The Smiths of Elouera

In my second book of poems, More Words on Paper, I introduced a character called Walter, who lived on a farm in the 1920s with his wife and seven children. Two of my granddaughters told me that Walter needed a book of his own, so Walter and Family was written, a book of verse of some 80,000 words that told the story of Walter and his family.

This story has been adapted from that book of verse. In it I have tried to describe the living conditions, happenings and personalities of the Smiths, a family of nine living on a farm in the Central West of New South Wales, Australia, in 1921–22. As the story progresses, it takes in four other families: the Roberts, the Blakes, the Beechers and the Johnsons.

The events, situations and personalities are based on some of my personal experiences, but are mostly from my imagination. I would describe this book as a historical romance novel.

To the reader of today: please bear in mind that the attitudes and customs of those times, which were shortly after the First World War, particularly with respect to native wildlife, were entirely different from today’s thinking.