tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17865736110325645302024-03-15T01:25:39.269-07:00Dean from AustraliaThe Official Home for Australian Author Dean Mayes. Discover the writings, the books and the musical inspiration.DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.comBlogger430125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-6706541793850724302022-10-07T20:07:00.006-07:002022-10-07T20:11:24.625-07:00The Night Fisher Elegies by Dean Mayes.<!--wp:paragraph-->
<p><span style="font-family: georgia;">September 1st 2022.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I am pleased to announce that my brand new book "The Night Fisher Elegies" is now available across the world and direct from the author.</span></p>
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<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized"><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-1158" height="546" src="https://deanmayesauthor.files.wordpress.com/2022/07/the-night-fisher-elegies-1.png?w=655" width="350" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;">The Night Fisher Elegies by Dean Mayes.</span></figcaption></figure>
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</span><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Taking the reader on a journey through love, faith, death, grief, family and dreams, “The Night Fisher Elegies” weaves together powerful explorations of humanism, moments of reflection tinged with melancholy and short verses, which inhabit the sometimes brutal landscape of self examination.</span></p>
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</span><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Dean wanders through a palace of memories contained within nostalgic love, experimenting with style, tone and character. He poses questions for the reader to ponder and wrestle with and offers pieces designed to evoke and provoke, while others are simply present as meditations to inspire and affirm.</span></p>
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</span><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Drawing inspiration from literary heroes such as Jim Harrison, Rainer Maria Rilke, Albert Camus, Charles Bukowski & Seamus Heaney this collection brings together pieces from over 10 years of writing and creating. “The Night Fisher Elegies” showcases Dean Mayes’ literary style across short fiction, ghazal poetry, short form essays and personal reflections.</span></p>
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</span><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Australian customers - I am able to offer a small number of individually signed editions through my dedicated portal. Price includes shipping and handling and will be shipped direct to you throughout September.</span></p>
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</span><p class="has-text-align-center"><a href="http://www.deanfromaustralia.com/p/pre-order-night-fisher-elegies-by-dean.html?fbclid=IwAR2FhdMYnpIztanQ7erUR3WWOfNJNLHdo3L13s_IbDCXJ0laJ8VyEW2vr3U"><span style="font-family: georgia; text-decoration: underline;">Australian Customers - Order Direct from Dean Mayes.</span></a></p>
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</span><p class="has-text-align-center"><span style="font-family: georgia; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Night-Fisher-Elegies-Stories-Reflection-ebook/dp/B0B7H5HPWQ/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1659938511&sr=8-1" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Amazon Australia.</a></span></p>
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</span><p class="has-text-align-center"><span style="font-family: georgia; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Night-Fisher-Elegies-Stories-Reflection-ebook/dp/B0B7H5HPWQ/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Amazon United States.</a></span></p>
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</span><p class="has-text-align-center"><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Night-Fisher-Elegies-Stories-Reflection-ebook/dp/B0B7H5HPWQ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=17FMCFZOKDST9&keywords=The+NIght+Fisher+Elegies&qid=1659940736&sprefix=the+night+fisher+elegies%2Caps%2C288&sr=8-1" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: georgia; text-decoration: underline;">Amazon Canada.</span></a></p>
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</span><p class="has-text-align-center"><span style="font-family: georgia; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Night-Fisher-Elegies-Stories-Reflection-ebook/dp/B0B7H5HPWQ/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=The+NIght+Fisher+Elegies&qid=1659938804&sr=8-1" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Amazon United Kingdom.</a></span></p>
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</span><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Working with Amazon directly on this project has been a positive experience. They've enabled me to deliver something that I'm really proud of. </span></p>
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</span><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Night Fisher Elegies is a different project for me yet, for those of you who are familiar with my previous work, I think you will recognize my voice in these pages. I hope these stories will inspire you. </span></p>
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</span><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">DFA.</span></p>
<!--/wp:paragraph-->DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-19808397041472187622020-02-02T19:11:00.001-08:002020-02-02T19:11:59.705-08:00Announcement - New Blog At Wordpress.<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is just a short one to let you know that for the past couple of months, I have been blogging more regularly at a new WordPress site that I've set up. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The reasons for this come down to visibility. While I have enjoyed a reasonable level of exposure over the past ten years here - using the blogging and site tools provided by Google - I haven't enjoyed the level of engagement with visitors as I'd hoped. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Having dipped my toe in the water with WordPress, I'm finding a much greater level of engagement with visitors both reading, liking and commenting on my content with a great degree of frequency than I have enjoyed here. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This does not mean that Dean from Australia is going away. I will continue to maintain this site as the primary home for my career as an author. For news, updates and reflections on what I am doing as a writer however, I would invite you to visit my portal at <a href="https://deanmayesauthor.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Dean Mayes Author</a>. You can sign up for updates (and, to be clear, I'm no spammer!) and you can receive exclusive news on my forthcoming projects before anyone else. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For those of you who have interacted with me by way of this website over the past ten years, I'd like to sincerely thank you for doing so.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">DFA.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-69677014031340443232020-01-04T16:27:00.000-08:002020-01-04T16:27:59.741-08:00Announcement - Dean Mayes To Donate All Royalties To Bush Fire Relief.<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Many of you will have seen the devastating images and footage and news reports coming out of Australia over the past few weeks. I've been resharing a lot of those images on my Instagram feed (see left sidebar). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We are in the grip of unprecedented bush fires, which have been described as the worst in Australia's recorded history. Millions of hectares of Australian bush have been razed, thousands of native animal species have lost their lives and the human death toll is rising day by day. People have been displaced, lost homes and businesses and, as I write this, Australia remains in a catastrophic situation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have been trying to do what I can and I know that whatever I do, it will never be enough. However, today, I am making the following pledge;</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All four of my titles, print or digital. Every single dollar I receive in royalties from each sale will go to the <a href="https://www.redcross.org.au/?gclid=CjwKCAiAjMHwBRAVEiwAzdLWGPBlPvrk7Tk70jRld4y1ehIiatr9CKPyA-wBuMRmtVEjwPy6ckc-CRoC1nEQAvD_BwE" target="_blank">Australian Red Cross.</a> For readers, especially those with an e-reader, each sale represents less than a price of a cup of coffee. That's all it will take for you. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So, <a href="http://www.deanfromaustralia.com/p/books.html" target="_blank">visit my books page here</a> and follow the links for each title to your favourite book store. Visit your local bricks and mortar store and ask for my books by name. They will order them for you. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Please help. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">DFA.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-47078874544180625572019-09-02T08:30:00.000-07:002019-09-02T14:51:07.336-07:00All The Better Part Of Me - A New Release from Molly Ringle.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There's always cause for celebration whenever <a href="http://www.centralavenuepublishing.com/" target="_blank">Central Avenue Publishing</a> launches a new novel from Seattle based author Molly Ringle. This is especially true for Molly's latest offering "All The Better Part Of Me" that is due to hit stands on September 3. I had the opportunity to participate as a beta reader on an early draft of this outstanding new novel and I'm so pleased to see it come to life in its final form.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What's it all about? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>It's an inconvenient time for Sinter Blackwell to realize he's bisexual. He's a 25-year-old American actor working in London, living far away from his disapproving parents in the Pacific Northwest, and enjoying a flirtation with his director Fiona. But he can't deny that his favorite parts of each day are the messages from his gay best friend Andy in Seattle—whom Sinter once kissed when they were 15. Finally he decides to return to America to visit Andy and discover what's between them, if anything. He isn't seeking love, and definitely doesn't want drama. But both love and drama seem determined to find him. Family complications soon force him into the most consequential decisions of his life, threatening all his most important relationships: with Andy, Fiona, his parents, and everyone else who's counting on him. Choosing the right role to play has never been harder.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Who is Molly Ringle?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Molly Ringle was one of the quiet, weird kids in school, and is now one of the quiet, weird writers of the world. She likes thinking up innovative romantic obstacles and mixing them with topics like Greek mythology, ghost stories, fairy tales, or regular-world scandalous gossip. With her intense devotion to humor, she was proud to win the grand prize in the 2010 <a href="https://www.bulwer-lytton.com/" target="_blank">Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest</a> with one (intentionally) terrible sentence. She's into mild rainy climates, gardens, '80s new wave music, chocolate, tea, and perfume (or really anything that smells good). She has lived in the Pacific Northwest most of her life, aside from grad school in California and one work-abroad season in Edinburgh in the 1990s. (She's also really into the U.K., though has a love/stress relationship with travel.) She currently lives in Seattle with her husband, kids, corgi, guinea pigs, and a lot of moss.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My take...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Stylistically, this new novel is signature Molly Ringle, from its smart dialogue to its grounded and recognizable characters and its rich and evocative Pacific North West setting - honestly, why Molly has never been tapped to write for a Gilmore Girls-esque TV series is beyond me. Where "All The Better Part Of Me" represents a departure for Ringle is in its handling of a Male to Male relationship - one that is sensitive, deep and enriching, both for the story and for the reader.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">During my beta read, Molly and I had a back and forth during which we remarked on how similar the experience of writing outside our familiar cultural sand box was for us both. I recall Molly fretting at times about whether she was unfairly appropriating a narrative in portraying a gay relationship from a heterosexual perspective - in much the same way as I worried about writing an Aboriginal story from a non Aboriginal perspective with "Gifts of the Peramangk". </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Molly's approach to the central relationship between Sinter and Andy has been handled with such a deft hand that you soon lose yourself in their love story, forgetting any baggage that may or may not come with the genre. As I have often said of Molly Ringle - she is an astute observer of the human condition and, as a storyteller, she is able to tap into something universal, no matter what genre she is writing within. All The Better Part Of Me brings together everything that makes Molly Ringle's writing so appealing and then goes further, exploring love and family and the politics of love and family in a smart, engrossing tome that will leave you heartily satisfied.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Pre-Order Purchase Links: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/All-Better-Part-Molly-Ringle/dp/1771681675" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/all-the-better-part-of-me-molly-ringle/1130194669#/" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/All-Better-Part-Me-Molly-Ringle/9781771681674" target="_blank">Book Depository</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781771681674" target="_blank">Indiebound</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/all-the-better-part-of-me" target="_blank">Kobo</a></div>
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<a href="https://tantor.com/all-the-better-part-of-me-jeffrey-einboden-molly-ringle.html" target="_blank">Audiobook</a> </div>
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Where Molly Ringle Can Be Found:</div>
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<a href="https://amazon.com/author/mollyringle" target="_blank">Amazon</a></div>
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<a href="https://mollyringle.livejournal.com/" target="_blank">Blog</a>: Mirrored <a href="https://mollyringle.dreamwidth.org/" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://lemonlye.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">here</a> </div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/MollyRingle/" target="_blank">Facebook</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2905269.Molly_Ringle" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></div>
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DFA.</div>
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DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-19517334507912441082019-08-24T19:16:00.000-07:002019-09-14T20:56:54.226-07:00A Flick Of The Switch - A Schwannoma Diary (#16).<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm home now. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's been five days since my surgery and four days since my Medtronic Intellis spinal cord stimulator was switched on for the first time. On Wednesday at midday, my medical technician visited me at my bedside and programmed the stimulator in a process that took roughly fifteen minutes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That's all. I know right?? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And it was cool in that all she used was an iPad with a nifty user interface and a handheld device - similar to the one I now own - to send a series of commands into the stimulator, then tweak them so that I would feel the electrical impulses in the right area - namely my left lower back, left hip and left leg. The sensations were strange to say the least. I equated them to being zapped by an electric fence when I was a kid at my uncle's dairy farm, but much more entertaining. After the initial flurry of shocks and zaps, which took place while the technician was establishing the programming parameters, the impulse settled down, becoming a ever present buzz that rose and fell rhythmically.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'd had a rough sleep on Tuesday night after the operation. I think that was due to the post anaesthetic fog and the inevitable pain from the surgical incisions. I have a cut in my thoracic spine, which feels like I've been kicked in the back and ribs, while the cut on my buttock makes finding a comfortable position when sitting or laying down difficult. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The first thing I noticed after the switch on - my hip pain virtually disappeared. Instead of the ache that would usually have me struggling to move, the buzz from the unit had taken its place - and it was pleasant! The pins and needles that I usually experience often come in random bursts throughout my leg, ranging from an unpleasant popping and fizzing to an intense burning that can and has lasted for days at a time, they have been replaced by the rhythmic tingle from the stimulator. So the early signs are really promising.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I came home on Thursday and began to reacquaint myself with a familiar environment.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Working with the handheld device has been an interesting dance. It requires some playing with in order to find the best current for a given positions. I find going from a standing to a sitting position, I have to adjust the intensity of the electrical current, otherwise it can be overpowering. The ideal range when standing seems to be around 2.3 to 2.6 mA (milli-amperes). When sitting, I'm finding that I have to dial it down to between 2.0 and 2.3 mA. And when laying in bed, depending on what side I'm on (I tend to be a side sleeper), I find that sometimes I have to dial it up and sometimes I have to dial it down. Laying flat tends to push the paddles against the spinal cord - as does sitting taller - which they say is a good thing anyway.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The rules, if there are any, seem a little rubbery. For now, it's been good to discover and learn what works and what doesn't. I will meet the technician again in the coming weeks to make some adjustments and add some settings to the handheld for me to play around with.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">While I heal, I have to stay out of the swimming pool. I'm not happy about that, given the progress I'd made leading upto the surgery. I was achieving 1km distances in around 24 minutes, which I thought was pretty damned good. The most important part of the healing process is ensuring that the leads and paddles don't move while the fascia and muscle layers knit together. Fortunately, I won't need to wait as long this time around.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">All in all, I'm in a good place. I feel positive. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">DFA. </span></div>
