AUTHOR’S NOTE

This is an account of Henry Nissen’s life and the forces that shaped him. I have drawn on many sources—Henry’s siblings and people who have known him and his parents; media reports of Henry’s fights and youth work; historical documents—and on time spent with Henry on the wharves, at boxers’ reunions, at fight nights, in rooming houses and courtrooms, and on the streets of his various beats and neighbourhoods.

The story took on a momentum of its own, and led me to research and include the perspectives of other people crucial to Henry’s life, in particular, his mother, Sonia, and his father, Simche. Sonia’s haunting presence became central to the story. I was compelled to enter her world and recreate her point of view, and to reconstruct the scenes that depict her descents into madness and her brave battle to be a loving mother and grandmother.

There are many people to thank. Henry Nissen, and his identical twin, Leon Nissen—identical also in generosity of spirit. Henry’s brother Paul and his sister Sandra—her quest to understand her family history was an inspiration. Raimond Gaita for his encouragement at a critical time in the writing. Mischa Merz, Richard Freadman, Frank de la Rambelya for reading early drafts. And Peter Read, Leon Kurop, Henry Erlich, Bloss MacDonald, Rose Banks of the Gatwick, Vicky Flynn, Frank Bourke, Forty Koumakis at the Port Diner, the folk at the Seafarers’ Mission, Barry Michael for fight nights at the Melbourne Pavilion, the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame, the Victorian Past and Present Boxing Association. Jane Pearson, for her dedicated editing and belief in the book, Chong Weng Ho for the striking cover design, Glyn Davis for his encouragement during my tenure as VC fellow at Melbourne University, and the late Jimmy ‘Hoppo’ Hopkins who would get the Princes Hill mob together at the Kew Junction Hotel. Memuzin River and Jayden Hill, and their fellow workers at the Father Bob Maguire Foundation, and the legendary Father Bob himself. I am grateful for the assistance this project has received from the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.

As always, I thank my partner, Dora, and my son, Alexander, who have supported me in many ways.