My hope is that 100 friends will join me at ULURU on a WALK IN THE SPIRIT and each set a goal of funds they will raise personally for Dorcas ACTS.
I hope that another 1000 friends, scattered all over Australia, will do a ‘symbolic’ ULURU WALK IN THE SPIRIT of eleven kilometres in a rural setting somewhere near where they live and invite friends to walk with them, setting a target of funds they will raise for Dorcas ACTS.
I have chosen ULURU as it is in my view the spiritual heart of Australia set in the centre of our continent as the cornerstone of the land on which we live and move and have our being. My hope is that my walk will be a spiritual experience for us all, something similar to the Camino Walk in Spain.
About six weeks from now, DORCAS ACTS will open a special website on which you can sign up to participate and choose the type of accommodation we can reserve for you as well as record your attendance at a DINNER with an Uluru Elder the night before the Walk to learn about the place of ULURU in the Dreamtime, as well as your presence at a BRUNCH at the conclusion of the Walk to share our experiences and hear messages from fellow walkers all over Australia.
For now, just send me a message containing your email address and saying you are interested in taking part. You will then receive an email from Dorcas ACTS when bookings open. You can send the message right now on my website, everaldcompton.com, or by direct message on Twitter or Facebook. If you have my phone number, just send me a text.
I look forward to sharing a special experience with you on 5 OCTOBER 2026 as we WALK IN THE SPIRIT and raise funds for Dorcas ACTS so it can continue, as it has done for 15 years, to send cash grants direct to people in crisis situations.
Currently, my friend Grantlee Kieza is Australia’s best selling history author, a honour that he richly deserves.
Over the past decade he has published a dozen books about the history of Australia that some of you will have read. Absolute gems like Sister Viv, Flinders, Hudson Fysh, Banjo, The Remarkable Mrs Reibey, Lawson, Monash, Banks, Macquarie etc. If you have not read them, I recommend you do so right now as you will enjoy them immensely.
Some years back when Grantlee was a popular journalist at Brisbane’s Courier Mail he wrote some feature articles about my life and work. We struck up a close friendship from which I have hugely benefitted as Grantlee is my mentor who helps me immensely to improve my personal skills as an amateur author.
He especially helped me to write my last three books,
A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET, CATCHING THE LINVILLE TRAIN and WALKING WITH THE MAN BUT NOT TO CHURCH.
This week we met again for one of our regular lunches where he gave me a signed copy of his most recent book about legendary Australian swimmer of a century ago ANNETTE KELLERMAN who swam the English Channel a century ago wearing ‘shocking’ swim gear that enabled women thereafter to swim publicly in ‘revealing bathers’.
We chatted happily for a couple of hours about the books we are currently writing and we are helping one another with research.
Grantlee’s latest will be about MRS PENFOLD, founder of the wine empire.
Mine will be a novel, WALK IN THE SPIRIT, coauthored with Neil Florence. Neil and I are long standing mates who are both 93 years old and we have been advised by our publisher that never before in history have two 93 year old authors written a book together.
The truth is that Grantlee and I love the relaxing pastime of writing books.
I have another three planned in the years between now and my century. Grantlee will easily double that number.
With significant help from three eminent Australians, Paul de Jersey, David Muir and Anthony Lynham, I have drafted a Preamble I believe our Founding Fathers should have adopted as the opening statement of the Australian Constitution in 1901.
I have lodged a petition to Parliament requesting that a Referendum be held on the same day as the 2028 Federal Election so that future Parliaments, with positive backing of voters, are required to uphold the values we regard as the ground of our being as Australians.
Here are the words I propose and for which I seek your support in signing the petition.
‘We, the people of Australia,
*Proudly acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as original occupants and custodians of our continent and islands who cared for our land, water, flora, and fauna for many thousands of years.
*Recognise that our nation is enriched by people from many ancestries who have chosen to make Australia their home.
*Affirm our commitment to democratic, representative, and secular government of our sovereign nation founded on rule of law, equality before the law, and government by the people.
*Believe in justice through independent courts and equality of social, economic, and political opportunity for all in a manner that minimises inequality.
