As usual, any mistakes or omissions are mine.
Rosie and Frank’s bakery in Robe is fictional.
At the time of writing the name of the first woman to vote in the 1896 election in Robe is not known. According to a journalist’s article, she did cast her vote at 9.45am. The State Library of South Australia informed me that electoral roll records from the area for that particular election have not been found. We do hope they still exist, and if they ever come to light, I hope Elsa Goody has done the lady justice.
The story behind the thirty sovereigns was true in part in my own family history going back to the early days of the Depression on the land in Victoria. My great-grandfather discovered the stash after he took up a land division. When no one came forward for them, he was very careful how he spent the find. A dirt-poor farmer would’ve had a hard time trying to change a sovereign back in those days, much less thirty of them.