Absolution Creek (75 page)

Acknowledgements

M
y inspiration for
Absolution Creek
stemmed from a story my grandfather told my father in the 1940s. In the late 1800s a child was found wandering across the Garah Plains, an area some fifty kilometres to the south-east of where we live. Whether the child wandered from a campsite or fell from the rear of a dray was never established. At a time when roads were mere tracks, the bush scrubby and remote, and travelling arduous, such an incident is not difficult to believe.

Mr Purcell’s stud ram in the story, Waverly No. 4, is based on arguably Australia’s most famous stud ram, Uardry 0.1. Uardry 0.1 was bred by the historic Uardry Merino Stud. The ram was immortalised on the Australian shilling coin from 1938 to 1966. He featured again on the 50 cent coin in 1991 and, most recently, in 2011 on the $1 coin.

Much of the period detail in
Absolution Creek
comes from the Alexander family archives, in particular a 1923 Anthony Hordern’s mail-order catalogue, which sold everything from groceries, furniture and saddlery items, to pressed metal ceilings! Similarly, while searching through 1950s
Agricultural Gazettes
and animal husbandry books from the 1920s, I found an old
Sydney Morning Herald
celebrating the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. With the displacement of whole communities a largely forgotten aspect of this engineering marvel, I decided on Sydney as the beginning for the story. This seemed especially relevant to me as
Absolution Creek
will be published in 2012 during the 80th anniversary of the bridge’s opening.

Thank you, as always, to my family and friends who have supported me throughout the writing of this novel. In particular I must thank my father, Ian, for his anecdotes and enthusiasm; my mother, Marita, who pulled me through a rough patch (I deleted 30,000 words mid-novel) with sage advice and love; my ever-supportive sister, Brooke; and David, who by now is used to my occasional tendency to call him by a character’s name!

A book’s production is very much a team effort. To Random House and the wonderful team within – most especially, publisher Beverly Cousins, editor Sophie Ambrose, marketing strategist Tobie Mann and PR stalwart Karen Reid – thank you for your continued assistance and professionalism. Thank you also to my literary agent, Tara Wynne, for her friendship and advice. To Todd Decker, book-trailer producer extraordinaire, and Scott Bridle (who would have thought I’d have a world-class aerial musterer/photographer only a few hundred kilometres away), thank you.

This year I would like to shine a spotlight on the Queensland–New South Wales border town of Goondiwindi, which from the very beginning has been so supportive of my writing endeavours. Thank you for your enthusiasm, support and friendship – in particular, Bev Cranny from the Nook & Cranny Bookshop, and Heather Scanlon.

The year 2011 was a tough one for writing, with mother nature throwing her weight around in the form of two floods that top and tailed it and a dry spell mid-year. Yet, as always, when I think of the problems we face in the bush today, I’m reminded of what men and women endured in the outback in the past. I hope my work shines a spotlight on those that came before us. During 2012 I’m proud to be associated with two great initiatives: the National Year of Reading and the Australian Year of the Farmer. As a writer and a farmer, I’m a great believer in nourishing both the mind and the body!

Lastly, to the many booksellers here and abroad, and my friends and readers, old and new: thank you. Without you all there would be no
Absolution Creek
.

About the Author

I
n the course of her career Nicole Alexander has worked both in Australia and Singapore in financial services, fashion, corporate publishing and agriculture. A fourth-generation grazier, Nicole returned to her family’s property in the 1990s. She is currently the business manager there and has a hands-on role in the running of the property. Nicole has a Master of Letters in creative writing, and her poetry, travel and genealogy articles have been published in Australia, America and Singapore.

Visit
www.nicolealexander.com.au

Reading Group Questions

  1. What symbolic purpose does the tree in the homestead at Absolution Creek have?

  2. Scrubber is an antihero in the novel. At the end of the story, he feels he’s made amends despite deciding not to tell Cora the truth about his role in her past. Do you think he deserves to feel redeemed?

  3. Which other main character could be said to experience a redemptive journey during the novel?

  4. Squib’s life is altered by a chain of devastating events. Is it fair that she blames Jane for much of it?

  5. Do you feel Jack is selfish in his almost obsessive attitude towards Absolution Creek at the expense of his relationship with Olive? Or is Olive too quick to blame Jack for her new life?

  6. Olive decides not to tell her family or Jack about the attack and the chance that she could be pregnant. What do you think of her decision?

  7. What is the common bond that brings Jack and Squib together? Do you think Jack would have fallen for her if they had met in Sydney?

  8. Who is your favourite character and why?

  9. Do you think the use of an interweaving narrative – switching between two different eras – assists in making the story more engaging?

10. Squib/Cora spends years trying to find her place in the world. How important are the themes of identity and displacement in the book?

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Version 1.0
Absolution Creek
ePub 9781864712834