And Fire Falls (30 page)
Authors: Peter Watt
Author Notes
M
any of the characters who appear within the pages of this book are real people. This is as a reminder to those of us who owe them so much for their courageous roles in the defence of this country.
1942 was probably the most critical year in our short European history. We truly faced a threat that would have impacted on our lives to this day had the Japanese succeeded in winning the battle for New Guinea and the Pacific.
Amongst the incredible real characters was Frank Holland MBE, coast watcher and commando who went on to serve with Z Special Unit Operations in Timor and Borneo. He is a man whose exploits are the stuff of epic dramas; in Timor he was given the name of
El Tigre
. I used poetic licence to place my fictional characters of Jessie Duffy and Bruce King in the timeframe of his operations to rescue survivors for evacuation with the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles. My information came from his diaries reproduced in the book, edited by Peter Stone, Mabel Holland and John Holland,
El Tigre: Wartime rescue operations in New Britain; Z Special Unit operations in Portuguese Timor and Borneo
, Ocean Enterprises, Victoria, 1999. My copy of the book is proudly signed by Frank’s widow, Mabel.
It is little advertised that many of the interned people in Changi prison were civilian men, women and children. I was fortunate to have access to books such as Sheila Allan’s
Diary of a Girl in Changi
, Kangaroo Press, Pymble,
1994.
This novel was also an opportunity to highlight the remarkable courage and work of Dr Cicely Williams and many others who worked to keep the internees alive through the years of captivity. Many of their stories were found in Jean Teasdale’s book
Facing the Bow: European Women in Colonial Malaya 1919 – 1945
, Uniprint, Nedlands, WA, 1997. I have used the actual experiences of many people, lifted to provide the reality in a fashion. My character Diane Duffy has been imprinted on the experiences of those courageous ladies who should not be forgotten.
The dogfight carried out by my fictional character James Duffy over the Coral Sea was actually fought by Stanley ‘Swede’ Vejtasa. The real character of Swede Vejtasa went on to earn three Navy Crosses before the end of the war in the Pacific and have an illustrious career in the American Navy afterwards.
The treachery of Lord Ulverstone is also rooted in historical events and real traitors in the British domain. A very good television documentary,
Churchill’s Traitors
, illustrated that point.
I could continue with many other sources for the novel but what I have written is intended to be fiction, even as it is based on fact, but I would like to point out that one of the best sources of the Kokoda campaign I found in Raymond Paull’s,
Retreat from Kokoda: The Australian Campaign in New Guinea 1942,
William Heinemann Australia, Victoria, 1958. In my opinion, later published books on the subject lack his insight into the campaign.
I was tempted to give
the young soldier
who served alongside Tom Duffy a name, but decided he was representative of many other young men who fought and died in the New Guinea campaign, with the outgunned and outnumbered militia battalions who took the brunt of the Japanese invasion. So he will always remain
the young soldier
, without a name, who could have been any father, son, brother or uncle. May all the young soldiers who will never grow old always be remembered. Lest we forget.
And the story will continue . . .
Acknowledgements
M
y special thanks to my publisher, Cate Paterson, and agent, Geoffrey Radford. Continuing those special thanks, to all those who have worked on this book at Pan Macmillan. They are Vanessa Pellatt, Haylee Nash, Libby Turner and Eve Jackson. Also a thank you to old friends in Pan Macmillan, Roxarne Burns and Tracey Cheetham.
Thanks go to those who have assisted with my work. Daniel Huddleston for keeping my computer alive. Peter Lowe and Kaye for keeping my website up to date. Dr Louis Trichard and Christine for keeping me alive. A special thank you to Kristie Hildebrand, and her wonderful mum, Dorothy, for their work on my Facebook site. My old mate, Dave Sabben MG, and his spouse, Di. Dave and I had the pleasure of touring northern NSW to raise money for Legacy this year.