*Seek visionary reform of our colonial heritage and reject racism, sexism, class distinction, poverty, all forms of violence, and domination by wealth, ideology, religion.
*Affirm the right of every citizen to a vote of equal value and basic benefits of home, food, education, employment, medical care, and social interaction.
*Uphold family life as a cornerstone asset of society.
*Aspire to a cohesive society that rejects greed and is based on honesty, decency, sharing, and goodwill.
*Acknowledge that our freedom of speech and religion is based on our acceptance of responsibility as citizens.
*Seek peace with all nations and our maintenance of global order in matters relating to peace, trade, health and environment.
*Strive to ensure through our collective efforts that Australia is a role model of an enlightened and just society.
With hope and determination, we commit ourselves to this Constitution.’
I welcome your recommendations for improvements.
In my book, DINNER WITH THE FOUNDING FATHERS, I describe the huge effort made by Alfred Deakin at the Federation Conventions of the 1890’s to have a Preamble inserted in the Constitution that would set out the values on which our new nation would be founded. Churches opposed any debate on it as they claimed they were were responsible for the morals and values of our nation, a task for which they have significantly failed.
On the day I celebrated my 80th birthday I decided to become an author who would write best sellers. I had written a few books about fund raising in my earlier life, as well as a biography for my family, but no serious novels that could find a place on shelves of book shops.
So, I decided it was time to get serious and made plans to write and publish 5 books before I reached 90. I failed to achieve this goal as I only published the fifth at age 93. Never mind, my plan is to write another 4 before I reach my century.
I made an instant decision that my first would be about my boyhood hero, John Flynn, known in my era as Flynn of the Inland, founder of the Flying Doctor Service. Took me a while to work out where to start as I knew that, if the opening pages don’t grip readers, they toss the book away. So, I decided to open with an account of the day when the Presbyterian Church sacked Flynn for being too visionary and not fundamentalist. So it was that THE MAN ON THE TWENTY DOLLAR NOTES was born and it sold well. People love to read about nation builders.
My second was DINNER WITH THE FOUNDING FATHERS. I wrote it as an historical novel based on the lives of great leaders who founded Australia on 1 January 1901 (not 26 Jan). The key leaders were Barton, Deacon, Griffith and others. I based it around a fictional dinner where they review all the battles they fought over the 13 years it took to achieve a Federation of Australian States. I kept rigidly to the historical facts and created dialogue based on the known character of each of the heroes. Good authors don’t create history.
Then came A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET. This is pure fiction, not history. I found fiction to be much harder to write as it requires a lot of imagination. The story is about a famous Anglican Priest who gets a terminal illness and decides to depart via voluntary assisted dying. Huge controversy erupts but he decides to make his last three months the finest of his life. Sells mainly to people and families who face end of life challenges.
Number 4 was CATCHING THE LINVILLE TRAIN. A political history of nine decades of my life. Lots of chapters about world events that impacted on me, people I worked with and wonderful places I visited. All happened from age 6 when I took my first journey out from the small village of Linville where my life had begun. It was a train to Toogoolawah. Gradually, trains took me on many journeys. Again, I do not distort historical facts, but I hugely enjoyed researching it all on google. Did not have to visit a library. Fact is you can only become an author if you enjoy the long search for excellence. Once it becomes hard work, give it up.
The last, so far, is WALKING WITH THE MAN, BUT NOT TO CHURCH. I have written it in secular language for the 90% of us who don’t go to Church and never will. It simply creates a modern example of the original disciples who went out to the world to ask people to follow a great man, their friend Jesus. The Bible did not exist for another 400 years. They did not tell anyone that they must be saved from their sins. They just talked about the Man and I follow their example today. My challenge was to quietly evaluate all the dogmas and fears that Churches tried to embed in my soul for 9 decades and present a compelling case on how we can create a new world by WALKING WITH THE MAN. I chose my words carefully and redrafted them 15 times so as to get it right. If you want to be an author, your calling is to enjoy the long haul and write for your audience, not your own ego.
Now I am writing book number 6. Its a novel based on ‘Walking with the Man’ that will happily take my initial message to a more powerful and inspirational level. While doing this I am learning to become a ‘page turner’. Our readers must keep wanting to turn the next page before going to sleep.
