ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

This coming Sunday, 7th Feb, the book my co-author Catherine and I have been working on for the past six years will be launched. The book is a collection of stories from Black Saturday - which was seven years ago this Sunday. The title of the book is, "The Long Way Home - Personal Accounts of Black Saturday and the recovery in Mitchell Shire". Approx 103 contributors of written and recorded stories and photographs. It's been a huge effort and we are really proud of the result and hope it will aid people in their recovery of this, and other disasters.

The title of the book was derived from a poem written by Matt - A Long Way Home and the poem has pride of place at the front of the book. I will be reading the poem at the launch. I also managed to sneak one of my poems in on the last page - The Blackened Post (revised version). Craig Lapsley who is in charge of Emergency Victoria will launch the book.

Heather

congratulations and best of luck with it Heather .

What Ross said - Congratulations and good luck Heather ...

Good work Heather, it will go well.

Thanks you three. Getting a wee bit excited.

Congratulations Heather - hope your launch goes swimmingly and your book is a great success. Good on you for tackling such a difficult subject and providing a voice for the stories of this dark day in Australia's history.

Regards, Shelley

Well done - so proud of you

good on you Heather, I have no doubt that this has been a monstrous effort and not without some lumps in the throat, I as yourself have seen some devastating
fires as we live in the rangers and still get a bit jittery when we see smoke on the horizon. Again good on you

Cheers Dave.

Thanks Shelley, Matt, Maureen and Dave. It has been a labour of love - a love and respect for the people we did it for and was not without our own personal hurdles to jump. It's nice to know you have achieved something worthwhile in your life that should help other people now and in the future.

Heather

Good luck H hope it goes well.

Bob