Margaret Muir - author

On-line Review of FLOATING GOLD

2012-02-01T08:04:00.004+11:00

The following review appeared today in the on-line reviews from the Historical Novel Society:
FLOATING GOLD
Margaret Muir, Grindelwald, 2011, £11.60, pb, 236pp, 9781447670209

Anyone who knows me will know I devour anything with a Tall Ship theme—so I was excited to receive Floating Gold. Here is an example of how authors who, for one reason or another, no longer have their books in print with a mainstream publisher, decide to self-publish. Margaret Muir used to be published by Robert Hale, but with a backlist out of print, she decided to publish her books herself to keep them alive and in circulation. Good for her!

Floating Gold is a Georgian treasure hunt adventure. It is 1802 and there is a tentative peace between France and England. Captain Oliver Quintrell, as with many a sailor during times of peace, is ashore with no command and nothing to do. When he is offered HMS Elusive and a secret mission, he jumps at the chance to accept. He is bound for the Southern Ocean with secret orders, and his crew encounter storms, murder, and various adventures on the long voyage south. They reach their destination—and the treasure hunt proper begins.

The author knows her ropes when it comes to ships and shipping: the ship-board scenes are accurate and give a real feel of being at sea; her characters are believable—and the action, vigorous.

My only comment is that the edition I received had been incorrectly typeset with double spacing between paragraphs. While this in no way detracted from the story, it did spoil the look of an otherwise superb book—I believe it has now been re-typeset though, so all new editions reach full mainstream quality.

Had Floating Gold not been a republished, previously mainstream novel, I would have made this my editor’s choice. HNS rules state books must be newly published, however. So very highly recommended must suffice.

--Helen Hollick

Sequel to FLOATING GOLD

2012-01-26T08:29:00.004+11:00

For those who enjoyed the maritime adventure, FLOATING GOLD, I am delighted to say I am now writing the sequel.
It's been a two year drought in fiction writing while I did another course at University, but I have learned a lot of History, heritage and appreciation for many things I wasn't aware of.

In the sequel to FLOATING GOLD, many of the same characters will be sailing with Captain Quintrell such as: Mr Parry - his first Lieutenant; Mr Mundy - Sailing Master; several middies who have now passed for lieutenant; and some of the foremast jacks. A sprinkling of new characters will be introduced and the destination and purpose of the mission will, of course, be different.

The year is 1803. The Peace of Amiens has been broken and Britain is again at war with France. Captain Quintrell waits impatiently to receive a commission.

I am enjoying the challenge of this new 'voyage', but struggling to find a title. My working title is "The Tainted Prize".

And while working on this sequel, a third story keeps trying to make itself know to me. I’m not short on ideas at the present!

World's first Maritime Museum

2012-01-26T08:18:00.005+11:00

Sir Francis Drake’s ship, the GOLDEN HINDE, was designated as the WORLD’S FIRST MARITIME MUSEUM in 1581, by Queen Elizabeth 1.

Drake travelled over 140,000 miles in this tiny 16th century galleon. A full-size replica of the GOLDEN HINDE is on permanent display on the Thames near London Bridge.
Be advised: it is down a side alley and if you are sailing down the Thames and blink you can easily miss it.

FIRST FLEET by M Howard Morgan

2012-01-20T09:31:00.003+11:00

Jack Vizzard is a promising young lawyer who becomes involved with a village girl, Mary, who is below his social standing. While she is accused of a petty offence and subsequently sentenced to transportation, Jack commits a far more heinous crime for which he escapes apprehension. To ensure his safely he joins the Marine Corps.

The time is 1786 and a fleet of eleven ships under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip sails from Spithead conveying a consignment of convicts to New Holland – the land ‘discovered’ by James Cook and considered ideal for colonial settlement.
By co-incidence Jack Vizzard and Mary, unbeknown to each other, undertake this voyage.
While the initial relationship between Jack and Mary is intense, once the ships arrive in New South Wales, this relationship mellows and the focus of attention switches to the animosity between Jack and his superior officer, Major Ross.

The fact, the book’s title suggests it is a naval story, is misleading, as the majority of the story is land-based in England and Sydney. However, the historical records of the specific ships and personnel involved in this event are carefully adhered to.

FIRST FLEET is M. Howard Morgan’s first novel. It is a well written and easy to read (I read the Kindle edition), though it contains some minor errors which would be worth editing in the next edition.

FIRST FLEET provides an interesting insight into the role of the Marines who played an integral role in the establishment of the new colony which was to become Australia.

SALT IN OUR VEINS - according to JFK

2012-01-20T09:25:00.002+11:00

‘It is an interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea – whether to sail or to watch it – we are going back from whence we came.’
JF Kennedy, Rhode Island, 1962.

Pic: unknown wreck – Straits of Magellan

The SCOW - flat bottomed historic vessel

2012-01-19T09:41:00.005+11:00

SCOWS were first built for use on the American Great Lakes. They were flat-bottomed (2ft draught) and inplace of a keel were fitted with centreboards.

From 1873, ketch-rigged deck SCOWs were built in New Zealand for carrying timber and working in shallow estuaries.

The ‘Ted Ashby’ is a replica (complete with centreboards). It takes tourists on trips round Auckland Harbour.

Life in Nelson's Navy by Brian Lavery

2012-01-16T10:50:00.002+11:00

Just finished reading, Brian Lavery's, LIFE IN NELSON'S NAVY.
It's a compact little book but full of useful information and terminology for those who read maritime fiction or venture to write about it. I 'bought' the kindle version which, if I remember rightly, cost me $0.

They don't come any cheaper.
Recommended.

Nelson's funeral, January 1806

2012-01-08T12:15:00.001+11:00

On 8 January, 1806, the funeral procession for Admiral Lord Nelson began its journey up the Thames from Greenwich. Placed on the royal barge, built for Charles II, the coffin rested beneath a black canopy surmounted by black ostrich feathers.

Nelson’s body was enclosed in a lead coffin which in turn was placed in a wooden coffin made from the mast of L’Orient, salvaged after the Battle of the Nile. The funeral barge was accompanied by a flotilla of 60 boats while huge crowds flocked to London to attend the five days of ceremonies at Greenwich, on the River Thames, in the streets of London and at St Paul’s Cathedral.

Charles II's funeral barge can be seen at the the Portsmouth Naval Museum.

Miss Bannerman and The Duke - review

2012-01-05T07:03:00.002+11:00

This light-hearted Regency romp by multi-published author Fenella Miller reflects the fine tradition of a Jane Austen classic.
While sisters Rosemary and Millie enjoy the attention lavished on them by the Duke, Rose’s affections cannot be bought for mere trinkets.
This page-turning romance presents an emotional tug of war. Will Rose marry for convenience to save the family? Or will she reject the Duke’s attention? Will the sisters snare the men of their dreams and, for Rose, will that man fulfil her expectations?
Miss Miller knows the era well. This short and sweet novel is well written and recommended.
Available as an e-book via Kindle.

Dreams of my Father - Barack Obama - recommended

2012-01-05T06:10:00.004+11:00

Ignoring the author’s by-line and, if you are American, your political views, I recommend this book as a remarkable and brilliantly written autobiography.

'Dreams from my Father' is a journey story in more ways than one in which the writer struggles to unravel his heritage and place in life.

Published in 1995, it was written well before US candidacy was a figment of Obama’s imagination.
Apart from following his search which reaches over three continents, it also acknowledges the work of the many volunteers in the poor neighbourhoods whose ceaseless efforts usually go unrewarded and who often get no recognition for their hard work.
A real page-turner and thoroughly recommended read.

Farewell to a dear friend

2011-12-30T11:21:00.005+11:00

We have few real friends through our lives - so it is a sad time to see a good friend pass away.
Mick Casson and I met in Bakers Hill, Western Australia where we both attended the same ballroom dancing classes. We both had two left feet and being of Yorkshire stock, could always see the funny side of things.
When I moved to Tasmania, Mick visited me on several occasions, not only for a holiday but to help me with jobs in the house.

Though not a sailor, Mick loved the sea and the seashore and was impressed with the 'painted' rocks on the east coast.
When we visited the north coast at Port Sorrell he was happy to sit and watch the placid waters of Bass Strait.

This year he came over in February, but when he retuned in July, his visit had to be cut short due to his illness.
I visited him in WA in November and found him to be a shadow of his former self.
Mick died of cancer on 28th December, 2011.
A brave battler and a true friend who will be sorely missed.

Graduated with Associate Degree

2011-12-30T11:03:00.003+11:00

After two years of study at University of Tasmania, I graduated in December with an Associate Degree in Arts.
Because I had done a BA before, I was able to select a mix of subjects which I was interested in.
My choices included History - including Tasmanian Colonial studies, which I particularly enjoyed; Aboriginal Studies; Antarctic Studies and one unit in Tasmanian Environmental History, which I also found very interesting.

In the euphoria of the end of semester, I applied for another course in 2012, but despite being accepted, I withdrew my application.
I decided I needed a break from studies.
Besides, there are so many things - like writing another novel and even blogging which I have had on hold.
Now is time to catch up with those other things I want to do.
I can always go back to studying another year.

New Zealand cruise on Radiance of the Seas

2011-12-30T10:15:00.010+11:00

Late November, 2011, I joined Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas for a 15-day cruise around New Zealand.
Though I had done a similar voyage a couple of years ago, I had just finished two years of study and wanted to relax.

Radiance is a big ship which accommodated over 2000 passengers. As usual, I booked the cheapest inside cabin as travelling alone means one has to pay for a twin room.
The last time I sailed to New Zealand, it had been cloudy on the day we visited and I had hoped for nice weather. Unfortunately that was not to be.
The fjords of Milford Sound and surrounds were shrouded in this rain and mist. It was so wet that the walls of the fjord appeared as sheets of running water. This had one advantage, that the waterfalls were quite awesome.

With continuing cold and wet weather for much of the cruise, the large outdoor upper deck areas and swimming pools were not used. Consequently all the passengers were crowded inside the ship all day. This meant it was difficult to find a comfortable seat or to find somewhere that was quiet.
I enjoyed the excursions on the days we were in port, in particular, Akaroa (the substitute port for Christchurch since the earthquake damage), where the sun shone and I took a boat ride and saw Hector Dolphins, and also a visit to Rotarua from Tauranga.

At Rotarua, I paddled in a Mauri was canoe, rode the cable car up the mountain and came down in a luge (toboggan) which even on the beginner slope was quite scary.
The weather in Auckland and at the Bay of Islands was dismal and very cold but I managed to take a boat trip on both occasions.

There were two bonuses to the trip:
With a medical emergency on the return trip to Sydney and an urgent evacuation of a sick passenger necessary, the ship had to detour north to Lord Howe Island. Though there was no harbour and the transfer of the patient took place on the water, we were able to see much of Lord Howe Island which looked quite spectacular despite the cloud.
Another surprise promontory was Ball's Pyramid - the largest volcanic stack in the world which rises up from the ocean floor. Would have loved to have seen it in sunlight.

Something else which was not in the small print: I left the ship with a rotten cold. This is not the first cruise I have been on when I have contracted some sort of virus. The fact all the passengers were limited to the interior of the ship for most of the voyage probably contributed to this.
In retrospect, I should have booked this cruise for January or February as November can be very cold especially in the South Island of New Zealand.
How would I rate this holiday out of Ten? I would only give it 5/10.
Disappointing.

Surprise Wedding

2011-12-30T10:01:00.005+11:00

November 6th was a special day.
Having flown back to Western Australia from their present home in England, my son Rob and fiance, Marion, were married in a ceremony which was a surprise to all but a few of the guests (me included as I had to fly to Perth from Tasmania).

Held in a relative's garden, it was a beautiful wedding celebrated by family and close friends.

A week after the event, Rob and Marion flew back to England to surpise even more of their friends in London.
Pic: Jake, (my grandson and Rob's nephew), Marion, Rob and me.

Love my Kindle

2011-12-30T09:44:00.003+11:00

Though I write novels, I have never been a great reader - that was until I bought a KINDLE only a couple of months ago.
Now I read everyday, mostly at bedtime and have already consumed half a dozen books.

E-book prices are so attractive - averaging between $3 and $9 dollars per book (I don't feel inclined to pay more for an electronic edition).
Purchasing and downloading books takes a matter of seconds - the only problem here is not being tempted to buy too many.

But the biggest advantage is the money saved by not having to pay exorbitant postage costs from UK or USA (I live in Australia).

What I like about my KINDLE is how light it is (when holding it up in bed), page turning is done with a finger-tip touch, and the lines of print which are only about eight words long which means, when reading, my eyes don't slide across to the wrong line.

Apart from buying an assortment of books, I have been delighted to have my own novels published by Belgrave House in 10 e-formats. These are available for KINDLE readers from Amazon.com

SEA DUST now out in paperback and as e-book

2011-12-30T09:16:00.010+11:00

SEA DUST was first published by Robert Hale in 2005 and sold out within six weeks of release. Unfortunately it was never reprinted apart from in Large Print format for Ulverscroft.

This historical novel is set mainly at sea on a voyage from England (Whitby) to Australia (Sydney) in 1853.
Travel with Emma on this dangerous and dramatic journey as she escapes from her cruel husband little knowing she will be pursued by an even more evil malefactor.

This week, SEA DUST has been released on Amazon.com as an e-book (only $3.99). It is available in other e-formats through Belgrave House for $5.00.

Along with my other Hale publications, SEA DUST is now available in paperback through Lulu.com and available at Amazon.com

The Black Thread now available as e-book

2011-12-30T09:15:00.000+11:00

Recently another of Margaret Muir's Hale books has been converted to e-book format.

THE BLACK THREAD was first published by Hale in 2007 and reprinted as a Large Print for Ulverscroft the following year.

This is a dramatic historical novel set on the Leeds Liverpool canal at the end of the nineteenth century.
This is now available at Amazon.com for $3.99.

Book Review - Surgeon's Mate by Linda Collison

2011-11-16T08:34:00.002+11:00

Linda Collison’s sequel to Star Crossed is an excellent and well written nautical adventure which continues the exploits of the young surgeon’s mate, Patricia/Patrick MacPherson. In male guise, this brave and determined young woman is drawn into increasingly intriguing situations when she is forced to move from one ship to another.

In Surgeon’s Mate, the girl who ran away from England has matured, is more knowledgeable in her craft and more confident in her chosen role. Serving on various ships her performance of duty is both professional and convincing and her relationship with fellow seamen above and below decks provides an insight into life at sea in the eighteenth century.

At a time when medical practice was in its infancy, Collison uses her own medical knowledge appropriately and judiciously. And while the fear of a smallpox outbreak heralds disaster and surgical amputation often results in death, the sights and sounds surrounding the heeling operating table are realistically portrayed. For Patrick, the young surgeon, the challenge and desire to save lives is as keen as it is to a modern-day practitioner.

For me, the storyline of Surgeon’s Mate is more riveting than the introductory novel, my only disappointment was that the story ended fairly abruptly. But the hook is another reason to look forward to another story in this nautical series.