So, how do you start? My strategy is simple. I grab my computer, sit in a comfortable lounge chair, pour myself a whisky of top quality that will expand my mind, and start typing the first 1000 words. I stop to read it and do considerable redrafting as I never get any page right the first time. Then I gradually expand it 5000 words at a time, redrafting all the way and being aware that publishers don’t like books of less than 60000 words.
Now, may I invite you to read all of my 5 books. As you read them, take notes of how you feel I could have written them better. This will help you to plan a personal strategy for your book number one.
Click on Shop, then click on 5 book special which you can buy for 100 dollars, including postage. (If you buy them individually it costs you 70 dollars more as 5 lots of postage are involved and there is no book discount)
I will sign and post them to you as well as sending you my contact details so you can call me to have a yarn about how you are going in writing your first book.
Cheers
Everald
PS. Below is a page from my website. The photo is me on the day I received the Order of Australia for a second time.
I am delighted to invite you to go to my website – everaldcompton.com – to buy my two finest books via a special offer.
Total price is 50 dollars, postage free, (normal price including postage is 70 dollars)
Both will be signed with a personal greeting to you.
CATCHING THE LINVILLE TRAIN is about my life journey after I left my boyhood home in Linville in the Brisbane River Valley. It became public in 1956 when at 25 I was appointed by the Presbyterian Church of Queensland to be Organising Secretary of the team that built St. Andrews War Memorial Hospital on Wickham Terrace in Brisbane and led me to organise similar community projects in 26 nations. There are 80 chapters about significant people and events and places that influenced all my endeavours.
WALKING WITH THE MAN, BUT NOT TO CHURCH describes my faith journey since my mother first took me to Church in Linville when I was just three weeks old and I have kept going for 93 years. It is a secular book written especially for the 90% of Australians who do not attend Church and never will. Its all about us becoming Working Partners of Jesus the Man and walking with him to create a more caring and creative society. There are 65 chapters about extraordinary people of faith who moulded my life.
I am not noted for humility but I venture the opinion that your 50 dollars investment in these two books will repay you in personal dividends as we expand our contribution to the enhancement of humanity.
Come to the Royal on the Park in Alice Street Brisbane on Friday, 22 November, for lunch with me (and lots of friends) at 12.30pm.
You will receive a signed copy of WALKING WITH THE MAN.
As well as enjoying a drink, an Everald Burger and coffee.
Plus some excellent speakers.
Rebecca Levingston will launch my book. I very happily share a radio chat with Rebecca on Radio 612 ABC Brisbane every Monday evening just after the 8.00pm News.
I will respond, as will my publisher, Jason Smith of Clark and Mackay.
David Muir, Chair of the Clem Jones Trust, will be our MC and Jan Schutt, Manager of the Royal on the Park, will launch the Everald Burger.
All for just 90 dollars.
This includes the satisfaction of knowing that the profit from the function goes to Dorcas ACTS, the community service arm of the Aspley Uniting Church, that I have been chairing for 15 years. We give direct cash grants to people in crisis situations.
To sign up for an enjoyable time, just call Events at Royal on the Park on 07 31121677 right now. Have your credit card ready.
Briefly, let me give you some headlines about Walking with the Man. I will tell you more at the launch.
It is written for the 90% of the population who do not go to Church and invites readers to.
*Adopt Jesus the Man to be your role model for life.
*Try to live by The Sermon on the Mount
*Walk with him as a Working Partner to help create a better world.
*Whenever you face a problem, ask yourself ‘how would The Man handle this issue?’.
*Invite 4 friends to join you for a meal several times a year to plan how you can work together to enhance the society in which you live.
*Be ready and willing to get personally involved in challenges as you work hard to create a world powered by compassion, justice and vision as you walk with The Man towards the light on the hill.
See you on 22/11.
Everald
(only 93, happily married to Helen for 66 years, and writing my next book)
Was browsing through a book shop a few days ago and found this one. It is so fascinating I read it within 48 hours. A real page turner.
Its about the close friendship of our former Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, and the founder of Hillsong Church, Brian Houston, that hugely embraced religion, politics, power and money, especially government grants and tax concessions.
