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In 1960, Oz women were said to be drunks, Princess Margaret can now expect to have free photos taken, and professional tennis came via Jack Kramer to this fair land. The concept of male nurses was raised, Arthur Calwell’s dead hand fell on the Labour Party, William Dobell was said to tricked the Art World on April Fools Day, and two especially gory murders were committed in Maitland. And, can you believe it, a few men were admitted to hospitals during the labours of women. Has the new idea of the equality of the sexes gone too far?
….But after that, I realised that I knew very little about these parents of mine. They had been born about the start of the Twentieth Century, and they died in 1970 and 1980. For their last 50 years, I was old enough to speak with a bit of sense.
I could have talked to them a lot about their lives. I could have found out about the times they lived in. But I did not. I know almost nothing about them really. Their courtship? Working in the pits? The Lock-out in the Depression? Losing their second child? Being dusted as a miner? The shootings at Rothbury? My uncles killed in the War? Love on the dole? There were hundreds, thousands of questions that I would now like to ask them. But, alas, I can’t. It’s too late.
Thus, prompted by my guilt, I resolved to write these books. They describe happenings that affected people, real people. The whole series is, to coin a modern phrase, designed to push your buttons, to make you remember and wonder at things forgotten. The books might just let nostalgia see the light of day, so that oldies and youngies will talk about the past and re-discover a heritage otherwise forgotten. Hopefully, they will spark discussions between generations, and foster the asking and answering of questions that should not remain unanswered.
