for a wider audience. Thematic History of the Richmond Valley LGA Published by the Richmond Valley Council Enquiries: <tony.mcateer@richmondvalley.nsw.gov.au> A4, 134 pages, illustrated, perfect bound, Printed by SCU Digital Printing Services, Lismore ISBN 978-0-9803396-3-5
Brett J Stubbs The Gold Digger’s Arms Pubs of the Upper Clarence River district, New South Wales More than four decades ago, the architectural historian J. M. Freeland (1920-1983) declared the pub to be ‘one of the most socially significant, historically valuable, architecturally interesting, and colourful features of Australian society’. This study is underpinned by the same sentiment, although it has neither the ambitious nation-wide geographical scope nor the architectural focus of Freeland’s The Australian Pub. The pub—the licensed public house—is used here as a vehicle to explore the history of a small part of northern New South Wales. In a way, then, The Gold Digger’s Arms is a local history, but with a difference— that being its preoccupation with the ‘socially significant, historically valuable, architecturally interesting, and colourful’ pub. It is at once a history of the Upper Clarence River district of New South Wales, and the story of its pubs. Especially, it explains their comings and goings by reference to the wider history of the district, and to the intricacies of the state-wide liquor licensing system. The Gold Digger’s Arms Published by Tankard Books Enquiries: <www.tankardbooks.com.au> A4, 148 pages, illustrated, perfect bound, Printed by SCU Digital Printing Services, Lismore ISBN 978-0-9806209-0-0 MARGARET CHRISTINA Go Touty! In remembering some of the major events of our son, Warwick’s, life, my wife and I feel strongly that our only son enjoyed being a young Australian, who was dedicated to his family, mates and peers. With the help of Margaret, the author, I wanted to put the Swiss Saxetenbach Canyon tragedy into a form that explains what happened to Warwick before the disaster itself and the outcome and effect on our family for years after his death. Bruce Tout Extract from a survivor’s account of the accident in which Warwick Tout, along with twenty other young people, was killed on 27 July 1999. As we came into the canyon the water was light brown and rather cloudy. During the course of our trip it was still raining quite heavily and ‘thunderstorming’. When we reached the entry point, the guides told us that we had to be especially alert and concentrated because of the weather. I can still remember that they told us ‘the water is rising extremely quickly’. After our entry into the canyon the colour of the water was initially clear and a bit ‘milky’ then it turned darker and darker. Because we were in the creek bend, I also realised that the water level was getting higher and higher. Between the time of our entrance and the time that the ‘wave’ came down the Saxetenbach, about an hour had elapsed. I was in the second group where I was about the third from the front. Shortly before the wave came we had reached a point where we all had to jump. We all held each other’s hands because the water was so high. We turned round and saw the wave, as high as the gorge coming towards us. We only had two seconds to react. The guides told us to hold on to a rope, which we could only do for a short time as the power of the water was too strong and we could not hold on any more. The mass of water raced towards us with such force that we had no chance to hang onto the rope. We were swept away together and thrown against the boulders. Then everything happened very fast. I was thrown around in the masses of water, banged against the boulders. In between I felt the bodies of some of the other group members. In this way it continued some, perhaps hundreds of metres down the river. I kept on trying to get air and to grasp onto the rocks or plants somewhere along the bank. While this was happening, I lost both shoes through the force of the water. Somewhere, I was able to hold on to a rock and able to pull myself up onto it. I had to sit on a rock for about an hour before I was rescued by a helicopter from there. I learned shortly after that my friend was killed in this accident. © GoTouty! Enquiries: Bruce Tout 02 6944 1531 A5, 120 pages, illustrated, perfect bound Printed by SCU Digital Printing Services, Lismore ISBN 978-0-9804930-6-1 BOB TREVAN Lismore Memories If one looks back at Sydney newspapers around the early-1900s, it can be seen that the Far North Coast town of Lismore was receiving excellent reviews as it moved from a cedar-getting area to a dairying and commercial centre. This publicity may have prompted my father, RH Trevan, to move from an engineering job in Sydney to open Lismore’s second garage in 1910. As both he and the town progressed, he recorded all his moves but, sadly, all