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Family ties inform author’s Rebellion “It may be called the finest thing in Australasian history. It was a revolution – small in size but great politically; it was a strike for liberty, a struggle for principle, a stand against injustice and oppression. ‌ It is another instance of a victory won by a lost battleâ€? Mark Twain, Following the Equator (1897) WHEN Fran Henke wanted someone to launch her latest historical novel she had to look no further than at the words she had written. Kerry McNarn, district nurse, wedding celebrant whose name and personality form the basis for a “characterâ€? used in two of Henke’s books readily agreed to step from the pages of Winds of Rebellion for its public release. In a self-reflective moment Henke questions the professionalism of using the names and personalities of friends in a work of fiction and then supplies the answer: “Maybe, but enormous fun yes.â€? An artist, journalist, author and accomplished photographer, Henke is well known for her long running Council Watcher column with the former Independent News Group. Her latest book Winds of Rebellion - the second of the A Fair Wind trilogy - is about how far Australians can be pushed before they say enough. The first book of the trilogy, Other Side of the Wind, was published for Henke’s 70th birthday in 2013. This second book is based on events and players at the time of the Eureka rebellion on the Ballarat goldfields. “It carries some of the characters from the first book into the tense months of 1854, when ordinary people became caught up in extraordinary
events,� Henke says. At that time, she says, miners on the Ballarat and Bendigo goldfields were willing to pay for a licence – “also known as a tax� - but wanted a say in how the goldfields were run. They held meetings and organised deputations to authorities. “The government, paranoid about the number of so called foreigners on the goldfields, had a fortified camp for soldiers and troopers. So miners built a ramshackle stockade of shaft timbers,� Henke says. “Men were asleep there on Sunday 3 December 1854 when 276 soldiers and police arrived, shooting and slashing, burning nearby tents with families inside. “An estimated 60 people died either that morning or later – of those, six were troopers. So it wasn’t a rebellion, more like a massacre.� Henke’s tale is from the point of view of people in Geelong, “the rest, recreation and restocking point for the Ballarat goldfields�. She feels drawn to Ballarat as it was the birthplace of her mother and her maternal grandfather was a miner, who allegedly lost his leg saving a cage full of miners at Kalgoolie. “I met him once, with his wooden leg, suggesting to him that he had a leg like mine, which is in a caliper,� Henke, a polio survivour, says. “While the first book The Other
Side of the Wind was set in Geelong because of the intriguing story told me by a friend about her ancestors landing there – we had family members there too in the wool business. “When writing both books, I was conscious that my mum, who became
dependent on talking books in later years, was hearing material not to her conservative taste. So I wanted my fiction to be challenging and interesting, yet not to offend.� But starting Rebellion and finishing it had its own challenges.
After eight chapters “serious family matters� saw the book set aside and Henke being “actually afraid to start writing again�, uncertain of being able to again become immersed in the past. Rejuvenation came after finishing and publishing In Yer Face The Bald Archy Prize, a collaboration with Peter Batey in July last year. “I knew I wanted to keep writing. Period details and history returned; subsequent chapters went down really easily – except for the events of 3 December. Writing about senseless death of people and animals doesn’t come easy.� Henke’s editor Mike Hast [also a journalist and now a sometime contributor the The News] suggested Henke illustrate the text with linocuts, something they had already tried with the cover of the first book. “I majored in printmaking at Chisholm six years ago. And I enjoyed making small images of native flowers while he edited – asking endless questions, checking my research as only Mike can. “Again we had the argument about the actual date of Victoria’s separation, the date it was proclaimed by the Queen, 1850, or the date it was enacted, 1851.� Henke, secretary of the Australian Taxation Reform Group, is involved in making submissions to the Henry Review and a White Paper. “I didn’t really want to pitch this book as being about an unfair tax, yet of course it is. Who would want to read a novel about tax?� she says. Continued Page 18
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Mornington News 3 May 2016
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