BOOK DESCRIPTION

1973. Queen Elizabeth II opened the Sydney Opera House, and is now entitled as "Queen of Australia." Young people over 18 can vote for the Federal Elections, and the pensions of older people are no longer means-tested. You can spend new Fifty Dollar notes at Australia's first legal casino in Hobart. China is OK again, with a three-year Trade agreement with OZ, and Gough being the first Oz PM to visit. Police arrested 98 Green demonstrators occupying a building site in Sydney. Women got maternity leave if they work for the Federal Government, but only if they had a baby. Men should not apply. You cannot sell kangaroo products overseas any more. The White Australia Policy is gone, and so too is the death penalty.

ABOUT THIS SERIES. ....But after that, I realised that I knew very little about these parents of mine. They had been born about the start of the Twentieth Century, and they died in 1970 and 1980. For their last 50 years, I was old enough to speak with a bit of sense. I could have talked to them a lot about their lives. I could have found out about the times they lived in. But I did not. I know almost nothing about them really. Their courtship? Working in the pits? The Lock-out in the Depression? Losing their second child? Being dusted as a miner? The shootings at Rothbury? My uncles killed in the War? Love on the dole? There were hundreds, thousands of questions that I would now like to ask them. But, alas, I can't. It's too late.

Thus, prompted by my guilt, I resolved to write these books. They describe happenings that affected people, real people. The whole series is, to coin a modern phrase, designed to push your buttons, to make you remember and wonder at things forgotten. The books might just let nostalgia see the light of day, so that oldies and youngies will talk about the past and re-discover a heritage otherwise forgotten. Hopefully, they will spark discussions between generations, and foster the asking and answering of questions that should not remain unanswered.