was lost in the town’s devastating 1945 flood. However, after his death in 1961, while researching the history of motoring in the Northern Rivers, I documented many stories of life in Lismore from the thirties to the sixties and some of the unforgettable personalities. In 2003, I was asked to speak about this at Lismore West Rotary Club and was inundated with requests for copies of the talk – hence, this book was published. It has been continually updated and is now in its tenth edition. I hope reading it brings back a lot of good memories of your times in our fabulous town of Lismore. Bob Trevan … when the younger people began to acquire motor vehicles, there came a whole new disciplinary force, with police officers such as Jerry O’Neill and Sgt Paul Askew, who patrolled the town block on their Harley-Davidson and sidecar outfit. Anyone found mucking up around Mrs Key’s or Crethar’s Milk Bar was dealt with by Jerry’s size 13 boot. As for the stunt of trying to get around the block in your car whilst the town clock struck twelve times at midnight, there was the notorious Maurie Stone (Stoney), ready and waiting for you on his black Triumph Thunderbird motorbike. … during the fifties and sixties there was still the sight of the last drovers – Charlie Langley and his offsider, ‘Happy’ Days, herding the occasional group of cattle up Woodlark Street and over the bridge to the North Lismore sale yards. … as for dark surroundings, I can still remember the sight after school of a man named ‘Hercules’ Walker, as he bagged coke for car gas producers in the charcoal dust-filled shed in Carrington Street. So much for today’s health and safety regulations, as he lived to a great age. … and then there is someone that every red-blooded boy in town will remember – Bert Cockerill, the chemist in Keen Street. He was probably best remembered for saving many a virile boy’s future with his array of expensive pills. … many locals would remember the times when East Lismore was on fire. You could always bet Harry Nielsen was doing a slow cruise around in his old FB Holden ute, throwing the occasional match out the window into the long grass. Come council rate-paying time, it is said that Harry would take the rate money, in a wheelbarrow, up Molesworth Street to the council chambers. Something I will always remember, was seeing Harry towing a line of pianos behind his battered old ute, up Conway Street to higher ground, in an effort to clear his Magellan Street piano store ahead of approaching flood waters. … someone who could probably outdo Harry Nielsen’s escapades would be our one-and-only local radio announcer, Dick McLaren. Everyone at the time had a story to tell about Dick – he was our local legend and probably unique as a radio announcer. How many times he was sacked from Radio 2LM and then re-employed because of his enormous following, one will never know. What station management didn’t realise was that Dick’s starting time of six o’clock in the morning overlapped with his previous night’s activities and often the night watchman would have to open the station and fill in until Dick arrived! Lismore Memories Enquiries: Bob Trevan 0416 214 902 A5, 32 pages, illustrated, saddle stitched Printed by the Xerox Shop, Lismore
Clare bell Farm Days … Kids’ Ways The true story of a farming family growing up on an isolated farm. The wheat and sheep property is six miles away from a small country town in central western NSW. The depression of the 1930s is biting. A crisis occurs and we follow their move to a different part of Australia. After we have plenty of firewood for the house stacked near the circular saw, we gather up the rubbish branches around the biggest stumps for Bonfire Night (Empire Day) for Queen Victoria. We work for months building bonfires. It’s such fun when Dad lights the fire. He drags a burning stick out for us to wave around and make pictures in the frosty air. If we are lucky there are Catherine Wheels, Tom Thumbs and a sky-rocket each. The boys throw little packets of Jumping Jacks behind the girls and they leap and giggle like anything. When we have sparklers, we write names in the air and everyone tries to guess whose name it is. Neighbours come and bring fireworks if they have any, and we all have fun watching the crackers go off. Last year there was a terrible to-do. Ambrose had saved all his rabbit skin money and bought heaps of fireworks. He had them in a cardboard box from the grocer’s shop. Somehow, with all the activity, sparks jumped into the crackers. Catherine Wheels began whizzing in the box causing Jumping Jacks to explode and all the rest banged off. Dad had to grab my brother to keep him from trying to save his cache of fireworks. ‘Better to let them go, son,’ he said. ‘You could lose an eye or get your hand blown off. Settle down.’ We’ll take good care nothing like that happens again. The day before Bonfire Night we move the stock to a far paddock and on the day, we lock our dogs and cats up in the shed so they don’t get frightened. After the crackers Dad scoops a hollow in the hot ashes and throws in a heap of potatoes, Murphys, he calls them. When they are cooked he takes them home in a bucket. We scrape the ashes off, smother them with butter and eat them. Yum. Delicious. The grownups play cards and talk. We kids play chasings and Blind Man’s Bluff in the moonlight. We all have supper of hot scones, cream and jam. Then we walk a mile or so along the road with our visitors to see them safe towards their farms. © Farm Days … Kids’ Ways Enquiries: <winsum@tadaust.com.au> A5, 124 pages, perfect bound, Printed by SCU Digital Printing Services, Lismore ISBN 978-0-9804930-7-8
Dan patch A Time to Live (From the Preface) I'm neither rich nor famous. I'm no good at sports—hopeless with a ball—can't catch, kick, hit or bowl one. Can't play violin or didgeridoo. Even the occasional boomerang I've thrown for fun hasn't come back. But, on the flip side, neither have I had to overcome any great physical disorder (Praise the Lord). If you wanted to list me among even the quiet achievers, there'd be a roaring protest from many more capable. So, how presumptive of me is it that I've gone to this expenditure of time and materials to write a book? Well, it happened that a few years ago I set about researching dear great-grandparents on both sides, hoping to discover more than the mere records would tell me. I wanted to feel how they lived; what motivated them; what lifted their spirits or broke their hearts. Sadly, not only they, but their children (and all but a handful of their children's children) are now dead. The cupboards were nearly bare. So, my dear grandchildren and great-grandchildren, this is for you. If, at some distant time, you want to find out about me and mine, this will save you the bother or tacking together hearsays, and doing fruitless research in dry gullies. For herein is a summary of what happened to me and some of the things I caused to happen. I may not have achieved much else in these seventy-plus years but becoming the total ME. But, in itself, that's been a lot of fun. And, it was done after a particularly hectic three-quarters of a century of changes in Australia's growth and history. What a privilege; what a time to live! … One night around the middle of June in the year 1925 my father, Donald Ellis Patch, and his wife, Elsie Elizabeth, joined in love somewhere in south-east Queensland; maybe in Rosewood where they lived at the time. Whether or not it was planned no one can say, but I know I’m happy about it, because the result was ... ME! There y’ go. Just think of that for a moment. If that incredible long shot of one in a hundred million hadn’t succeeded, there would be someone else here writing this. Or, quite probably, no one at all writing it, and therefore robbing everyone else of an opportunity of finding out what he or she had been up to over the years. Dad was working at the time as a chauffeur for the Cribb family—the largest shoe manufacturer in Australia. It is purely coincidence, I guess, but the year of my conception was the same one in which the working week in Queensland was reduced from forty-eight to forty-four hours. (The population of Australia increased by 124,000 the following year.) The infant that I had become was due for delivery in March. But something had gone wrong in dear Mum’s transport system. So, rather than being dispatched via canal like nearly everybody else, I was sort-of airlifted out courtesy of caesarean section by the great Doctor Huxtable, obstetrician at the Sandown Hospital in Southport. The date was 15 March 1926. I’ve never been allowed to forget that my birthday fell on the Ides of March … not that that had much meaning. I didn’t know until I was well into adulthood that it was something to do with the Roman calendar, rather than a rare skin rash. ‘Little Caesar’ the hospital staff called me and without consent paraded me through the wards. A five-pound two-ounce shrivelled up little pigmy who nearly cost his mother her life. It took me probably all of thirty years before I realised how indebted I was to her for her suffering. (What kid ever does?) I don’t recall that I ever said thanks even then. I would now, but she has already lain in her grave these eight and twenty years. I’ve never been quite sure why the hospital staff fussed over me like they did. From all reports I wasn’t much to see but a lot to hear. Noisy little red-faced prune that I was, with bowel trouble, farting a lot; constantly cacking my nappy; couldn’t digest milk; hated getting bathed; and was cranky when awakened; even worse, when I badly wanted to go to sleep, bawled the house down, when things didn’t suit. Mind you, there are people of my close acquaintance, especially those who have cohabited with me over the years, who will tell you that things haven’t changed much! A Time to Live A4, 254 pages, illustrated, perfect bound Enquiries: <atholpatch@bigpond.com> Printed by SCU Digital Printing Services, Lismore ISBN 978-0-9804930-8-5
