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The amazing story of Molly Haydock who left home when aged 14 disguised as a young labourer. Arrested as a horse thief her death sentence was commuted to transportation for seven years and she arrived in Sydney in 1792. Two years later she married Thomas Reibey and they moved to the Hawkesbury, initially farming and shipping goods to Sydney and later developing a business in Sydney. Widowed in 1811 Mary Reibey continued in business until 1855, becoming a successful and respected merchant in 19th century Sydney. This is a well-researched, entertaining and readable biography of a remarkable pioneer and her family - highly recommended.
Soft cover, A5, xviii + 161 pages, illustrations, notes, bibliography, genealogy, index.
Covers all places and features in the geographical rectangle bounded by Penrith, St Albans, Wyong and Collaroy. Information on the meanings and historical associations of hundreds of names, some of them among the earliest in Australia, enlivened by many amusing anecdotes. Illustrated with 44 original sketches. Soft cover, A5, 142 pages, map, personal names index.
'The stories behind the early settlement of this area are an essential part of our history. We should be grateful to John Powell that he has taken the time to research these names.'
Lists 476 items published up to and including 2005. Excludes theses, reports and other unpublished works. Fully indexed by subject and surnames. A useful reference resource for local and family historians. Soft cover, B5, iii + 36 pages. Available as hard copy or CD-ROM.
Born into a naval family in Portsmouth, John's childhood extended through the hardships of the Great Depression to the Blitz of the 1940s and five years of separation from his family during evacuation to the safety of the countryside. This was followed by a decade in which everything was either rationed or in very short supply. All these experiences had a profound impact upon John's character and attitudes. After WWII everything was scarce except work and John threw his energies into an extraordinary variety of jobs and occupations: working at a local bakery, delivering mail, taxi driving, soldiering, selling firewood, driving speedboats for holiday-makers, delivering kerosene, and teaching in primary school for four years.
In 1956, in search of more intellectual stimulus, he enrolled at Bristol University to study philosophy and subsequently taught in universities in Ireland, England, Canada, Papua New Guinea and Australia. These academic activities were combined with a variety of other adventures: cruising holidays on the River Shannon, fieldwork in remote areas of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, and establishing a new political party in Australia. The traditional values of academic life were steadily eroded during the 1980s so John decided to take early retirement and break some new ground. John describes a series of decades in which remarkable changes occurred to family, social and institutional life. It was a period incomprehensible to young people today but it produced a generation of resourceful, hard-working individuals who never assumed that natural resources were unlimited.
Soft cover, limited edition, A4, vi + 206, illustrations, selected publication list, index
Copyright 2009, Deerubbin Press