ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I thank Jon Talbot for his generosity in reading, and commenting on, sections of the text; Peter Montgomery, AM, and Dr Ken Fitch for their advice on historical sources; and my family for their patience. Thank you also to Diana Burstall and the Byron Bay Writers Group for the fun of our manuscript readings.

Some names in this book have been changed and nicknames invented for the usual reasons. In certain chapters, time has been compressed and events merged for brevity.