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Discovering the past - Hyde Park Convict Barracks, Sydney.

25/12/2015

I had the chance yesterday to pop into the Hyde Park Barracks Museum in Sydney yesterday - it was pouring with rain so it seemed like a good idea whilst everyone else in Sydney seemed to head towards the shops!
It's actually a part of my research into my new book on Captain Scully. When he "delivered" the convicts to Sydney this is where they would have been taken to. It certainly adds to the atmosphere to walk through the place, especially the section where all the hammocks are slung so claustrophobically on the upper floors. The brutal times must have been made worse by the brutal food they were served too (though nowadays people would probably pay a fortune for it as a part of their new fad diet!)
John Scully himself would have been billeted in the Wynyard Barracks which has been gone for a long time now, but there is a patch of grass /small park there which represents a small part of the old Parade ground they used back in the early 19th century.

Paleo diet or gruel.

No place to hide - convict hammocks.

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Captain John Scully

18/12/2015

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Having a lot of fun researching my new book on the life of Captain John Scully whilst he was in Australia. I'm also discovering some fairly dreadful facts too.
Looking at the men in red coats, they look pretty dapper but they were fresh out of England and Ireland and totally unprepared for the climate in New South Wales. They were poorly paid and the officers like Scully, were increasingly under pressure to save money and make-do with diminishing resources. Most were reasonable men, but some were B*stards!
The lads in the chains were repeat offenders and sent to the chain gangs. The reason that they were in Australia in the first place was because they may have stolen a piece of cheese, or a shawl to keep themselves warm.
And then there are the Indigenous. They just had their land stolen, their women stolen and then were maybe shot just because they were severely peeved at their treatment. Young Captain Scully certainly would have known about the Waterloo Creek Massacre whilst he was in charge of his stockade on the eastern highway.
The book should be finished towards the end of 2016.

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ROSSO Up in Lights!

6/12/2015

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I was delighted to see that Pegasus Books have included Rosso on their list of special reads for Christmas 2015. It's a book for it's time. The world is questioning itself. Fear has crept into the daily conversation. There seems to be so much to be afraid of - terrorism, climate change, drugs, antibiotic resistance, influenza pandemics ... the list is long. But guess what? As the saying goes "there ain't nothing new under the sun!"
Rosso tells the tale of one young man's encounter with suffering in a time when plagues literally decimated the population of Europe and war was a constant reality - and the only superannuation you got was 'out of this world'.
I hope that in 2016 you'll get to read the second book in the Rosso Trilogy. It takes the young man and his friends to places they'd never expected to be, even in their wildest dreams, even if some of those dreams were nightmares!
I'm looking forward to sharing it with you as much as i hope you'l enjoy reading more about Rosso.
PS The new book I'm writing is also a historical novel, but this time it's based on fact and it's very different with a distinct Australian flavour!

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