Description
Written to commemorate WG Manners & Co’s 100 years in the Kalgoorlie Goldfields, this book is a grand sweep of Australiana and life in Australia’s outback. It charts the Manners’ family history from 1895 to 1995. Ron compiled his book with his parents, Charles and Nancy Manners, and it tells stories about their remarkable yet ordinary lives.
Nancy (nee Stevens) spent her first 20 years living in a shack fabricated by her father, on a mining lease which is now part of Kalgoorlie’s Super Pit. Her experiences would make a great movie as the hardships of those days are almost beyond belief today. Life in such close confines with seven children and their parents would send today’s child welfare authorities into a frenzy!
Charles’ story is told through his meticulously kept war diaries, which chart his experiences with his best mate Dick Fryer-Smith. Anyone with an interest in the events of war and life in the battlefield will be taken right to the frontline where limbs and lives were lost on the battlefields of France.
Seeing how these generations lived, worked, played and developed that persevering streak that climbs over all obstacles, is a timeless story to tell today.
** Note: on page 300 readers are referred to mannkal.org to access the full text of my seminar paper Kalgoorlie (and Australia) Lookin’ Good, Feelin’ Awful. That document can now be found HERE.
