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If you order two or more books we will send you a complimentary copy of Disastrous Decade - Flood and Fire in Windsor 1864-1874 by Michelle Nichols, which retails at $19.95.
Winner of the 2002 Ebenezer Ward national community history prize.

The early settlers of the Windsor district near Sydney were accustomed to damaging floods from the Hawkesbury River but nothing could have prepared them for what happened in 1867. The River rose almost 20m and created an inland sea from Windsor to the Blue Mountains. The town was cut off and hundreds of people sought refuge on the remaining higher ground. Damage throughout the district was on an unprecedented scale. The community had scarcely recovered from this catastrophe when, in 1874, much of the town was destroyed in a few hours by fire. Many who had lost their possessions in the great flood suffered again from the fire.

The book gives a detailed account of these two dramatic episodes and describes how the community succeeded in re-establishing itself after much suffering and hardship. It is a story of destruction, heroism and resilience in the face of repeated adversity which has become part of the folk memory of the Hawkesbury.

'The first historical account of events that remain among the great disasters of Australian history.' Prof. Carol Liston

Michelle nichols is the Local Studies Librarian with Hawkesbury City Council and runs the Hawkesbury Family History group. She is a seventh generation descendant of a Hawkesbury pioneer and is joint author of Hawkesbury 1794-1994.