NORTH LISMORE REUNION COMMITTEE Northies Memories This book of Northies Memories is a wonderful record of life in North Lismore, during the early days and up to the present time. Some of the memories are from writers in their eighties and nineties! The stories confirm that ‘Northies’ have always been exceptional characters. … Lismore had its first known flood in 1945 and, being situated on the river bank, we found our home with seven inches of water inside. Dad immediately made arrangements to have the house raised eight feet off the ground, the plus being all the extra space gained underneath but the downside were the stairs to climb thereafter. By the time the 1954 flood came, houses in the street had been raised but that left twenty homes under water almost to their ceilings. The water rose very quickly at night and I can remember, at the age of sixteen, receiving an SOS from the family across the road for help to raise their furniture Dad was away shifting the two trucks and car to higher ground, so I offered to help. The heavy lifting and stress, racing against the rising water, set me back physically and mentally for days afterwards and still remains a memory I would prefer to forget. On that occasion we had over sixty men, women and children seeking shelter in our home for three days and nights, sleeping all over the floor. The chooks were housed on the side verandah!! The electricity, gas and water were all cut and our fuel stove and water tank were lifesavers. Most brought provisions of some kind with them and Mum made many batches of scones. The upside was the amazing comradeship that came from adversity, all helping one another and getting to know each other on a deeper level. The men filled in their time playing cards, which was the beginning of many years thereafter alternating between homes on a weekly basis. The men played euchre and the wives also attended for fellowship with delicious cooking for supper. It brought the street to a new level of loving and caring for one another. I might add every house in the street has now been raised to above known flood levels. © Northies Memories A5, 128 pages, illustrated, perfect bound Printed by SCU Digital Printing Services, Lismore ISBN 978-0-9775224-3-9
MORRIS JONES The Adventure of Mars Mars is another planet, a long way from Earth. It has strange weather and odd features on its surface. Nobody has ever gone there. You could not live on Mars without special equipment. But machines have been sent to explore the planet. They have sent back pictures and information. What they found is amazing! Scientists wonder if there is life on Mars. They hope to find it in the future. Come and explore this world! The Adventure of Mars Published by Space Frontier Science Press Enquiries: <www.booktopia.com.au> Custom, 128 pages, illustrated, perfect bound, printed in China ISBN 978-0-9804284-0-7 When Men Walked on the Moon This is the story of the farthest journey ever taken by anyone. It is the tale of how humans flew all the way to the Moon. Nobody has ever gone any further away from their homes. By the middle of the twentieth century, humans had explored every part of the planet Earth. But there was a whole universe outside our home planet. The Moon is another world. It hangs suspended in the night sky. People dreamed of going there for centuries. But it was difficult to get there. You couldn’t sail there in a ship, walk there or fly there in an aircraft. But a huge rocket could launch a spacecraft there. In the twentieth century, scientists developed the technology to fly to the Moon. In 1969, humans finally walked on a world beyond Earth. But it wasn’t easy to go to the Moon. It cost billions of dollars, and took thousands of people to work on it. Some astronauts died. Others were lucky to survive their missions. When Men Walked on the Moon is the story of the Apollo program. Join the adventure! Some day, in the future, you could go to the Moon yourself. When Men Walked on the Moon Published by Space Frontier Science Press Enquiries: <www.booktopia.com.au> Custom, 128 pages, illustrated, perfect bound, printed in China ISBN 978-0-9804282-1-4 Dr Morris Jones is an internationally known writer and spaceflight analyst. He has been published in various media sources and academic journals. He lives in Sydney, Australia. Jennifer Hoff Bundjalung Jugun For white Australia’s bicentenary in 1988 the Aboriginal people took the defiant slogan: We have survived. No nation proves