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DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-9534246247019000752019-08-19T21:10:00.000-07:002019-09-12T08:44:17.642-07:00MacArthur Park - A Schwannoma Diary (#15).<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's a strange experience being a "guest" in the place where you work. Even after a few times, I've never entirely gotten used to it. The faces you see every day...it feels like they see you differently. Maybe they do. Maybe they don't. It's just a feeling.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was whisked through to radiology as soon as I checked in to undergo the pre-operative mapping X-Rays of my thoracic spine. This is so the surgeon has accurate images of where she needs to enter in order <a href="http://www.deanfromaustralia.com/2019/08/something-radical-schwannoma-diary-12.html" target="_blank">to place the paddles onto my spinal cord</a>. I have a whole bunch of writing and drawing on my back where the radiographer labelled everything. I'd take a selfie, but it's a bit hard and I don't really want to.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm waiting now. There's an hour to go before the 2pm list begins. I know I'm third on that list so I'm thinking it'll be around 5pm by the time I go under. I have a nice room with a window that looks over some cloisters. They remind me of the cloisters I wrote about in "The Recipient" so that's nice.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My daughter Lucy made sure she packed her multicoloured Llama into my overnight bag this morning. She said it would bring me good luck. When I dropped the children off at school this morning, her bottom lip bulged and I saw a tear. I thought I saw a tear.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I panicked this morning because I didn't have an anaesthetic song. That's a song that you take in your head to the pre-op area - one that's supposed to keep you calm, maybe inspire you. I recounted in a previous post that I got the idea from Michael J. Fox who took Pearl Jam's "Given To Fly" with him into one of his surgeries. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I have Jimmy Webb's "MacArthur Park" stuck in my head. I didn't necessarily want it, but it's there and I guess it'll do. There is only one version of MacArthur Park that is satisfactory to me though...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: left;">See you on the other side...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">DFA.</span></div>
DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-12715394639269884472019-08-14T10:20:00.000-07:002019-08-14T10:22:38.039-07:00Electric Dreams - A Schwannoma Diary (#14).<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I met with my neurosurgeon again earlier this week to review the series of MR scans and X-Rays that I had taken last week of my brain (I have one), my spinal cord and column and my hips. Given that a major feature of my neuropathic pain has been an intense ache in my left hip, we needed to rule out any form of orthopaedic pathology. Fortunately, both my hip joints are in excellent condition so the source of that pain can definitively be sheeted home to my damaged spinal cord.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So, the only thing left to consider was whether to proceed with the Medtronic Intellis spinal cord neurostimulator platform, <a href="http://www.deanfromaustralia.com/2019/08/the-tunnel-schwannoma-diary-13.html" target="_blank">which I covered in my last post</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We're going to proceed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My neurosurgeon is confident this implanted neurostimulator will be the best option for me and that I am a good candidate for it. I'm otherwise healthy, have a reasonable amount of physical fitness, thanks to my swimming and, having reviewed and considered the technology for myself, I am mentally prepared to accept the presence of this implanted device in my body.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The biggest risks of the neurostimulator remain the possbility of the leads and paddles being dislodged or migrating, though my neurosurgeon has assured me that she will make sure they are anchored securely. I'll have to watch how I move in the first couple of weeks after the surgery to allow the healing process to further ensure the leads remain locked in place. There's the potential for infection at the wound sites, which is a consideration for any kind of surgery, so I'm not overly concerned by that. My intuition as a Nurse will ensure that I take care of myself. A lesser risk is that I won't adapt psychologically to the presence of the neurostimulator in my body. It has been reported in other patients who have eventually had their devices removed because they couldn't accept it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As I write this, I feel dispassionate about it. The chronic neuropathic pain I've been experiencing has been so debilitating for me both physically and mentally that I will try anything if it offers a chance for me to escape it. And, being a massive geek for anything technological helps.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Part of me keeps visualizing this as the outcome of the surgery...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(image credit - <a href="https://www.artstation.com/artwork/XaXDy" target="_blank">issam kh</a>).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">...when the reality will be much more like this...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(image credit - <a href="https://www.medtronic.com/us-en/healthcare-professionals/therapies-procedures/neurological/spinal-cord-stimulation.html" target="_blank">Medtronic</a>)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">...which is still a radical proposition when I think about it for any length of time...like, right now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's all happening next Tuesday, August 20th (it's early Thursday morning as I write this). The theatre has been booked. The implant has been ordered. The requisite medical and nursing staff will have been organized - all of them colleagues of mine, which makes this next step in my little journey a bit different.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Nurse will become the patient once more...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Stay tuned.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">DFA.</span></div>
DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-83673565568248665992019-08-06T08:24:00.000-07:002019-08-06T08:24:02.933-07:00The Tunnel - A Schwannoma Diary (#13).<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">No matter how many times I enter into the painfully narrow tunnel of the MR imaging machine, I never feel as though I'm getting used to it. I approach each machine with a similar veneer of defiance that says, "Righto fucker...You. Me. Let's ride" as if I'm goading this big dumb square donut of technology to do something fatal - like throw one of its magnets through its casing at God knows how many thousands of revolutions per minute and cut me in half. It never happens though. MR technology is so well advanced now. Safety protocols are so stringent with these machines. You'd have better luck getting hit by a car than being killed by an MR imager.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Still, when you're in that tunnel, your head secured inside the cage they close over you to keep you from moving around, with those magnets spinning around you, clanging and banging and rumbling. The psychology warfare you have to play with yourself can be considerable - especially if you're not enamoured by confined spaces and bone crunching noise.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I had the preparatory scans of my spine today. These will help the surgeon get a "lay of the land" so to speak so she can best decide how to approach the evntual surgery to implant my spine cord stimulator. Having discussed the technology with the product specialist, its likely that the leads and paddles will be inserted into the spine at the thoracic level - between T8 and T10. The product specialist - who has a clinical background - believes that will be the best place to achieve the best potential for the neurostimulation therapy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I also had a couple of X-rays of my hips - just to rule out any defect in either of those joints that might be the source of the hip pain I described in my previous post. It's highly unlikely, but you just never know. I can't actually remember if I'd ever had any films taken of my hips previously. I've had so many.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The MR scans were pretty straight forward to be honest. I was in the tunnel for roughly half an hour, during which the radiographer was kind enough to give me a pair of headphones with talk back radio piped through them. The talk back wasn't entirely useful however as it was drowned out by the magnets around me. But I always consider it a nice thought. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There was a short break in proceedings as they pulled me out from within in order to inject the radioactive dye - gadolinium - into my system. That's so they can take a series of enhanced images that can pick up any anomalies (god forbid another tumour) that may or may not present. Gadolinium is one of those hilarious radio-isotopes that makes you feel as though you've lost control of your bodily functions, even though you clearly haven't.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was all over in half an hour and I was back on my feet and out., The Radiology Service has a green ethos these days meaning the images will be sent electronically to my surgeon - she probably already has them. I meet with her in a week, by which time we'll pencil in a date for the surgery.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There was a time when I would have been petrified of the tunnel. Now...it's just mildly angst inducing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Me 15...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Machine 0... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">DFA.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-35711841139365936692019-08-04T21:26:00.000-07:002019-08-04T22:11:32.205-07:00Something Radical - A Schwannoma Diary (#12).<span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>"I had in mind something a little more radical..." Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) to Dr. Eldon Tyrell (Joe Turkel), "Blade Runner", 1982.</i></span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I had thought that there would be no more of this story to tell...</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Never say never - or so the old adage says. </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm roughly 8 months out from the surgery I had in December <a href="http://www.deanfromaustralia.com/2018/12/the-twenty-ninth-year-schwanomma-diary.html" target="_blank">to remove a cystic tumor - a schwannoma from my spinal cord</a>. This was the recurrence of a tumor I had removed as a teen from the S1 nerve nerve root some 30 years ago. No one expected - least of all me - that it would return, but it did, albeit in a degenerate form.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A degenerate little offspring.</span></div>
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My recovery from December until now has been slow but steady but I have struggled with the effects from the damage to my spinal cord. Pain, altered sensation, bladder and bowel dysfunction (which has, thankfully, improved). Pain has been the overriding feature with much of it localizing in my left leg and hip. While constant, it varies in intensity from an ache that prevents free movement to an intense, deep pain that is accompanied by an electrical storm of pins and needles. Sometimes I feel as though my legs are on fire. At its worst, I can't walk. I can barely move. Most days, I can push through and function with the help of medication, but there are days when I am reduced to tears and I have to hide myself away, let the tears flow, and then somehow carry on. </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's not sustainable. </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I returned to my neurosurgeon last week to discuss the situation and, hopefully find a way forward. I wasn't expecting much - possibly a repeat injection of corticosteroid into my spinal cord at the level of the surgery and damage to the cord. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was introduced to something a little more radical. Neurostimulation or Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS). </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The theory behind SCS holds that by implanting a series of electrodes into the spinal column, just above the first layer of the protective tissue of the spinal cord itself, and then passing a precise electrical current through those electrodes, it is possible to interrupt the pain signals travelling from a damaged region of the spinal cord to the brain. Interrupting those chronic pain signals leads to less pain (obviously), less dependence on pharmaceutical interventions and an improved quality of life. The therapy has had a profound effect on many thousands of patients, changing lives and freeing them from crippling chronic pain from spinal cord injury.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) device and electrodes (image credit <a href="https://thedoctorweighsin.com/its-electric-life-spinal-cord-stimulator/">The Doctor Weighs In</a>).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So, I have to undergo a surgical procedure. Another surgical procedure. </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This will involve my neurosurgeon placing a pair of leads or paddles into my spinal column, positioning the paddles over the dura of my spinal cord, then tunnel those leads down to an area just above my pelvis where she'll implant the device and battery pack. The leads will be connected to the device and she'll close up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Medtronic Surescan "paddles" come in two different configurations (image credit </span><a href="https://www.medtronic.com/us-en/healthcare-professionals/products/neurological/spinal-cord-stimulation-systems.html" style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;" target="_blank">Medtronic</a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">)</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Medtronic Intellis Device & Battery Pack (image credit <a href="https://www.medtronic.com/us-en/healthcare-professionals/products/neurological/spinal-cord-stimulation-systems.html" target="_blank">Medtronic</a>).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'll then work with a product specialist, who will give me a device about the size of a smartphone, and set up a series of programs that will enable me to manage the device day to day in a variety of situations. The end goal, hopefully, will be an end to the chronic neuropathic pain I've been suffering from since early last year.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Had it been anyone else suggesting this course of action, I would have dismissed them as crack potted. Because my neurosurgeon suggested it - a) I'm surprised and b) I'm now very interested. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I met with a representative from the medical technology company Medtronic Australia this morning to go over the technology, the benefits and potential risks, to discuss the surgery and post surgery pathway and what to reasonably expect long term. I am a good candidate for SCS because in most other respects, I'm fit and healthy, I'm active - I swam my first, unbroken 1000 metres over the weekend - and the nature of my spinal cord injury has been shown to respond well to SCS in a large population of similar patients. It isn't a sure thing however. I have been warned that it might not work, or work as well as I might hope. I'm keeping my expectations in check. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So, I'm moving forward with this. It is worth a shot. I want to be free of this pain. I want to eliminate or, at the very least, reduce my reliance on medication to manage my pain and I want to swim. I want to swim a lot. In amongst all of the bad stuff, <a href="http://www.deanfromaustralia.com/2019/02/the-shape-of-water-schwannoma-diary-11.html" target="_blank">swimming has been the one refuge from pain</a>, my inability to move and my depression and anxiety. I think I'm actually really good at it. </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I want to write again. A lot.