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West Australian Gold Rush
Gold, gold, gold — who else is a Terry Pratchett fan and recognises the famous Discworld Dwarf song? Gold, gold, gold. As Terry says, dwarves don’t love gold, they just say they do to get it into bed. Hmm. Sometimes I’m easily distracted. This is meant to be a history — not a fantasy novel…
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Secession — Western Australia
Does Western Australia belong in Australia? We almost didn’t join the federation of Australian colonies way back when. There was talk of going it alone. But we were bribed (east coasters wanted our gold!). They promised us a transcontinental railway, and we fell for it. Well, no, it’s a bit more complicated than that. The…
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Kings Park
Kings Park is a nature reserve and botanic garden nestled in the heart of Western Australia’s capital city, Perth. It’s on a hill. The story goes that Governor Stirling, who was in charge of the British settlement here, sited Perth behind the bulk of Mount Eliza (named for his wife) so it would be safe…
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Writing Update
I’m a happy little steampunker. I’ve started my second novella set in the Swan River Colony. The story is evolving as I write, but the backbone is strong. So happy. Love it when the words roll. Panorama of the Swan River Colony, 1831 Jane Eliza Currie
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Life on Canning River
I really wanted to post an old 1890s photo of life on the Swan River here (well, on the Canning River, but it’s a contributory to the Swan), but the Australian National University is claiming they have all rights to it and I don’t want to harass them for permission to reproduce the photo on…