A lesson to be learned from the past

2011-11-02T20:02:00.001+11:00

Remember the Koala who was burnt in the Bushfires of 2009. People around the world felt its pain. But in 1927 alone in Australia over 500,000 cuddly koalas were killed for their skins. And in 200 years of colonisation, hundreds of thousands of defenceless mammals and marsupials, like possums and platypus, have been killed while several native animals, like the thylacine were hunted to extinction.
In Tasmania, the colonialists not only wiped out the Aborigines who had inhabited the land for millennia, but almost wiped out its native animal populations.
But in their ‘wisdom’ the squatters introduced, FOXES for the sport of hunting, RABBITS for fur and food, SPARROWS to eat the insects, and BLACKBERRIES and Scotch THISTLES to remind them of Britain - to name but a few imported pests.

If I have learned nothing else from my course in Environmental History, it is that we should look to the mistakes of the past if we are going to cope with the future.

The King is dead - a Dead River.

2011-10-31T18:56:00.002+11:00

The magnificent King River in Tasmania’s west coast wilderness is biologically dead. It will take 1000 years for it to be capable of supporting any form of life. This is the result of greedy mining practices which went on unabated for decades.
But are we learning from history’s mistakes?

British Atomic testing killed a beautiful island

2011-10-29T08:39:00.003+11:00

The Monte Bello Islands, are an archipelago lying 130 km (81 mi) off coast of north-western Australia. Montebello is Italian for "beautiful mountain" and it was here that the first of three British nuclear weapons tests took place in 1952 and 1956.
The second of these, codenamed G2, was the largest device ever detonated in Australia, with a yield of 98 kt. Thousands of miles away, on the other side of Australia, towns such as Mount Isa, Julia Creek, Longreach and Rockhampton were contaminated by atomic fallout.

Today, and for the next few days, I’ll be studying for my Australian Environmental History Exam. But I would rather be on the waters off the Monte Bello Islands.
Pic: on board STS Leeuwin during a 12 day Indian Ocean Voyage

Linda Collison's Sea of Words - in conversation with novelist, Margaret Muir

2011-07-22T19:20:00.007+10:00

In her Blog, Linda Collison (LC) wrote: "Throughout our writing lives we’re inspired by other authors. I’ve recently had the pleasure of discovering Tasmanian novelist and historian, Margaret Muir.
Margaret Muir is the author of five novels. Her latest, Floating Gold, is an age-of-sail nautical adventure set mainly in the Southern Ocean in 1802.

LC: Marg, after reading FLAOTING GOLD I have to say you seem quite at home aboard a British frigate in the early 19th century. The details you smoothly incorporated brought it alive for me. Can you tell us how you acquired such a working knowledge of shipboard life during the age-of-sail?
Marg: As far as I know, there is no Age-of-Sail 101 which provides instant qualifications in life aboard a fighting ship in the year 1800, so for me acquiring that knowledge has been a lengthy process, and it’s a journey which is still continuing. Though I served my ‘apprenticeship’ crewing on tall ships, my knowledge of the British Navy, of sea battles and shipboard life has been largely from books – mainly non-fiction. Primary source material is particularly valuable and intriguing, and there are many modern publications such as N. A. M. Rodgers, The Wooden World and Roy & Lesley Adkins, Jack Tar which describe every almost aspect of shipboard life. Reading the classic maritime fiction of Forester and O’Brian not only enhanced my knowledge but allowed me to sense the atmosphere of shipboard life. Over the years, I’ve also walked the decks of several tall ships and wandered through maritime museums around the world. But I attribute most of my insight to being part of the crew of a square rigger. For a female who had spent her working life looking through the lens of a microscope, the 360 degree view from the top of a ship’s mast was, for a long time, only a pipe-dream. However, when I was made redundant from my job, I decided it was time to live that dream.

LC: What was it like, living that dream?
Marg: I shall never forget my first voyage. Not quite knowing what to expect, I signed on as trainee crew for a 12-day voyage on the STS Leeuwin. Along with 39 others, I arrived in Exmouth (Western Australia) at mid-day ready to join the ship. It was anchored offshore. But the seas were rough and it was impossible to sail out to her. We waited on the wharf all afternoon for the wind to die and the sea to calm, but that never happened. Finally, at 8pm in pitch darkness, we were issued life jackets and ushered into small rubber dinghies which carried us out over the black sea. Having to leap from the dinghy which was pitching and rolling violently, grab for a rope ladder and clamber aboard, was a scary introduction to a sailor’s life.

LC: I can relate! Sailing isn’t always pleasant, for sure. And the sea is a harsh teacher at times.
Marg: An early lesson I learned was about seasickness. (At least I console myself with the fact that Nelson and many other great sailors suffered in this manner.) But once that feeling passed, the magic of tall ship sailing took over and I was hooked. Sailing north on the sparkling waters of the Indian Ocean, I learned the ropes (literally); their position on the pin rails, and when to haul and when to ease. I sat watch through the night and witnessed the marine bio-luminescence, and in the morning I holystoned the deck. But taking the helm of a tall ship under full sail was the best experience. As we entered Dampier harbour, I remember steering the ship between an oil rig and a tanker; listening to the calls from the captain; keeping one eye on the compass, and feeling 10 feet tall. My learning continued with more voyages on the Leeuwin and numerous day sails. I have to admit, I’m not a topmast man as I have no head for heights, however I accepted the challenge to climb the mainmast (33m/ 108 ft) to read the plaque on the top. These days, I don’t go aloft but am happy to serve on deck. On moving to Tasmania (41degrees south) in 2007, I joined the Sail Training Association and became a member of the crew of the Lady Nelson.
LC: Lady Nelson, the replica ship? Can you tell us more about that experience?

Marg: She’s a tiny colonial brig– the original built in Deptford in 1789. My first sail with the Lady was a 5 day voyage half way around the rugged coast of Tasmania. I managed to paint Bass Strait green for the first 24 hours (but I was not alone) and what an unforgettable voyage it was. When I sail, it’s like stepping back into history – I only have to close my eyes and I’m on deck with the early settlers, or convicts, or sailors of the early 1800s.

LC: What else inspires you? How else did you research Floating Gold?
Marg: As I mentioned, I love to visit maritime museums. These offer a wealth of knowledge. But my favourite is the historic dockyard at Portsmouth. When I walked the gun decks of HMS Victory I tried to imagine the noise, the smoke and stench, not to mention the litter of dead and dying when the great ship was engaged in battle. It was awe inspiring and unforgettable. It has taken me 10 years to gain the knowledge I have, and my education is still ongoing. But apart from sailing and reading, the things which have helped me learn are my love of history and enthusiasm for the era, a conscious desire to step back in time, and above all a love of the sea in all its changing moods.

LC: Marg, Don’t I know you from a former life? Weren’t we shipmates in a previous century? All kidding aside, we have a lot in common but you’ve taken the path further than I have. And you have written five novels so far, is that correct?
Marg: Floating Gold was my fifth novel, published originally in UK.

LC: Tell me more about Margaret Muir the author. How long have you been a writer? What propelled you along that path?
Marg: Unlike most authors, my adventure into writing began fairly late in life. On being made redundant in the mid 90s from a career in cytopathology, I soon discovered I had the time to do the things I had previously only dreamed of – one was sail on a tall ship, another was to breed goats, and the third to write.

LC: Goats?

Marg: The goats came first and the writing followed. When I first put pen to paper it was as editor of a local goat association’s newsletter, but scratching around for interesting snippets sparked my enthusiasm for writing and led me to a correspondence course in freelance journalism. From there, I wrote articles for various newspapers and magazines and a correspondence course in writing for children followed but with no publishing success. In 2001, undeterred and still aiming for improvement, I embarked on a BA (Creative Writing) and it was during my three years of study that I first sailed on a tall ship. Also at this time, I cruised half way around the world, met Peter on a ship, and began writing my first novel, Sea Dust. Peter and I had much in common and apart from him being my soul mate, he quickly became my writing partner, critic and editor. But three years later, Peter died in a road accident and my writing dried up.

LC: That must have been crushing for you. Ho w did you overcome the devastation?
Marg: Having lived for 30 years in Western Australia (born UK), I needed a change of scene and didn’t think twice about pulling up roots and moving. During a fleeting visit to Tasmania, I fell in love with the island’s rugged beauty and vast wilderness areas, so I headed east. Originally called Van Diemen’s Land, Tasmania was a British penal colony in the 1800s and its past is stained with the blood of convicts, cannibals, aborigines and bushrangers. Shortly after arriving, I learned of the ‘Gentleman Bushranger’, Matthew Brady – hung in Hobart Town in 1825. His biography has been told several times mainly by academics but I wanted to retell it in a fictionalised narrative form adhering to the facts but bringing the character and colonial era to life. Anxious to learn more of Van Diemen’s Land’s history, I enrolled at the University of Tasmania and will complete my course at the end of this year.

LC: That sounds exciting! I’m not holding you to anything, but what will you be writing five or ten years from now?
Marg: Along with Matthew Brady’s story, I will continue writing. Having thoroughly enjoyed creating the characters of Captain Quintrell, Mr Parry and the foremast jacks who made up the crew of Elusive, I believe the time has come for them to sail again (though I doubt HM frigate Elusive will make it out of the yard at Deptford). Having recently republished all my novels in paperback, I feel the sky is the limit. I love to learn and I love to write, and I see myself doing both for many years to come.

LC: It’s been a pleasure, Marg, and very inspiring for me personally. I look forward to reading more of your work! .

Margaret Muir’s books are available from Amazon.com or discounted at www.lulu.com/spotlight/grindelwald http://www.margaretmuirauthor.com/
Read more about her latest novel at http://www.squidoo.com/floatinggold

Through Glass Eyes - now an E-book

2011-07-21T08:41:00.006+10:00

1896 - When Lucy steals an expensive French doll from her dying mistress, she is unaware of the different roles it will play in the years to come. But throughout her journey of love and loss, pain and joy, the Bru doll is never far away.
Set in the West Riding of Yorkshire, this is a heartfelt rags to riches saga spanning more than 25 years. Historical fiction/saga by Margaret Muir; originally published as 'The Twisting Vine' by Robert Hale [UK]

Through Glass Eyes was published today as an e-book and is available from Belgrave House or Amazon.com for $3.99

FLOATING GOLD now in paperback

2011-07-05T12:54:00.002+10:00

Pleased to say that the paperback edition of FLOATING GOLD is now available on Amazon.com
Floating Gold

THE BLACK THREAD - now in paperback

2011-07-04T09:21:00.004+10:00

THE BLACK THREAD is now available in paperback on Amazon.com

This is the first of my books published by my own publisher - GRINDELWALD

The Black Thread by Margaret Muir http://t.co/AzJ8cnP via @amazon

Pigeons and the early lighthouse service in Tasmania

2011-07-03T15:13:00.003+10:00

In 1908, 14 HOMING PIGEONS were taken to the new lighthouse on Tasman Island to carry urgent messages. Some birds got through with messages but others failed.
Unfortunately in Tasmania the Peregrine Falcon off the SW coast resulted in the demise of many weary birds battling the winds of the Roaring Forties.

But this type of communication is not new, In 51 BC, CAESAR announced the fall of GAUL by carrier pigeon.
GENGIS KHAN also used them.
The English victory at BATTLE OF WATERLOO was sent by pigeon post and during the First World War many messages were carried from the front and back to England.

This intersting info was provided at the Achipelego conference held this weekend in Hobart.
Presentation by Mr Colin Denny – Carrier Pigeon Communication: the homing birds of the lighthouse service.

Pic - Low Head lighthouse, Northern Tasmania.

Some of British Library's best in your own study

2011-06-21T08:35:00.004+10:00

British Library is to put 250,000 books online free
Books from the British Library's out-of-copyright collection to be published digitally by Google on the internet.
The British Library has announced a partnership with Google to digitise 250,000 out-of-copyright books from its collection and make them available free of charge to users on the library's website and Google Books.

The project will digitise printed books, pamphlets and periodicals dated 1700 to 1870 - the period that saw the French and industrial revolutions, the Battle of Trafalgar and the Crimean War, the invention of rail travel and of the telegraph, the beginning of UK income tax, and the end of slavery.

The library said its aim was to increase access to anyone who wants to do research.

Posted by Maritime Museum of GB today.
Pic - Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London.

OCEANS IN DISTRESS, MASS EXTINCTIONS

2011-06-21T07:34:00.003+10:00

It's not a good outlook - reported this morning:

Pollution and global warming are pushing the world's oceans to the brink of a mass extinction of marine life unseen for tens of millions of years.

Dying coral reefs, biodiversity ravaged by invasive species, expanding open-water "dead zones," toxic algae blooms, the massive depletion of big fish stocks -- all are accellerating, said a report compiled by 27 of the world's top ocean experts.

Read the full report on - Yahoo!7 http://t.co/oeyuuD9 via @Y7News

TWO'S A CREW - a circumnavigation of Australia

2011-06-20T21:00:00.006+10:00

When Jack and Jude Binder sailed around Australia in Banyandah, their home-made 12m yacht, they took time out along the way to smell the roses. The 9000 nautical mile voyage took them to crocodile infested waters, coral atolls, ancient aboriginal sites and through Hell’s Gates itself.
Together they fished, photographed, and above all recorded the bounties of nature along the way.

Jack, (the lad from LA who now calls the sea and Australia home), wrote most of the book and apart from occasional lapses into personal diary style, his elegant descriptive passages are proof of his close bond with the Earth. Judith’s presence is felt throughout the book, sharing the same strength, courage and love of the wild as her man.

In Banyandah, they experienced the full force of wind, waves and currents in a voyage of adventure and exploration which was only made possible by their commitment to sailing and to each other.
For the cruising yachtsman or armchair traveller, TWO’S A CREW is a recommended read.
The read more about the book go to:Two's a Crew - A circumnavigation of Australia

Pic: Jack and Jude on Banyandah - York Cove, Tasmania, May 2011

Tweet, twitter, twit

2011-06-17T08:40:00.003+10:00

Cyber-developer (originator of TWITTER), Jack Dorsey, came across the word, TWITTER, meaning, ‘a short burst of inconsequential information’ and liked it. Now TWEETING is a world wide phenomenon.

But to TWIT (to tell tales or blab) emerged 1630 - 1669. The act of TWITTING (good humoured censure) dates back to 1500-1569 according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Now that is a bit of inconsequential information, isn't it?
But I like the bird on the bowsprit.

Marg - on TWITTER but not a regular Tweeter.
Recently, I joined facebook and much prefer that social network.

Talking to a scarecrow - Crazy or what?

2011-06-16T18:01:00.004+10:00

As a guinea-pig for the Tasmanian Menzies Institute Research into the relationship between study and early onset of Altheimers, I’m due to have me head examined in a week’s time...!!!
I joined the program a year ago when I embarked on my course of university studies.
It was prompted by an advert I saw from the Menzies Institute.

Their researchers required older participants (55 to 70 years) to undergo univesity studies and to be tested annually for a period of several years in an effort to show that keeping the brain active helped prevent early onset Alzheimers.
The initial four hours of psychological and response testing was enough to wear any brain out - only joking!

In my opinion, if the statistics from the study prove some correlations between an active brain and a healthy brain, then it is worthwhile.
However, having worked in a pathology lab for many years and watched studies done in relation to amyloid plaques in brains of Alzheimer sufferers, I'm not convinced that brain stimulation can prevent their formation.

Just my line of thought.
Time will tell.

PS: I have a children's story about a bunch of scarecrows which I wrote years ago. One of these days I am going to get it into print.