They had a dream of making Australia a Kingdom of God that would be a beacon for the world to follow and they made a huge effort to bring it to reality. Then both crashed at the same time, bringing their dream to an end.
Their commitment was huge and cannot be doubted. Their strategy was fatally flawed.
Read it and make up your own mind about its validity and the relationship between religion and politics that now dominates our world.
Its author, David Hardaker, is highly regarded investigative journalist who spent 5 years of detailed research in writing it and he reveals all his sources. I did not find any nasty gossip in it and he does not call us to join any crusade against Morrison or Houston.
Enjoy the read and consider its impact on our lives.
In the minds of most Australians, not just the 10% who go to Church, what is the foremost reason we have for celebrating Easter?
It’s time to be honest with ourselves as a nation and acknowledge an order of priority instead of pretending to be religious.
Firstly, most of us welcome it as a great 4 day long weekend holiday to be enjoyed by as many as possible.
Then, we happily welcome the Easter Bunny who brings our Easter Eggs. Many regard the Bunny as the Easter equivalent of Santa Claus, while in ancient societies Rabbits and Eggs were a symbol of fertility.
Also, we hugely enjoy Hot Cross Buns, lots of them. These were first made in the 6th century by the Greeks as holy food to be eaten after concluding their traditional fast on Good Friday.
Last of all, a small number observe an important Christian tradition which is the original basic reason for our holiday weekend even though the last Australian Census revealed that only one in two Australians believes in God and only one in ten are active Church members..
We should also note that Australia is one of very few nations that observe Easter as a public holiday. While over 100 nations recognise Easter, few declare it to be a public holiday.
So why does Australia pretend to be Christian at Easter and Christmas?
Fact is we are observers of traditions for which most of us give little thought.
For me, it is a quiet endorsement of my long term decision to have Jesus the Man as my role model of life and an affirmation on my commitment to walk with him as we try to create a world of peace, justice, and equality of opportunity.
Enjoy reading my book about how Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin and other giants of Australian History created a nation of six States on New Years Day, 1901, the very first Australia Day.
It was an extraordinary achievement that was attained within 12 years from when Henry Parkes made his powerful Federation Speech at Tenterfield.
Now, the Constitution they wrote is out of date and Australians keep voting NO to any changes to it as they dont trust politicians to do the right thing.
So a movement of the people, not politicians, is coming together to write a totally new Constitution based on the significant challenges of a modern world of huge change that may soon be dominated by artificial intelligence.
Read DINNER WITH THE FOUNDING FATHERS over Easter, then offer to join a team of non politicians who want to write a CONSTITUTION OF THE PEOPLE and present it to Parliament as a Petition.
You can buy a signed copy for 35 dollars, including postage, from my website,
Please note the date on the photo below of Australia’s First Prime Minister, Edmund Barton. He was sworn in by Queen Victoria’s Representative, Lord Hopetoun, on 1 JANUARY 1901. This is the day Australia was founded. There was no nation of Australia before that date, just 6 independent colonies who did not trust one another and charged each other exorbitant tariffs for intercolonial trade.
THIS FACT OF HISTORY MAKES IT ABUNDANTLY CLEAR THAT THERE CAN BE NO VALID DISPUTE THAT AUSTRALIA DAY IS 1 JANUARY.
To observe it on any other day is an unjustifiable denial of history.
Why our Parliament in recent decades selected 26 January as Australia Day is a mistake beyond comprehension. To refuse to now change it will be a prime example of neglect of responsibility by parliamentarians with closed minds.
As matters now stand, we are discrediting our nation by honouring 26 January as it is a day in which an illegal invasion occurred, convicts were savagely brutalised and the genocide of aborigines began.
Fair dinkum Aussies simply do not applaud atrocities like that. It is simply not us.
The real tragedy is that there has never been any need for us to have observed 26 January in the first place.
Australia Day has always been I JANUARY.
Lets fix this appalling blunder so we can celebrate with boundless enthusiasm on 1 JANUARY, 2025.
ADVOCATED BY A PROUD AUSTRALIAN.
Everald Compton, who invites you to keep reading the historical notes below.