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Tomorrow, I undergo a series of X-rays and MRI scans to map out my spinal column in detail in order to assess and plan for the surgery. I meet with my neurosurgeon again next week to go over the results and then book a time for the surgery. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm sharing this - mainly for myself. It keeps things clear for me which helps when I'm not feeling so good - this tends to be a lot lately. I'd be happy for you to join me on this one. I'll post more as things develop.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">DFA. </span>DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-19844507037787565652019-06-10T18:42:00.000-07:002019-06-10T18:42:21.534-07:00Reflections - The Holocaust Tattoo & The Barber Shop.<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When I was a kid, I used to sweep the hair in my Dad's Barber shop. I have always equated Dad's Barber shop, in the Gippsland town of Moe, with the bar from "Cheers". Dad used to advertise it as "three chairs, no waiting" and it was the kind of place where "everybody knows your name." I have many fond memories of that Barber shop as a place of rich conversation, friendship and it was a place, through which I learned a lot about the world outside my small town confines. I learned about places and people, their vocations, the lives they led, the dreams they had. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I also learned a lot about history.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One particular day, when I was maybe eight or nine years old, an elderly gentleman - a regular - came in for his regular tidy up. Despite his thinning, silvery hair, he always requested the same - a short back and sides, and a shave. Dad's work with the cut throat razor was quite a thing to see. It is a skill that you don't often see anymore, so to watch one do it with the skill of my father - it is artistry.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Anyway, this regular. He was an impish fellow, always well dressed and he had a sparkle in his eye, as though he had a deep appreciation of the world. He was always happy. I remember he had an accent. It was lyrical - not in the manner of the Irish or Scottish or even Welsh accents, which were the ones I'd heard the most as a boy in the early 80's. It sounded very much like the accent of our then next door neighbours, Tina and Rudy, who displayed lots of crockery and dinnerware with windmills on them in their home. I was to learn that this man was from Holland. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For pocket money back in those days, I would man the broom in the Barber shop and sweep up the hair that would fall to the foor as my father clicked his scissors against the comb. Too much hair around the base of the barber's chair was hazardous, so I always swept with a sense of urgency, making sure the linoleum floor was clear (it should be said that an 8 or 9 year old boy armed with a broom and sweeping furiously while a barber is trying to work is just as much a hazard. But I was nothing if not task oriented).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I happened to be sweeping by my Dad's leather and chrome Barber's chair as the eldrely Dutchman sat down. Having stowed his coat and hat on a hook near the waiting chair, he'd dropped into the seat, settled back with a satisfied sigh, glad to be off his feet for a little while and he rolled up his shirt sleeves. As my Dad turned and flicked a barber's cape with the flourish of a matador, I noticed a simple tattoo on the elderly gentleman's forearm. Though it was but a moment, I immediately recognized a series of numbers. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The gentleman saw my moment of pause and my puzzled expression and he smiled. As the barber's cape floated down and around him, he jutted his arm out from underneath and he showed it to me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I hadn't been mistaken. I saw a faded series of numbers, etched into the tanned skin of his forearm.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Max Kaufmann shows his Dachau tattoo --- Palm Beach Daily News photo by Chris Salata</span>.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He explained that he was a prisoner of the Germans during World War 2. I knew a little bit about World War 2 from my own grandfather, who served during that terrible conflict. The elderly gentleman before me said that he was held in a camp in Holland, before being transferred to a place called Auschwitz. I had never heard of that place before. He told me many people were taken there and were given a tattoo, just like the one he had. He told me that it was a dark place and many people had died there, but he had been rescued.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That was the first time I'd ever heard about Auschwitz, the Holocaust or the Jewish people. I sensed, even then, that I been told something important. The encounter with this man has stayed with me. It was such a fleeting moment, but from that, I explored the Second World War in depth and, in particular, the Jewish experience. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It was around this time, that I turned my attention to writing. In a grade three creative writing class, I wrote a short piece about a war experience from a soldier's perspective. I can't be sure if that occurred around the same time as my encounter with the elderly Holocaust survivor...but I like to think that it did.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Moments of deep learning come from places and people you might least expect. This was but one of many lessons I took from my Dad's barber shop.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">DFA. </span>DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-17520930838146455282019-05-14T18:21:00.000-07:002019-05-14T19:20:03.482-07:00Star Wars - The Future, Clouded It Is...<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was alerted to an article this morning from i09's Beth Elderkin, <a href="https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2019/05/the-first-star-wars-films-after-rise-of-skywalker-will-be-from-game-of-thrones-showrunners/" target="_blank">confirming the news</a> that the first film in the new Star Wars trilogy - after December's "Episode 9: The Rise Of Skywalker" - will be helmed by Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff & B.D. Weiss.<br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">screen grab from i09 article by Beth Elderkin (credit i09).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Quoting directly from Disney CEO Bob Iger, who was speaking at a MoffetNathanson Media & Communications summit this week, </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>"We did a deal with David Benioff & B.D. Weiss, who are famous for Game of Thrones, and the next movie we release will be theirs," Iger said. "And we're not saying anything more about that." </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Side note - it remains amusing to me that Lucasfilm CEO Kathleen Kennedy remains pretty much invisible from any Star Wars related announcements - although that is not unsurprising these days.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A few things stand out to me in the reading of Elderkin's article.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I've watched the on-line backlash to the current/final season of Game Of Thrones. Criticisms around the overall tone of the final season, narrative choices and the disjointed nature of the characterizations have abounded, with much of that criticism being directed at Benioff & Weiss.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Walt Disney CEO - Bob Iger.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Iger's quote states that the next film in the Star Wars saga will be Benioff & Weiss' - but that's it. He apparently refused to elaborate on the trilogy, which has a planned release schedule every two years, from 2022. Elderkin's article seems to suggest that Iger has only committed to this pair for the first film in the new trilogy. Does that mean that we can expect Benioff & Weiss to helm/write the first film only, with others taking over for the 2nd and 3rd films? Or will they write the trilogy and hand directing duties over to others? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">("Always in motion, is the future..." Yoda).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Elderkin is, perhaps, being a little coy but I do find merit in her suggestion. I wonder if Iger is watching things unfold <i>really</i> closely, assessing the reaction to the Game Of Thrones final season and preparing contingencies for the Star Wars franchise, as production on the new trilogy ramps up. There feels, to me, a lot of ongoing uncertainty in the Star Wars cinematic IP - particularly in the wake of Rian Johnson's disastrous "The Last Jedi" (2017). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There are positives to take from this announcement though. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I am heartened by previous statements from Bob Iger that there will be a three year hiatus between Episode 9 and the new cinematic trilogy - which will be a separate narrative from the Skywalker saga. That will give the writers time to properly flesh out the 3 film cycle - a'la *George Lucas* - and they can avoid the terrible narrative mess of the sequel trilogy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We need to remember that Benioff & Weiss are showrunners for Game Of Thrones, tasked with wrangling the source material from George R.R. Martin into a cohesive whole for the medium of television. They can't be expected to take full responsibility for the outcome of the presentation nor the response to it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Freed from the shackles of that property, and the shackles of the Star Wars/Skywalker legacy, Benioff & Weiss have the potential to put together a compelling trilogy, with a strong, *planned* narrative arc and fresh, new, archetypal characters that reflect the best of Lucas' mythology and the Campbellian influences Lucas drew on to create it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What Lucasfilm has to focus on lies outside of the cinematic/filmed universe. I am still hopeful for a clean out at the top of Lucasfilm from CEO Kathleen Kennedy, through to the Story Group and those in the customer engagement space, who have behaved appallingly towards a large body of fans since around 2016. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Kathleen Kennedy has been an abject failure as CEO, mishandling the hiring and firing of directors of Solo: A Star Wars Story and original Episode 9 helmer, Colin Trevorrow. The resulting financial mismanagement of the Star Wars brand is clear - as illustrated by the critical and financial failure of Solo: A Star Wars Story.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Empress Palpa...I mean Kathleen Kennedy. image credit <a href="https://whatculture.com/film/why-star-wars-fans-are-wrong-to-hate-kathleen-kennedy">WhatCulture.com</a>)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Kennedy has presided over a dysfunctional culture at Lucasfilm - most notably in the Lucasfilm Story Group. Storytelling by committee is a terrible form of storytelling for a cinematic IP. That there was no plan for the narrative arc of the sequel trilogy, disunity between certain creators and identities at Lucasfilm and the tacit endorsement of terrible fan engagement from company representatives like like Pablo Hidalgo, (now fired) Kiri Hart, (now fired) Chuck Wendig, (soon to be fired?) Rian Johnson, Matt Martin and others within Lucasfilm have done as much damage to the Star Wars brand as Kennedy's faulty decision making. The lack of discipline and respect by these individuals towards fans and a lack of any form of social media policy that would reign in the behavior of these individuals on-line is perplexing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As a writer myself, I have been routinely exposed to fans and critics alike over the years and the one thing I've learned from that is engagement is a one way street. You can only have positive engagement - even when you'd love to stab critics and trolls eyes out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Star Wars remains a entertainment brand on life support. I remain unconvinced that Episode 9 will be a success at the box office, though I do still hope that J.J. Abrams has been able to do something with film that will erase much of the damage from "The Last Jedi". It remains to be seen how David Benioff & B.D. Weiss will transition from a property like Game of Thrones, which has earned a reputation for blood drenched violence, gore, murder, graphic rape and sex to the family friendly Star Wars franchise.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://www.deanfromaustralia.com/2010/08/come-on-bro-its-wars.html" target="_blank">Regular readers of my blog will know how passionate I have been about Star Wars since I saw "A New Hope" as a four year old with my Dad back in 1977.</a> Hell - Star Wars was the reason I became a writer and pursued my dream of publication. So I don't say these things lightly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As for the future of Star Wars, beyond Episode 9 - I'll watch and see from the peripheries, how things develop. Star Wars has been in an enjoyment free fall since "The Last Jedi" and it appears the culture at Lucasfilm shows no signs of abating. I remain terminally ambivalent about the future of the cinematic universe.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">DFA.</span><br />
<br />DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-48242066977685651652019-05-04T17:18:00.000-07:002019-05-04T17:19:22.787-07:00The Victorian Trooper - Dedicated Site Now Live.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now that I've completed my series of articles tracing the life of my great great grandfather, Joseph Ladd Mayes, I'm pleased to announce that I've launched a dedicated website that contains all of the articles I've presented here in a revised and updated form (always trust an author to pepper the first iteration of anything with grammatical flubs!).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The site is located at <a href="http://thevictoriantrooper.home.blog/" target="_blank">The Victorian Trooper</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This series is designed to be a living document - that is - a document that I will add to or subtract from as new information comes to hand. Already, in the week since the site went live, I've come across new information that I've been able to add to the site, which is really exciting. I've also been in contact with some great people who are closely associated with efforts to bring more stories about the Victorian Police Force and its officers during the 1850's - 1900's forward. So that's been exciting as well. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For years, many descendants of good and honest police officers have been ignored and treated with antipathy by many who have perpetuated a myth that the Constabulary in Victoria, Australia was a corrupt and evil one, while bushrangers like Ned Kelly were elevated to something akin to Robin Hood status.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is my hope that my great great grandfather's story and others like him will be given the chance to be reviewed in a new light - that there were many principled and dedicated policemen during that era whose primary motivation was to uphold the law and protect the community.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I hope you can visit this tribute to my great great grandfather and explore the turbulent historical events he was immersed in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">DFA.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-44138420201034068532019-04-08T20:23:00.000-07:002019-04-10T08:00:40.635-07:00The Victorian Trooper #11 - Legacy & Tapestry: Joseph Ladd Mayes Jr.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd Mayes Jnr. was born on the 8th December 1886 at the Kyneton Hospital, near Lancefield in Victoria, the fourth child of Joseph Ladd and Eugenie Mayes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We can only guess at Joseph's childhood but the bulk of it would have been spent in the country town confines of Lancefield, living a tranquil, rural existence as the son of a highly respected policeman. He most likely attended the local Primary School with his older sisters Florence, Dorothy and Eugenie and, being the first young boy sibling they would have experienced, there's a better than even chance the young Joseph Ladd would have been doted on by them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">By the the time of Joseph Ladd's birth, Lancefield was a bustling little rural town servicing many farms in the surrounding district and offering quite a diverse commerical centre. A description from an 1887 edition the Victorian Municipal directory illusrates the town;</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It would appear that Lancefield had everything the Mayes family could want and need during those early years and one can only guess that they had a happy existence for the time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Jnr. was 9 years old when his father retired from the Force in 1895 and the family decided on a move from Lancefield to the City. I wonder how the move from the country to the relative bustle of suburban Brighton would have affected the young Joseph and his sisters. Where would they have gone to school? Were there regular trips the beach? Visits to the City on the expanding Melbourne tram network?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">By the time of his father's death in 1902, Joseph was 15 years old. We know that his first occupation was a laborer for the Victorian Railways and this is where we find him at the outbreak of World War 1 in 1914.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Living with his mother at New Street in Brighton, Joseph Ladd answered the call to arms and enlisted in the AIF on 12th October 1915. It is from his subsequent service record that we are able to glean much information. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It appears that Joseph Ladd intended following in the footsteps of his father as we see that he served seven months in the Australian Light Horse before his enlistment in the Australian Imperial Force. We currently don't know anything more about this period. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">By early 1916, recruiting in Australia had raised sufficient troops to replace the ANZAC losses. Having completed basic training in Toowoomba in Queensland, Joseph Ladd emabarked for Eygpt on the 31st January 1916 to join the 4 divisions that were amassing there for the push onto Europe's Western Front.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In March 1916, the Australian Imperial Force moved to France, and by July/August, the Australians were heavily involved on the Western Front. As part of the 9th Battalion, (3rd Brigade) of the AIF's 1st Division, Joseph Ladd Mayes was embroiled in the fierce fighting of the Somme offensive at Pozières & Mouquet Farm. Over the course of six weeks, the AIF suffered aproximately 28,000 casualties. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">On the 23rd July, Joseph Ladd Jnr. sustained several gun shot wounds to his left elbow and was shipped to England via Calais. At Cambridge, far from the front, he spent the next five months recuperating. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Reviewing his Army service record, it is somewhat amusing to note that Joseph Ladd Mayes was absent without leave for a period of 15 days from the 29th December through to the 12th January 1917 for reasons unknown. One wonders whether the New Years festivities might have had a part to play in this little "vacation". It is tempting to think that Joseph Ladd Jnr. might have enjoyed a raucous time, perhaps in Cambridge or London. It is a mystery but, in any case, when he finally turned up, Joseph Ladd Jnr. was immediately charged, found guilty and was fined a total of 33 days pay. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">By May 1917, the Australians were heavily engaged at Bullecourt in the North East of France. His service record entries put Joseph Ladd Jnr. Bullecourt where the Anzacs endured some of the fiercest fighting of the war, facing German machine guns, barbed wire and the trenches of the Hindenburg Line. The Australians suffered some 7000 casualties from the battle.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(A scene in the Hindenburg Line, showing Australians with a Stokes mortar assisting in the operations near Bullecourt (AWM E00457)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One of those casualties was Joseph Ladd Jnr. He sustained severe artillery wounds to his left thigh, pelvis, buttocks and lower spine. Considering the gravity of his injuries, he probably should have been killed. Somehow, Joseph Ladd survived to be shipped to the Southern General Hospital in Birmingham England. Remarkably, Joseph would recover from his injuries but he would never return to active duty.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A rather utilitarian letter was dispatched home to Australia, informing his mother Eugenie of his injuries - no doubt causing her great anxiety until she was able to contact him to ensure he was safe.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd Jnr. spent the remainder of 1917 in England recovering before returning to Australia - much to the relief of his mother. He was home in Brighton for New Years Day 1918 - as attested to by the precious photographs that found their way into our collection. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Surprisingly, his greivous injuries appear not to have deterred Joseph Ladd Jnr. from trying to re-enlist in the Army. He tried no less than three times in the period from 1918 through until 1920. Owing to his injuries, however, her was unable to gain much more than a clerical posting and, by 1920 it appears he'd given up on a ongoing career in the military. Discharged from the Army, Joseph Ladd Jnr. returnend the Victorian Railways Department as a clerk, based in the Melbourne suburb of Greensborough. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd Jnr. met Gertrude Rose Stock at Greensborough, Victoria and the two married in 1919. Together Joseph and Gertrude would have 9 children starting with John Joseph in 1919 followed by Mavis Jean (1921), Edward George (1923), Allan (1925), Kathleen Jean (1927), Ivan (1929), Donald Gordon (1931), and Margaret (1933).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd Jnr. suffered declining health, throughout the 1930's, the ongoing result of his war injuries and he retired from the Railways Department. It appears he was in and out of a military hospital at Caulfield, while maintaining a residence at Andrews Sreet in Ringwood. Sometime after the birth of Margaret in 1933, his marriage to Gertrude Rose broke down - most likely due to his war experience and its damaging after effects. She left her husband, raising their children single handedly in a house that was regarded as immaculate. Gertrude Rose herself had a reputation as a outstanding cook and could serve up almost any dish imaginable. Gertrude eventually moved to Warracknabeal in Western Victoria. Joseph Ladd moved to the Anzac Hostel at Brighton.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Previously known as Kamesburgh, the Anzac Hostel became a home for permanently incapacitated WW1 veterans.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">From left to right, are: Mr Joseph Mayes, 1st AIF; Mr F Leach, orderly; Mr Albert (Wardie) Ward, 1st AIF, whose bed is in the collection of the Australian War Memorial; and Sister E M Flower, assistant Matron. The patient in the wheeled bed is Mr Harold Wiseman, one of the first residents to arrive at the Hostel when it opened in July 1919. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd Jnr. spent his later years at the hostel. A family anecdote tells of his son Edward George Mayes making regular visits to his father and spending time with him. It was Joseph Ladd who introduced his son "George" to one of the Nursing Assistants at the Hostel, the daughter of a farming family from rural Victoria named Dorothy Preston. A romance soon blossomed between the young couple and George and Dorothy Mayes married during the height of WW2.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />Taken at the Anzac Hostel, Brighton c. 1940s.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I imagine Joseph Ladd Mayes had a reasonably comfortable life at the Anzac Hostel - as comfortable as 1940's medicine could cater for. It seems to have been a well euipped facility with lovely gardens and set well back from the bustle of the surrounding city. I had the opportunity to take a tour through the former hostel in the early 2000's. By then, it served as a private school, though it retained all of its original character. You could feel the spirits of the past there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd Mayes Jnr. died, July 18th, 1955 and was interred at the Springvale necropolis. His estranged wife, Gertrude Rose died in Warracknabeal in 1966 and was buried at the Burwood cemetery.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">DFA.</span>DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-46780245956501005862019-04-07T02:40:00.000-07:002019-04-07T02:40:32.737-07:00The Victorian Trooper #10 - Legacy & Tapestry: John Adolph Mayes.<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="white-space: pre;"><i>(From an original recollection by Allen Mayes - John's Grandson & JL Mayes' Great </i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="white-space: pre;"><i>Grandson).</i></span></span><span style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i> </i> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Perhaps the most comprehensively documented of Joseph Ladd & Marian Mayes' children, their first, John Adolph was born in Ballarat on the 23rd January 1860, during the period that Joseph Ladd was stationed at Pitfield.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">John Adolph was present with the family through the period in the early 1870's when Joseph Ladd was on secondment for the Victoria Police Force overseas, then later at Marysville.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Looking through some photocopies of hand written letters, we find the correspondence between John Adolph and his sister Rebecca. We also find a brief letter from his mother Marian, which is undated. The text of that letter reads as follows;</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>My Dear Son, </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I see in today's Age that (----) Middleton and C Ward Callan married.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I am glad that your confirmation class is to be open again. Everything is quiet here at present and I hope will continue to. </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Good bye, dear son. God bless and keep you. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: yellow;">Your Mother.</span></i> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">His most tangible presence is recorded in March 1878 when, as an 18 year, he was the recorded witness on the death certificate of his mother Marian at Broadmeadows. Sometime afterwards, John Adolph's adventurous spirit saw him leave Victoria for Wilcannia in the south west of N.S.W.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In 1835, explorer Major Thomas Mitchell was the first European to visit the region, in which he traced the Darling River to what is now Menindee. In June 1866, the township of Wilcannia was proclaimed. In 1871, the population was 264, and grew to 1,424 by 1881. During the 1880s, Wilcannia reached its peak, and had a population of 3000 and 13 hotels and its own newspaper, the Western Grazier. It was, with Wentworth, Echuca, Mannum and Goolwa, one of the major Murray-Darling river ports which played a vital part in the transport of goods, notably wool and wheat, in the days of the paddle-steamers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It is not immediately clear what occupation John Adolph initially pursued in Wilcannia District. In 1888, aged 28, he was awarded a gold medal by the Wilcannia Rowing Club as crew member for winning the “rowing scratch fours” race.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Wilcannia Rowing Club.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He married Julia O’Grady at Wilcannia on 23 June 1895. She was aged 31 and he was 35. A son, John Joseph was born in Wilcannia on 9 September 1896.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(Julia O'Grady (Mayes), date unknown).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(John Adolph Mayes c. 1890's) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Apart from the medal, his marriage and the birth of his son, no other information is on hand to tell us what sort of life style John Adolph and his family had in Wilcannia.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Between 1896 and 1898 John Adolph moved his family to White Cliffs where he worked an opal mine on Turley’s Hill in partnership with D. Cowan. The pair was said to have barely scratched a living from the mine. In 1898 he purchased two blocks of land at White Cliffs, though no houses were ever built on the land.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A second son Leslie was born at White Cliffs on 6 March 1899. John Adolph was 39.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Julia died at White Cliffs from Brights ( kidney) disease on 14 December 1901. She was aged 36, John Adolph was 41, John Joseph was 5 and Leslie 2.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We can only image the difficult task for John Adolph in raising his two boys. They were cared for during the day by nuns at the Catholic Nunnery. John Adolph never remarried.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A short time after Julia’s death, John Adolph had an accident chopping wood. A chip flew up into his eye causing severe damage. He was taken to a Sydney hospital for a major operation but unfortunately he lost the sight in that eye.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">During his mining venture, an alarming incident was recorded when the opal mine John Adolph was working caved in and he was buried alive. The townspeople and miners, with shovels and bare hands worked desperately to dig him out, not sure if he would have survived. Miraculously, he was still alive. His hat had slipped over his face, creating a pocket of air that saved his life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We do not know if John Adolph or either of his boys journeyed to Melbourne, for the burial of Joseph Ladd in 1902. It is not clear what the relationship with the extended family was at that time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">John Adolph loved his sport and in 1915 aged 55, as a member of the White Cliffs Rifle Club won a gold medal for the 300, 500 and 900 yards shoot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">His two sons eventually left White Cliffs, worked in New South Wales for a time then moved to South Australia where they spent the rest of their lives.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Between 1915 and 1926 John Adolph returned to Wilcannia and started a saddlery business in the main street. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The business became a resounding success and, it seems, John Adolph became a prominent member of the Wilcannia community. He was elected the honorary secretary of the Wilcannia Hospital Board. During this period he discovered fraudulent activities by two board members and reported this to the Administration. Unfortunately the word of the members protesting their innocence was such that John Adolph was branded a liar.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">John Adolph Mayes' saddlery business, Wilcannia.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This did not deter him from gathering indisputable evidence of their guilt and within a year the two members were charged and found guilty. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In 1929, aged 69, he wrote a “History of White Cliffs”. The document is held by the White Cliffs Historical Society.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bowls at Quorn, South Australia, 1935.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In 1935 he traveled to see his eldest son John Joseph, who was married with a family and living in Quorn South Australia. Two years later he died in Wilcannia on 30 May 1937, aged 77.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Next: Legacy & Tapestry: Joseph Ladd Mayes Jnr...</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">DFA.</span>DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-34467817859647966072019-04-04T02:32:00.000-07:002019-04-07T02:41:51.796-07:00The Victorian Trooper #9 - Twilight By The Sea. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">After 35 years of service in the Victoria Police, Sergeant 1st Class, Joseph Ladd Mayes retired in December of 1895. His service record shows he was discharged on a full pension and superannuation payments allowing him to live a comfortable life in retirement. His pension alone was calculated at 138 pounds, nineteen shillings and sixpence annually.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd, Eugenie and their younger children Joseph Ladd Jr, Edward, Mary and Norman moved to the leafy seaside suburb of Brighton in Victoria.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">They lived at a house in Union Street, curiously named - "Toronto". Union Street is a particularly lovely street off the Nepean Highway, South East of Melbourne. At that time, most of the houses there faced onto a parkland and small creek - the evidence of which, still exists, providing a quiet sanctuary for the residents. I've had this vision of Joseph Ladd Mayes taking an early morning walk along that creek, perhaps with a Cocker Spaniel in tow for company, to a local corner shop or newsagent to fetch the newspaper the way my grandfather George used to do when he was still alive.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">How did Joseph and Eugenie spend their days? Quiet walks along the beach? Joseph sitting on the porch of the house with a pipe and that newspaper while Eugenie knitted or crocheted? What were the lives of Edward, Mary and Norman like at Union Street? Were the elder Mayes children a fixture in their lives? All grown up with families of their own and living their own lives in various parts of Victoria, South Australia and NSW?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is known that Joseph Ladd was involved in raising funds for his countrymen back in Ireland who were still struggling with the remnants of the Potato Famine. Now retired one wonders whether he involved himself more in the fund raising side of this charity.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Mayes family saw in a new century, saw the federation of their country and perhaps celebrated the birth of the nation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd Mayes died on the 11th July 1902 at their Union Street home after a stroked. He is reported to have lingered for two days. I certainly hope that he did not suffer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Meticulous to the end, Joseph Ladd Mayes ensured his affairs were in order before he died. Among the family collection, is his last Will & Testament, dated July 4th 1898. It is a fascinating, if simple document, written by Joseph Ladd himself in which he sets out clearly, what his wishes are. He request that the sum of 25 pounds be set aside for his daughter Rebecca Mayes "of Brighton, aforesaid Spinster". Joseph Ladd also made a request that the sum of 20 pounds - but not more than 25 pounds - be set aside for a headstone to be erected for his first wife, Mariann at Bulla just north east of Melbourne. His signature, effected with a frail hand at the end of the document, is a poignant reminder of the man.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Together 'til the end, it would remiss of me not to include Eugenie's signature - written a few days after his death - beside her late husband. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Eugenie dutifully carried out his last request traveling to the town of Bulla herself to see that Mariann was given a fitting memoriam - one that exists to this day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd Mayes' body was ferried from the Union Street house on Saturday, July 12th, 1902 at 3.30PM and was interred, after a small service, at the South Brighton cemetery. His death was recorded in an obituary that appeared in the Brighton Southern Cross newspaper on the 19th July 1902.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd Mayes, decorated Constable, Senior Constable then, Sergeant 2nd & 1st Class. A loving husband to Mariann Henrietta Piquet, then Eugenie Rebecca Burke. Father of 12 children.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Eugenie lived on for another 37 years - a loving mother and grandmother to a growing family which no doubt enriched her life. I get the sense of a proud and loving woman in the New Years Day 1918 photographs that came into our possession in the early 2000's. No doubt, her family sustained her and, at least partially, filled the void her husband had left.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Eugenie moved from the Union Street residence to New Street, Brighton. Eugenie Rebecca "Jane" Mayes died after a short illness in 1939 at the Oakwood Avenue home of her son Norman Hector. A love story, spanning twenty years of life while they were alive, continues on into forever. Eugenie Rebecca was buried with her husband.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Joseph Ladd Mayes 1833-1902.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For all intents and purposes, their family might have assumed the memory of their parents might well fade into distant memory. They might further have wondered what the future for the Mayes family would hold. Time tends to weaken the bonds of memory. But, chance discoveries decades later often bring these stories back from the distance and allow them to live and breathe once more.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://www.deanfromaustralia.com/2019/04/the-victorian-trooper-10-legacy.html" target="_blank">Next: Legacy & Tapestry: John Adolph Mayes...</a></i> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">DFA.</span><br />
