Maralinga (55 page)

He lifted his gaze out to sea and was distracted by a particularly fine-looking ship in the distance. Under full sail and with the wind behind her, the clipper was making her way up the Derwent in spectacular fashion. He halted to admire the vessel and, as he did so, he realised that his mind hadn't really been on the meeting of the Legislative Council at all. It hadn't even been on the new constitution and the prospect of self-government. He'd been trying to distract himself, he realised. He'd been trying to distract himself from the moment he'd left Polly Jordan's house.

‘It's hard bringing up youngsters on your own, isn't it, sir?'
He couldn't get her words out of his mind.
‘Just as it's hard losing your loved one to the sea. You'd know that too, wouldn't you, sir?'
Yes, he thought, oh yes, indeed I would. Why, he wondered, had Amy chosen to confide in Polly Jordan of all people? He had no idea what could have possessed his daughter to do such a thing, but whatever the reason, it had brought back the past.

Araluen

On a blistering hot day in 1850, brothers George and Richard Ross take their first steps on Australian soil after three long months at sea. All they have is each other.

A decade on, and they are the owners of successful vineyard, Araluen, nestled in a beautiful valley near Adelaide. Now a successful businessman, George has laid down the roots of a Ross dynasty, born of the New World. But building a family empire – whatever the cost – can have a shattering effect on the generations to come …

Pacific

Australian actress Samantha Lindsay is thrilled when she scores her first Hollywood movie role, playing a character loosely based on World War II heroine Mamma Tack.

But on location in Vanuatu, uncanny parallels between history and fiction emerge and Sam begins a quest for the truth. Just who was the real Mamma Tack?

Kal

Kalgoorlie. It grew out of the red dust of the desert over the world's richest vein of gold … From the heady early days of the gold rush, to the horrors of the First World War in Gallipoli and France, to the shame and confrontation of the post-war riots,
Kal
tells the story of Australia itself and the people who forged a nation out of a harsh and unforgiving land.

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