this better than the Bundjalung. Caught between the penal settlements of Port Macquarie and Moreton Bay, invaded by loggers, farmers, developers and tourists, their culture endures and even flourishes. This book tells their inspiring story the how and why of survival. Mungo MacCallum, author and journalist Jennifer HOFF BEd, MA, PhD, was born in Toowoomba and raised in Waka Waka country in the South Burnett region. She trained as an art teacher in Brisbane, taught in secondary schools, and in 1968 went to western Canada to study Indigenous art and archaeology at the University of Calgary. In 1973, she returned Sydney to begin a Master of Arts in Fine Arts at University of Sydney and became the first Fine Arts post-graduate with a major study of Aboriginal art. While working as a lecturer in Visual Arts and Education at the Gippsland CAE in 1980, Jennifer taught the first intake of mature age Aboriginal trainee teachers who researched koori history of the Gippsland region. In 1989 and 1990, Jennifer worked with Tiwi carvers to complete a major commission of Tiwi grave posts for the National Museum of Australia. Twelve grave posts from that project are now part of the National Museum collections. Her thesis for the Australian National University traced the history of grave post carving on Melville and Bathurst Islands. Jennifer has worked as a lecturer in Indigenous Art at the National Gallery of Australia; Manager of Public Programs, National Museum of Australia; Head of Public Programs at the South Australian Museum and Senior Research Officer with the South Australian Department of Art and Cultural Heritage. As well as working in communities in Central Australia and the Northern Territory on art-related projects, she has researched collections in all major museums in Australia and several overseas museums. After retiring to the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales and becoming known in the goori community, Jennifer coordinated and worked on several programs including the Centenary of Federation Bundjalung Yanha project at the Lismore Regional Museum and Bundjalung heritage displays, Gudhum Wadjelah Aboriginal Association Bush Learning camps and recording and documenting oral histories and stories by language-speaking Bundjalung Elders, particularly women. She acts as a consultant to Aboriginal associations and community groups and assists with grant applications and project management for regional Indigenous and Reconciliation projects. Bundjalung Jugun Published by the Richmond River Historical Society Enquiries: <info@richhistory.com.au> A4, 300 pages, illustrated, perfect bound, Printed by SCU Digital Printing Services, Lismore ISBN 978-1-8754742-4-0 Georgette Everingham The Nurses of the LBH The first hospital was established at Lismore, New South Wales in 1883, and this book covers the history of the Lismore Base Hospital, the nursing staff and their experiences, from 1911 until 1987, when Registered General Nursing became a university course. … some of the nurses when studying for their finals would become very ‘nervy’, the present day term is ‘stressed out’ I think. Well, they were wonderful to play jokes on. As it was wartime not a speck of light was able to show out of the big wooden shutters enclosing the hospital – except for our lanterns and torches – everything was rather eerie. One night we dressed the training skeleton up in pyjamas, put it to bed, and then got Sister to tell our ‘stressed out’ nurse there was a new admission in the bed. The poor thing freaked out when she tried to roll the new patient over. The Isolation Ward was joined to the hospital by a lovely ramp. My friend and I would (when we had time) borrow the wheelchairs and have races down the ramp. It was better than any modern board riding! You know the old saying: ‘Forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest’. © Doris Creighton [Yabsley] The Nurses of the LBH Enquiries: 02 6688 6265 A4, 244 pages, illustrated, perfect bound, Printed by SCU Digital Printing Services, Lismore ISBN 0-9757588-1-0 The Channon Public Hall Centenary The Channon Hall celebrated its centenary in November 2007. Before the building of the hall, social functions were held in private homes but, with the growth of the village, a community hall became a necessity. The first hall, at the intersection of Terania Creek and Tuntable Creek, was opened on Monday, 11 November 1907, following the opening of the new bridge over Rocky Creek. Once the hall was opened, it became the central focus for the social life of the district. Balls, socials, farewells, school concerts and skating were all held there. Unfortunately, this hall was destroyed by fire in 1911. However, a new hall was built and opened in 1912, on the same day as the opening the The Channon Bridge. The hall was moved in the mid-twenties to its present site, and over the years many activities and community celebrations have been held there. The hall has been, and still is, an integral part of The Channon village life. The Channon Public Hall Centenary Enquiries: 02 6688 6265 A4, 94 pages, illustrated, perfect bound, Printed by SCU Digital Printing Services, Lismore ISBN 978-0-9803396-7-3
