Ripping Yarns & Tragic Tales – 10 October 2021

I hope that you have had a good week! It’s been quite an exciting time in Kalgoorlie Boulder with the cast and crew from the new ‘Mystery Road’ series being filmed here. For those of you who haven’t watched it yet, and who love the real outback of Australia, you will love it. Here is a trailer-  Mystery Road

I have just been reading about the 20 countries where the people are the most patriotic. 1 = USA  2 = India and
3 = Australia, which is great, don’t you think?  You may already know that I am not Australian by birth but am from the North of England, near Newcastle, Northumberland. I have only been back to the UK twice. Once to meet my new mother-in-law in 1974, and then on my own at 22 years old. I have been told that I still seem very ‘English’. My daughter has also been asked if she is English, as she must have picked up my accent. However, I don’t sound at all like my brother, who sounds like he got off the boat yesterday. Sometimes my daughter has asked me to say things with my ‘Geordie’ accent, which she finds hilarious. I am proud to be British, but I am also fiercely patriotic about Australia. I have always loved history and had already been studying for my History O Levels in England before we came to Australia when I was 15.

It wasn’t until I moved to Kalgoorlie-Boulder 33 years ago that I started really being interested in Western Australian history. The other places I have lived in have mostly been in new areas with not much ‘visible’ history. It was also about the time I became a huge fan of the ‘Arthur Upfield’ books. He, too, was a British ExPat and he fell in love with the Australian Bush. He loved what he called ‘The Real Australia’, far away from the cities and towns. He wrote:

In me was born a passionate love for the Australian bush which will burn until the end, a love stronger than love of family, so strong that even now it threatens to claim me – Arthur Upfield.

He wrote his stories from his own experiences as a boundary rider, a stockman, etc, and is noted as being one of the most prolific Australian authors of his time, noted worldwide for his fictional detective Napoleon Bonaparte AKA “BONY”. Upfield wrote over 35 titles, including 250 short stories.

MY LIFE OUTBACK – available from ETT Imprint at $24.95 – email Tom Thompson at ettimprint@hotmail.com.

I hope that you enjoy this week’s stories

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Moya Sharp

Owner at Outback Family History

My name is Moya Sharp, I live in Kalgoorlie Western Australia and have worked most of my adult life in the history/museum industry. I have been passionate about history for as long as I can remember and in particular the history of my adopted home the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. Through my website I am committed to providing as many records and photographs free to any one who is interested in the family and local history of the region.

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