Ron Edwards autobiography in 4 volumes tells the story of a youth from Victoria who studied art and packed his young family into a Kombi Van and headed for an unknown future in the far north of Queensland in the 1950s. The family literally built a life for themselves,building their own homes and struggling to make ends meet as an artist. Ron's early interest in traditional Australian folk music and lore developed into a life long pursuit of collecting and preserving our cultural heritage, for which he was awarded an Order of Australia Medal. A fascinating set of books about a man who didn't waste a moment of his life, and left plenty unfinished.
Thomas Lowah’s (deceased) autobiography tells of his life as a pearl diver off Thursday Island and as a Torres Strait Islander building a life for himself and his family. The book was published with no editing to Thomas’ manuscript so that the story is completely his own. The book is illustrated by Thomas’ life long friend, artist Ray Crooke (deceased).
Dr George Skeene and Uncle Albert Holt’s autobiographies both tell of growing up in a society where the cultures and traditions of their Indigenous heritage were challenged. Both men triumphed over the adversities of their past and their stories are both inspiring and important reading for all Australians.
Cheryl Batchelor’s book is a personal history of the Batchelor family, up to the development of Jolly and Batchelor, one of the biggest leather merchants in Australia, and beyond. The Edwards family had a connection with the company through the family business The Craft Shop in Cairns, as they used to source their leather supplies from J&B until the company closed.
Peter Ryle’s biography about Michael Fomenko seems to have struck a chord with most of Australia! I seems the hermit that lived in a tree in the Daintree rainforest was known around the country, and Peter Ryle has sorted the fact from the fiction, based on the research of Fomenko’s one and only confidant, Harold Jung (deceased).