STAR CROSSED by Linda Collison

2011-06-14T10:43:00.005+10:00

STAR CROSSED by Linda Collison tells the seafaring adventure of an ambitious young lady, Patrica Kelley, who was born on a plantation in Barbados. But having been brought up in England, she must now return to Barbados if she is to have any hope of acquiring her inheritance. But with no money to her name, the only way to leave England is as a stowaway on a sailing ship.

While struggling against herself, the elements and her turbulant emotional relationships, Patricia endeavours to establish herself (disguised as a youth) as mate to a ship’s surgeon. Linda's intimate knowledge of tall ships, the sea and medical practices create an convincing picture of life on both land and sea in the 1760s.

It’s an engaging story most especially when the ship arrives in West Indian waters. Linda's writing style is descriptive and flows easily, and I compliment her on writing in the first person which is not easy.

Set at sea and in the West Indies, STAR CROSSED is a very enjoyable read.

I note from Linda's Facebook page that there is now a sequel - SURGEON'S MATE.
I look forward to reading it.

Roaring Forties close Tasmania

2011-06-13T18:44:00.006+10:00

The Roaring Forties is recognised as a powerful wind force. And that wind carries some of the world’s cleanest air. The Cape Grim Baseline air pollution monitoring station on the north-west coast of Tasmania has measured the cleanest air on earth.

But today volcanic ash from a Chilean volcano is ringing the globe at around 40 degrees. While Melbourne airport has re-opened, Tasmania remains closed and New Zealand is next in the path of the ash.

In the old days, Cape Grim was a bain to the early explorers because of its wild seas, ferocious winds and rugged coastline.

Today that wind is captured in a huge windfarm.

During the 1800s, the area was farmed by convict labour and was part of the Van Diemen's Land Agricultural Company property.

An isolated spot but worth a visit.

THROUGH GLASS EYES - saga set in Yorkshire

2011-05-21T10:50:00.008+10:00

Through Glass Eyes is now approved for printing under my own publishing name, GRINDELWALD. This novel was first published by Robert Hale Ltd in 2006, and Ulverscroft 2007, under the title The Twisting Vine.

When first accepted for publication, Hale did not consider my working title, Through Glass Eyes, appropriate, arguing that the doll element in the story was not strong enough to support the name. I disagreed but acquiesced.
I remember Mark Twain’s short story, The Million Pound Bank-Note (later to become a book and movie staring Gregory Peck). In that tale, the story evolves around the note. In Through Glass Eyes the doll is not always present, but is always hovering in the background.
Furthermore, changes in the doll’s dress over a period of 25 years can be regarded as a metaphor for the fluctuating fortunes of Lucy Oldfield reflecting her times of hardship, struggle and eventual triumph.
To my mind, the title could not be more appropriate.

In setting out to produce a cover for the paperback, I wanted to feature the doll, a 24-inch French bisque Bru of the 1890s. Of course to buy one of these rare antiques today would cost tens of thousands of dollars.
By chance, I learned of a one-day Doll Fair in Launceston (Tasmania) and went along with my camera.

On the first stall, a beautiful doll caught my eye. To my amazement, I discovered it was a replica Bru cabinet doll of the late 1800s – though only about 8 inches tall. And the only one at the fair.

Exhibitor Derrise Mahoney was delighted to share her story with me. She is a local doll maker who creates and paints the porcelain heads from Bru moulds, adds the mohair wigs and designs the dolls’ dresses.
With Derrise’s permission, I took several photos of her beautiful Bru and, as a result, was able to produce the book’s cover which I am delighted with.
Note: the colour of the book'scover is not true and should have a soft blue background

Through Glass Eyes is a story for the ladies. It’s a heartfelt rags-to-riches saga set mainly in Yorkshire in 1895. Here is the outline:

“When Lucy Oldfield steals an exquisite French doll from her dying mistress, she is unaware of the roles it will play as time goes on. Love, loss, pain and joy are the ever-changing facets of Lucy’s life, and throughout her journey, the Bru doll is never far away.”

Now approved for print, Through Glass Eyes will be available on Amazon in July or you can find it at GRINDELWALD.
Margaret Muir

FLOATING GOLD by M C Muir in paperback

2011-05-12T22:53:00.000+10:00

Another of my titles is now available in paperback.
FLOATING GOLD was first published mid-2010 in hardback by Robert Hale Ltd. I never wanted this novel to be published in my full name, so in this edition the by-line bears only my initials.

I had fun designing the covers of my books, and in this instance used a photo taken while sailing on the STS Leeuwin in the Pacific off Western Australia several years ago.
As you can guess, this is a nautical fiction adventure.
Being a second edition provided the opportunity to add a brief blurb, and extracts from reviews to the back cover.

The iceberg is appropriate to the story. I purchased the image from Big Stock Photo which is an excellent on-line outlet for quality photos of just about anything imaginable, and for just a few dollars.

FLOATING GOLD is now available at a discounted price direct from the publisher, GRINDELWALD. It will also be available via Amazon in about six weeks.

THE BLACK THREAD out in paperback

2011-05-11T16:47:00.006+10:00

The paperback edition of THE BLACK THREAD will be available on the major websites in about 6 week's time.
First published in hardback by Robert Hale Ltd in 2007, it sold out but did not go to reprint.
This edition is published by Lulu Press but printed in Melbourne.
The Black Thread is a dramatic historical fiction story set on a Yorkshire canal in 1895.
Having created the basic cover myself, I used a photo I took in England a few years ago.

Also published in large print by Ulverscroft and due for release as an ebook this month with Belgrave House.

Image: original Hale cover.

The Condor's Feather now in Paperback

2011-05-11T16:01:00.006+10:00

I'm delighted to announce that THE CONDOR'S FEATHER, first published in hardback by Robert Hale Ltd (2009) is now available in paperback.
I have undertaken this publication myself through Lulu Press under the name GRINDELWALD.
It is printed in Melbourne and will be on the major on-line retail sites such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble in about 6 week's time.
Having received a copy of the book, I am delighted with the quality.

THE CONDOR'S FEATHER is a historical Equestrian Aventure based loosely on the real-life journey undertaken across the wilds of Patagonia by Lady Florence Dixie in 1885.

Here's an excerpt of what MyShelf.com had to say about this book:

If you are an armchair traveler like me, you will happily curl up with this tale of travel and adventure. I could imagine this book being made into a western, as it is replete with the sorts of events those wonderful old films always feature. The strong silent cowboy, jail breaks, bad hombres on the trail who will stop at nothing, and lots of descriptions of the beauty of a savage, untamed landscape.

Thanks to Robert Hale for publishing in hardback in 2009.
The Condor's Feather is also available in library quality Large print from Ulverscroft (2010).
And as an e-book with Belgrave House (2011).

The Condor's Feather now an e-book

2011-05-08T18:36:00.006+10:00

I am pleased to announce that one of my 5 Robert Hale published titles – The Condor’s Feather (Halebooks 2007) - was released today in the US by Belgrave House as an e-book.

Their ebooks are on sale for $5 or discounted, and are available in 10 formats to suit most reading devices.

We offer ebooks in ten formats: epub (industry standard), PRC (Mobipocket, Kindle), PDF, Microsoft Reader (LIT), PDB (Palm, eReader), HTML, Word, Rich Text Format, RB (Rocket and ebookwise), and Hiebook (KML), etc.

Also now (14 May) available on Amazon.com discounted to $3.99.

I selected the cover image from www.bigstockphoto.com - Belgrave added the condor.
The Condor's Feather is an Historical Equestrian Adventure set in Patagonia in 1885.

I hope to see my other Hale titles up there very soon.

For sale - GRINDELWALD, Tasmania - UPDATE: Sorry, I have taken the house off the market

2011-02-16T09:24:00.011+11:00

Dress circle position overlooking beautiful Tamar Valley
Perched atop the ridge, overlooking the beautiful Tamar Valley, this elegant north-facing residence commands 180 degree views of the broad river and mountains beyond. The house is on 5.6 secluded acres (3 ha) on Grindelwald's dress circle and located only 15km from Launceston. Seldom do properties in this location come onto the market.
Completed in 1990, the brick house has matured gracefully over its 21 years but recently has undergone some cosmetic makeovers including carpets, floor tiles and blinds.

Upstairs are three bedrooms. The main bedroom has built in robes, an en-suite (no bath), and a balcony with views that will take your breath away. The second and third bedrooms are connected by a small en-suite. One of these rooms is currently used as a study.

A large light-filled lounge room is on the ground floor and has a grand bay window and open fireplace. The updated kitchen is all electric. The living room has a woodstove for heating. Glass doors open to the Victorian-style conservatory with its magical views.

Also on the ground floor is the laundry and a third toilet. A gallery connects directly to the large double garage. This area could...show more easily be converted into a separate living area (STCA). The original house plans are available.

Hidden from the road, this desirable property consists of areas of established formal and informal gardens, plus native bush. There is so much to discover - from the tree ferns in the fernery; to the cottage and kitchen gardens; to the mature orchard bearing apple, pear, plum, fig, walnut and more; to the parklike lawns and to the tall timbers in the bush which wraps around the scarp providing a home for the tiny Bennett's wallabies and shy prickly echidnas.

This elegant house exudes warmth, charm, character and its unique stained glass door and windows depict the winding Tamar River and the flowers of the four seasons. These changes are self evident in the garden where bluebells and daffodils welcome spring; where old-fashioned blooms provide a kaleidoscope of colour in summer, and where autumn leaves mark the fall. In winter the magic mists swirling in the valley below are tinged pink by the rays of the rising sun.
It's like living on Cloud Nine.

This fine property would best suit active retirees or a professional couple though for a small family, there is sufficient land for a pet sheep, goat or pony. Some furniture may be available.

You can find lots of pics on www.domain.com or www.realestate.com if you search for 'Grindelwald'. Or if you are interested, contact me via the blog or my website.
Marg

Poppy Day 11 November 2010

2010-11-15T12:46:00.004+11:00

On 15th November, ninety-five years ago, my great Uncle, Lance Corporal TW Ettershank was killed on Flanders fields in the First World War. He was just 21 years of age.
He came from Leeds and was a member of the King's Own Yorkshire Regiment.
I discovered where he was buried after corresponding with a historian in Belgium, who I was able to assist in finding some information about a Tasmanian soldier who is buried in a village cemetery in Belgium.
This week I received an email from Alain saying that he had visted the Irish New Farm War Cemetery and placed a cross and poppy on my great Uncle's grave.
Sadly, my mother died (aged 99) only a few months ago, but I know she would have appreciated that gesture and it would have rekindled memories of her lost brother.

Breathe again - for a spell

2010-11-15T12:39:00.003+11:00

At last university is over for the year and I have a couple of months breathing space.
That doesn't mean I have nothing to do.
The last 9 months have been full-on! Too full-on!
Next year I am planning to only do a couple of units at uni instead of the eight I did this year.
Still, it was interesting - History, Indigenous studies and a couple of units on Antarctica.
But now I am getting the hankering to get back to writing - possible a sequel to my nautical adventure.
But first I have to do some follow-up and promo on the last book which I didn't do earlier.
The following reviews take up a fair swag of the blog but hope the publicity helps sell a few copies.
Marg

FLAOTING GOLD review by 'Pirates and Privateers'

2010-11-15T12:35:00.003+11:00

Floating Gold
By Margaret Muir
Robert Hale, 2010, ISBN 978-0-7090-9051-9, £18.99
Captain Oliver Quintrell has recovered from his war wounds and desperately wants a new ship, but with the Royal Navy downsizing following the declaration of peace between the European nations, that is unlikely to happen. As he observes a convoy of merchant ships from the beach on the Isle of Wight, his manservant brings news that he’s been called to London, much to the dismay of Oliver’s wife. But duty calls and he goes to Whitehall, where he receives orders shrouded in secrecy.

His new post is the thirty-eight-gun frigate, and he and his crew are to accompany a convoy to Madeira. He is not, however, to engage any enemy. Nor is he in command of the convoy, which causes problems when the commodore’s orders directly conflict with those from the Admiralty. Once they arrive at Madeira, he receives additional orders – secret ones that he is not to open until his ship reaches the fifteenth parallel.

Breaking in a new crew and not knowing much about the officers who serve under him, Quintrell runs a tight ship. Before they reach their destination, they acquire additional and unexpected hands – Will Ethridge and several others. Will’s knowledge of shipbuilding and carpentry earn him a spot as mate to Chippy, the ship’s carpenter. When Chippy disappears after a stop in Brazil and two of the unexpected recruits go missing, Will is the first to sound the alarm, but there is little Quintrell can do.

The journey to their final destination, a secret place that may or may not exist, is fraught with danger – weather, a leak that was caused on purpose, and others who seek the same treasure as England. Will they survive? Will they find what the Admiralty needs? Will they return safely home?

Muir crafts a spellbinding nautical tale that captures the reader’s attention and never releases it until the final page is turned. Her research and attention to detail are impeccable and her experience as a mariner enhances the adventure. Floating Gold whisks readers back to the heyday of the British navy and while the astounding voyage never actually happened, readers find themselves living the life of a sailor and witnessing the awesome beauty and dangers of Deception Island and sailing the seas on a wooden ship in days of yore.
Reviewed by : Cindy Vallar
Editor, Pirates and Privateers:
http://www.cindyvallar.com/adultpiratebks.html#Floating

FLOATING GOLD review from MyShelf.com

2010-11-15T12:32:00.002+11:00

Floating Gold By Margaret Muir

Captain Oliver Quintrell is hoping for a ship, but the recent Treaty of Amiens and his equally recent injuries make this rather unlikely. But even if he cannot sail off to war, there are other uses for a naval captain and his is to ensure safe passage for a convoy of merchantmen. He also has some sealed orders that have to be opened when he has reached a certain place…

I think Ms Muir is that rarest of rare birds, an author who can fill a fat novel with a long story. Unfortunately she does not get the chance this time, but there is a feeling in this book that despite its comparative brevity what we are getting is a shortened version of a much longer tale. I enjoy naval fiction and was impressed with this tale of sealed orders, adventures, uncharted waters and mysterious happenings. As sea stories go this one ticks all the boxes, and it isn’t even set during wartime. Ms Muir is adept at characterization, plotting and descriptions as well as showing that she knows one end of a ship from the other. We are promised on the flyleaf “unknown dangers and unspeakable horrors” and although I can promise some of these, I wonder what the book would have been like if it had been twice, or three times as long. We will never know, but I reckon it might have been a contender for my top ten books of the year. As it is this is highly recommended, and I do hope the first in a new series.
© 2010 MyShelf.com

Posted at www.MyShelf.Com

FLOATING GOLD review from The Book Bag

2010-11-15T12:27:00.003+11:00

The novel opens with a description of the rotting remains of a human being battered by the waves on the beaches of the Isle of Wight. I cannot recall any book I have ever read starting on a more depressing note, but this is far from a depressing, or disappointing, story.
Floating Gold is an historical naval novel centred around Captain Oliver Quintrell and his crew who set sail on a secret assignment to the Southern Ocean. The story moves at a good pace. The author never dawdles on one scene for too long or gets bogged down. There were a few subplots to support the main story – my favourite being the death of a midshipman during some onboard games.
There is a good contrast to the characters, the most important three being the Captain, his lieutenant, Simon Parry, and the carpenter's mate, Will Ethridge. The characters are developed well and their backstories slot into the story perfectly. The interactions between characters and the rest of the crew is believable and well written.
I think I would have found the story harder to read if I had not recently read a couple of other books from the same genre. Naval terms, such as ketches, brigs, sloops and fo'c'sle were common and if I had not read other naval novels recently or was especially interested in the genre, I am sure I would have found some of the book harder to understand.
There can be no doubting the calibre of the author's writing. I found the book hard to put down and was kept interested throughout. There is a richness and sharpness to the prose that made the book so enjoyable. There were a few moments of humour littered throughout the book, my favourite being the colourful assertion by the Captain that women view news through kaleidoscopic eyes.
I would certainly not hesitate in recommending the book. It is well written and is a good read. I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.