In the USA, my thanks to Rod Hardy and his son, Brett, for their work on the
Frontier
project. A thanks to Alan Nevins for his work as my US literary agent, and Paul Currie for his wonderful, continuing support. Thanks to Gavin Scott for his adaption of the books to screenplays, and not to forget the members of the American Legion Post 87 in Manhattan, Montana, for their support of the books in the USA.
Thanks go to friends who have had an influence on my life in the last year: Kevin Jones OAM and family, Graham Mackie and Sue Hughes, Mick and Andrea Prowse, John and June Riggall, John Carroll, Jan Dean and my yachtie brother-in-law, Tyrone McKee.
This book is also a tribute to Vera Montague, who nursed our troops in the Pacific, and Mick O’Reilly, who fought that war. Both are from Maclean.
This is also a tribute to my Auntie Joan Payne in Tweed Heads who served with the WAAAF during the Second World War and has reached her 90th year of life. They all belong to a very special generation of Australians who lived through economic depression and a world war.
I should make special mention to those wonderful and courageous men and women I work alongside during the fire season. To all members of the Gulmarrad Rural Fire Service, Clarence Valley district and NSW RFS. That same tribute also extends to all men and women of all voluntary emergency services in Australia.
To my family in Sydney, Tom and Colleen Watt, and extended family of nieces, Shannon, Jessica, Sophia and Charlotte, a thank you. To those further north, the Payne family members, Luke, Tim and Virginia, and their respective family members. In Tasmania, my sister Lyn Barclay and her husband, Jock, and their family.
A special thank you to all my readers who gave these books a go.
About Peter Watt
Peter Watt has spent time as a soldier, articled clerk, prawn trawler deckhand, builder’s labourer, pipe layer, real estate salesman, private investigator, police sergeant and advisor to the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary. He speaks, reads and writes Vietnamese and Pidgin. He now lives at Maclean, on the Clarence River in northern New South Wales. He is a volunteer firefighter with the Rural Fire Service, and fishing and the vast open spaces of outback Queensland are his main interests in life.
Peter Watt can be contacted at
www.peterwatt.com
.
Also by Peter Watt
The Duffy/Macintosh Series
Cry of the Curlew
Shadow of the Osprey
Flight of the Eagle
To Chase the Storm
To Touch the Clouds
To Ride the Wind
Beyond the Horizon
War Clouds Gather
The Papua Series
Papua
Eden
The Pacific
The Silent Frontier
The Stone Dragon
The Frozen Circle
Excerpts from emails sent to Peter Watt
‘May I congratulate you on your wonderful storytelling. Like everyone that reads your books, once I start reading, I can’t put them down.’
‘Well done on a bloody good yarn.’
‘Thank you for your great novels and the history lessons of my country.’
‘I have enjoyed reading all of your books but I reckon your latest is the best so far. A ripper read.’
‘Australia is lucky to have such a great writer.’
‘I love the level of humour, romance, camaraderie, adventure and I truly get lost in them.’
‘I was impressed with your research and the way you describe the plight and spirituality of the Aboriginal tribes. You are an amazing storyteller.’
‘The power of your words, your insights and observations, and the emotions I feel reading your book, is something I haven’t felt since reading Tolstoy as a 17 year old . . . finally, someone is writing about Australia, Australians and putting our Aboriginal history into a narrative form that is truthful, insightful and simply the best historical fiction I have had the pleasure to read.’
‘Thank you for the wonderful characters you have created, both horrid and loveable.’
This is a work of fiction. Characters, institutions and organisations mentioned in this novel are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, used fictitiously without any intent to describe actual conduct.
First published 2014 in Macmillan by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Limited
1 Market Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2000
Copyright © Peter Watt 2014
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. This publication (or any part of it) may not be reproduced or transmitted, copied, stored, distributed or otherwise made available by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical) or by any means (photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise) without prior written permission from the publisher.
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry is available
from the National Library of Australia
EPUB format: 9781743518311
Typeset by Post Pre-press Group
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