A Book Launch of some note !
A Sunday afternoon to look forward to.
The authors of Reflections on New Farm have been busy with another project of historic proportions. In fact, they’re hoping for a favourable verdict on 28 February when former High Court Justice and author Ian Callinan AC QC hands down his judgement on their latest production, a novel that they’ve edited entitled Tom Hurstbourne.
In Melbourne on research in 2006, what should Gerard Benjamin and Gloria Grant find but a notebook of almost 600 pages of very faded copperplate script. They quickly realised that it was a remarkable addition to Queensland literature. Set in Central Queensland, it was a novel which had lain unrecognised for more than 140 years.
The manuscript’s title page, dated 30 January 1865, read, “Tom Hurstbourne or A Squatter’s Life”. The author just happened to be Gerard’s great-great-grandfather! Destiny had landed John Clavering Wood (1837-1910), a well-educated 27-year-old Shropshire lad, amidst the adventure and danger of pioneering new pastoral territories in Central Queensland.
The motley characters, accents, stories and the amazing vistas and events that he witnessed were clearly too valuable to go unrecorded by the young man’s nascent story-teller within. Rather than pen a factual report, he projected his own squirocratic ambitions onto his fictional protagonist Tom Hurstbourne, a character whose debt-laden Shropshire estate urgently needed rescuing by the kind of cash injection that a Queensland sheep station could well deliver.
What would a good story be without a dastardly lawyer employing an ex-convict and a bushranger-on-the-run to defraud the hero? Introduce an age-old vendetta against the Hurstbourne dynasty, a dogged Sydney detective, the hero’s doomed romantic hopes for Miss Fanny Lacy, and ultimately murder – and you have one of the earliest novels penned in the state of Queensland.
It took much painstaking work to transcribe the text. “I studied the author’s handwriting hour after hour with the magnifying glass, and eventually got ‘into the groove’ of his script,” explained Gloria.
The result is a handsome volume of 336 pages. Story-lovers will enjoy the author’s intriguing and entertaining tale, while history-lovers will relish this fresh insight into Queensland life in the early 1860s. For the scholars, there’s a detailed introduction, two forewords, maps, photographs, endnotes and an index.
Emeritus Professor Elizabeth Webby of the University of Sydney considers it “a very valuable new addition to Australian literature.”
Tom Hurstbourne will be launched at 12.30pm on Sunday 28 February 2010 at the Mercy Heritage Centre, All Hallows’ School, as part of an afternoon of activities organised by the Brisbane History Group.
For more information about the launch, contact the BHG via email: bhg@brisbanehistory.asn.au or phone 3351 6371, or visit their website: www.brisbanehistory.asn.au/next_event.html. RSVP to the launch is essential. Looking forward to seeing you there!
Tom Hursbourne is locally available at Mary Ryan’s in Merthyr Village, as well as New Farm Editions. The hardback edition may be ordered from: www.boolarongpress.com.au. Interesting sidelights to Tom Hursbourne may be found on the editors’ blogsite: www.ggbooks.wordpress.com.
New Farm Park History
Convenor and Editor - Ross Garnett
Welcome to another year with the New Farm and Districts Historical Society. www.newfarmhistorical.org.au
This Society is dedicated to collecting, recording and archiving the landmarks, events, people and places of New Farm, of which there are so very many. This part of Brisbane is simply different. It inspires, it attracts attention and deserves to be shared.
We continue to be pleased with the current momentum of the Society. Monthly Meetings continue to attract big crowds, due mainly to a selection of truly talented, skilled and interesting Guest Speakers. In recent times, we've hosted Tony Dempsey, the owner of the NF gem, "Amity House' and the December Meeting just past, has continued the vein. The Meeting was typically well supported by our largest crowd "since records were kept". The afternoon tea part of the day continues to please us all. More and more Society members and their guests are spending an inceased amount of time mingling, relaxing and enjoying the day.
Our adjacent Report (part), of the December Meeting, together with some fine pics. sums up the afternoon.
The day also featured a spectacular address by
My recollections of the snippets included: the narcissus-like approach adopted by the General, when it came to his Army Cap. Seemingly whilst in Brisbane, it got a little wet and without proper remedial treatment, it shrank a little. Horror, horror ! Replacements were made and flown in, his vanity caused ongoing consternation within the ranks.
Some enjoyable Lennons Hotel moments also came to light.
An old picture of the AMP Building was shown and was followed by some most interesting commentary. The entire Building was seconded by the Americans, with the operations of the Insurance giant confined to the Ground Floor.
The Society finished 2008 on a high note with the publication of “Reflections on New Farm”, the biggest selling book Mary Ryan Bookshop, in the New Farm Village has ever stocked. 2009 appears to following the trend with high expectations coming from our current release, "Tides of Teneriffe".
As you know, two thousand copies of "Reflections" were printed – yes 2000 ! This was real venture in faith by the Committee, a decision that has more than vindicated by the remarkable sales to date. After less than 3 months, around 1500 books have been sold. We thank those who continue to support the Society by “gossiping the good news” about the Book and those who sell them on our behalf. In particular, we are grateful to Chris Purdy and the staff at Mary Ryan in New Farm, for their enthusiastic recommendation of the book to their customers. We have adopted the same marketing thrusts with our new release.
As a small group of volunteers, we could never have tapped into the markets the book has now reached. We still have Bookmarks and Order Forms that you could use to spread the news about the bookAs a small group of volunteers, we could never have tapped into the markets the book has now reached. We still have Bookmarks and Order Forms that you could use to spread the news about the book.
We are also grateful for the support, at no charge to us, from local media outlets “Village News” and “The Independent” as well as radio stations.
The Society, www.newfarmhistorical.org.au has many of its Newsletter items featured elsewhere on this Site, including the April 2009 issue.
This Society is well placed to oversee:
- Monthly forums and speakers on a range of topics.
- A Monthly Newsletter.
- Historic walking Tours as needed.
- Providing volunteer staff each week to our New Farm Office to answer questions from the Community.
- Fundraising for other local community groups