Genre: Historical Fiction
Reviewer: John Harding

Summary: Well paced historical naval fiction set in the Southern Ocean in 1802. A good read with plenty of intrigue and mystery.
Pages: 224 Date: May 2010

Publisher: Robert Hale Ltd
ISBN: 978-0709090519

www.thebookbag.com

FLOATING GOLD - what the reviewers thought

2010-10-31T13:46:00.003+11:00

Below are brief excerpts taken from some additional reviews for FLOATING GOLD.

I read FLOATING GOLD in a couple of sessions and my attention was clearly caught by the storyline and the detailed description of life aboard Elusive. Most engaging of all was the search for the treasure which had me rapt.
Margaret Muir has woven a tale worthy of a Hornblower epic.
John Livermore – Maritime Times of Tasmania

Muir crafts a spellbinding nautical tale that captures the reader’s attention and never releases it until the final page is turned. Her research and attention to detail are impeccable and her experience as a mariner enhances the adventure. FLOATING GOLD whisks readers back to the heyday of the British navy and readers find themselves living the life of a sailor and witnessing the awesome beauty and dangers of Deception Island and sailing the seas on a wooden ship in days of yore.
Cindy Vallar – Ed. Pirates and Privateers (www.cindyvallar.com/pirates.html)

There can be no doubting the calibre of the author’s writing. I found the book hard to put down and was kept interested throughout. There is a richness and sharpness to the prose that made FLOATING GOLD so enjoyable. I would certainly noT hesitate in recommending it.
John Harding – www.thebookbag.co.uk

As sea-stories go, FLOATING GOLD ticks all the boxes. Ms Muir is adept at characterization, plotting and descriptions as well as showing that she knows one end of a ship from another. We are promised on the flyleaf “unknown dangers and unspeakable horrors” and I can promise some of these. Highly recommended and I do hope the first in a new series.
Rachel A Hyde – www.myshelf.com

FLOATING GOLD is an intriguing mystery featuring murder, spies and skulduggery. The plotting and pace are well maintained throughout and the penultimate chapter is page-turning historical fiction at its best. A book to be enjoyed by anyone who likes historical mysteries or cracking adventure yards about ships and the sea.
Marina Maxwell – Historical Novel Society

FLOATING GOLD - a well-crafted story full of interesting places with carefully and accurately detailed descriptions of now nearly-lost seamanship skills: I recommend this book to both the casual reader of a good story and to readers with an interest in sailing ships and seamanship.
Rob Thomas – T’gallant Lookout, Tasmania

The way that the author captured the language of the times, the mannerisms of the characters and sea terms was remarkable…giving the reader a real sense of what it was like during those years. An excellent novel. A great read, expertly crafted.
David Laing – Australian author

FLOATING GOLD is a historical seafaring adventure/mystery which will be a special treat for those who have salt in their veins, or those who enjoy a quest for an unusual treasure at a time when it was valued far beyond anyone’s dreams.
Rose Frankcombe - Stylus Magazine (ed)

I read FLOATING GOLD and found it to be an enthralling read which kept me wondering what the ‘treasure’ would be.
Bob Petrass – Maritime Times of Tasmania (editor)

Finally: Jon Stephenson – geologist, vulcanologist, member of the Fuchs/Hilary Antarctic expedition in 1958 wrote: ‘I enjoyed the story immensely and kept saying to myself, “this must be Deception Island”’. Jon was correct though the island was never identified by name in the story.
Jon Stephenson – Antarctic explorer and author – CREVASSE ROULETTE (2009)

‘Hundreds of billowing sails, resembling patches of morning cloud, were suddenly seen scudding around the rim of the world, while in the east, great golden spokes fanned across the sky like the helm of an ethereal ship rising from the seabed.’

FLOATING GOLD by Margaret Muir – published by Robert Hale Ltd (2010)

Gound Zero

2010-09-11T10:01:00.006+10:00

Last night I watched a DVD – “Ground Zero” (from my local library).
Although today is 11 September, the movie is not about 9/11’s ground zero, but it's about the Atomic testing at Maralinga, in the Australian desert in the 1950s & 60s.
Though this is a fiction story, it is based on fact surrounding the cover up by the British and Australian Governments.

It’s a powerful conspiracy movie and is very well acted (stars Colin Friels, Jack Thompson and Donald Pleasence).
But for me the most powerful message was in the captions which rolled at the end. Here is what was written:

1) At the time of the testing Aborigines were not included in the Australian census. At that time they were classed with livestock like emus and kangaroos.

2) The Maralinga site at Ground Zero will take 25,000 years to return to normal.
Is it surprising that the first land the Australian government returned to the Aborigines was at Maralinga!!!

Have a good day,
Marg

Pic: Parts of Tasmnaia are truly desolate. Despite this, in the early days the Colonial Government did all it could to remove (experminate) all of the indigenous population.

The scars of racism - a true story

2010-09-09T20:27:00.005+10:00

My name is -----, and I am of mixed race, Tasmanian Aboriginal, and Anglo-Saxon. I carry the guilt of one side along with the suffering of the other, with the scars caused by the racism visited on my family and myself by both.

I grew up in a small town, where my grandparents lived; my mum’s parents. Dad’s mum lived about an hour away, and she was disapproving to say the least, of mum, and of us.

But Nanna wasn’t the only one, and, oddly enough, her contempt was the least hurtful, mainly because she was, well, she was Nanna, and she was difficult, and very opinionated, and so far as we could see, she hated all of her children’s spouses. The things that hurt the most were the ones we encountered on a daily basis.

My entire family suffered under the yoke of the label of ‘Abo’, and all the negative connotations of, not so much the word, but the way it was said; with a sneer, and a glower. We were below the lowest rung on the social ladder, and expected to remember that. We were thieves, drunks, child rapists, drunks and violent.

One of the clearest - and most hurtful, even 32 years later - memories of racism I have comes from when I was 8. A girl in my class had invited me to her birthday party, and, all excited to be attending my first ‘proper’ birthday party, I arrived at the appointed time. The main part of the party was outside, we had fairy bread, and cocktail franks, and all the usual party food, until it was time for cake – then we had to go inside, because it was an icecream cake, and a blisteringly hot summer day. Everyone except me that is, I was stopped at the door by her mother, who informed me she didn’t want a ‘filthy, thieving Abo’ in her house. I left in tears, went home, and told my parents I left because I didn’t feel well. To this day, Mum does not know the truth. Dad never knew. It would have destroyed them. As much as it is the job of parents to protect their children, sometimes children have to protect their parents.

I was taunted at school, followed around shops, frisked before leaving, and at times, I was followed home, to be accused of stealing. I was bashed and abused by my peers – those who didn’t go out of their way to avoid me, in case they got some form of contagion from the Abo. If I went to someone’s home, I was expected to enter and leave by the back door, and to make sure there was no-one around to see me arrive or leave. My extended family, most of whom lived out of town, and were the cause of our labelling as thieving, lazy, drunk and violent, were furious with my parents for paying rent to a white landlord, and sending us to a whitefella school, where we were only learning how worthless the whites thought we were.

The most vocal of these was my Uncle, who lived in the bush in a corrugated iron shanty, with his wife, son, and daughter. He was a violent drunk, who delighted in belting his wife and daughter, and would ‘hire’ his family out in exchange for grog. I despised him, and dreaded those occasions where we had to see him. Sadly, he really was my uncle, an actual blood relative. I sincerely hope he burns in Hell. The townspeople I can forgive, to a degree, but not him. The damage he did to me, and my family, as well as his own, is immeasurable, and unforgivable.

We left the area when I was 14, but I still haven’t healed the wounds that those years caused. To this day, I fear being judged for what I am, rather than who I am. I still struggle to get my head around the race debate; I live with one foot on either side of the line, with my head and heart in the middle, spinning in a various random directions. And the older I get, the worse it gets. The scars thicken, and the spinning in my head and heart get faster, and more random.

I have never been back to the town where I spent most of my childhood, and I cannot see it ever happening. There are just too many ghosts, and too much pain. I carry the people there with me every single day, both the good and the bad. I will do so for the rest of my life. And that is ok, they helped shape me.
I will continue to correct those who call me an Indigenous Australian (I find the term offensive), and defend my right to do so.

I will also continue to defend my right to celebrate Australia Day as Australia Day, rather than Invasion Day, as certain activists would have me do. My beliefs and principles are the things that make me who I am, here and now. What happened to me, and my family, in the past, may help to shape me, and continue to hurt me, but it is not who I am. While I may not be completely sure exactly who that is, I am damn sure that whoever it is, is more than the sum of a few strands of DNA.

The writer wished to remain anonymous, but I thank her for allowing me to print her story here

Crevasse Roulette by Jon Stephenson - Review

2010-08-22T16:57:00.003+10:00

Crevasse Roulette
by
Jon Stephenson
Rosenberg, (2009).

Jon Stephenson was the first Australian to reach the South Pole since the Amundsen expedition in 1913. But the adventure was to remain locked in his memory until recently when he decided to commit his story to print. Published in 2009, Crevasse Roulette is Jon’s remarkable story of the 1957-58 trans-Antarctic crossing. Although it happened 50 years ago, it reads as if it was only yesterday.

In 1956, the young Australian geologist was studying in London. He had dreamed of going to Antarctica, so imagine his delight when ‘Bunny’ Fuchs invited him to become a member of the 1957-58 Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition. The plan was to cross from the Weddell Sea, via the South Pole, to Scott Base at the other side of the continent. It was to be the first overland crossing of Antarctica.

The expedition included 18 huskies. Driving one of the two teams to the South Pole, Jon was the first to do so since Amundsen in 1912. He remembers the attachment he had for his dogs. Today dogs are prohibited from travelling to the continent for fear they may transmit disease. This makes Jon’s trek even more remarkable, as such a journey will never be repeated.

Jon experienced a winter of 24 hour nights and freezing temperatures, and as one of the two pathfinders for the mission, recollects setting off on the 2000 mile journey crossing ‘country which no one had ever seen’. He zig-zagged the unforgiving ice which, at any time, could collapse beneath him, plummeting him and his team down a crevasse. He describes one lucky escape: ‘I felt the ground suddenly give way under me and just managed to catch myself on one elbow and my chin.’ With a gaping dark hole beneath him, he describes it as: ‘the stuff of nightmares’.

Crevasse Roulette is well written and is illustrated by Jon’s remarkable original photographs. For anyone who loves a challenge, has a sense of adventure and is awed by the aura of the unforgiving Antarctic continent, I thoroughly recommend this real-life adventure.

Death of a tree – Launceston, Tasmania

2010-07-18T11:04:00.013+10:00

It was a young tree standing tall and proud on the ridge overlooking the Tamar Valley, at the time when convict and bushranger Matthew Brady was making his escape along the river in 1825.
Sadly, a few weeks ago, that tree was felled in the march of progress.

It measured 29 feet around its trunk and must have been over 200 feet high – a true gentle giant which harmed no-one.
Yet from my window, I watched it being torn limb from limb and its roots dragged from the ground by a yellow machine which had no soul.

Twenty years ago, when I lived in Western Australia, I wrote a poem to the demise of the majestic Karri trees in the south west forests.

Here are a few verses from that poem.

The Karri Tree
by Margaret Muir

What dignity, the giant Karri Tree,
Tall sentinel to years of privacy.
A thousand summers bleached her naked boughs
And yet she stoops not and stands tall and proud.

But time runs out as seasons come and go.
Man waits his chance to set upon the wood,
Debase, denature, then depart
No tear, no shame, no guilt fills his cold heart.

Hydraulic mammoths lurk between the trees
Their lethal arms, darting like snapping dogs,
Forward and back in foreboding waves
Menacingly amputating limbs.

A whirring blade wielded like a sword
Slices through myriad rings of life.
Discarded limbs tossed to a haphazard pile
Like headless matches from a broken box.

But mortal man can never emulate
The enviable permanence afforded to the trees
And in his death, man’s ashes to the soil return
Awaited fodder for the forest’s germ.

© * * * * * * * * * *

Antarctic expeditioner - Jon Stephenson

2010-07-17T19:34:00.014+10:00

In this day and age, it is not often one gets the chance to chat with a real life Antarctic explorer. It happened for me at a reception at Tasmania's Government House for delegates of the Antarctic Visions conference.

As we drove to the reception on the coach, I noted an older gentleman sitting alone. He waited until everyone else had alighted and as he did, I mentioned to him that I would appreciate the opportunity to speak to him.
'I'm sure you must have a story,' I said.

Little did I know!
Jon Stephenson was the only Australian chosen for the First Commonwealth Trans Antarctic crossing led by Vivian Fuchs in 1957-58. This was the journey which Sir Ernest Shackleton had planned to make in 1913, but which was aborted when his ship 'Endeavour' became trapped in the ice of the Weddell Sea.

As a young geologist and a mountain climber, Stephenson was studying in London in the 1950s and jumped at the chance to go to Antarctica. 'Bunny' Fuchs led the party which was to head south to the Pole from the Weddell Sea, while Sir Edmund Hillary led the party approaching from the opposite direction (Ross Sea Region) in order to lay supply depots.

Arriving at Antartica in the previous season, Jon and two other scientists wintered on the ice 800 km from the pole, surviving the temperatues of minus 50 degrees and more, and existing through the blackness of 24 hour nights.
As a geologist, Jon took whatever opportunity he could to collect rock samples, like the plant fossils collected by Captain Scott before he died. This evidence proved that the continent of Antarctica was part of the great land mass of Gondwana that had once been joined to Tasmania/Australia.

When spring eventually arrived and the days started to lengthen, Jon and his companions were joined by other members of this Crossing party, and by two teams of huskies. Though he had never driven dogs before, it was Jon's job to drive one of the sledges to the pole. He was also engaged in helping to guide the heavy vehicles through the treacherous crevasses fields.
Like playing Russian Roulette!

On one occasion Jon fell through a snow bridge but managed to lodge an elbow in the snow and prevented himself from falling hundreds of feet to his death.
It took 50 years for Jon to get around to writing a book about his experiences on The Ice.

Published in 2009, Crevasse Roulette captures the essence of the people, places and events of 50 years ago, as though it was only yesterday.
Jon Stephenson was the first Australian to reach the South Pole since Amundsen conquered it in 1913. Jon and his companion were also the first since that time to arrive by dog sled. This achievement will never be repeated as current restriction do not allow dogs on the Antarctic continent.