<br />DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-76227538105854717732019-04-01T18:41:00.000-07:002019-04-04T02:56:43.874-07:00The Victorian Trooper #8 - Family Ties. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd Mayes' career trajectory was already on the rise, even as the events of the Kelly Affair were still playing out. He received his first promotion just prior to the capture of the Kelly Gang in April 1880. At the recommendation of Superintendent Francis Hare, Joseph Ladd was promoted to the rank of Senior Constable in mid 1879 - not long after his secondment to the Police parties and just after his posting to Lancefield north west of Melbourne.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Despite the protestations of Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick and the two reported petitions from the townsfolk of Lancefield urging his reinstatement, his dismissal by Joseph Ladd Mayes seems not to have affected Joseph Ladd's position at Lancefield. He remained the Senior Constable in charge from 1879 to 1885.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In May 1885 Joseph Ladd received a second promotion - that of Sergeant 2nd Class. On this occasion the recommendation for his promotion came from the Bench of Magistrates in Lilydale, Victoria and they forwarded their testimonial to the Chief Commissioner in Melbourne. Joseph Ladd's police record shows the Magistrates expressed;</span><br />
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<i><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"their high appreciation of the zeal, skill and activity displayed by Senior Constable Mayes".</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Service Record of JL Mayes 1885.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In September that same year Joseph Ladd transferred to Kyneton to take take charge of the station there. The posting was a brief one, however, for it was not too long before he was drawn back to Lancefield and he saw out the remainder of his career there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In their private life Joseph Ladd, his wife Eugenie and Joseph's three children from his first marriage John Adolph, Rebecca and Sara seem to have prospered.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Though Joseph and Jane were approaching middle age, they enjoyed a rather prolific second round of parenthood, welcoming their first child Florence Marion in 1881. Florence was followed by Dorothy Susan (1882), Eugenie Douglas (1884), Joseph Ladd Jr (1885), Edward Burke (1888), Mary Madge (1890) and Norman Hector (1893).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">While we assume the family experienced their most happy period - and we have no evidence to suggest it otherwise - we have a fragmentary picture of what their life was like.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The eldest child of Joseph Ladd and Mariann Mayes, John Adolph, appears to have had a thirst for adventure, such that by 1888, he had been living far from his birth place in the town of Wilcannia in NSW. John Adolph is the subject of an article of his own, penned by his descendant Allen Mayes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Rebecca Mayes - the second child of Joseph & Mariann provides us with the most tangible piece of their life in the 1870's. A letter, written by Rebecca to her brother John Adolph, dated 1877 gives us an insight into the life of the Mayes family. It also shows a glimpse of the man Joseph Ladd was - meticulous (pointing out errors in Johnny's grammar), and his dedication to service. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Letter from Rebecca Mayes to her brother John Adolph Mayes, written from Broadmeadows, dated 1877. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The following is the text of the letter, as best as we have been able to translate;</span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Dear Johnny</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>We received your letter in time; Papa said it was a capital one; you made two slight mistakes; you put two ls~ in holidays and only one h’ in whether. Papa showed your drawing to Mrs. Rodda, she said it was very good. Mr. Rodda gave it out in church on Sunday evening, that he was going to commence a Confirmation class on Sunday the 12th inst. Harriet Dutton, Sarah and I had our names put down. I do not know if there will be any more from here. Papa was at the Williamstown races on Saturday, he was not home till after nine o’clock, he was at the Flemington races today and he will have to attend there on Thursday and Saturday.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Papa left Rhoan in the Depot today as he is quite lame, the horse Papa has now is smaller than Rhoan and is a pretty grey.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>We had Mrs. Shannon washing here today, and I had to shut Rhoan in the stable nearly all day because he kept pushing her and flying at her. Momma says that when you buy a hat, get one that will not lose it’s shape the first wetting it gets.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>I am getting on very well with my music now, I got a lesson today. Sarah is a good player now, Miss Eliza says she can play the "Reaper’s Polka" and the "Cornflower Valse” very well.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>We have given away four of xxnxxx ‘s kittens, there is only one left now, I had to bring it down from the loft, it was meowing so often, its little brother, xxxx won’t make friends with it at all, he spits at it and slaps him in the face. I have no more to say at present so I send our best love to you from,</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Your Affectionate sister</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>R J Mayes.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>(<span style="font-size: x-small;">A guess has been made of the name of Joseph Ladd's horse - Rhoan. The name of Rebecca's cat is much harder to decipher therefore x's have been left in it's place).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">No photos currently exist of Rebecca. So far as we know she did not marry. It is apparent that Rebecca worked as a post mistress at Pakenham in Victoria but for how long is unclear. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In Joseph Ladd Mayes' will he specifically set aside 25 pounds for Rebecca Mayes who was, at the time of his death, living at Brighton, probably at the Union Street residence of her parents. Rebecca</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> died in 1929 at Pakenham.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sara Mayes, Joseph & Mariann's third child </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sara was barely 16 years old when her mother died in 1878. Some time around 1885 Sara began a courtship with a young mounted Constable named Peter O'Shannassy who - it is believed - was stationed at Kyneton, Victoria and may have even been under Joseph Ladd's command when he was stationed there. Sara and Peter O'Shannassy were married at Boondara in Victoria on 11th November 1885 and eventually moved to the Tarwin Lower District of South Gippsland, Victoria. Peter and Sara had three children, Marian Cicely born in 1886 at Lancefield, Victoria, Barbara born 1889 at Tarwin Lower, Victoria and Allen Neil born 1895.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Sara Augusta Mayes & Husband Peter O'Shannassy - dates unknown.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Sara & Peter O'Shannassy - date unknown.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Sara O'Shannassy (Mayes) with grandson Harold Mountain, c.1930's.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Peter O'Shannassy died in 1919 and was buried at the Tyabb cemetery near Hastings in Victoria. Sara O'Shannassy (Mayes) died on August 8th 1940 and was buried with her husband at Tyabb. Apparently no headstone was erected.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Florence Marion Mayes - the first child of Joseph Ladd & Eugenie Mayes was born at Broadmeadows in 1881 though the exact date is unknown. Florence Marion spent much of her early life at Lancefield.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Florence Marion Mayes - date unknown).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">She married a divorcee Augusta Sandford in January of 1909. Sandford was a Lieutenant Colonel in the British military who signed up at the outbreak of WW1 and seems to have gained some notoriety. At the very beginning of the 1914 - 1918 conflict <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-05/thousands-commemorate-first-shot-of-wwi-in-portsea-victoria/5647724" target="_blank">Sandford was commander of a fort at Queenscliff on the western tip of Port Phillip Bay in Victoria</a>. A German steamer called the "Pfalz" which was docked in Melbourne attempted to leave upon hearing of the outbreak of war. Sandford urgently requested an order to fire on the "Pfalz" to stop it from escaping through Port Phillip heads and was given it. Thus Augusta Sandford was regarded as having fired the first Australian shot of the war.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(The German steamer Pfalz - rebadged as an Australian ship after it was captured at the outbreak of WW1).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Augusta and Florence had no children of their own. Two son's from Sandford's previous marriage, Horace & Arthur probably gave Florence a mothering role.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Florence Marion was recorded as 21 when her father died in 1902 and she was 58 when her mother died in 1939. At this stage it is unknown when Florence Marion died.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Dorothy Susan was born in 1882 around the time when Joseph Ladd was participating in the Police Royal Commission. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Very little is known of Dorothy other than she was 20 when her father died in 1902 and was 57 when her mother died in 1939. Dorothy </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">married a Lewis Coates. We don't know if they had children, nor do we know when Dorothy died.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Dorothy Mayes - date unknown.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Dorothy Mayes on ladder with Mary holding their mother Eugenie. These photos were taken on New Year's Day 1918 at Brighton, Victoria by Cicily O'Shannassy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Eugenie Mayes was born in 1884 probably at Lancefield. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Eugenie married one G. McLeod but we don't know when that occurred. She was 18 years old when her father died in 1902 and she was deceased by the time her mother died in 1939.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(Eugenie Mayes - date unknown).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd Mayes Jr. was born in 1885 at Kyneton in Victoria. Joseph Mayes is the subject of his own article, which can be found here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Joseph Ladd Mayes, taken New Year's Day, 1918 at Brighton, Victoria.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd & Eugenie's 5th child Edward Burke Mayes was born sometime in 1888, however the exact date is unknown. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As with others in his family Edward's life is mostly a mystery. He was 14 years old when his father died in 1902 and 51 when his mother died in 1939.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mary Madge Mayes was born in 1890, probably at Brighton in Victoria. She was 12 years old when her father died in 1902. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mary was known affectionately as Mollie. She is known to have married a Harry Coles but no other information exists. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">She was listed as 48 years old on her mother's death certificate however this should read 49.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Mary Mayes posing with her husband Harry Coles on New Years Day, 1918 at Brighton, Victoria.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The last of Joseph Ladd's children, Norman Hector was born in 1893 making him only nine years old when his father passed away in July, 1902. Norman Hector was known the Mayes family currently residing in Gippsland, Victoria. Dorothy Mayes, wife of Joseph Ladd Jr's son George, recalls Norman Hector being a kindly bachelor who almost always wore a suit, was very well spoken and who looked after his mother in her later years. Norman Hector lived nearly all of his life in Brighton, Victoria. He died in 1955.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Norman Hector Mayes - date unknown.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Mayes family certainly grew exponentially, even as Joseph Ladd was approaching his 60th year of life. Their presence in the Lancefield district was a constant - aside from the brief posting to Kyneton, east of Lancefield - from the period of 1879 until Joseph Ladd retired from the Police Force in 1895. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://www.deanfromaustralia.com/2019/04/the-victorian-trooper-9-twilight-by-sea.html" target="_blank">Next: Twilight by the Sea...</a></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">DFA.</span></div>
DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-91285394416355973422019-03-31T16:28:00.002-07:002019-04-01T18:26:29.893-07:00The Victorian Trooper #7 - The Police Royal Commission. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the aftermath of the siege of Glenrowan, the Victorian Police found themselves in the sights of an angry public - egged on by a vociferous media. There was a significant outcry from Victoria's media for a far reaching inquiry into the Victorian Police Force; the actions of it's officers and it's hierarchy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Force hadn't anticipated the groundswell of sympathy for the Kelly gang by the wider public - particularly in the North East nexus of what became known as Kelly country. Stories of police brutality abounded, the incompetence of senior officers was a great cause for concern and the practices of the Force were called into question.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In most of the articles I have presented thus far in this series, I have referred to the testimony given by my great great grandfather in these hearings.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Royal Commissions were nothing new. In fact the first inquiries into the Police Forces date back to 1855 - a mere three years after the inception of the force in Victoria. The commission dealing directly with the Kelly gang began taking evidence in March 1881 & continued through until October 1881.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It isn't clear how prominent a role Joseph Ladd had in the 1881 examination of the events of the Kelly Affair. However his former subordinate Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick was there. On July 6th 1881 the commission questioned Fitzpatrick at length about his involvement with the Kelly family (he was considered to be a suitor for the affections of Ned Kelly's sister Kate), the events surrounding his being shot during an attempt to arrest Dan Kelly for horse stealing - an attempt which failed. He was also questioned about the 9 month period he served at Lancefield under Senior Constable Mayes before he was eventually sacked from the police force. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd was called upon during in May, 1882 under the auspices of the "Present State and Organization of the Police Force" commission hearings</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">On the 31st of that month Joseph Ladd was sworn in and examined by the commission. He was questioned at length on what he thought about the current state of police recruitment and training, uniforms, rates of pay and promotion.</span><br />