PS. Some will complain that we will lose a public holiday if we scrap 26 January. However, it will be quite simple to create a new public holiday to be observed in its place in the second half of the year. I sincerely hope it will be called ULURU DAY when we can discover, honour and celebrate 65000 years of extraordinary heritage.
PPS. A prime reason why we should celebrate what occurred on I January is that our nation was created on this day by Australians. 26 January was the work of plundering British colonists.
PPPS. By celebrating on New Year’s Day, we can give long overdue honour to EDMUND BARTON. He chaired the convention of delegates from 6 States that agreed upon our Constitution.
Those delegates presented him with 368 amendments to the draft Constitution that had been sent to them and which they wanted to be debated. In an absolutely masterly display of superb chairmanship over many days, Barton made sure that all 368 were debated and voted upon so the Convention was able to conclude with an approved Constitution that could be presented to the people of Australia to vote on at referendums.
Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin and others then travelled throughout Australia by horse, buggy, train and boat to sell and win the YES vote as there were no phones, planes, radio, television, or computers.
Then Barton led a delegation to London to sell Federation to Queen Victoria who had publicly opposed it as she wanted the Australian States to elect members to represent them in the House of Commons in London so we could become Counties of England. Barton respectfully declined to accept her proposal and said to her with courtesy.
‘Your Majesty, we have a choice. We can create the Nation of Australia in one of two ways. There is the way that the Australian people have just chosen or the way that George Washington and the Americans achieved their independence.’
Australia was born on New Years Day of the following year.
I cheer Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin with huge respect. They were giants who inspired a team of courageous leaders to create our nation. In Election 2025, may we elect many nation building giants like them who have their skill, wisdom, commitment, determination, honesty and decency.
The Constitution of Australia, having been approved in 1901 after successful Referendums in all 6 States, has now passed its use by date.
The massive distrust that voters have in the political establishment will not ever enable it to be changed piece by piece in referendums spread over many decades. We can only achieve the creation of a MODERN AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRACY via a totally new document that is eventually approved in one major action as happened in 1901 after a decade of public consultation.
Significantly, it will be achieved only if it is drafted entirely by the voters of Australia themselves, not politicians.
It will gain its initial acceptance from countless Town Hall Meetings that can held across Australia over a period of 5 years where voters are able to recommend improvements so that we all have a genuine sense of ownership of our new Constitution before we vote in a Referendum to approve it.
What should the New Constitution contain as its major elements, noting that it will a totally new document? It must not in any way be an upgrade of the old document.
My initial thoughts on the main features of it are here for you to debate and improve –
*We continue to be the Commonwealth of Australia.
*Royals are left out. Utterly and totally.
*The People of Australia are empowered to elect a one term Governor General as a totally independent Head of State in a nationwide ballot every 5 years. No past or present Members of Parliament or the Bureaucracy or the Armed Services can be eligible to hold this Office.
*The Governor General will be permanent Chair of a National Corruption Commission comprising 5 former Justices whom he or she will personally select and whose terms will end when the Governor General’s term ends. The Commission will appoint prosecutors to take its findings to Courts.
* There will be only One House of Parliament. It will simply be called the Parliament and it will have 200 elected Members. 100 will be elected as Members representing an Electoral District. 100 will be elected by percentage of the national vote gained by their political parties or by groups of Independents.
*Parliament will be elected for a fixed 4 year term with the Election date being stated in the Constitution. No Member can be elected for more than 5 terms. The legal status of political parties will be clearly stated in the Constitution with their election of candidates being conducted solely by the Electoral Commission.
*The elections every 4 years will be publicly funded. Receipt of political donations from any source will be an offence punishable by law.
*All candidates for election to Parliament must obtain an Accreditation Certificate before nominating to participate in an election. This will require them to complete one year of prescribed part time study of the Constitution, Parliament, Public Service, High Court and Australian History,
*A totally independent High Court of 7 persons will be established with all Justices appointed for one 10 year term by a majority vote of Parliament.
*There be not more than 25 Ministries, each supported by a Department staffed by independent Public Servants to implement legislation passed by Parliament. All Heads of Departments must have served as Public Servants for a minimum of 10 years. Each Minister will, by approval of a vote of Parliament, appoint an Assistant Minister as their primary adviser. Assistant Ministers will not be Members of Parliament or the Public Service. They will be people with proven professional skills and qualifications from the private sector.