I felt priveledged to meet Jon that night and thoroughly enjoyed listening to the lecture he gave the following day when he discussed the attributes of various Antarctic expedition leaders. Since returning home, I have read Crevasse Roulette in which Jon tells his remarkable story. It is illustrated by some of his own photographs. If you are awed by the pristine beauty, yet unforgiving nature, of Antarctica and you admire the courage and endurance of the expeditioners, you will enjoy Jon's book.

Pic: His Excellency the Governor of Tasmania and Mrs Underwood. Jon Stephenson centre.
Taffy Williams with the second dog team - photo by Jon Stephenson from his book Crevasse Roulette published by Rosenberg Publishing 2009.

Frozen in time – the tale of two amazing dogs

2010-07-17T14:50:00.014+10:00

Dog's bones - the oldest and the coldest!
The remains of two amazing dogs, frozen in time, echo the past. One reflects the Heroic Era of Antarctic exploration, the other reaches back to the hearty days of Henry VIII.

If only the bones could speak, what a tale those canine ghosts could tell!

When Henry VIII’s warship, Mary Rose, sank off the coast of Portsmouth in 1545, hundreds of sailors and soldiers, went to the bottom of the Solent with her.

The Mary Rose had been sent out with other Tudor navy vessels to engage the approaching French fleet, but without a cannon being fired, the king’s favorite warship heeled over allowing water to pour in through her open gunports. In full view of the royal party, the ship sank to the bottom of the busy roadstead. Settled in layers of silt, the Mary Rose remained there for hundreds of years until twenty years ago when a mammoth effort succeeded in lifting the remains of the near 500 year old ship.

After transporting the remains of the ship's hull to the Royal Naval Dockyard, restoration work began and today the Mary Rose is still undergoing preservation.
Amongst the artifacts collected from the wreck and only recently released for display, is the skeleton of a dog which had been aboard on that fateful day. This exhibit proved to be a star attraction at this years Cruft's Dog Show.

But who had this mongrel dog belonged to - the Captain or one of the nobles? As it was found near the hatch to the carpenter’s cabin, it has been named, Hatch. Being a terrier, it probably was kept busy catching rats as there were no cats on board. Cats were thought to bring bad luck.

During the Heroic Era of exploration in Antarctica, many of the famous explorers used huskies to pull the sledges. Amundsen, Scott and Shackleton, Mawson and others before them all used dogs. In some instances, when provisions ran out, the dogs were killed for food. But eating dogs’ liver, which contains toxic levels of vitamin A, at times proved fatal to some of the explorers.

Captain Scott refused to kill either dogs or ponies for food but in the end he and his four companions died near the South Pole during their unsuccessful attempt to return from it. Scott's unrealistic expectations of the ponies, and his attitude to the dogs, contributed to his disastrous final expedition.

Following the Madrid Protocol on protection of Antarctica, a ruling was made that dogs of any kind should not be allowed on the continent, the reason being that they had the potential to carry and transmit diseases (e.g. distemper) to the polar wildlife – namely penguins and seals.

But the fate of all the dogs which ever went to the pole is not known. Some were returned to northern Europe to work on the snow fields, some died on the Antarctic continent, their carcasses being preserved for who-knows-how long.

In 1998 the carcass of a husky was recovered from the Antarctic Plateau near Cape Denison. How long it had been buried in the snow, no one knows.

I wonder whose sledging team this dog was part of. I wonder if it died on an expedition or ran away. From all appearance of the curled up carcass, it would appear that the dog had settled itself in the snow and gone to sleep, however, its body had succumbed to the sub-zero temperatures with its carcass quickly being covered by the snow of the driving blizzards.
Today the dogs remains are regarded as a historical artifact and preserved as part of the heritage of a bye-gone era.

More to come on Antarctica and a dog sled team.

Pic of Mary Rose, by Geoff Hunt
Pic of 'Hatch' the dog with John Lippiett, Chief Executive of the Mary Rose Trust.
Husky pics from Australian Antarctic Division website.

From Penny Farthings to Punch and Judy

2010-07-17T14:33:00.012+10:00

Where did the first half of the year go to?
For me, it has flown.
I think back and wonder what I have done. One thing’s for sure, I have failed to keep up my regular blog entries.
However, now I sit down and look back over that time, I can see why.
Firstly, I enrolled at the University of Tasmania to commence an Associate degree in Arts – a case of doing some more undergraduate units in areas which interest me.
Semester 1 consisted on History, Aboriginal studies and two units of Antarctic Studies.
One of the reasons for going back to study was to learn more of the history of early Tasmania – Van Diemen’s Land - as it was originally called. The Antarctic units were of interest to me because of my book, Floating Gold in which one third of the book is set in the Antarctic Peninsula. Read about Crevasse Roulette in another post.
What else have I been up to?

I’ve not been anywhere of significance, though in January I visited Cape Grim and the Woolnorth wind farm with my son (visiting from UK). We also went to Hobart and drove up Mount Wellington (see pic), and took a cruise down the Channel to Bruny Island.

In March, I went to the Penny-farthing races which are held annually at Evandale in northern Tasmania.
The Punch and Judy show reminded me of the words from one of my books, The Black Thread – ‘I’m coming to get you!’

During the past few months, I did the final edit on my latest book, Floating Gold and saw it published on 31 May. I did a modicum of publicity, though not as much as I would have liked, however, I am pleased to say that the early reviews are excellent. I just hope the reviews reflect in sales, plus an offer for a large print edition (though I would have expected that to be forthcoming by now).

June was University exam time – not something I enjoy – and afterwards I went to Hobart for two conferences – one on Antarctica and the other on Tasmanian Colonialism and its Aftermath.

The conference topics were interesting but not quite as interesting as some of the people I met, such as the Governor of Tasmania who I was introduced to at a reception at Government House. Also Alice Giles, international and world renowned harpist, and Jon Stephenson - the first Australian to the South Pole after Amundsen. After wintering on the ice, Jon drove a dog team to the pole - but more on Jon and dogs in a later post.

Sadly, a couple of months ago, my mother died in England aged 99. I had planned to go the UK in December to help her celebrate her 100th birthday, but that is not to be. Six weeks later, her sister, also passed away. I think she was 94. Sad time which marked the end of a generation.
So that brings me up to date.
Last week Semester 2 started and I have embarked on 3 History units and 1 unit of Indigenous Studies so, before I get bogged down in assignments, I thought I should update my blog.
Best wishes to you all. I promise my posts will be more regular in future.
Marg
Pics: My sons and I at the top of Mt Wellington, Hobart.
Penny farthing races and Punch and Judy at Evandale, Tasmania.
Penguin pic courtesy of email spam "There is always one idiot in every holiday snap!"

The CONDOR'S FEATHER - Large Print Edition

2010-06-17T20:35:00.005+10:00

There is something very special about Patagonia and the tall Tehuelche Indians who once roamed the Pampas. The magic of Patagonia was one thing which inspired me to write The Condor’s Feather.

Inspirations also came from the real-life adventure of a bold young English aristocrat, Lady Florence Dixie who, in 1878 at age 21, embarked on a ride across the largely unexplored Pampas with her brother. Based loosely on that concept, combined with the carnage of an actual prison mutiny, what better background for a story?

And how could I ignore the magnificent scenery, the snow capped Cordillera, the gorges and raging rivers, and the sunsets...

Thia and her brother clinked their imaginary glasses as the sun finally slid behind the mountain peaks and the night folded down like a concertina curtain - layer upon layer, pink on mauve, purple on blue, grey on navy. Dropping slowly. Pressing every ounce of pigment into the final few inches of sky in a fiery display of burnt orange. Polished mahogany. Burnished gold. The rich colour reflected in the skin of the Tehuelche Indians.

The large print edition of The Condor’s Feather by Margaret Muir was published 1 June by Ulverscroft and is available from The Book Depository post free.

Great reviews for FLOATING GOLD

2010-06-03T09:25:00.005+10:00

FLOATING GOLD was released 31 May and I've already got some great feedback from both UK and US. Here are excerpts from three of the reviews:

FLOATING GOLD is a wonderful blend of classic Georgian naval fiction, a mystery/thriller and a grand treasure hunt. A rousing tale, well told. It's a well-paced and vividly drawn tale of adventure in the high latitudes and on the high seas. Highly recommended.
http://www.oldsaltblog.com

When you have read as many naval fiction novels as I have, the first challenge a new author and book has to meet is - do the story and characters seem fresh? This is a challenge Floating Gold achieves from cover to cover in a pacy narrative which held my attention.

Would I like to read more of Captain Quintrell, Lieutenant Parry, Acting Carpenter Will Ethridge and their adventures? I certainly would.
A book I recommend.
http://www.historicnavalfiction.com

FLOATING GOLD is a nautical thriller that involves a well-plotted treasure hunt. Other nautical heroes too have been chasing treasures on the high seas and in exotic locations, most often Spanish galleons loaded with gold, but none of them – to my knowledge – have ever been chasing a treasure like the one that is featured in this book.
It is an innovative and entertaining tale, rich on detail about England and life at sea, and a tale that is very well told.
FLOATING GOLD is an excellent nautical fiction debut by Margaret Muir. I hope she continues to write about Quintrell – a character that I feel has a lot of potential.

If you like historical fiction, salty sea tales or clever adventures, FLOATING GOLD is a book you should get hold of – it is very entertaining, well written and intelligently plotted!
http://www.navyfiction.com

FLOATING GOLD author interviewed by Historic Naval Fiction

2010-04-11T07:21:00.010+10:00

Astrodene's Historic Naval Fiction is pleased to have obtained an interview with Margaret Muir, author of FLOATING GOLD .

This age-of-sail adventure, published by Hale Books, London, will be released on 31 May 2010 and is already available for pre-order.

I am sure you will find some of the answers very intersting.

What can you tell us about FLOATING GOLD, without spoiling the plot for readers?

The year is 1802 and Captain Oliver Quintrell is frustrated at being land-locked. However, when he is granted a commission, he is cynical that his vessel is a mere frigate. But Elusive is a sound ship and with a seemingly loyal crew he sails from Portsmouth. On entering the tropics, he discovers the purpose of his cruise and from Rio he heads south into the inhospitable waters of the high latitudes beyond Cape Horn.
But the secret orders he has been entrusted with are veiled in mystery and the chances of success seem near impossible. Murder, treason, enemy ships, ice, and the near loss of his ship are but some of the problems to confront him. His mission is to retrieve a valuable cargo and return it to England and Captain Quintrell intends to succeed no matter what the cost.

What made you decide to write your first book in the historic naval fiction genre?

Several things. My love of the Horatio Hornblower series. Inspiration after stepping aboard HMS Victory in Portsmouth. Experiences at sea sailing aboard replica vessels such as Captain Cook's HM Brig Endeavour and the tiny Colonial Brig Lady Nelson. Several voyages on a sail training vessel and a voyage across the Atlantic in a (latter day) barquentine.

What things in particular inspired you to write this book?

Two things. Firstly a visit to the Antarctic Peninsula a few years ago – what a remarkably unforgettable place that is! And secondly reading an article about a lump of ambergris being found on a beach in South Australia.

How did you undertake your research for the book?

My research is mainly through reading, but not fiction (that came earlier). And I tend to read factual seafaring accounts such as Cordingley’s, Billy Ruffian, Taylor’s, The Caliban Shore, Bergreen’s, Over the Edge of the World, besides reference books such as Goodwin’s, Nelson’s Men o’ War and similar. I read almost anything which is related to the days of wooden sailing ships. Obviously I also use the internet and where possible view primary source material of ships’ logs, reports or personal letters.

Where did your interest in the sea originate?

I don’t know. Perhaps from a model fully rigged wooden sailing ship which always graced the sideboard when I was growing up.
Then in the late 1990s I took my first tall-ship sailing adventure – a 12 day voyage as trainee crew on a barquentine, STS Leeuwin. Sitting on deck on bow watch one night while in the Indian Ocean, I was amazed to see the marine luminescent particles sparkling in the bow wave. At the time I didn’t know what this phenomenon was. I called these flashes of light illusive diamonds (they reminded me of the illusionist’s magic dust) and Illusive Diamonds was the proposed title for my first book. I was later advised that title would never sell so I changed it to Sea Dust which is less inspiring but possibly more marketable.

What drew you to write your first novel?

As I said, my first novel, Sea Dust (2005) was a sea story – a historical fiction story with a female protagonist. Set in 1856 in Whitby, Yorkshire it tells the tale of a young woman who escapes from England by stowing away on a cargo vessel and sailing to Australia. In retrospect, I think the story epitomises my own fantasies to run away. (I did leave Yorkshire many years ago and emigrated to Australia but my passage was on a Boeing 707)

Do you plan your stories before starting to write?

No. I don’t have a pre-conceived plot. If a particular setting or a person or action grabs me, that is where I begin and I let it flow from there. Sometimes the idea I come up with might be midway through the story (as with Sea Dust onboard ship). I then have to thread a beginning to it. Sometimes the most amazing things crop up as the story progresses which surprises even me.

Are your books available?

My previous four titles are available in Large Print only as they never went into paperback after the hardback edition sold out. The Condor’s Feather (2009) – an equestrian adventure set in Patagonia – is still available from on-line bookshops in hardback. FLOATING GOLD can be ordered on-line from The Book Depository, Hale Books or any on-line bookstore.

What intrigues you about the period in which the book is set?

I love the sense of adventure, heroes, challenges, hubris, courage, loyalty, tenacity and ingenuity; of man against man, and man against the elements.

Are you planning to write further naval fiction books set in the age of sail?

I had started writing the sequel to FLOATING GOLD, before I got sidetracked on a book about Tasmanian bushrangers. To complicate matters further, this year I embarked on more university studies. However if FLOATING GOLD is well received there will certainly be a sequel. Originally I had plans for a series of sequels and possibly a prequel.

Is there anything else you would like to share with readers?

Writing is a lonely experience and authors get little feedback about their work - either good or bad. Without any follow up it’s hard to know what readers really want. I’m always happy to take on board any comments, feedback, suggestions or offers from publishers to take up the paperback rights.

My thanks to the Historic Naval Fiction Blog for this interview.

To read more about the book, go to www.squidoo.com/floatinggold

Interview with Margaret Muir - written by Astrodene

Chile aware of Tsunami and earthquake dangers

2010-03-01T00:20:00.008+11:00

While a catastrophic tsunami or earthquake is something no country wants to experience, these sorts of natural disasters are eventuallities which Chileans have some provisions for.

I have visited Chile on two occasions and was told in Santiago back in 2004 that a big earthquake in the region was overdue.
The last one they experienced measured over 9 on the Richter Scale. It was the biggest quake on record in the world.

When I visited in 2008, I noticed on almost every street corner of one of the northern Chilean coastal towns, Tsumani warning signs with arrows pointing to higher ground.

Why is it then that warnings on Australian beaches go unheeded by some brave/foolish beachgoers?
The cost of installing these systems must be enormous but some folk treat the early warnings almost as a joke. And some are disappointed if they do not see the catastrophic tsunami wave.

This is the second quake in a short period of time (Haiti only a few weeks ago). Obviously some of the tectonic plates are on the move?

The big question is - is California due for the big one?
I've never been to Califormia (apart from changing planes in LA) but I doubt they have warning signs on the street corners - and if they do, will people take heed of them when the sirens sound?

