When you peel a banana, or bite into a pear, when you smell a rose, pop a fuchsia bud or scrape your knee climbing an old pine tree, do you ever wonder how those plants came to this country?

This is the question that led me to researching and writing the story of the Wardian case, the glass and wooden box that transformed the global plant trade.

The story of The Amazing Case of Dr Ward begins in London.

It was the Golden Age of Botany and Dr Nathanial Bagshaw Ward loved growing plants. But there was a problem; no plant could thrive in the smog-filled air so he experimented with growing plants protected in sealed jars. Finding this successful, he was inspired to investigate further with all kinds of glass containers.

Meanwhile, it came to Dr Ward’s attention that others were having problems with their plants. On ships it was salt spray and animals (yes there were often animals like goats, monkeys and rats on the ships) rather than smog that was the problem. And the transportation of plants was critical to the success of the distant colonies and the collections in England.

In 1833, with the help of his friend, Captain Mallard, Dr Ward planned an experiment that involved sending plants in glass and wooden cases from London to the Sydney Botanical Gardens and back again.

 The trial was a triumph. Within months, Wardian Cases, filled with plants, were being delivered around the globe; gardens, farms and landscapes would be transformed forever.

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The history of the transportation of plants is a complicated tale and within it there are themes of theft, imperial expansion, heartless colonisation and the spreading of pest species and pathogens. However my aim in sharing the story is simply to create curiosity about plants, the subject of botany and to ask young readers to think about how this country has been altered irrevocably by the introduction of ‘exotics’ for food, clothing, medicine, building and pleasure.

Oh my goodness! I just read what I wrote and if it sounds heavy - well the past does carry a weight - and as writer of 32 page non-fiction picture books for middle to upper primary-age children, decisions about content and tone are carefully measured against purpose. And that’s a subject we could all talk about ad infinitum!

Tull Suwannakit

For this book, Ford Street Publishing matched me with illustrator Tull Suwannakit. What are the odds of working with an artist with a passion for plants equal to my own! Tull has brought the delightful doctor to life, capturing his curiosity and love of experimenting. Tull’s gentle humour never distracts but rather deepens my text.

My thanks to Paul Collins (Ford Street) , editor Nan McNab and designer Cathy Larsens.

To order copies of The Amazing Case of Dr Ward and to download Teachers notes- click on FORD ST

I’m a tad excited by this project.

Wearing my storyteller hat, I co-ordinate a storytelling group, Newport Storyteller, under the wings of the Newport Fiddle and Folk Club. We gather once a month, however during 2020 and with COVID 19 and the restrictions, our meetings have been on zoom.

A couple of us applied for a grant and took up the challenge of making something nice during lockdown.

We created a podcast - an audio patchwork of stories told and music harvested from recordings created by the people of Newport, their friends and members of the Newport Fiddle and Folk Club.

The Newport Storytellers podcast is a project created from the heart with my friends Matt McArthur, and Alan Davies using whatever methods worked on the day: phones, Zoom, USB mikes and tin cans and string.

The first episodes are available now, more are on the way. You can listen or download on the club website, and also find details of how to subscribe to the podcast. 

This listening adventure was supported by Hobsons Bay City City Council through its Quick Response Grants.

ENJOY!!

GOLD! tells the story of the first of the large nuggets - ‘Blanche Barkly’ - to be unearthed during the Victorian gold rush in the 1850s. It’s a story that I was drawn to for several reasons.

I live in Victoria where the environmental damage caused by the gold rush is still evident, where the ground is still dangerously pitted with shafts.

My family, on my mother’s side had a store in the fields somewhere near Bendigo and I grew up on gold rush stories. I don’t know what their circumstances were to begin with but they did well for themselves. I have an ancient coffee grinder, that I’m told, was used by one of my store-keeper ancestors. It’s still in perfect condition.

For the Aboriginal people, on whose Country gold was embedded, the clearing of forests, redirection of waterways and the turning of earth inside out, must have been heart breaking and horrific. For the gold seekers, the opportunity to break free of class, to be independently able to create wealth without being answerable to a ‘master’, would have been enticing.

The fields were truly multi cultural places: Diggers would fly flags from their tents indicating their nationality. The array of flags included the Union Jack, a Scottish thistle, the Fleur-de-lys and the Texas Star. Hotels would fly the flags of the languages that were spoken within. [However] the mateship and egalitarian atmosphere felt amongst diggers did not extend to the Chinese diggers. (State Library NSW)

Although GOLD! is a story that reflects the multicultural aspect of the times, my story primarily takes place between Australia and England, where the ‘Blanche Barkly’ was taken, shown to Queen Victoria and then displayed in the Crystal Palace. The cast of the BB is held in the Museum of Natural History in London.

Annie White has created a remarkable set of water colour illustrations, referencing the works of artists who visited the goldfields who drew and painted what they saw before them. If you’re familiar of the works of S T Gill you’ll have fun exploring the images. Annie has captured the sense of thousands of people crowding onto the roads and pouring into the country to try their luck. She’s skillfully depicted both the optimism and frustration of the gold seekers and the devastation left in their wake. There is so much detail for a young reader to explore in her paintings: characters of all ages from many countries, women and children caught up in the dream, and the backbreaking methods of mining used at the time.

I’ve had a lot of fun with language in the telling of this tale. I’d been telling the story for years on my visits to primary schools and by the time it came to writing it down, much of it was on the tip of my tongue.

GOLD! is published by FORD STREET PUBLISHING and can be ordered from the website.

I’ve made a short video which will give you a taste of GOLD! and what lies between the pages.

GOLD! Teachers notes - click on FORD STREET