Category: Isisford

Writing Serendipity?

28/2/2016

Above: Mail by camel transport - Charleville & district. Source: NAA, Item: 3296500. Below: Early mail coach PMG possibly Charleville. Source: NAA Item: 1650785. Bottom: Earliest known motor mail in Queensland, Isisford to Ilfracombe, 1910. Source: NAA Item: 3025042.

Ever written something which later you found out was absolutely spot on, but you didn't know it at the time?
I've had this happen a couple of times when writing my historical stories.
The first occurrence happened when I wrote All Quiet on the Western Plains - about a place I had never visited - although I had read extensively about western Queensland and poured over historical photographs.
A month after the novella was published, I travelled to western Queensland for the first time, visiting Blackall, Barcaldine, Aramac, Isisford, Longreach and places in between.
The country was as amazing as I thought it would be and my description of it had been accurate. What a fluke, I thought.
When I came to write the sequel, Journey's End on the Western Plains, also set in 1924, I started the story with the hero,hitching a ride in the mailman's truck.
At the end of the story he applies for the mail run contract and gets the job.
As a writer, I thought it was the perfect solution for my characters and story. Mail contractor was the perfect job for the hero as it allowed him to live in the mythical town of "Idavale" and regularly visit his family's property at the other end of the mail run.
At the time I thought, oh yeah, he'll have the same chance as anyone else. He's a good bush mechanic, he'll be able to fix any breakdowns.
Recently I attended a talk about early mail services in Queensland in the 19th and 20th centuries, held by the National Archives of Australia in Brisbane.
The NAA have over 1000 photographs relating to Cobb & Co mail coaches, mail men, their horses and trucks and post offices in the collection, plus numerous written records.
What astonished me was the discovery that, after World War I, the Australian Government awarded mail contracts on a preferential basis to returned servicemen - like my hero.
I was gobsmacked by this discovery.
I had got his ideal job so right.
Here was proof that my character would have been awarded that contract - as long as no other returned serviceman had applied at the same time!
As far as I'm concerned, serendipity* in research and writing is a real phenomenon.
Have you had similar experiences?

To search the National Archives of Australia site for records see: http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/search/
*Serendipity: a happy chance, a happy accident.

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10/6/2014

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A friendly ambassador at the Blackall Wool Scour.

Recently I had the pleasure of visiting five western Queensland towns - Blackall, Barcaldine, Aramac, Isisford and Longreach. Each was different, with something that distinguished it from the others.
As I'm interested in all things historical, I loved the Blackall Wool Scour, the Masonic Temple and the Memorial Park with its artillery pieces.
At Barcaldine I admired the railway station building, was astonished by the Tree of Knowledge, intrigued by the Masonic Temple's exterior painting scheme, and loved the streetscape with its evocative old hotels, testament to its worker and wool history.
Aramac is a small town that obviously loves its heritage. The main street has former banks with residences, and a handsome post office. The hospital is a beautiful building dating from 1910, and the school with its early buildings seems an oasis of calm.
At Isisford, sited near a crossing of the Barcoo River, I found that a precursor crocodile fossil had been discovered nearby - Isisfordia duncani - and a replica can be seen at the Outer Barcoo Interpretation Centre in town. The former district hospital, dating from 1892, is still there, 70 years after nationalisation of all community-run hospitals in Queensland. You can fish in the famous Barcoo at Isisford, which must be pretty special.
Longreach, of course, is the biggest of these towns - a mecca for grey nomads who fill the tourist park sites, and rightly so. The western central railway line comes to town, bringing other tourists drawn by the Stockman's Hall of Fame and the QANTAS founders' museum, and also by the many other attractions of this part of Queensland. Longreach has many heritage buildings including its railway station, a large Art Deco hospital dating from 1940, a large classically-inspired shire council building, and numerous examples of early houses - low-set and verandahed.
I can't conclude without mentioning the amazing country between the towns - wide plains under a vast blue sky. I'm looking forward to visiting again. Next time I'll take the train to Longreach to see more of this amazing country along that route.
Which towns in western Queensland do you think are great? Leave a comment - next week the author of the one I like the most will receive a copy of my historical rural romance - All Quiet on the Western Plains.

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Writing Serendipity?

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