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Now, the Constitution they wrote is out of date and Australians keep voting NO to any changes to it as they dont trust politicians to do the right thing.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.
All have been good even though some were sad when we lost loved ones.
The key factor in our long standing partnership has been our family of 20 children, grandchildren, partners and one little great grandchild, whose love we treasure.
We also believe that no matter what is wrong with the world, there is much more that is good.
It’s a pleasure to try to add to that which is good and to share this privilege with friends like you.
May grace and peace be with you all, today and always.
Everald
PS. The photo below was taken at The Steak House in Taupo, New Zealand, in October when we celebrated our 65th wedding anniversary.
And we will enjoy many more anniversaries as I am only 92 and Helen is a young 86.
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.
I have written an novel called A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET.
Its growing number of readers tell me it is inspirational.
Based on final three months of life of a terminally ill man who decides to make them the most creative, meaningful and productive of all his days before he peacefully departs by Voluntary Assisted Dying.
You will enjoy it, especially the very last day, when he invites 25 of his family and friends to share a final drink with him in the happiest of ways. Indeed, the most wonderful party of his entire life.
I took great care in writing it as it depicts the same joyful way I intend to happily depart if my circumstances are likewise.
I will sign and post it to you for 25 dollars plus 10 dollars postage.
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.
You and I have the democratic right to place a Petition before Parliament asking them to consider and act upon any matter of public interest that concerns us.
All that is required is that we go to the website of the Australian Parliament, click on PETITIONS, and follow the guidelines on how to submit a request in not more than 250 words.
Our document goes to the Petitions Committee of Parliament for consideration. If they agree that it is a suitable petition, they invite us to submit evidence of community support for our request. This means that we invite supporters to log on to the Parliament website and follow the prompts to register as a supporter.
The Petitions Committee will then study our supporter base and, if they believe it is sufficient, they forward our Petition to the relevant Minister whose portfolio of responsibilities cover the domain of our request.
We are then free to contact the Minister to advocate our cause before, as required by law, he or she replies to us.
Because of this democratic privilege we have here in Australia, I decided to submit a Petition asking Parliament to set up a Committee to investigate the establishment of UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME in Australia.
As I want to achieve the best possible result, I invited my friend, Dr Karen Stenner, an eminent political scientist, to draft the petition and submit it to Parliament. She has done this splendidly and successfully as the Petitions Committee has now asked us submit evidence of community support.
So we need your help right now and invite you to click on the link below to register your support.
Please do it TODAY as our deadline set by the Committee is 31 August.
Ignore the survey on the website. Just click ‘Continue’.
I will not bore you here with a detailed description of the huge benefits of Universal Basic Income. Just type it into Google and you will find many descriptions of where and how it has been trialed around the world.
I will just give you these few dot points as an indication of key elements of its value.
*Replaces all welfare, and there is no Centrelink, as all over 18 are eligible to receive UBI.
*Removes the stigma of welfare.
*Financed by the removal of a huge bureaucracy & the imposition of a levy on all of the many tax evaders in Australia.
*Gives people the financial backing to survive while they start up a small business or undergo skills training to change occupations.
*Unlike the age pension, it enables everyone to earn as much as they want to without penalty other than normal income tax.
*Significantly increases participation in the work force.
*Reduces mental stress from daily life.
Just be reminded that we are not asking Parliament to implement Universal Basic Income. We are just inviting them to investigate it. Hopefully, we live in a world of open minds where we constantly seek to find better ways of doing everything.
Here is the link for you to use to sign up as a supporter of UBI. You will note that the Petition has been submitted by Dr Karen Stenner.
Please do it TODAY and also send it on to your friends inviting them to do likewise.
‘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.
Rebecca Levingston is a good friend. She hosts the morning program on 612 ABC Brisbane from 8.30 until 11 Monday to Friday and from time to time I have enjoyed being her guest.
At 10 on Fridays, she devotes 30 minutes to reviewing the major news events of the week and has invited me to be her guest commentator on the program every week commencing on Friday of this week, 21 July.
So I am delighted to accept Rebecca’s invitation and look forward to many weeks of chatting about the key issues that challenge us all.
Comments will be politically independent and socially responsible with no headline grabbing nonsense. Our aim is to offer commonsense advice on the issues of the day that you can debate at home.
So, listen in and enjoy every Friday at 10.
Shalom
Everald (and Rebecca. She is the fine person you can see below.)
I will be at Linville on Thursday of this week, 20 July, doing a local launch of my book CATCHING THE LINVILLE TRAIN at a lunch at the Linville Hotel.
Decided to call the School and arrange to give them a signed copy of my book to put in the School Library. The Principal is a friendly person who was more than a bit surprised to be taking a call from a past student who first enrolled 86 years ago.
So it is that I will be at the School at 2.30pm on Thursday and I am looking forward to it.
The school was smaller when I was there, but it has an unforgettable memory for me as the school teacher at the time forced me to change from writing left handed. Now I do everything in life with my left hand except to write.
But they were happy days. Made many life long friends. Now, I am the only survivor.
With much nostalgia.
Everald
PS. Linville is in the Brisbane River Valley. Its a pleasant little village with a superb pub that serves great meals. You will be able to buy my book in the bar with 5 dollars per sale going to a great cause ARE YOU IN A PUDDLE MATE?
Whenever I hold launch functions for any of my (4) books, I always donate to a real good cause the royalties I get from my publisher for book sales at the function.
So it is that at the Linville Launch of my book CATCHING THE LINVILLE TRAIN, I will be giving the royalties to ARE YOU BOGGED MATE?
I knew nothing about this great cause until I was told about it by my friend Tanya Grimward who is the friendly proprietor of the LINVILLE HOTEL where my local book launch will be held this coming Thursday, 20 July, at Noon.
ARE YOU BOGGED MATE? is very much involved in mental health in rural Australia where there are more suicides per head of population than in our cities. Depression caused by financial issues relating to droughts, floods, fires, debt, losses etc is great and growing.
Mental health is now the greatest medical problem in Australia. I know this from my work as an Adjunct Professor at the Thompson Institute for Medical Health Research at University of the Sunshine Coast and so I admire the initiative taken by ARE YOU BOGGED MATE?
So come to support them this Thursday. The lunch is at the Linville Hotel at Noon. Cost is 50 dollars a head and a signed book can be bought for 30 dollars, of which 10 dollars goes to ARE YOU BOGGED MATE?
Sign up for lunch today by sending an email to Tanya Grimward at contact@thelinvillehotel.com.au and she will email you with banking details.
If you cant make it to Linville on Thursday, please buy a signed copy of CATCHING THE LINVILLE TRAIN from my website (everaldcompton.com then click on shop). Royalties from sales anytime this week will go to ARE YOU BOGGED MATE?