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<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/1es22v9vom708pt/Testimony%20JL%20Mayes%20VPRC%20May%201882.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="484" data-original-width="351" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOdiwEOGyAqwOS0qpdTVW9wHAU8TSczJT0ccXUYyDSxiXcrcFcj9fgih56gYEf65oSQ1AlMV9ROlYCSzHrsBxF6ridLSJQcJEDvO92Xa-B4mxNfJrEgAFrTa64kmSUBXXxL1bQLykS8ivv/s200/JLMayesTestimony.png" width="145" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">(Testimony of Joseph Ladd Mayes - click to download a pdf copy).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He was damning of the culture of fear that existed in the force, highlighting his Ballarat experience when he was persecuted relentlessly in the aftermath of the Burke murder at Pigoreet near Pitfield. until he as forced to leave the district. He drew the commission's attention what he perceived as a bitter rivalry between the detective branch and the mounted police - a rivalry that had become toxic and dangerous.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd gave accounts of his involvement in the hunt for bushranger Harry Power during the period his was stationed at Marysville. These were given in the context of what he thought was poor prospects for promotion in the force as it stood presently. Joseph Ladd had been in the Police Force some 24 years by the time of the Commission and he had not progressed any further than a Senior Constable.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd was critical of the application and training process saying that he did not think candidates were vetted thoroughly enough before being admitted to the force. Of police training he was particularly damning;</span><br />
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<i><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">'I have known instances of recruits, young mounted men, going into that depot, being kept there for a couple of weeks, until such time as they get their uniform, and never hardly had a revolver or gun in their hands and perhaps be in the riding school not more than half a dozen times ... they are sent out raw, red handed and knowing no more about the police duty than a man from North Africa'</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">JL Mayes, 1882.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The case of Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick was highlighted during his appearance.</span><br />
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<i><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"I found him such a worthless character that the men who recommended him and gave him a character to join the police force I consider committed a grave offence against the public".</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">JL Mayes, 1882.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd Mayes possibly around the time of the Royal Commission in 1882. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(Mayes Collection).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He went onto provide his recommendations on what he thought should be the appropriate training for a recruit;</span><br />
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<i><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"...they should be properly drilled before they are allowed out of the yard ... they should be experienced in the use of the revolver, also in the use of a rifle ... they should also be taught to ride and fire on horseback. He ought not to be sent until he is thoroughly disciplined and understands something of police duty ... I consider no mounted man should be allowed to leave that depot in less than six months, and that he should get instruction during that time".</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">JL Mayes, 1882.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd also gave some insight into what he thought should be the rank structure in the force.</span><br />
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<i><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Now as regards to rank. I consider that the position of senior constable should be done away with, and that there should be three grades of sergeants. The should be third-class sergeants, with two stripes, second-class sergeants, with three stripes; and first-class sergeants with three stripes and a crown; and that they should receive remuneration accordingly."</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">JL Mayes, 1882.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The evidence Joseph Ladd Mayes gave during his testimony, along with the recommendations of many others who gave evidence had a far reaching effect on the Victorian Police Force. Throughout the pages of <a href="https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/vufind/Record/8274" target="_blank">an 1883 General Report</a> that was handed to the Victorian Parliament, application and training processes were strengthened, remuneration and rank advancement was reexamined and restructured, recommendations and changes were implemented to harmonize relations across departments and large areas of Police operations were extensively overhauled. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd is mentioned prominently in <a href="https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/vufind/Record/8273" target="_blank">an 1883 Special Report that was handed to both houses of Parliament</a>. His evidence on the 1867 Thomas Burke murder investigation and the difficulties he encountered with the detective branch at Ballarat were singled out. The Special Report recommended a root and branch review of Detective operations throughout Victoria.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixpRTZWGNH3ulPMj0kGWTWjXTMwIJ-fYf4cCj5-CqYaB_WYr2UbQ3ToRJR0V747vrI2dXCyDZ4losDU-83tfmEBN6QAvYf_tDZwMQr9vbF-ojL0M_HvF8gebuNAO1s9yNDlpTxE5AQOC20/s1600/VPARL1883No10+Detective+Report.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="269" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixpRTZWGNH3ulPMj0kGWTWjXTMwIJ-fYf4cCj5-CqYaB_WYr2UbQ3ToRJR0V747vrI2dXCyDZ4losDU-83tfmEBN6QAvYf_tDZwMQr9vbF-ojL0M_HvF8gebuNAO1s9yNDlpTxE5AQOC20/s320/VPARL1883No10+Detective+Report.jpg" width="215" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4oWy-ayVRgIn7Mk9IZRDG1YTinbkuA_jd3MRqlRzeRX5ShuIXNq86uHkPq0kyaUnP_rhhmT69OkXv3GLK6_RfsIv3F3c9itqfv-ky-iiLCeiRwnqFvE0giZLQu_w_tq54rZHA8VtAInkA/s1600/General+Report+image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="248" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4oWy-ayVRgIn7Mk9IZRDG1YTinbkuA_jd3MRqlRzeRX5ShuIXNq86uHkPq0kyaUnP_rhhmT69OkXv3GLK6_RfsIv3F3c9itqfv-ky-iiLCeiRwnqFvE0giZLQu_w_tq54rZHA8VtAInkA/s320/General+Report+image.jpg" width="197" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(Reports like these were handed to the Victorian Parliament in 1883 for consideration.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The 1881 - 1883 Royal Commission into the operations of the Victorian Police Force was bruising affair. Senior Police and Administrators were removed from their positions - among them three of Joseph Ladd Mayes' most ardent supporters - Captain Frederick Standish, Superintendent Charles Nicholson and Superintendent Frances Hare. The Force itself underwent a seismic shift and the landscape for law enforcement in the colony of Victoria transformed. The effects of this have been long lasting - they are still being felt today. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For Joseph Ladd Mayes, the Royal Commission was the concluding chapter on a turbulent decade that had seen him travel around the world, spend long periods away from his ailing wife and three children during the height of the Kelly Affair and experience the intense scrutiny of a legal apparatus of a Commission of Inquiry. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Career wise, Joseph Ladd's appearance at the Commission had a positive effect. His reputation was enhanced and his career trajectory saw a noticeable upswing in the years following 1883. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Personally, Joseph Ladd would experience some of the happiest years of his life in the aftermath. And it is to here that I shall turn next.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Next: Family Ties...</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">DFA.</span>DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-48860006335481839442019-03-30T15:41:00.000-07:002019-04-10T04:13:56.811-07:00The Victorian Trooper #6 - Ned Kelly & The Cave Parties.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the history of Victoria's criminal past, one figure stands out above all others - Edward "Ned" Kelly. The bushranger, outlaw, gang leader and police murderer is revered and reviled in equal measure and it is clear that he holds an enduring fascination in the cultural lexicon.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixXeQquJ11he-4DnWx5JPlPFS8Xu1vqlyhHtdVV0ezvBC_T5zomnYMKZBui9D9-hT7ROWdvZSWu_QeRjeo9HuEFIUUSXFUcyXt0XClFl_5LrcH8KDLEt-YqJOsdgTfqXOm9vAPvfMiiuaY/s1600/Ned+Kelly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="366" data-original-width="650" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixXeQquJ11he-4DnWx5JPlPFS8Xu1vqlyhHtdVV0ezvBC_T5zomnYMKZBui9D9-hT7ROWdvZSWu_QeRjeo9HuEFIUUSXFUcyXt0XClFl_5LrcH8KDLEt-YqJOsdgTfqXOm9vAPvfMiiuaY/s400/Ned+Kelly.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Edward "Ned" Kelly - Australia's most notorious outlaw.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As a school kid, it was hard to figure out whether Ned Kelly was a folk hero or a murderous criminal - the narratives seemed to come to us in a way that made him seem like some sort of Robin Hood. There always seemed to be a sort of aura surrounding him. With time and a more nuanced reading of the history, only then can one arrive a clearer view of who he was.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the early 2000's, when my father Stephen made the first significant discoveries about Joseph Ladd Mayes, we had no idea just how pivotal a role he had in the Kelly affair. As Dad delved deeper, we were somewhat shocked at just how central Joseph Ladd Mayes came to be in the pursuit.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the aftermath of the murders of 3 police troopers at Stringybark Creek in October, 1878 by Ned Kelly, his brother Dan and Joe Byrne, the colony of Victoria had been shocked into agonized attention. It seemed that the Kelly Gang had declared war on what they saw as a corrupt constabulary and initiated an increasingly brazen crime spree across Victoria's North East. In December of 1878, the gang conducted an audacious bank hold up in the Victorian town of Euroa and it became clear that the Police Force had to channel all their resources to hunt down the gang and put an end to their 'reign of terror'.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2bfOi8Zk6K_oPMkFVB_yjqNuffOrB03oFVCj7h9BiBG4w06JwneQMcfTQ2OhGnNQFu5Igi_os1gHlz_33Bq3inWTu0wkWkxLtFOm1Cl08jOi7z2XuAZvrCP9zV0X1fgan9skbqnmZ596a/s1600/619px-Mansfield-police-photomontage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="619" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2bfOi8Zk6K_oPMkFVB_yjqNuffOrB03oFVCj7h9BiBG4w06JwneQMcfTQ2OhGnNQFu5Igi_os1gHlz_33Bq3inWTu0wkWkxLtFOm1Cl08jOi7z2XuAZvrCP9zV0X1fgan9skbqnmZ596a/s320/619px-Mansfield-police-photomontage.jpg" width="247" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Stringybark Creek Police Party. Clockwise from top left: Constable Lonigan, Sergeant Kennedy, Constable McIntyre and Constable Scanlon.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Backed by new legislation known as the Outlawry Act, in January 1879 the Victoria Police under the command of Captain Frederick Standish, Superintendent Francis Hare, and Officer Sadlier began a coordinated operation, arresting all known Kelly friends and purported sympathizers, a total of 23 people and held them without charge in Beechworth Gaol.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In February, 1879 the Kelly Gang had crossed the border into New South Wales where they raided the town of Jerilderie. The incident prompted the NSW Government to offer a reward of 4000 pounds for their capture - dead or alive - which, when matched with Victoria's own 4000 pound reward, became the largest ever reward to date in Australia.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the aftermath of the Jerilderie raid, the Kelly Gang went into hiding, sparking off a man hunt of epic proportions. During the early months of 1879, Francis Hare came into contact with Aaron Sherritt - a lifelong friend of Kelly Gang member Joe Byrne. Whilst Sherritt was a peripheral associate of the Gang, he was encouraged - financially - to act as a police informant and report to Hare, all the goings on at the property of Joe Byrne's mother. Thinking that the Kelly Gang would emerge at some point, Hare concocted a secret operation that would see him assemble some of his most trusted officers into what became known as the Cave Parties.</span></div>
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now a senior constable, Joseph Ladd Mayes answered the call from Superintendent Hare, who had come to greatly admire Mayes as one of the most capable officers and bush men he had ever known, and traveled from Broadmeadows on horseback to Benalla, where Hare and Standish were assembling the police parties.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixRP9KRAPJSHnesMeADWro3vms-K1FAbSmxyOEa_Boj1txQppChn7OOUxnzWvPxDrnp-Gwu0hHpwocPmrBxcEdiO5XlLfqvrLOuVHw6B5Wcgle_pGh62YTyA7R3z3BJZs_lsUFSjULflhr/s1600/Troopers_in_pursuit_of_Kelly_Gang.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="959" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixRP9KRAPJSHnesMeADWro3vms-K1FAbSmxyOEa_Boj1txQppChn7OOUxnzWvPxDrnp-Gwu0hHpwocPmrBxcEdiO5XlLfqvrLOuVHw6B5Wcgle_pGh62YTyA7R3z3BJZs_lsUFSjULflhr/s400/Troopers_in_pursuit_of_Kelly_Gang.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />(</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Troopers in pursuit of the Kelly Gang - artists Alfred May and Alfred Martin Ebsworth).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;">(</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Police Party photographed at Benalla, Victoria June 20 1879. Joseph Ladd Mayes is standing 4th from left and Frances Hare is standing on his right in the center of the picture. The members in order L to R are O'Loughlin, Kirkham, Mills, Mayes, Sup. Hare, Canny, Faulkiner, Lawless; kneeling are Barry and tracker Moses.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">From Benalla, the parties traveled into the Woolshed Valley near Beechworth. Having secured an agreement from Aaron Sherritt, Hare and Standish were able to establish a rudimentary base of operations at Sherritt's property. The plan was to strike out from Sherritt's at night and ensconce themselves in a series of caves that overlooked the neighboring Byrne farm - owned by Joe Byrne's mother. The hope was that the Kelly Gang would appear from the wilderness and they could be arrested.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Francis Hare put Joseph Ladd Mayes in charge of one group of officers, while the Superintendent lead the other group. As March became April, then May and then June, these Cave Parties conducted the mother of all stakeouts, rotating through day and night, surveilling the Byrne property while the other party rested at the Sherritt home. Aaron Sherritt was said to be feeding them intelligence, suggesting the Kelly Gang would indeed emerge from the wilderness. This kept Hare motivated throughout the long months the Cave Parties operated in the area. It is not clear whether Joseph Ladd maintained a consistent presence in the Woolshed Valley during the period from February to June or whether he was rotated back to Broadmeadows to enjoy a period of respite with his family.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the 2003 edition of "The Fatal Friendship", author Ian Jones recalled the reminisces of Francis Hare, who described the operation of the Cave Parties during early 1879;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>"Hare decided that he and six men would camp in the clearing, while four men, under Senior Constable Mayes, occupied the upper cave." </i></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br />
</i></span> <span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>"Hare and his men waited, listening to the night sounds of the Valley, humbled by the great pergola of the Milky Way arched from range to range, momentarily chilled by the shriek of a plover, tension easing to boredom as the hours passed. Then, at 12 or 1 o'clock, Aaron (Sherritt) came ambling up the slope to settle on the ground by Hare and wait another four or five hours for the first lightening of the sky behind the blackness of the peak."</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">"The Fatal Friendship: Ned Kelly, Aaron Sherritt & Joe Byrne", page 114, Ian Jones, 2003, Copyright © Ian Jones, 2003, Lothian Books.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The uneasy alliance with Aaron Sherritt continued over the course of the next month with Sherritt reportedly going to visit his girlfriend Kate Byrne - the elder sister of Joe Byrne. The aim was to gather intelligence on the possible movements of the Kelly Gang and report back to Hare.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjge4dKfdD1S-EpUA-yruLu8qxcpqEvUhHzg2f2RWKwyPP_TXVK2BfBvk1E3k3i3Mc_ZIgZrzqGat1F3oJ2tYfrD1i6KViV7TKsMS3ihAGW3GnjIKg_vOLKGTY4X7ECd70ysaGz8ar7suuQ/s1600/Aaron+Sherritt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="198" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjge4dKfdD1S-EpUA-yruLu8qxcpqEvUhHzg2f2RWKwyPP_TXVK2BfBvk1E3k3i3Mc_ZIgZrzqGat1F3oJ2tYfrD1i6KViV7TKsMS3ihAGW3GnjIKg_vOLKGTY4X7ECd70ysaGz8ar7suuQ/s400/Aaron+Sherritt.jpg" width="271" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Aaron Sherritt - friend of The Kelly Gang who became their enemy.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Concerns were raised in the constabulary about Aaron Sherritt as to whether he was playing both sides - the police and the Kelly Gang but, it seems Francis Hare maintained his trust in Sherritt as a reliable informant. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd was singled out during the operation for his conduct and meticulousness as Hare's 2IC. Referencing Hare, Ian Jones cites a passage from the Superintendent's memoir in the footnotes of his 2003 revised edition of "The Fatal Friendship."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>"A total lack of debris suggests that Senior Constable Mayes and his four men were a far more responsible and disciplined group than those in the lower camp, who probably relaxed their standards after Hare's departure - by then knowing that the location of the site was almost common knowledge in the Woolshed."</i></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br />