*All 6 existing State Governments will cease to exist. They will be replaced by 50 new State Governments who will implement and manage community services on behalf of, but independent of, the National Government, and with greater scope than State Governments now have to implement local initiatives. Their prime aim will be to decentralise the nation and move population away from current capital cities.
*Each of the 50 State Governments will appoint an Administrator by a majority vote of their Parliament. The Governor General will formally approve the choice subject to the vote having been carried out in the correct manner.
*There will be no Local Governments as there is no need for Australia to have three levels of government. Their current work will be carried out by the 50 new State Governments.
There is much more that I could add, but this is a sufficient to start a popular debate.
No attempt should be made to ask Parliament to initiative this genuine community movement. It will be implemented by volunteers from all over Australia with no political parties or their financial members being involved. Initially, it will best be led by 10 eminent citizens who volunteer their services. Their costs can be covered by voluntary public donations so as to be independent of Parliament.
Parliament will be invited to act on the proposed new Constitution only when a major consensus has been achieved among voters for the Constitution and they are ready to own it and vote on it in a referendum..
Australia is a democracy.
We must put genuine democracy to work for the first time in the history of Australia.
My friend Noela Lowien who lives at Kilcoy in the Brisbane River Valley (not far from Linville) is a talented artist who paints splendid portraits. I retained her services to create the front cover of my book CATCHING THE LINVILLE TRAIN.
It now hangs in my home office so I decided to use it as I convey to you my season’s greetings as Noela has done a great job of making me look human.
May I also recommend to you for holiday reading 5 books I really enjoyed this year?
FLINDERS. Superb tale of life of Matthew Flinders by my good friend Grantlee Kieza. Flinders was first person to sail around our continent and name it AUSTRALIA.
KILLING THATCHER. Wonderfully researched book by Rory Carroll on the attempt by the Irish Republican Army to assassinate Margaret Thatcher at the Brighton Hotel when she was in her prime as British Prime Minister.
THE LIGHT WE CARRY. Hugely readable book by Michelle Obama on how we can connect meaningfully with others and build engaged communities.
DREAMERS AND SCHEMERS. Gripping political history of Australia by Frank Bongiorno. Hard to put down.
DID I EVER TELL YOU? Sam Neill’s story of his eminent career in films and his battle with cancer.
Enjoy Christmas and 2024.
May HOPE, LOVE and GENEROSITY reign supreme in your life.
We were able this year to celebrate 90 years of superb service to our nation by the ROYAL FLYING DOCTOR SERVICE solely because of the vision, commitment and determination of its magnificent pioneer, JOHN FLYNN, whom we know fondly as FLYNN OF THE INLAND.
I spent many delightful hours writing his life story and I strongly recommend you enjoy the same experience as you read it over your Christmas/New Year holiday.
Go to my website to place your order for a signed copy that I will get to you before Christmas (or as a gift that I send direct to a friend of yours for whom you give me the postal details).
It will cost you only 35 dollars, including postage.
While at my website, you will have the opportunity to expand your holiday reading pleasure by buying my other 3 good reads.
CATCHING THE LINVILLE TRAIN (history of my era)
A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET (happy final curtain call of life)
DINNER WITH THE FOUNDING FATHERS (story of the creation of Australia)
I look forward to doing business with you.
Everald
PS. In the photo below you will see that my book is resting on another one written by my valued friend GRANTLEE KIEZA. Its about the Woman on the Twenty Dollar Notes, MARY REIBEY. A wonderful read.
On the right hand side, you will see a great book about ENID LYONS, wife of Prime Minister, Joseph Lyons, who won a seat in Parliament in her own right after he died and became the first woman to serve in a Federal Cabinet. She was a good friend of mine.
Look a little further to the right and you will see WINDSORS WAY, the story of another good friend, Tony Windsor, the finest independent ever to serve in the Australian Parliament. I wrote the forward to his very readable book.
Discover why there were no FOUNDING MOTHERS, why ABORIGINES were ignored and why NEW ZEALAND walked out of FEDERATION negotiations.