JAN GRACIE MULCAHY Other Than English This is a great family story told with imagination, style and good humour. It is highly readable, interesting and brings to life the characters of the men and women who people it. The Loten and Mudford families come alive on the page partly because they were a complex as well as colourful group of individuals. In part, the story is gripping, at other times painfully sad and at all time full of the fascinating tales this family always seemed to find themselves part of. Dr Noeline Kyle The genre of this book is part family history, part memoir and part imaginative recreation. The author enlivens the characters and shares with the reader her warts and all insights into the family sagas as they unfold over time. It focuses on where the families came from, outlining their social and cultural background to give the reader a sense of place. We discover 18th century Leigh-on-Sea, where the Lotens were customs officers chasing smugglers. We read of the deadly canals in Batavia, the conflicts of Dutch rule in Colombo and meet Mary Loten who lived her ill-fated life in The Rocks area of Sydney in the 1870s. We find ancestors who were famous and wealthy, others who were adventurers on the goldfields and we admire the salt of the earth Mudfords from Somerset who settled in the Manning River district of New South Wales. The title of the book, Other Than English, comes from a letter written in 1780 by one of the central characters in the book, the famous naturalist, Governor of Ceylon, Joan (John) Gideon Loten. The Dutch Governor (1710–1789) was interested in genealogy and has left us an impressive paper trail: I am acquainted with one John Loten, a sea captain of a privateer and his Uncle Robert who live near the Thames in Essex and the Uncle’s brother the late cotton printer from Surrey I met in 1759. The mother signs her name Sarah Loten but these people do not know they are of a descent other than English. The Dutch Lotens can trace their origins to Flanders in 1461. The English Lotens can name ancestors as far back as 1711 but there the trail goes cold and the direct link between Governor Loten and the Lotens from Leigh has not been found yet … With so much research material available and so many keen history enthusiasts helping out, this book had to be written to clear the family fog. Along the way, hopefully the reader will be engaged by the journey. Although well researched and peppered with source material, the book reads like an emotive novel. You will feel sadness, you will laugh and you will be inspired by people who survived in spite of natural disasters and human tragedy. Their success is no secret; they adhered to a supportive set of principles for family survival and connection to their community. They were proud of being Australian and many of the second generation became the first Anzacs on the New South Wales north coast. Several young men returned home, recovered from battle and went back into active duty again to win medals for bravery. Some gave their lives for their country. It makes spine-tingling reading. © Other Than English (Launched at the 2006 Byron Bay Writers Festival) Enquiries: <janmulcahy@bigpond.com> 15 Elouera Terrace, Bray Park NSW 2484 A5, 228 pages, illustrated, perfect bound, Printed by SCU Digital Printing Services, Lismore ISBN 978-0-9775224-7-7
JOHN J CUMMINS The Ringing Years It is probably inevitable that in mainstream history-writing, significant developments, persons and events will often fall through the cracks. They will be recorded inadequately or not recorded at all. Such may be said of church bells and those who have rung them in Australia down through the years. In his book, The Ringing Years – A History of Sydney’s Catholic Towers, John Cummins has come magnificently to their rescue, assuring them of the lasting recognition that they deserve. As the title demonstrates, his main focus is on Sydney, but this leads him to tell us much about Melbourne, too, and he devotes substantial appendices to the cathedral bells of Adelaide, Lismore and Parramatta. John has provided us with an invaluable resource, and no future serious historian of the church in Australia, much less of St Mary’s Cathedral, will fail to consult The Ringing Years. Cardinal Edward Clancy The Ringing Years A4, 326 pages, illustrated, perfect bound Printed by SCU Digital Printing Services, Lismore ISBN 0-9757588-5-3
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