</i></span> <span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;">"The Fatal Friendship: Ned Kelly, Aaron Sherritt & Joe Byrne", page 222, Ian Jones, 2003, Copyright </span>© Ian Jones, 2003, Lothian Books.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Joseph Ladd was described as a proven and well tried man with whom Frances Hare had the utmost confidence.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Things began to unravel when leaks around the the existence of the Cave Parties emerged back in Melbourne. The costs of resourcing them caused alarm among the top brass. Meanwhile, back in the Woolshed Valley, the viability of the Parties was thrown into doubt when one of the constables was actually discovered by Kate Byrne as he was collecting water from a creek.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">While it's safe to guess that Joseph Ladd's participation in the Cave Parties lasted from their inception to at least June of 1879, it is doubtful he stayed on through the second half of that year until the eventual disbanding of the Cave Parties in April 1880. The Cave Party operation suffered from being an increasingly expensive operation - for little return. That it's existence became an open secret among the Police and those in the Woolshed Valley who were sympathetic to the Kelly Gang </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In June 1879 Joseph Ladd, then aged 46, took command of the Lancefield Police Station, north east of Melboure. A month later, on the 19th of July, he remarried - to Eugenie Rebecca Bourke, the 26 year old daughter of a farming family originally from NSW. The marriage was solemnized in Keilor. The marriage certificate states that Eugenie Rebecca Bourke was residing in Broadmeadows at the time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">By June of 1880, circumstances began to unravel for the Kelly Gang. Having discovered the treachery of his best friend - Aaron Sherritt was murdered by his friend Joe Byrne for conspiring against the Kelly Gang. And the Gang themselves made their last stand at Glenrowan in a fierce gun battle with police. Joe Byrne was shot and killed, Dan Kelly & Steve Hart were both incinerated in a hotel fire and Ned Kelly himself, severely wounded, was captured. We are certain that Joseph Ladd Mayes was not at Glenrowan during the last stand of the Kelly Gang.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Writing in his memoir much later, Francis Hare singled out Joseph Ladd's conduct during the Cave Party operation. He described the Senior Constable as a proven and well tried man with whom he had the utmost confidence.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In amongst the saga of the Cave Parties - another piece of the Kelly Affair had a direct impact on Joseph Ladd Mayes. During the height of the Cave Party operations, Joseph Ladd took charge of Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick - who had been stationed at Benalla in the north east of Victoria.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick).</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A prominent figure in the Kelly saga, Alexander Fitzpatrick has been regarded as the catalyst for the Affair. In April,1878 - acting on a notice that had been posted in the Police Gazette - Fitzpatrick had attempted to arrest members of the gang at the property of Kelly matriarch Ellen. During a confrontation with the family, Fitpatrick was shot and wounded by Ned Kelly himself. Accounts of this incident vary greatly and there is a healthy amount of skepticism towards those accounts from both sides of the often charged Kelly debate. But most agree, the incident at the Kelly property marked a significant escalation in the war between the Kelly's and the police.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Alexander Fitzpatrick remains a controversial figure in the history of the Victorian Police Force. Opinion about his character has almost, always been in the negative with him being cast as a drunkard and a less than reputable individual.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When he came to the notice of Commissioner Standish and Superintendent Hare at the height of the Kelly Affair, they formed the view that Fitzpatrick was on a hiding to nothing in the constabulary. He was either considered too close to the Kellys or he was responsible for all out war between the police and the Kellys. There were allegations of his being drunk on the job, of associating with the lowest of individuals, even the attempted rape of Ned Kelly's sister Kate.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And yet, following the events at the Kelly homestead and the Stringybark Creek murders, Fitzpatrick was dispatched to Sydney - tasked with looking out for and apprehending Kelly Gang members in case they arrived there to escape the country via ship. Given that he had identified Ned Kelly, Dan Kelly, Joe Byrne and Steve Hart at the Kelly homestead, it was thought Fitzpatrick would be best placed to spot them, should they arrive in Sydney.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Accounts of his poor conduct in Sydney dogged Fitzpatrick however and he was ordered back to Victoria by senior police who feared he was casting the Victorian Police into disrepute. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Alexander Fitzpatrick was sent to Lancefield in September of 1879, apparently as a last resort where he served 9 months under Joseph Ladd Mayes - until the now decorated Senior Constable could no longer tolerate the insubordinate officer. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Evidently, he had formed the view, having studied the constable in-situ, whilst gathering information on Fitzpatrick from his previous postings. Joseph Ladd reflected on Fitzpatrick's conduct in 1882.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <i><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"he was not fit to be in the police force ... he was associated with the lowest persons in Lancefield ... he could not be trusted out of sight and ... he never did his duty"</span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">JL Mayes, May 1882.</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In recent times, there has been some reconsideration around the history and conduct of Alexander Fitzpatrick and a theory has emerged suggesting the Constable was more a victim of circumstance than a poor officer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://artsonline.monash.edu.au/eras/files/2015/11/Eras-171-4-Stuart-Dawson-FINAL.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjH58vGk7nhAhVJnuAKHadaBGwQFjAAegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw1wx4lb-C3vuhYyDVL8bkda" target="_blank">In a 2015 essay titled "Redeeming Fitzpatrick"</a>, historian Stuart Dawson presented a minority view of the Constable, arguing that, up until the events at the Kelly homestead in 1878, Alexander Fitzpatrick had an unremarkable service record, with no evidence of poor conduct. In fact, he had been described in a positive light by his superiors in Sydney. The accounts of the incident at the Kelly homestead appear to have relied too heavily on the Kelly side of the incident, where Kelly himself was known to fabricate and misreprsent the truth. The account of Fitzpatrick seem to have been ignored or dismissed because he, too, was regarded as unreliable. It is after the Kelly homestead incident, that Fitzpatrick's career takes a downward turn. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Dawson argues that the constable's posting to Lancefield was a concerted effort to rid Fitzpatrick from the Force in the aftermath of his Sydney posting. By putting Fitzpatrick under the command of a "strict disciplinarian in Joseph Ladd Mayes - who was said to have already formed a view of the Constable as worthless character - the senior ranks of the Victorian Police Force would achieve that end. As Mayes testified in 1882, Fitzpatrick was charged with derilection of duty at Lancefield and associating with disreputable individuals. Fitzpatrick was to last 9 months before Joseph Ladd Mayes recommended the Constable be sacked from the Force.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2 seperate petitions were raised by 100 prominent residents of Lancefield and Romsey following Fitzpatrick's dismissal, calling for his immediate reinstatement. Both petitions were rejected by the Police and Fitzpatrick was dismissed from the Force in 1880.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Was Joseph Ladd over zealous in calling for Fitzpatrick to be sacked? Did senior police - including Standish & Hare - use Mayes as an "instrument" to facilitate Fitzpatrick's removal from the Force, knowing they had a reliable man they could count on? Was Fitzpatrick made a scapegoat for the Kelly Affair? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There is documentary evidence suggesting that Joseph Ladd Mayes had genuine concerns about Fitzpatrick during his time at Lancefield. One catalyst for Fitzpatrick's removal was the sustained harassment and threats of harm towards a Lancefield man, Maurice Casey and his family. While the details of this incident are sparse, they are recorded on the police record of Alexander Fitzpatrick and in the reports submitted by Joseph Ladd Mayes to the Commissioner of Police in Melbourne. Fitzpatrick was notably cagey about the Casey incident during his own testimony in 1881 and refused to entertain any detailed examination of it. We know Joseph Ladd was a thorough investigator, who would have left no stone unturned in pursuing the truth in any matter that came before him. While his reputation might have been strict, he was also fair and did not stray from proper process.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">During Fitzpatrick's Sydney posting, he was said to have befriended a woman named Edith Graham (or Edith Jones), who had been accused of stealing jewellry from her employer, a hairdresser named Pogonowski. Pogonowski had suggested to police that Fitzpatrick (who was married at the time) had more than a casual association with Edith Graham and the two may have even been co-conspirators in multiple instances of theft. The case of the stolen jewellry was resolved when Fitzpatrick directed police to the residence of Edith Graham herself and the stolen goods were recovered. Yet no charges appear to have been laid. It was as a result of this curious incident that Fitzpatrick was recalled to Victoria. The view of the hierarchy there was that his conduct had brought the Force into disrepute.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was apparent that others agreed with this view. During the Royal Commission, a letter of complaint was tendered from the Inspector General in Sydney, attesting to a litany of complaints over the course of Fitzpatrick's entire career and not just the period from the Kelly incident forward</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The true facts surrounding Alexander Fitzpatrick may never be fully illuminated. He remains a divisive identity whose conduct, revealed in numerous pieces of documentary evidence, was questionable at best. What I do think is fair however, is to question the existing narratives, which do seem to be unfairly skewed in one direction. I do believe the case of Fitzpatrick is more complicated.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">By the end of 1880, with the execution of Ned Kelly, Victoria effectively saw the end of one of the most fraught periods in its fledgling history. For Joseph Ladd Mayes, the end of the Kelly Gang marked a turning point in his professional and personal life. Approaching his fiftieth year, Joseph and his new wife Eugenie would see the growth of their family begin, while Joseph would contribute to one of the watershed moments in the history of the Victorian Police Force.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://www.deanfromaustralia.com/2019/03/the-victorian-trooper-7-police-royal.html" target="_blank">Next: The Royal Commission...</a></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">DFA.</span></div>
DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-91226247475674575712019-03-30T01:16:00.000-07:002019-03-30T18:19:47.398-07:00The Victorian Trooper #5 - A Sabbatical Abroad.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">During our family research a little documented piece emerged that threw a new spin on we thought we knew about Joseph Ladd Mayes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">During the Police Royal Commission in 1882 Joseph Ladd reflected on a period of his life when he spent some time abroad observing police forces in other countries.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>"About nine years ago, I saw the police force in England, Ireland & America, and I consider that we have as good material for a police force in Victoria as any of those countries".</i></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br />
</i></span> <span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>JL Mayes, May 1882.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A study of Joseph Ladd police records reveals little about this journey beyond a rather difficult to read entry dated April 24, 1873. In amongst the painfully cursive copperplate is a mention of a 12 month leave of absence that was signed off by an officer with the police number 2144 about, I did a search at the Public Records office of Victoria some years ago and came across a shipping record that corresponds - roughly - with Joseph Ladd's evidence.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">(a cryptic entry in Joseph Ladd Mayes' police record points towards a 12 month leave of absence in 1873.)</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In 1874, records of inward traveling passengers on a ship called the Glengarry list five Mayes' returning to the Port of Melbourne. Joseph (aged 37), Mary (aged 37), John (aged 11), Rebecca (aged 9), Sarah (aged 7).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(The steamship "Glengarry" docked in Hobart, Tasmania c. 1870).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The names of all these passengers correspond with the records in our possession now, particularly in the case of the children since we know all the names of the children Joseph and Mariann had, however the ages of each of the passengers vary quite a bit from the birth dates we have for each child.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">At this stage this is all the information we have and the questions we have far outweigh the answers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd's evidence to the 1882 Royal Commission into the Victoria Police suggests he was acting in the role of a Consultant for the Victoria Police Force and was tasked with reviewing the operations of foreign police forces in order to improve the Victorian Force. Further it seems, Joseph Ladd offered an Australian perspective to these foreign forces that would assist their own operations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Joseph Ladd Mayes - Mayes family collection.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Much of the life of the Mayes family during this period in the 1870's remains a mystery and we are hoping time will reveal more facts about this unique role Joseph Ladd was given.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">His return to Australia in 1874 corresponded with a noticeable up-tick in frontier crime, perpetrated by increasingly brazen and, it would seem, notoriety seeking 'bushrangers'.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We do not know how long Joseph Ladd, Marrian John Adolph, Sara and Rebecca remained in Marysville. We have evidence that puts the family in the hamlet of Broadmeadows, north of Melbourne in the period from 1876 to June 1879.</span><br />
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(Lancefield, Victoria - date unknown.)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In 1878, whilst at Broadmeadows, another tragedy was to befall the family when Mariann died suddenly, following what we believe was a stroke. The event undoubtedly plunged the family into a period of untold grief. Joseph Ladd gave a glimpse of his grief during the 1882 Royal Commission when he called his earlier experiences on the Ballarat Gold-fields. He was convinced that his persecution by senior police in Ballarat - as a result of his solving the Burke murder, coupled with his later false imprisonment on trumped up charges, brought on a depression that ultimately killed his wife.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
Did Mariann suffer some form of PTSD that resulted in a long period of poor health and eventual decline? Was she at greater risk of dysentery because of poor mental health? We just don't yet know. Mariann Henrietta Mayes (Piquet) - daughter of a Swiss preacher, wife and mother is buried at the Bulla Cemetery, north west of Melbourne.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd Mayes appears to have had little time to grieve afterwards. In the North East of Victoria, a tinder box of conflict was brewing and, once again, Joseph Ladd was sought out by his trusted superior Superintendent Francis Hare for an audacious assignment that would see him plunged into one of most notorious sagas in Australian history.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://www.deanfromaustralia.com/2019/03/the-victorian-trooper-6-ned-kelly-cave.html" target="_blank">Next: Ned Kelly & The Cave Parties.</a></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">DFA.</span><br />