Giant icebergs collide off Antarctica

2010-02-26T13:17:00.009+11:00

Australia's ABC TV announced today that a gigantic iceberg measuring 78 km long by 39 km wide and 400 meters thick has broken from the tongue of the Mertz Glacier in Antarctica. The calving was due to another berg of similar size colliding with it.

The report stated that this event was not related to global warming but that there could be long term effects from these two giant bodies of ice if they remain where they are. They may have an effect on ocean currents and temperature.

ABC News on-line states: “With an area of more than 2,500 square kilometres, the iceberg is bigger than the Australian Capital Territory [or Luxemburg], and holds enough fresh water to supply all of the earth's human needs for a year.”
That is one big berg!

Having commenced Antarctic studies at the University of Tasmania only this week, I find this event intriguing and the sheer dimensions of this berg mind boggling.

Pic: Relatively small iceberg photoed at a distance of several miles in the Southern Ocean.
Pic: Relatively tiny glacier in the Chilean Fjords. Note the insignificant size of the cruise ship.

AVATAR - first-rate, must-see movie

2010-02-17T11:22:00.004+11:00

Being nearer 60 than 16, not being a lover of Sci-fi/fantasy, and never having seen a 3-D movie before, I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy this mainly animated movie or not.

However, I saw it the first week it was out and thought it was brilliant.

If you haven’t seen it you must – Avatar is not only a box-office hit and is breaking all previous movie records, but it’s a first-rate must-see movie!

Producer, James Cameron’s presentation of the planet Pandora is remarkable and the scenery (real photography from China) for the floating rocks is breathtaking. The animated flying creatures and costume design are all deserving of Oscar nominations, as are some of the performances.

Little known Australian actor Sam Worthington plays the main role; Zoë Saldana is Neytiri, Sigourney Weaver supports.

My only criticism is of Sigourney Weaver smoking in a high tech lab. This would not be allowed despite her status. And the guerrilla warfare scenes for me were reminiscent of my grandson’s animated war games.

All-in-all, a remarkable movie which I will buy when it comes out on DVD.

Earthquake hits Haiti

2010-01-15T07:42:00.005+11:00

News of the humanitarian disaster in Haiti is still unfolding and it will be weeks before the final death toll is known.
Doctors without Borders or Medicins sans Frontieres is the organisation which I support on a monthly basis and the organisation which is sending a 50-bed portable hospital to Haiti to assist with the disaster relief.

If you have not heard of this organisation here is a little of its history.

In 1970 French doctors who had worked in Biafra joined forces Raymond Borel's group called Secours Médical Français ("French Medical Relief") in response to the 1970 Bhola cyclone, which killed at least 500,000 in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The aim was to recruit doctors to provide aid to victims of natural disasters.

On 20 December 1971, the two groups of colleagues merged to form Médecins Sans Frontières.
MSF’s first mission as an independent aid organization was to the Nicaraguan capital, Managua, where a 1972 earthquake had destroyed most of the city and killed between 10,000 and 30,000 people. The organization is today known for its quick response in an emergency.

If you live in Australia, you can contribute through the Austalian office on 1300 136061 or contact them through their website at Medicins sans Frontieres

Tasmanian White Hawk

2009-11-22T08:57:00.009+11:00

Plover's eggs

The Tasmanian White Hawk is a magnificent bird and yesterday afternoon I watched a bird of like description circling my house. The white is a species of raptor and is a rare and endangered species.

"There are only 150 pairs of them in the state. They are the only pure white hawk in the world and shooting them carries a fine in excess of $15,000," reported Linda Smith in The Mercury (2 Feb 2009)
She told of a hawk found near Hobart with shotgun pellets in its chest. It has been taken to a vet and hopefully survived.

What amazed me about my sighting was that until yesterday morning I had never heard of a White Hawk but as part of my research into Tasmania’s history, I had been reading The History of Tasmania written by John West in 1852.
In the section in Zoology West writes:

The beautiful white hawk (Astur Novae Hollandiae, Cuv.) erroneously called an albino by Mr Gould, once very abundant is now becoming rare, having been nearly extirpated by the sake of its skin by the zeal of bird collectors.

Later in the day, when I was in the garden in Grindelwald, I heard the frantic cries of a plover (masked lapwing) overhead. Looking up I saw a very large grey/white bird gracefully circling the area with a (comparatively small) plover flapping around it, screeching. Plovers (also fully protected by law) are medium-sized conspicuous birds with loud, penetrating calls.

Only a couple of weeks ago the plover fledged 3 chicks from a clutch of 4 eggs in my garden and whenever I walked outdoor the pair of plovers would swoop down and scream at me.
It was obvious the hawk was circling in search of a meal and the pair of plovers knew it.

With a broad wingspan, greyish white underneath, the bird glided unperturbed. Its movements were like that of a condor.

I watched until it drifted away and felt privileged to have seen such a rare specimen, I wondered however if this was a true white hawk because of its rareity or if it was one of the sea-eagles which nest on the Tamar Valley not many miles from where I live.

Pics: plovers eggs in the garden and hatched chick
Note: I am told that plovers eggs are not white but dark and speckled. I can assure you however that these are the eggs which the plover sat on and the fledgling chics are definitely plovers.

Matthew Brady - Tasmanian bushranger

2009-11-20T09:12:00.007+11:00

Now 75% through my research in the life of Bushranger, Matthew Brady, I am finding the study intriguing. I am also discovering that there is far more to the early days of Tasmania than just convicts and settlers, and that the legacy of the events which took place in the early 1800s are still with us today.

If you are interested in the life and times of the 'gentleman' bushranger, the members of Brady's gang, the penal settlements and more you can find it at my Matthew Brady Squidoo site.

Having obtained permission to reproduce images of Brady and his gang-members from the artwok of convict artist, Thomas Bock from Dixson Library, NSW, it's possible to see how very young and fresh-faced some of these 'notorious' convicts were. The crimes many had committed were equivalent to the 'receiving a stolen chocolate Freddo Frog incident' which was reported last week on the news in Australia.

The penalties these young convicts received - transportation to the colonies for seven years - and the treatment they received were incomprehensible.

Last week also, I watched the APOLOGY from the Prime Minister to the FORGOTTON CHILDREN - the infants taken from England or from their parents and placed in 'homes' in Australia where many were subjected to brutal treatment and abuse.

Perhaps we should apologise to the young juvenile deliquents of the early 1800s who, as a consequence of the inhuman treatment they received at the hand of the authroities, escaped to the bush to fend for themselves. As bushrangers they robbed to feed and cloth themselves and many of them, like Brady and his gang, ended up on the gallows.

Pic: Matthew Brady from 'James McCabe, Matthew Brady, Patrick Bryant', ca. 1823 - 1843. by Thomas Bock in his 'Sketches of Tasmanian Bushrangers'. (Ref: DL PX 5/ f.8 ) Pic: Gregory, Brown and MacKenny - ca. 1823 - 1843. by Thomas Bock in his 'Sketches of Tasmanian Bushrangers'. Courtesy of Dixson Library, State Library of NSW.

Bothwell's sundial - one of 12 in Tasmania

2009-11-20T08:54:00.007+11:00

The sundial at Bothwell is one of only twelve authentic, functional and accurate sundials in Tasmania according to an expert in the field, John Hall.

It was erected as a war memorial in the historic village of Bothwell in Tasmania.

Other Tasmanian sundials include those at Battery Point, the Botanic Gardens, UTAS, the White House at Westbury, Clarendon House and the Launceston Masonic Centre. I must check them out on my travels.

Devonport has an intersting water sundial.

Pics: Two faces of the dial - Oct 2009

THE ITALIAN AFFAIR by Loren Teague

2009-11-14T08:14:00.008+11:00

New Zealand author, Loren Teague’s forthcoming novel, The Italian Affair is already advertised at THE BOOK DEPOSITORY which offers a discount price and free postage worldwide. This represents a significant saving to overseas buyers.

As I thoroughly enjoyed reading Loren’s previous novels, True Deception and Ultimate Betrayal, I look forward to reading this story which is due for release in February 2010. This thilller novel is Loren’s third book with Hale

The story sounds intriguing:
Gina Rosselini, the granddaughter of a wealthy fishing magnate, lives a charmed life until her twin sister, Maria, is shot on her wedding day, and Gina is marked as the gunnman's next target. The Rosselini family hire Rick Caruso, an ex-cop and private investigator, to act as a bodyguard for Gina...but Gina has other plans. A strong, independent woman, Gina has no intention of letting Rick protect her. Then, an attempt on her life changes everything. As the danger escalates, Gina must face her worst fears. Meanwhile, the killer watches her from the shadows, waiting for his moment to strike...
The Italian Affair is currently advertised at 25% discount for pre-publication orders.

Post Script:
Sadly only a few weeks after posting this announcement, Loren lost her battle with cancer and died at her home in Nelson, New Zealand.
Rest in Peace, Loren.

Do poppies bloom in Flanders fields in November?

2009-11-11T14:24:00.010+11:00

As a girl growing up in England I remember Armistice Day being called Poppy Day.

In Australia we call it Rememberance Day but the poppy is still the iconic symbol of rememberance.

Last night I spoke to my 99 year old Mum on the phone and she told me that her brother had died in the trenches on Armistice Day - I believe he was 18 years old and had just gone to war.
My mother's memory of the time is that her mother's hair turned white virtually overnight when she received the news of her son's death.

When I was driving south last week I took a picture of some poppies growing wild in a field (in November) - but I now live in Tasmania in the southern hemisphere.

Surely there are no poppies in the fields of Flanders in Europe in November?
Pic: A poppy in my garden in Western Australia (2006)

POST SCRIPT: (Inserted Nov. 2010)

Since writing this post, I discoverd that my mother's memories were not quite correct but that her brother was 21 when he was killed in action and the date of his death was 19th November, 1915. Sadly, my mother passed away a few months ago so this year Rememberance Day will be all the more poignant.

Pic: Grave of my Great Uncle, T. W. Ettershank, who died in the Great War.
My sincere thanks to my friend from Belgium who visited the New Irish Farm War Cemetery and placed the poppy memorial (6 Nov 2010).

Huon Valley Schools' writing camp - 2009

2009-11-04T08:06:00.006+11:00

A mixed bag of participants enjoyed three days writing in the south coast wilderness forest on the banks of the Esperance River.

Writers' camp in Tasmania's Wilderness

2009-11-04T07:53:00.005+11:00

The south west wilderness of Tasmania is a great place to hold a 3-day writing event. The venue was a campsite near Dover (90 km south of Hobart) on the banks of the Esperance River.

I was asked to participate as Writer in Residence for a group of 31 school students who came from various schools in the Huon Valley.
The children had to compete for a place on the camp by presenting a piece of work in which they considered the word ‘RESILIENCE.’

During the camp we looked at various aspects of writing from how to structure a story, to poetry – blank verse to bush poems and haiku - to writing about animals and finally, to the publishing and editing processes.

Also presenting workshops were Damien Bester, journalist from The Mercury in Hobart and artist, Barfield who showed the children how to draw cartoons.

An evening bonfire on the banks of the Esperance River gave local historian and writer, Paddy Prosser the opportunity to provide a dramatic presentation of the French connection in southern Tasmania. Dressing a dozen of the kids in French costumes and handing round a 10 year old hard tack biscuit were just two of the highlights.

The only lowlights were the mosquitos and the leeches which were attracted to one of the boys legs when he went hiking through the bush.

FLOATING GOLD by Margaret Muir

2009-11-03T23:00:00.008+11:00

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Here it is - the jacket cover for FLOATING GOLD, my latest novel due for release by Hale Books, London, in May 2010.

The artwork is certainly bright and colourful and hopefully will be eyecatching on the library shelf.

This is my fourth book cover (out of 5) by artist, Michael Thomas.

The Blurb which will appear inside the jacket flap reads as follows:

1802 - The fragile peace with France has brought massive debt and unemployment to England and frustration to its naval officers.

After an enforced absence, Captain Oliver Quintrell is eager to return to the sea, but the commission he is granted leaves him cynical and disappointed. In command of a mere frigate, he heads south unaware of the unimaginable dangers which lie ahead.

The seething Southern Ocean, enemy ships, a discontented crew and the secrets held by a living breathing volcanic island pose more of a threat than a full broadside from a man-of-war.

FLOATING GOLD is a nautical fiction adventure which follows the tradition of the CS Forester and Patrick O’Brian novels.

Margaret Muir (Tasmania)

Van Diemen's Land - Review - VDL movie a mere appetizer

2009-11-01T10:51:00.009+11:00

For me Jonathon auf der Heide's film, Van Diemen’s Land did not go far enough.
The title is somewhat misleading, as cinamagraphiically, the movie did not portray Van Diemen’s Land (VDL) of the 1820s. It only provided a cameo picture of Tasmania’s awesome West Coast wilderness forest which surrounds Macquarie Harbour.

Having known the movie was to be about Alexander Pearce, the cannibal, I was disappointed that the story's plot was no more than Pearce’s first escape attempt along with seven other convicts.
(When he was captured, he admitted his crimes but his story seems too far fetched and he was not believed. The second time Pearce escaped he was found in possession of a human limb and was hung.)
After a few days in the forest, the eight men run out of food, and through frustration and anger begin to feed off each other.
Like the lore of the sea, this seems almost logical under the circumstances.

Apart from the opening scene where the barefoot prisoners patiently await the order to swim to the waiting whaleboat, there is little indication of their festering desperation to escape from the hell-hole that was Sarah Island.

It was disillusioning for me to see convicts who were made to toil twelve hours in deplorable conditions and fed on incredibly meagre rations, looking fit and healthy, with perfect teeth and one at least with a neatly trimmed beard – and tall at that.
In dress and stature, producer Oscar Redding, who played Pearce, presented as the most convincing character.

The wilderness scenery of the Gordon and King Rivers area creates a chillingly haunting atmosphere, though to traverse those areas is even more difficult than depicted in the film. Unfortunatley, some of the scenes filmed in Victoria depict countryside which is foreign to the Macquarie watershed.

Having recently visited the area to learn about VDL’s history and to see first hand the site of the convict settlement (see earlier blog posts), and to cruise the waterways of the King and Gordon Rivers, I wanted more.

The convict history of Van Diemen’s Land, in particular the settlement in Macquarie Harbour, is incredibly rich and disturbing. The movie Van Diemen’s Land is a mere tempting appetizer.

Lady Nelson sails south

2009-10-23T16:21:00.003+11:00

The 3-day sail for members of the Tasmanian Sail Training Association was to Pedra Branca off the southern coast of Tasmania.
Unfortunatley the conditions were not the best, but everyone agreed it was a great weekend. You can read about it in the following post.
Pic: Lady Nelson at her home port: Hobart, Tasmania

Elusive Pedra Branca

2009-10-23T16:06:00.008+11:00

Last weekend I joined The Lady Nelson in Hobart for a 3-day sail. The destination was Pedra Branca – a ‘white rock’ 16 nautical miles off the south coast of Tasmania. As we sailed down the Derwent River the sea unremarkable but during the night, when we the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, the wind and sea picked up.

Like most of the crew trying to grab some sleep, it was a near impossibility, and with a 3m swell rolling up from the SW and a 1-2m sea from the W, the replica colonial brig was tossed like a cork.

That morning dawn was slow to break. Curtains of ominous clouds gathered, as I thought about Pedra Branca, and visualized the striking images I had seen on the Web of this isolated and inhospitable island.