Enjoy my depiction of the main characters, Henry Parkes, Edmund Barton, Alfred Deakin, Samuel Griffith, George Reid, John Forrest, Charles Kingston and others.
Then decide whether or not Australia needs a new Constitution 122 years later.
While you are in buying mode, feel free to also buy any or all of my other 3 books,
THE MAN ON THE TWENTY DOLLAR NOTES – Flynn of the Inland.
CATCHING THE LINVILLE TRAIN – history of my era.
A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET – inspirational life of man with terminal illness.
If you buy all 4, you pay only 100 dollars, including postage.
Let me know if you would like to buy them for a friend.
I will post them direct at no extra charge.
Cheers,
Everald
PS. In the photo below you will see also a great book on the life of the greatest of the Founding Fathers, Alfred Deakin. Written by a great historian Judith Brett, it is a wonderful read.
You will notice a box marked ‘ship to a different address’.
Click on it to enter your friends name and address so I can post the package of books direct to them. Saves you the cost of double handling.
Should you decide to be a bit conservative and not give all four, you can choose any 1, 2 or 3 of them and I will still do all that I promised above (at a lesser price).
Individually, each book costs 25 dollars plus 10 dollars postage and packaging.
Let me give you a brief comment on each one.
CATCHING THE LINVILLE TRAIN. It is my latest and is a history of the great events that influenced your life and mine over the 92 years of my era which began in the tiny village of Linville in the Queensland bushlands in 1931.
A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET. A compelling novel that about a man with a terminal illness who makes his final three months the finest of his life.
DINNER WITH THE FOUNDING FATHERS. An historical novel that tells the magnificent story of how Edmund Barton, Alfred Deakin, Samuel Griffith and their colleagues founded the new nation of Australia in 1901.
THE MAN ON THE TWENTY DOLLAR NOTES. Inspirational life story of John Flynn, Flynn of the Inland, Australia’s greatest nation builder. He created the Pedal Radio, Royal Flying Doctor Service and School of the Air.
Happy to supply more details if you wish.
Send me a direct message on Twitter or by Facebook Messenger and I will respond quickly.
DON’T DELAY.
My local Postmaster tells me that any packet of books that I post after 13 December may not get to its destination before Christmas.
Cheers.
EVERALD
PS. You can also buy my books online from any of Amazon, Booktopia, Dymocks, Fishpond etc or get them by e-books on Kindle. Only problem is I won’t be able to sign them.
Whenever I make a speech about my books, someone usually says to me,
‘I do wish I had the skill and courage to write a book. There are important things I want to say to the world before I depart’.
If you are one of those aspiring authors, I will be delighted to chat with you if you take a pleasant drive to my former hometown of LINVILLE in the Brisbane River Valley on SATURDAY, 18 NOVEMBER to meet me for an hour at 2.30pm at the LINVILLE COMMUNITY HALL.
My Forum is part of the annual LINVILLE HERITAGE AND ARTS FESTIVAL which begins on that day.
I will start by telling the story of how I went about writing CATCHING THE LINVILLE TRAIN and will then do my best to answer your questions about how you can plan to write and successfully publish your very own book.
Look forward to meeting you there.
Come early and say hello to me at the LINVILLE HOTEL. I will be enjoying one of their splendid lunches at 12.30pm.
‘I confirm that if the VOICE referendum is successful, a resolution will be passed in Parliament requiring every Member of the House of Representatives to hold at least one public meeting in their Electorate to review and comment on the proposed legislation to establish VOICE and convey the views of those meetings to Parliament before it votes on the matter.’
I am voting YES to VOICE.
More importantly, after the Referendum is successful, I intend to campaign aggressively and persistently to ensure that Voice does not ever have power to do anything other than advise our Parliament and is denied access to the Courts of Australia for any endeavour it may subsequently make to achieve an upgrade to its advisory role.
If Albo makes this commitment to Parliament, I am of the view that he will turn the tide of voters who are currently moving into the NO camp with steadily increasing numbers..
To be certain it does win, the YES campaign must stop declaring publicly that their opponents are racist, stupid and irresponsible. Right now, they alienate undecided voters every day.