Personal and family names mentioned in the text include:
Adam, Mathew (Rev.); Alderson. Charlotte, Elizabeth, Frederick, James William, William, William Henry; Allan, John; Ambrose, Charles N.; Anderson, Charlotte; Arndell, Albert, Eliza, R.M., Sophia, Thomas; Ascough; Baldwin; Bannister, Elizabeth; Bantomy (oury?), Enoch; Barker, John; Beard, William; Becke, W.H.H.; Beedall, James; Bell, John; Berg, Francis; Beveridge, Jane; Black, George; Blackman, Jane; Blanchard, I., Walter J.; Books, David; Boston, Thomas; Boughton, Eva J., Samuel; Bowling, John, Bown; Brenthall (Rev.); Brett (Captain); Brown, F.H., J.D., Thomas; Burne; 41 Burns, Andrew, 79 Burton; Bushell, Isabella; Butler, Sylvester, William; Byram, Eliza, James Robertson; Byrnes, Edward, Hugh, James, John, Richard, William; Cadell, George; Cain, Robert; Caldwell, John; Calloway; Carroll, George; Cartwright, Robert (Rev.); Chandler, Margaret; Chaseling, John, Matthew; Cleary, Patrick; Coley, Richard; Collison, Thomas; Cook, Elizabeth; Cox, John, William; Crew, John, William Irons; Crompton, Benjamin; Crosier, William Cross, David, Ellen, James, Richard, Thomas, William; Crossland, James; Crump; Cunneen, James; Cunningham, G.; Cupitt, George, Jane, Thomas; Dargin; Davies, George Louis Asher; Davis, John, Lizzie; Dawson, John; Day, Edward, Henry (Dr.), Dean, William; Delany, John Daniel; Dick, James Adam, Robert; Dight; Dixson; Dodd, Emma Jasper; Donovan, Mary; Dorset, Mary; Douglas, Humphrey; Douglass, Charles, Christopher, George, Humphrey Albert, Thomas; Dowe; Doyle, James, Patrick; Duffell, John; Duffin; Duffy, John; Duncombe; Dunstan, Lucy, Richard, Sidney Noah; Dunston, Richard; Dyer, Rebecca, Samuel; Dymock, J. (Rev.); Eager; Eales, Robert; Eather; Edgerton; Egley, Samuel; Else, John; Everingham, Alfred Henry, Matthew, Thomas, William; Fairfax, James, John; Ferris; Fewings, John; Fitzgerald, Patrick (Rev.), Robert; Fleming, John; Foody, James; Forrester, Sarah; Fosbery, Edmund; Freeman, Bill, George, W.; Gabriel, Gustavus; Galloway, John; Gamble, William; Gambrell, William; Gamsey, Charles F. (Rev.); Gibson, George; Gordon; Gorman, John; Gosper, Charlotte, William; Green, Thomas; Greentree, George, Thomas; Greenway, Francis; Greenwell, S.T.; Gunn, Henry; Hall, George, Hannah, James, James Hawkesbury, William; Hallinan, Patrick (Rev Dr.); Hanson, William; Hayward, George; Hearn, Francis; Hewitt, John.; Hibbs, Richard; Hill, William; Holborrow, W.H; Holden, Ann; Holland, Thomas; Hosier, Thomas; Hoskisson, Samuel; Hull, Charles; Husband, Margaret, Tobias; Hust; Hutchinson, Harriet; Isaacs, Benjamin; Ivory, Thomas; Johnston, Abraham, Andrew, Hannah, Henrietta, James Bligh, John; Kemp, Peter; Kirk, A.B.; Ladd, Joseph; Lahey, John; Lane, John; Lang, John Dunmore (Rev. Dr.); Laughton, John; Lee, Jane; Lewes, James; Lewis, John; Linch (sic), Peter; Linsley, William; Long; McCausland, John; McFetridge, James, Matthew; Macfie, Mary, George (Rev.); McKay, James; McKellar, Caroline; McLelland; McQuade, John M.; Maberly, John Rogers; Marion, James; Marsden, Samuel (Rev.); Middleton, John, Thomas; Miller, Edward; Mills, John Henry; Mitchell, Emma, Frederick Newton, John Newton, Joseph; Montgomery, Charles; Moore, David (Rev.); Morris, George, Richard; Mortley, Frederick, Frederick James, Rebecca; Moses, Henry; Musgrove, Thomas; Nagel (sic), Thomas; Neald; Nealds, Charles, John C.; Newcomen, J.; Nixon, William; O'Brien, Catherine, Dennis; O'Hara, Peter; Onus, Joseph; Parnell, Charles; Pender; Pendergast, John, Rachel; Pearson, Charles; Perkins, Sarah Ann; Perry, Alf, W.; Phillips, John; Piddington, W.R ; Pitt, George; Poole, William Thomas; Primrose, Alfred, Eliza, George, John, Thomas ; Probert, Thomas; Purnell, Charles Nathaniel; Ralph, Joseph ; Raphael, J. ; Richards, Benjamin ; Rickerby, Thomas ; Ridge, Richard ; Robinson, Edward, Harry; Rochester, James; Rolin, T.B.; Rose, Thomas; Ross, Mary; Russell, William; Ryland ; Samuel, Hon. Saul; Scaddon, Robert; Scrutton; Selkirk, (Dr.); Sheehy,; Simons, Francis; Singleton, Henry; Smallwood, Joseph; Smith, John Thomas, Philip, Terence, Thomas, William; Starkey, Mary, Thomas; Stewart, Thomas; Stiles, Henry Tarlton (Rev.); Stubbs, Cyrus, George, Keturah, Mary, William Everingham; Sullivan, James, Josiah; Sutton, Mary Ann, Thomas; Tebbutt, John, Thomas; Thackeray, J. (Rev.); Thompson, Andrew; Tilley, Henry; Toomey; Tout, J. Robert John; Town, Andrew, John, W.; [S]Trathen, John; Tuckerman; Turnbull, Jim; Turner, Peter (Rev.), Robert; Walker, William; Walmsley, James, William; Want, Annie; Ward, Joseph; Watkins, Charles, J. (Rev.), John, Samuel, Thomas; Watts, Edward; Wells; West, William; White, Laban; Whittaker, Lewis (Dr.); Wilkinson, Samuel (Rev.); Wilson, Eliza, Henry; Wood, Edward, John, Margaret; Woodbury, George; Woods, John; Wright, Robert; Wylie, Henry; Zeplin, Henry.