The Pedra Branca group lies at lat. 43 deg. 50 S and long.146 deg. 58 E. The largest island, Pedra Branca, was named by Abel Tasman in 1642. It is 270m long, 100m wide, and rises to 60m in height and covers 2 ha. In geographical terms, it is borderline between being classified as a rock, an islet or an island.
The smaller islands are Mewstone, Eddystone and Sidmouth Rocks. Over fifteen thousand years ago this group was part of the Tasmanian mainland and is listed as a World Heritage site. Three of the islands are composed of dolerite and sandstone which rise vertically from the ocean floor, but thousands of years of erosion have led to the formation of giant steps which rise to a height of 60 metres. The apparent white colouration is from guanno left by thousands of pairs of seabirds.

Sea conditions in this area can be treacherous and in 2002, a young research scientist was washed from the rocks by a freak wave despite having climbed to 45m above the sea. At the time the swell was recorded at almost 14m. And in 1973, a Japanese steel fishing vessel of 254 gross tons, hit the islet and sank within minutes. All but one of her 22 crew drowned.

As the Lady Nelson was tossed about, I considered how the tiny colonial brig, had battled the waves on her voyages in the early 1800s. The seas we were experiencing were small compared to the near 14m swell running on that fateful day in 2003.

But the Southern Ocean can be a fickle body of water and at 7 nautical miles from the islands, the captain decided it was best to head back to the mainland.

Sitting at the stern and watching the following sea, I noted two angular grey smudges floating on the rippling horizon behind us. They appeared like a pair of ghost ships but I realised this was Pedra Branca and one of the other islands.

I may not have sailed around Pedra Branca, but at least I can say I have seen the island, albeit from a distance.

Pics: Dolerite cliffs at Cape Raoul + SW Tassie mainland + Pedra Branca courtesy of Jane Elek from the 2010 voyage which made it to the island

FLOATING GOLD - author takes nautical fiction tack

2009-10-23T08:36:00.004+11:00

Due for publication by Robert Hale, London in May 2010, FLOATING GOLD is an age-of-sail nautical fiction adventure. It is set in 1802 during the awkward Peace of Amiens when both naval ships and men lay idol. Frustrated by an old injury and by the Admiralty’s lack of response to his recent requests for a commission, Captain Quintrell reminisces:

Closing his eyes for a moment, he pictured a white beach the morning after battle. A bay littered with bloated bodies, some washed ashore, others turning in the shallows like pigs roasting on spits – carcases rolling over and over unable to made landfall. Dead men stripped of clothes and skin. Faceless faces devoid of their human masks. Arms, wrenched from shoulders, scattered haphazardly. Hands poking up through sand. Fingers outstretched in supplication. Severed heads without ears. Human hair blowing in the breeze. The scream of frenzied gulls.

Such an inglorious end robbed a man not only of his raiments but all evidence of nationality, allegiance and rank. For those departed souls there was neither honour nor glory nor recognition - not even a Christian burial. Their mortal remains would be stripped clean by armies of invading crabs. And there were many fat crabs on the beaches that season.

When he is summonsed to attend the Sea Lords, the captain receives his orders - to head for the Southern Ocean in search of an unspecified treasure. But when Oliver Quintrell sets sail from Portsmouth, he has no idea of the dangers which lie ahead.

FLOATING GOLD is a maritime adventure inspired by the classic seafaring stories of CS Forester and Patrick O’Brian. Unlike Margaret Muir’s previous books, this novel targets a male audience.

Geoff Hunt's magnificent MARY ROSE

2009-10-13T12:43:00.004+11:00

This year marks the 500th aniversary of the launching of the Mary Rose in 1509. It also marks a special project launched to help fund the new Museum to house the hull of the Mary Rose and display recovered items which have previously never been exhibited.
In support of the project Geoff Hunt has donated his recent magnificent painting of Henry V111's flagship to the Mary Rose Trust.

To view the pic go to: MARY ROSE
To find out more about the project go to: maryrose500.org

Contents of Bonaparte’s Carriage – Windsor soap, Moroccan slippers and eau de Cologne

2009-10-09T13:24:00.006+11:00

Browsing through Saturday morning’s Hobart Town Gazette - 14 September, 1816 (as one would), I read a remarkable article about Bonaparte’s carriage.
This fine vehicle was taken by General Kellerman at the Battle of Waterloo (June 1815) and sold to the Prince Regent for 3000 guineas.
The news article describes the interior in fine detail.

Inside the carriage were many compartments for maps and telescopes, a small writing desk beneath which was a hole for an iron bed (folding), two merino mattresses, and a liquor case.
The accessaire, an elegant mahogany box, contained mother-of-pearl razors, silver toothbrush, shaving box, ink stand and sand box, teapot and sugar box and two elegant candle sticks.
Napoleon’s personal items included several bottles of eau do Cologne, and eau de lavender – even (despite his old English enemy) bars of Windsor soap.
Apart from rum and sweet wine in his liquor case, there was also a silver mustard box, silver plates and cutlery, even a box for sandwiches.
Other items in the coach – a pair of red morocco slippers, green velvet cap, a silver chamber pot and a large silver watch on a chain with an alarm.
Bonaparte obviously valued his comfort when travelling.

Sadly in 1825, the carriage on display at Madame Tussaud's was consumed by fire You can read more in the following post.

Pic: Replica of Napoleon’s carriage created by Lewis Colburn for Interregnum (1815-1969)

Lewis Colburn’s Interregnum (1815-1969) features Bonaparte’s carriage

2009-10-09T13:09:00.009+11:00

Following the French defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, Bonaparte’s carriage was taken as one of the spoils of war. Once in England, it was displayed around the length and breadth of Britain attracting huge crowds.

In her Perthshire Diary (April 19th 1818) Miss Wright wrote:
“Sat in it a while. Had such an odd feeling in doing so, to think that I was in the very seat of one that almost ruled the world. The jewels and plate very beautiful and everything so compact and neat. The Major (her friend’s dog) in it too, forsooth. Barked at such a rate. It came early this morning. Goes off at five tomorrow.” Next day “While we were at breakfast, Bonaparte’s carriage passed down on its way to Stirling, the four brown horses and the same driver he had at Waterloo.”
Imagine being allowed to take one’s dog into such a treasure!

In 1842, the carriage was acquired by Madame Tussaud's where it remained until 1925 when on 18 March, a disastrous fire swept through the waxworks, destroying not only the carriage but also the Napoleon Room. All that remained was a single twisted axle.

Recently, sculptor/artist Lewis Colburn rebuilt an exact replica of this magnificent vehicle and included it in his mixed media installation – Interregnum (1815-1969).
In the exhibit the carriage is presented as having crashed onto the lunar surface.

For me, the project appears to bridge the void, loosely linking the aspirations of past and latter day travellers striving but not always succeeding to conquer vaste new territories.
Interregnum is currently on exhibition at Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, NY

Note: Interregnum is literally the period during which a state has no normal ruler.
Interregnum Image: Courtesy of Lewis Colburn
The group of Italian re-enactment soldiers adds to the atmosphere. (Photo: Hugo Munoz)

Mao’s Last Dancer – a must see movie

2009-10-08T18:26:00.004+11:00

If you haven’t yet seen it, I recommend you do.
Both the acting and choreography are excellent. The movie is brilliantly directed with some great sound effects. And the snapshots scenes in China are a stark contrast to the city of Huston, Texas.

Li Cunxin’s story, first published as a biography, is unforgettable. From his childhood, growing up in poverty in Communist China, to his defection in America through to the final dramatic climax, the story reveals what one man can achieve through artistic talent and determination.

The few reviews which I have read, which are less positive, come from male reviewers. I believe it will be the females in the audience whose hearts will be touched by this powerful story. Interestingly however, in an interview on ABC (AU) radio this morning, the male critic admitted that he was unable to halt the flow of tears at the emotional climax.

I was the same and would liken my feelings to those at the end of Finding Neverland, A Town like Alice, and Billy Elliot.
Made on a limited budget by Australian director Bruce Beresford, Mao’s Last Dancer features world renowned dancer Chi Cao playing the role of (adult) Li Cunxin. It also features members of the Australian Ballet.
It is a splendid movie which I will certainly buy when it comes out on DVD.

Note: Li Cunxin now lives in Melbourne Australia and recently received the award of Australian Father of the Year, 2009.

Weapons of sea war - 1802

2009-10-03T08:35:00.005+10:00

During the Napoleonic wars such lethal weapons were fired from cannon on board fighting ships.
The design of the weapons was to facilitate maximum damage to the enemy - both man and ship.
Here you see Chain Shot and Shot with Points for a 12 pounder smoothbore gun.

I don't expect my forthcoming book to have such devastating effects however I can advise that FLOATING GOLD, and age-of-sail adventure, will be published in late May 2010.

I took this picture in the Maritime Museum in Valparaiso, Chile.

Heritage Highway to Hobart - in search of Bushrangers

2009-09-18T08:14:00.006+10:00

Last week I went to Hobart to learn of Tasmania’s history in particular about Van Diemen's Land bushranger, Matthew Brady.
It’s only a 200 mile journey from Launceston to Hobart but the Midlands are rich in the history of early settlement and most places still retain the names given by early settlers – Tunbridge, Jericho, Bagdad, Jerusalem (now Colebrook) and Oatlands.

The Heritage Highway, as it is now called, was once the stage coach route and in the early days there were four miliary posts between Hobart and the north and towns grew up around them. The soldiers’ duty was to apprehend bushrangers and escaped convicts.
The town of Oatlands still has 87 sandstone Georgian buildings, the largest collection in Australia – many of these were built by convict labour and today retain the character of the 19th Century. Included is the oldest Supreme Courthouse in the country.
Oatlands also has some remarkable modern metal sculptures dotted across the hillsides which remind the traveller of its history.
It is claimed that the first game of golf in Australia was played in the town of Bothwell on Alexander Reid's property 'Ratho' in the 1820s – this early golf course is still in use today. And Bothwell, being settled by Scots was the home of Australia's first and oldest pedigree Aberdeen Angus stud.
Pics: Metal sculptures on the hills – bushrangers and a troop of soldiers plus beautiful houses and Georgian buildings are everywhere

In 1642 Abel Tasman landed in Tasmania

2009-09-18T08:03:00.007+10:00

Following the decline of Spain in the 16th century, the Dutch expanded their trading activities in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). They wanted to explore and chart the waters off west coast Australia.
When Abel Tasman sailed with his two armed merchant vessels and crew of 110 men from Batavia, he was instructed to take possession of all continents and islands which he discovered.

On 1642 he sighted a land mass unknown to any European nation and gave it the name of ‘Anthony van Diemens Landt’ in honour of the Governor General of Batavia. A landing party came ashore on November 24 at what is now Blackman Bay and a second party took possession for the Dutch by planting a flag.
The ships then sailed eastward and discovered ‘Staten Landt’ (New Zealand) and other Pacific Islands.
There is no mention of Tasman entering Macquarie Harbour - perhaps like other later navigators he did not realise what was beyound The Gates.
Tasman died in 1659 - almost 150 years before Captain Cook charted the Australian coast.
For many years, Tasmania was known as Van Diemen’s Land and the west coast of Tasmania still reflects the remarkable voyages of those early Dutch navigators.
North of the entrance to Macquarie Harbour though the entrance to ‘Hell’s Gates’ (see later postings) are the peaks which still bear the names of Abel Tasman's ships - Heemskerck and the smaller Fluyt Zeehaen. Other Tasmanian coastal features still retain the Dutch names.
Pics: statue of Abel Tasman and his two ships (Hobart waterfront)

Hobart harbour - past

2009-09-18T07:48:00.003+10:00

Hobart's present wharfs are built on reclaimed land.
In the days of the first fleet, ships docked in the Derwent River or tied up against the wooden wharf built on the tiny Hunter Island in Sullivan’s Cove. One of the first jobs assigned to the convicts was to construct a stone causeway joining the island to land. Today this area now has wharf buildings on it.
The information reads:
In the centre of this cove is a small island, connected with the mainland at low water, admirably adapted for the lands and reception of stores and provisions…
The Ocean and Lady Nelson are lying within half a cable’s length of the shore in nine fathoms. (David Collins, 1804)
In 1804 Colonel David Collins selected Sullivan’s Cove for the settlement on the Derwent. Hunter Island was linked to the cove by a causeway constructed by the first convicts. On this reclaimed sandpit the merchants built warehouses. For the first 30 years this area was the centre of commerce and shipping. At first there was a small jetty but no wharf and convicts, settlers and cargo had to be carried between ship and shore by boat.
It was not long before small shops were built along the causeway and land was reclaimed along the waterfront. After a fire wiped most of these out, new warehouses replaced them. Today these elegant buildings still grace Sullivan's Cove.
Pic: Information poster on waterfront and the section of the waterfront with restored wharf buildings

Reflections on the Lady Nelson

2009-09-18T07:38:00.004+10:00

Considering the original Colonial Brig, Lady Nelson is pictured (in post above) at anchor in Sullivan's Cove in 1804, it’s quite remarkable to be able to sail on the replica vessel over 200 years later.

The Lady Nelson offers short cruises throughout the summer at only $15. It's a great way to see the harbour and to step back in history.
As a volunteer crew member, I managed two sails this weekend.

In the next dock is the Windward Bound which also provides harbour voyages and charters

Pic: Lady Nelson and Windeward Bound

Hobart Harbour – today

2009-09-18T07:33:00.003+10:00

Today the harbour also houses a fishing fleet, harbour cruise boats both old and new, water taxis, ocean going yachts and also the Aurora Australis.
This polar vessel is an icebreaker/expedition ship which services the Australian Antarctic expeditions.
In the background is Mount Wellington with its snowy cap.
Pics: Antarctic exploration vessel and sculptures at Sullivan’s Cove remind visitors of Tasmania’s history of whaling and sealing

Relaxing for lunch on the Derwent River

2009-09-18T07:25:00.004+10:00

What better way to enjoy the Derwent River and an excellent lunch than on one of the old ferry boats which once graced Sydney Harbour.
The Emmalisa has seen better days but she is still a fine old lady and offers morning, lunch and dinner cruises on the Derwent River.
Run by Captain Fells Cruises, this is the cheapest cruise on offer but don’t discount it because of the price.
When I was on the boat it struck me that Mount Wellington is unchanged from the time it was seen by the first convicts when they were ferried ashore to set up Hobarton, (now Hobart), Van Diemen’s Land.
Pics: Emmalisa and Hobart’s residential waterfront

Mount Wellinton - Hobart

2009-09-18T07:13:00.005+10:00

Mount Wellington dominates the town of Hobart and overlooks the Derwent River and on a fine day it is worth a visit.
This dolerite mountain is over 4000 feet high and carries snow to 400 ft in the winter.
You can drive up (or cycle as some do!). The road winds to the very top where there is a viewing platform and an observation area. If you look closely you can just see Hobart's Wrest Point Casino on the bay.
But dress for the cold. Even on a good day the temperature can be 10degrees below that of Hobart and with nothing to stop it, the wind tries to blow you over.
From the top of the mountain you can get a 360 degree view of the south west of Tasmania and down to the Southern Ocean.
It’s remarkable.
Pics: Viewing platform and snow - it’s still cold in Southern Tasmania in September

Australia’s biggest market is in Hobart – Salamanca Market

2009-09-18T06:55:00.004+10:00

Salamanca Place is situated on the Hobart waterfront.
The Georgian buildings which line the street were hand-hewn in sandstone and were originally built as warehouses for a busy harbour and growing settlement.
Today the area has become synonymous with arts, crafts, fine wining and dining and also with the very popular outdoor market held here ever Saturday.
Salamanca Market is Australia’s biggest, brightest and best outdoor market.
Stalls and vendors sell everything from hot baked potatoes to antiquarian books, from hand-carved craft in Huon pine to sheepskin boots – I bought some! And while you shop, buskers entertain the crowds.

