The Whittakers Story: Australian Pioneers and Pastoralists
This book was compiled by one of Mary Grant Bruce’s cousins, Clyde Whittakers. It contains three of her stories: ‘Port After Stormie Seas‘ (her best work); ‘The High Sheriff’s Table’; and most of ‘The Women Who Made Us’.
Here you can find the farming properties which were the bases for the ‘Billabong’ books and many of Mary Grant Bruce’s other works. And lots of her characters’ sources, including her pioneering grandparents, William and Louisa Whittakers.
William Whittakers had the ‘Snowy River Run’ back in 1839. It is near Dalgety, in the southern Monaro district of New South Wales. Next, he ran ‘Tombong’, which is near Delegate, NSW. Next, he had the ‘Tubbutt’ Station for many years. Then he moved to the Gippsland Plains, to ‘Loy Yang’. His final move was to a nearby farm he called ‘Fernhill’, just east of Traralgon, Victoria. William and Louisa had 11 children. Their eldest son James could have been (along with many others) an archetype for The Man From Snowy River. That’s arguably Australia’s most famous poem.
Martha Louisa Moore brought her orphaned nieces to Australia from England. Martha founded and ran Australia’s first school for young ladies. “She helped to make Australia.”
This hardcover book has 536 pages and over 100 illustrations, many in colour. The Whittakers Story: Australian Pioneers and Pastoralists took decades in its making. It combines Australian history, genealogy and some of Mary Grant Bruce’s most significant short stories in the one volume.
This book is under copyright.
First Published in: 2020
First Publisher: Mia Mia Digital Publishing Pty Ltd
Place First Published: Canberra