The blunt truth is that YES is running the most amateur campaign of insults I have ever witnessed in my life of 9 decades, thereby lowering themselves to the same dark depths of fear and lies to which the NO campaign has woefully descended.
May I beg the current leaders of both the YES and NO campaigns to please resign, shut up and allow sensible people to debate the crucial issues of this vital Referendum which simply corrects an omission that occurred in 1901 when Australia became a nation and failed to acknowledge our indigenous heritage in our Constitution.
With a commitment to correcting a mistake of history.
Next time you have a twenty dollar note in your hands, take a close look at who is honoured on it.
You will note that Mary Reibey is on one side and John Flynn is on the other.
Flynn (about whom I wrote the book ‘The Man on the Twenty Dollar Notes’) is a legend as founder of the Flying Doctor and School of the Air. Mary Reibey is known by few, but richly deserves her honoured place in our national history as her achievements in our colonial era were quite extraordinary.
Eminent historical novelist, Grantlee Kieza, has written a well researched book to greatly upgrade her profile.
He is a valued friend of mine and we meet often for breakfast to chat about the books we are writing. Grantlee is far more productive than me, writing two, sometimes three, books every year, whereas I write one. He has written best selling books on such Australian legends as Hudson Fysh, Banjo Patterson, John Monash, Bert Hinkler, Henry Lawson and others. Talking with him is a huge learning experience for me and I am enormously grateful for it.
The front cover of his book below invites us to enjoy the fascinating story of THE REMARKABLE MRS REIBY. Grantlee has done all of us a huge favour by writing it so superbly. Make sure you buy his book soon.
Mary Reibey (her name then was Molly Haydock), a teenager living in poor circumstances in the English town of Stafford, stole a horse, tried to sell it, was caught & sentenced to death. In the shadow of the gallows, the lawmakers decided to give her another chance and ordered that she be transported to Australia for a term of 7 years, which she would eventually voluntarily extend to 70.
After months on a filthy boat and facing appalling conditions on arrival in Sydney, she settled down to the task of rehabilitating her life. She soon won a pardon and built a future. She fell in love with a decent man, married him, had 7 children, but unfortunately he died. She embarked on an amazing business career as a working mum that led her to become a real estate mogul, a shipping magnate and a philanthropist. Her achievements were an incredible feat.
Indeed, she became the wealthiest woman in colonial Australia and the acknowledged leader of a male dominated business community. From those positions of power, she often funded new public services that the colonial administration had ignored.
Her finest achievements were that she was the founding shareholder of the Sydney Morning Herald and the Bank of New South Wales (now Westpac) both of which have lasted for two centuries.
In all her endeavours, she faced the usual hurdles that have deterred many women in their rightful quest for gender equality. She was persistent, respectful and able and won acceptance strictly on merit. She was recognised as the ‘go to’ person if you wanted to achieve anything of significance in the colony and beyond. Smart male investors would say to friends, ‘If you want to make money, invest in whatever Mrs Reibey is doing’. (My Sydney readers will be interested to know that she owned Macquarie Place and lots of land surrounding it.)
She died in 1855 at age 78. New South Wales had lost its greatest pioneer. She left an inspirational pathway for others to follow, showing how constant setbacks can be overcome on a pathway to greatness.
There have been many women of courage and ability who have contributed mightily to the creation and development of Australia as a nation and as a society, but there are not many whose record is of greater quality and permanence than that of Mary Reibey.
However, we can be sure that the future will bring forward a new style of female leadership to the ever changing life of Australia and will ensure that gender equality is permanently embedded as a cornerstone of the nation.
I had an experience a week ago that pointedly displayed that future.
I visited the Linville School in the Brisbane River Valley where I first enrolled as a student 86 years ago. The School had 20 students then. Now it has 23. They gave me a wonderful welcome and invited me to spend 30 minutes talking to the students about my experiences of life and answering their questions. I was greatly heartened by their positive attitudes.
My closing comment was,
‘I hope that one of you will one day become Prime Minister of Australia. In saying this, may I predict that it will probably be one of the girls.’
The female students rose as one, clapping and cheering mightily. The guys sat in respectful silence, clapping politely.
