Ghost Gum Valley (83 page)

I hope to acknowledge face to face the long-term encouragement of many friends but especially those separated by distance and who took ‘May Day!' phone calls, including: Anne Robinson (W.A.); Bill and Penny Owen, ‘Wydidya', North Star, NSW; Dr Stephen Shumach; Anne Austin; Philip Bray; Catherine Taylor, Michael and Toni Cassim, Olivia Nelson (Q'ld); Sister Mary Constable; Mick Djekovic; Lionel and Delys Dunk, Keira and Graham Lockyer, Lois Radeski (Vic); Rosalind Ihaka in Bali; John Arbouw; Peter Nicolaidis; John Allard; the family of Dr Tom Selby and ‘all the Melton mob'; John and Judy Barry in Switzerland; Ulrike Bauer in Germany; Fennie Pos in Holland; the Muldoon, Nicholls and Kinney families; Jean and David Trevor; Janette Boot; Peter Dunne; Wendy Borchers; Richard and Helen Walker; Kevin and Joanne Schluter; Earle Cross, Philip Thorniley and Harry (Cop This Young Harry) Griffiths. And not least the great support given me by Philip Brady, Denise Drysdale, Richard Stubbs and Roger Lupton.

Two special friends who Always Believed, have been around ‘for the long haul'. E
NID
I
SABEL
M
ORRISON
, my journalist ‘friend for all seasons' since our teenage copy-girl era, mastered the gentle art of keeping me buoyant during crises.

And legendary TV comedy writer and author M
IKE
M
C
C
OLL
J
ONES
whose friendship and guidance I was blessed to inherit from his mentor, my father Fred Parsons.

To all the readers of
Ironbark
who took the time and trouble to write to me c/o Simon and Schuster, and warmly encouraged me to write this novel. I cannot measure all your support.

Ghost Gum Valley
is for you.

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Johanna Nicholls comes from a theatrical family. She was a journalist and magazine feature writer in Sydney, Melbourne and London. In television she worked as a researcher/writer and Head Script Editor of TV Drama at the Austra­lian Broadcasting Corporation.

Johanna has lived in England, Italy and Greece. Her home is an 1830s convict-built sandstone cottage in Birchgrove, Sydney, where she is currently writing her third Australian historical novel and researching her fourth. Her first saga,
Ironbark
, was published by Simon and Schuster Australia in Australia and New Zealand in 2009 and 2010.
Ghost Gum Valley
was first published in 2012. Both books have been translated into German and published in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.