The Young Victoria

2009-09-16T12:48:00.005+10:00

While in Hobart, I went to see the latest movie, Young Victoria.
Starring Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend and Paul Bettany.
The film written by Julian Fellowes, is a "dramatization of the turbulent first years of Queen Victoria's rule, and her enduring romance with Prince Albert".
This is a pleasant movie and would give it 3.5 stars.
Paul Bettany, who took the part of Lord Melbourne, is one of my favourite actors (Silas in Da Vinci Code and Dr Maturin in Master and Commander), but this was a very tame role for him, so, for me, his performance was a little disappointing.

Thomas Keneally - author popular in Hobart

2009-09-16T12:39:00.002+10:00

Thomas Keneally has written and researched several books on Australian History and won major prizes from his works.
Last week I attended a talk he gave at Fullers Bookshop in Hobart and was amazaed that about 100 people crowded into the Collins Street shop, and that a good proportion bought his latest publication: Australians – from origins to Eureka.
Oh, to have that sort of following!
But if my latest research on Tasmanian bushranger, Matthew Brady leads to a published book, I will hope it will receive some support from the local Van Demonians.
Pic: Thomas Keneally, historical author, Hobart

Strahan holiday in search of convict history

2009-09-15T11:35:00.004+10:00

My main purpose for heading west was to experience the atmosphere of a place steeped in some of Tasmania's ugliest history and with practices if is not proud of.
Amongst those: the notorious penal settlement on Sarah Island; the treacherous entrance to Macquarie harbour known as Hell’s Gates, and a dead King River – the product of greed and subsequent environmental pollution.
My visit was part of my research on Matthew Brady, the Tasmanian bushranger and convict who was sent to Sarah Island in 1823. Twenty two months later, he escaped in a stolen whaleboat and sailed to Hobart Town to begin his period of infamy.
But what I found on the wild west coast of Tasmania was a huge pristine harbour, a sleepy fishing village whose main industry in the summer season is tourists, stories of piners and miners and convict times, and some of the most unforgettable excursions which you cannot experience elsewhere in Australia.
Including a ride up the King River in a jetboat!

Pic: Strahan Harbour

Hell’s Gates - Macquarie Harbour, Tasmania

2009-09-15T11:11:00.006+10:00

In 1642 Abel Tasman explored the west coast of Tasmania for the Dutch East India Company. He charted two of the peaks just north of the inlet to Macquarie Harbour and namedafter his ships, Heemskerck and Zeehaen, but he either did not see or did not venture through 'The Gates' which provide only a narrow entrance and a shallow channel with rocks on one side and dangerous sandy shoals on the other.

This is the name first given to the narrow entrance to Macquarie Harbour and it was James Kelly the captain and explorer who, on his circumnavigation of Tasmania in a whale boat in 1816, noticed an inlet from which a strong channel of water was flowing. He thought he had found the mouth of a river.
Image his surprise when he ventured through The Gates, to find a Harbour as big as Sydney Harbour - 32 kilometres long surrounded by forested mountains and gorges – virtually impenetrable from the land.

It was the nature of the harbour as a place impossible to escape from that the government of the day decided to use an island in the harbour as a convict settlement.
This was to be the harshest place imaginable – a veritable hell on earth. And for that reason the entrance to the harbour and the whole place became synonymous with the name, Hell’s Gates.
My particular interest is in the convicts, including Matthew Brady, who escaped from Sarah Island and became bushrangers.
Pics: Hell’s gates and lighthouse from the beach and the water

Sarah Island – Island hides its penal past.

2009-09-15T10:57:00.006+10:00

Today the cruise boats on Macquarie Harbour stop for about an hour at Sarah Island and tourists are given a conducted tour of a portion of the old convict settlement. The commentary is light-hearted and the few ruins which remain give a basic outline of the layout of the buildings dated to around 1820.
I had come to Sarah Island as part of my research into Tasmanian bushranger Matthew Brady so after doing the conventional conducted tour I wanted to visit the other parts of the island and see it for my self – so I returned a few days later.
It’s hard to imagine that the island of 15 acres (the size of my block in Bakers Hill, Western Australia) accommodated several hundred prisoners; that it was devoid of vegetation as it had been clear by the convicts; that it had numerous stone buildings and high wooden fences and that it was a place of incredible hardship, and severe punishment.

Wearing plenty of insulated clothing, I was cold in the wind even though it was a sunny day.
Goodness knows how the men could survive on limited rations, with no heating, no beds, often saturated from head to foot and no change of clothes or extra clothing. And apart from that, any complaint resulted in the prisoner receiving up to 100 lashes from the cat’o’nine tails. Few convicts managed to escape from the island and survive to tell the tale.
Matthew Brady managed to escape in a whaleboat with several other convicts.
It is the story of this 'gentleman' bushranger of Van Diemen's Land that I am proposing to write into a fictionalized novel.
Pics: Sarah Island (centre) and tiny Grummet Island in Macquarie Harbour and the ruins of the Old penitentiary

Grummet Island – hell at Hell’s Gates, Macquarie Harbour

2009-09-15T10:33:00.006+10:00

A couple of hundred yards from Sarah Island is the tiny rocky outcrop of Grummet Island. This was indeed a Hell on earth for the convict prisoners of Van Diemen's Land.
It was here in the early 1800s that originally a group of women was housed.
Later it was the place where the worse male convicts, the offenders and troublemakers were sent at night.

As there was no wharf, the men had to wade through chest deep water or swim to get ashore. They would then have to sleep either naked or in wet clothes throughout the night and then wade back to the boat in the morning for another day of hard labour.
Pic: Tiny Grummet Island seen from Sarah Island. Today the rocky outcrop is overgrown by bush and nothing remains of the prison building which existed there

Home of the Huon pine – a shipwright’s Eldorado

2009-09-15T10:14:00.004+10:00

The wilderness surrounding Tasmania's Macquarie Harbour is the home of the reknowned Huon pine – a tree which grows nowhere else in the world.
Apart from its sheer size it has remarkable qualities which sets it aside from other forms trees and makes it one of the most desirable timbers for shipbuilding.
Huon pine contains natural oils that resist rotting. The chemical that gives the timber its unique smell and preservative qualities is methyl eugenol which offers the timber protection, not only from rot, but also from the Teredo Worm – the pest which can infest and destroy the wooden hull of a sailing ship.
As transport in the early 1800s was by square rigged ships, shipbuilding was a prime industry and the discovery of Huon pines on the west coast provided an occupation for the convicts of Sarah Island.

Not only did they build ships, they cut down the trees and the penal settlement had its own sawmill where the logs was sawn for transport to Hobart Town.
But Huon pine is an extremely slow growing tree increasing in diameter by only 1mm per year. Some trees in the area are over 2000 years old but sadly most of the trees which were accessible to the piners were removed over the last 200 years.
Today they only examples of Huon pines growing on the banks of the Gordon River are very young trees or those disfigured examples where were not satisfactory for milling.
It will be a long wait to see the magnificent Huon Pines of old to once again dominating the forest.
Pics: Entering the Gordon River from Macquarie Harbour, and a 'baby' Huon pine over 15 years old.

Macquarie Harbour and the Gordon River, Tasmania

2009-09-15T09:53:00.005+10:00

If you visit Strahan, on the west coast of Tasmania, a day trip on one of the cruise ships on the harbour is a must. Not only will you enjoy a day of sightseeing and educational commentary but excellent food and comfort aboard the modern vessels.
The pristine river and wilderness area is known not only from its once prolific stand of Huon Pines but for the long running dispute over the building of the Gordon on Franklin Dam.
There are few rivers in Tasmania which have not been damned for hydro electric power and now Tasmania has more power than it requires.
Fortunately the voice of the environmentalists won the battle and secured the free flow of this part of the Gordon River.
But it was the very dense, inhospitable nature of the forests and the rugged terrain that made the Harbour and ideal place to locate a penal settlement way back in the early 1800s. And it was here that the hardened convicts of Van Diemen's Land were sent. It was a place they regarded it as Hell on earth.
Pic: Gordon river World Heritage cruise ship
Pics: World Hertitage cruise ship
Mountain ranges flanked in wilderness forest surround Macquarie Harbour

It sure rains in the wilderness

2009-09-15T09:30:00.004+10:00

We blame the weather for many things but it is the weather – a temperate climate and high rainfall which has resulted in the luxuriant growth of this virtually impenetrable area of wilderness.
The West Coast Wilderness area of Tasmania records 2 to 3 meters of rain a year. In winter there is snow on the surounding mountains but on some days in summer the temperature can soar to 100 degrees.
When you walk through the wilderness forests on the banks of the Gordon River, you only have to touch the trees or ferns to realise that they are perpetually wet. The ground is never dry and the water in the gurgling streams is golden brown from the plant tannins.
The undergrowth is a tangle of ferns and bushes and canopy above is made up of tall straight-growing trees, blackwood sassafras and myrtle, their trunks encrusted in strange plate-like fungi.
It’s is no wonder few convicts escaped from Sarah Island and those who did never made it out of this unforgiving wilderness.
Pics: Tannin stained streams. Impenetrable undergrowth

The King is dead – Long Live Pollution!

2009-09-15T09:08:00.007+10:00

The King and Queen Rivers of Tasmania's west coast wilderness, though appearing normal, are both biologically dead and it could be 1000 years before they will carry enough oxygen to support any form of fish or plant life.
The absence of oxygen is a direct result of pollution through deposits of heavy minerals from mine tailing being purposely washed into their waters. Over 100 millions of tons of tailings were washed into the rivers preventing anything from growing in them and creating banks of toxic silt meters deep.
The death of these once beautiful waterways is due to the greed of the miners extracting ores from the Mt Lyell area and historic practices which ignored environmental damage.

"The King River has paid a price for century of mining.
In 1922 the Queenstown mine abandoned pyritic smelting in favour of the floatation process and as a result the clouds of sulphur fumes stopped but grey sludge generated by the new production method flowed down the Queen River and into the King.
Gradually the river created a huge delta in Macquarie Harbour made up of tailings the size of a city suburb."
Pollution has now stopped but recovery is painfully slow as Mother Nature deals with 100 million tonnes of toxic mine tailings.

Pic: West Coast Tourist Railway touches the King River giving passengers a chance to see a little of the dead river banks

One of the top 10 railways in the world - the Abt Wilderness Railway

2009-09-15T08:56:00.009+10:00

A legacy of the old mining methods on Tasmania’s west coast is the Abt railway which runs between Queenstown and Strahan on the west coast of Tasmania.
This 35 km railway incorporates a Rack and Pinion system to carry a train up some incredible rises.
The engines used today are the 100 year old Steam Locomotives that worked on the line built for the Mt Lyell Mining & Railway Company.
The full line opened in 1899 but ran into disrepair and closed in 1963.
After 37 years a group of enthusiasts decided to rebuild the line and after a massive restoration project the trains again steam through the wilderness forests.
While the rolling stock once hauled a fortune in pure copper, today’s heritage style carriages carry tourists.
With inclines as steep as 1 in 16, the engine uses a steam driven cogwheel which engages with the twin toothed rack rail which runs down the centre of the 3ft 6in gauge line. This rack and pinion system allows the engine to pull the train up the steep hills.
Along the journey are several stops including stations at Lynchford, where you try your hand at gold panning, Dubbil Barril with its own quaint history and Rinadeena where the railway reaches its highest point and the passengers disembark for lunch.

But it’s the line itself, originally cut through the wilderness by hand and its 42 mainly trestle bridges which provide spectacular views of the King River as it winds its way through steep gorges and valleys. The Abt tourist railway is ranked as one of the top 10 railway experiences in the world.

Pic: Rack and pinion system
Pic: Wooden railway bridges provide spectacular views
Pic: The Abt No 3 engine (pictured here is one of the original Mt Lyell engines and was fully restored in 2001. Today its steam is heated by diesel power instead of coal.

Queenstown – West coast marked by mining

2009-09-15T08:48:00.004+10:00

Queenstown on the west coast of Tasmania bears the indelible mark of a mining town.
Its hills have been raped and denuded and provide a lasting scar on the landscape.
Though the mining methods have changed and the damage to the local environment and the Queen and King Rivers has been reduced, the area is still dedicated to the mining industry.

For the tourist the highlight of a visit to Queenstown is the station for the West Coast Wilderness (Abt) Tourist Railway and the start of an unforgettable railway experience.
Pic: Hill around Queenstown and its railway station

Happy Birthday to me

2009-09-13T13:07:00.003+10:00

When you live alone, you don't look forward to Birthdays and Christmases.
And yesterday was my big day and now it's over, I can move on and catch up on some of the things I need to catch up on - such as updating my Blog.
So for starters, here’s a pic of yours truly taken last week on the top of Mount Wellington in Hobart.
Look closely and you can see snow on the ground – and Hobart and the Derwent River in the background.
Yesterday the sun was shining in Launceston and I think spring is on the way.

FLOATING GOLD - an age of sail adventure

2009-09-02T19:02:00.002+10:00

Good news!
Last week Mr Hale of Robert Hale Ltd, London, offered to publish my latest manuscript.
FLOATING GOLD is a maritime adventure set in 1802.
The story takes place in London, Portsmouth, The Downs, Rio de Janeiro and the frozen islands off the Antarctic Peninsula.
But more on that later.
I would expect FLOATING GOLD to be published mid to late 2010.

Winter in Tassie’s cradle country

2009-09-02T18:57:00.002+10:00

Last week I travelled through the mountains on my way to the west coast of Tasmania for my first visit to Strahan.
Going by Tassie Link coaches was an experience in itself. Three different coaches which each carried a maximum of three passengers, except the third which doubled as the local school bus. Great service, however, as the bus driver dropped me at the door of the B&B I was staying at.

When I was waiting at the Cradle Mountain transit depot, the cloud lifted just for a few minutes – enough time to take this picture.
I must get right up the Mountain one day, but I think I will wait until summer.
Photo: MM August 2009

Launceston's Cataract Gorge in full flow

2009-09-02T18:48:00.004+10:00

It's something you don't see every year - an angry Cataract Gorge!
Apart from snow, Tasmania gets is fair share of rain and this year during August it copped a deluge.
The usually peaceful Cataract Gorge, which is only a stones throw from Launceston city centre, burst into life (despite there being a dam upriver from it).
It’s hard to comprehend the movement of the water from the picture, but check out the two people on the viewing platform at the left.
And you have to experience the roar to appreciate the sound.
I can't image what Niagra Falls must sound like.

No doubt the North Esk River will go back to its placid self and the small cruise boats will be back put-putting along it with occasional seals lazily basking in the sun on the rocks at the side.
Pics: March 2007 and August 2009