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</span>DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-32727244867989492072019-03-28T03:45:00.000-07:002019-04-05T08:48:10.518-07:00The Victorian Trooper #4 - Brush With A Brushranger. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The township of Marysville, nestled in the vast Yarra Ranges National Park in Victoria, was established in 1864 as a way point for prospectors heading to the gold fields of Woods Point & the Upper Goulburn. With the establishment of the Yarra Track, Victoria had its first, major eastern arterial and Marysville, which had initially struggled to cope with the regular transit of prospectors, trades people, professionals and families, had - by 1870 - begun to prosper and its population swelled accordingly. The need for a policing presence in Marysville was the subject of numerous requests to Melbourne from the nearby stations at Healesville, Woods Point and Jamieson. Increasing reports of crime had been received from those stations and the evolving population at Marysville were growing fearful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We have documents in our possession that puts Joseph Ladd Mayes in Marysville in August 1867 and in command of "a" station. I emphasize "a station" because, the doucments reveal that Marysville did not have a dedicated Police Station at that time. After some considerable amount of to-ing and fro-ing between Marysville & Melbourne between Jospeh Ladd and others, a house became available for the Victoria Police to purchase from a Mr. Robert Mayne, Marysville's storekeeper & Post Master and, on the urging of Jospeh Ladd, the property was secured.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was soon discovered that the property was a less than stellar purchase.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Throughout 1868, Joseph Ladd corresponded regularly with Victoria Police, detailing his requirements for the newly acquired police buildings at Marysville. On July 29th, 1868 for example, he forwarded a comprehensive list of repairs to the OIC at Jamieson Station that included;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>"Outside of building will require require painting, spouting (which was not originally supplied). Chimneys, being built of slab and paling, inside lined with brick and stone, will all require to be fixed, the foundations having sunk. The wall paper in the rooms is loose and hanging and would require a general overhaul. One door and fastening is required for yard purposes, there being no back door to the premises, and all the other doors will require overhauling and painting. The water closet will be required."</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>JL Mayes, July, 1868.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The correspondence continued throughout the remainder of 1868, with Joseph Ladd routinely requesting additional funds for repairs and improvements to the Marysville Station - and he got them - some 30 pounds in funds. It becomes clear, reading through the documents that he wasn't one to settle for half measures and he knew what was needed for a well equipped station.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd quickly established his reputation across the district as a thorough and principled lawman who commanded respect. Entries transcribed from the original Marysville Station watchouse record along with his official police record details of investigations, arrests made and prisoner outcomes. One can view numerous reports of his good conduct written in an exquisite cursive copper plate. </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">With three growing children in John Adolph, Sara and Rebecca, we can assume Joseph Ladd & Mariann Mayes lived a contented life in the township where they were, by all accounts, a well liked family.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Marysville, Victoria - 1870.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">With the rapid eastern expansion - off the back of newly discovered gold deposits at settlements like Woods Point, Jamieson, Jericho, the Upper Goulburn and Walhalla, i</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">t was inevitable that crime would follow. Now established in Marysville,</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Joseph Ladd would encounter lawless bushrangers and devious men - not only among the civilian population but within his own ranks. By the close of the decade, several notable criminal figures had emerged in Victoria and were garnering considerable notoriety. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One of these figures was a bushranger known as Harry Power.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(Henry Johnson a.k.a - bushranger Harry Power).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Born Henry Johnson in Waterford, Ireland in May, 1819, he grew up in Lancashire, England becoming an apprentice saddler at aged 16, then joining a peasant uprising against British troops. During this time, Johnson received saber wounds to his right cheek and brow, which were to become his distinguishing marks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Having been charged and convicted of stealing a bridle and saddle in Lancashire, Johnson was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment and transported to the colony of Australia. By 1848, Johnson, now a free man, had moved to Sydney and took up the permanent identity of Harry Power. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Power was engaged driving cattle all over this colony and New South Wales, and afterwards in exploring and cutting a track across vast swathes of the colony. In a few years he became a competent bushman, knowing almost every mile of the country. During all this time he appears to have engaged in honest living, even keeping horses near Geelong in Victoria.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">However, Power was charged with horse stealing near Sandhurst, Bendigo in an incident that has since been considered questionable. Regardless, Power was sentenced to several years in gaol, after which it seems, he turned to a life of crime for several years. It was during this period of time, that Power had recruited a protégé, a talented young horseman named Edward Kelly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Edward "Ned" Kelly - date unknown).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Having come onto the radar of the Victorian Police Force, following a brazen prison break by Power, Superintendent Frances Hare turned to Joseph Ladd Mayes at Marysville when it came to light that Harry Power was operating in the Mansfield area in North Eastern Victoria. A significant reward of 500 pounds had been offered for the capture of Power and in 1870 Hare tasked Joseph Ladd with putting together a crack team to deploy into the ranges in an attempt to arrest Power.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd together with a Constable Potter and and aboriginal tracker set out from Marysville, moving along the Acheron track (now the Maroondah highway) through rugged bush land. Gathering intelligence from a number of local property owners, it was confirmed that Harry Power had indeed been seen in the area of Mansfield. One landowner named Bindon had pointed the trio towards a tree into which Harry Power had allegedly cut his signature.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The most significant piece intelligence however, one gleaned by Joseph Ladd Mayes himself, was that Harry Power regularly visited the home of a Jimmy Quinn at a settlement called Glenmore. The trio was told that they could stake out the Quinn property with a strong likelihood that they would catch Power successfully.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">However, in order to get close enough to catch Power they would have to leave their horses and supplies at Mansfield and head into the harsh country around Glenmore on foot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Joseph Ladd Mayes - by 1870, he was in a senior role at Marysville in Victoria.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The trio continued on to the Mansfield depot where they were confronted by a police party of about 14 men lead by an imposing Superintendent named Furnell.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Upon being questioned rather forcefully by Furnell as to why they were here in Mansfield Joseph Ladd said that they were acting on the orders of Superintendent Hare and that they were attempting to catch Power.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This apparently did not sit well with Furnell who was most likely after the very same man. Furnell's indignation was recalled vividly by Joseph Ladd in 1882.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <i><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"...and he said 'Go back to your station and do not leave it without an order from me.' He never said, 'How long have you been from your station?' or anything else, but simply, 'Go right back to your station'"</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd was to add during that recollection that Furnell;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <i><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"...seemed as if he were going to jump down my throat."</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(The capture of Harry Power - artist unknown).</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd, Constable Potter and the aboriginal tracker were forced to return to Marysville as they were ordered. Joseph Ladd was of the view that Furnell ranked higher than Francis Hare, therefore he had no choice but to obey. And so they returned - without giving Furnell any of the critical intelligence that would enable them to capture Power and end a infamous bush ranging career. Furnell hadn't given them the opportunity. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">More fool Furnell.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Ladd Mayes instead filed a report to his trusted superior Francis Hare. Two weeks later, acting on that very report, Francis Hare and Superintendent Charles Nicholson successfully captured and arrested Harry Power - in the very place that Joseph Ladd knew the bushranger would be - the Quinn property at Glenmore.</span><br />
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(Power's Lookout - photographer unknown.)</span></div>
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">During the 1882 Royal Commission Joseph Ladd was asked whether he felt he had been deliberately shifted by the Superintendents so that they would be positioned to capture and ultimately take credit for the arrest of Harry Power. Joseph Ladd replied no. It was his belief that Frances Hare would have trusted Joseph Ladd's ability to catch Harry Power unequivocally.</span><br />
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</span> <i><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"I do not believe there is any man in the police force would give a man more credit for an act he would perform than Mr. Hare." JL Mayes, May 1882.</span></i><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One questions whether Joseph Ladd was perhaps naive on this point as it was known that fierce rivalries existed among the senior police not the least of which between Frances Hare and Charles Nicholson.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The capture of Harry Power is said to have been the spark for a wider conflict between the Victoria Police and their enemies in the colony - inspiring bushrangers and lawless men and women to defy the establishment. Among these was Harry Power's </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">protégé, Edward "Ned" Kelly, whose rise to infamy is well documented. </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For Joseph Ladd Mayes, it seems he returned to Marysville where he continued as the senior officer through until 1874. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One precious artifact that survived in physical form at the Marysville Police Station was the Station's Watchhouse Log. Several years ago, the great grandson of Joseph Ladd Mayes - Stephen Mayes - recalls visiting the Marysville Police Station and being able to view the duty book first hand. This was a huge leather bound document, in which all pertinent information relating to the running of the station was recorded. It carried information about the running of the station, prison entries, progress reports and other information. Due to its size, Stephen recalled that the book had entries dating back to the time when Joseph Ladd Mayes was stationed at Marysville. His own handwriting appeared in several pages of the duty book. </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Tragically, that duty book was lost during the Black Saturday bush fires in February 2009. </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A little known aspect of Joseph Ladd Mayes' life - that only came to light fairly recently in our family - illustrates the esteem with which Joseph Ladd Mayes was held by the senior ranks of the Victorian Police Force. An opportunity arose for Joseph Ladd to undertake a secondment of sorts abroad and he took time out from his active duty role at Marysville to fulfill the request. </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="color: yellow;"><a href="http://www.deanfromaustralia.com/2019/03/the-victorian-trooper-5-sabbatical.html" target="_blank">Next: A Sabbatical Abroad...</a></span></i></span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">DFA.</span>DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-15231377260909607582019-03-27T02:17:00.001-07:002019-04-03T08:06:35.550-07:00The Victorian Trooper #3 - Early Trials & Bitter Triumphs.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In 1860, Mounted Constable Joseph Ladd Mayes was posted to the Ballarat Gold Fields where he spent some three years at the tiny settlement of Pitfield in the Pigoreet District - southwest of Ballarat proper.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(Pitfield, 1859 - image courtesy of The Woady Yaloak Historical Society.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Tragedy was to befall the young family not long after their arrival when Joseph & Mariann's son Charles Mayes died on the 15th February 1860. The death must have been a cruel blow to them, particularly at the time when Mariann had just given birth to their second child on </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">the 23rd January 1860, </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">a boy, which they named John Adolph. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Living conditions in the newly established district would have been hard and unforgiving. In an article for the <a href="https://sovereignhilledblog.com/2016/11/01/childhood-in-the-1850s/" target="_blank">Sovereign Hill Education Blog</a>, the author details a number of childhood diseases that were prevalent on the gold fields. </span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>"In the 1850s, people – especially children – often died from diseases which rarely kill Australians today, like scarlet fever, pneumonia, diphtheria and consumption (tuberculosis). </i></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>However, children were most likely to die from drinking water contaminated by human ‘poo’ … Horrible diseases like dysentery, cholera and typhoid killed thousands of children during the Victorian gold rushes."</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Indeed the fate that befell the young Charles Mayes was a particularly tragic one. The death certificate records the cause of death as "Scarlatina & Diptheria - 6 weeks"</span><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Despite this tragedy, Joseph Ladd and Marrian </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">brought another two lives into their world, after John Adolph - Rebecca (1861) who was born in Buningyong near Pitfield and Sarah (1863) who was born in Pitfield.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyjwqaeByOgjeS9OLGWmSQzmi6yev5G0tTaRbsvAAO8QiG9JTgpgDduu8z8E3dbmY5l-Iu9SvmCAh_Npvc-ztQu0Na1VqkNTDmUV407CWUnwE-nFJga40IszkxzVdrPWJGiburkInWdJ4g/s1600/Bail+Up+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="334" data-original-width="451" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyjwqaeByOgjeS9OLGWmSQzmi6yev5G0tTaRbsvAAO8QiG9JTgpgDduu8z8E3dbmY5l-Iu9SvmCAh_Npvc-ztQu0Na1VqkNTDmUV407CWUnwE-nFJga40IszkxzVdrPWJGiburkInWdJ4g/s400/Bail+Up+02.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">An artist's engraving of a 'bail up' - similar to that which confronted the Gold Escort (State Library of Victoria).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">As I mentioned in my previous post, lawlessness was rife throughout the gold fields. Fear of being exposed to dangerous criminals would have been a constant. </span><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">It was here in the Piggoreet District that Joseph Ladd established a reputation as a tenacious policeman. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">One notable account was that of a conspiracy he'd uncovered when a prominent gold rush banker named Thomas Ulick Burke was murdered by two men named in the 1882 Police Royal Commission as Break O' Day publican George Searle and his employee Joseph Ballan. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One of Thomas Burke's tasks as bank manager was to travel throughout the Woady Yaloak diggings buying gold from miners. By this stage gold transports were no longer accompanied by armed escorts. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Early on 10 May 1867, Burke collected a horse and buggy from the Smythesdale coach-builder and traveled to the Break O’ Day area (now Corindhap, Victoria), arriving at the nearby town of Rokewood at 1130 am. He bought gold at Rokewood and Break O’ Day, then left to make the return journey to Smythesdale, stopping at hotels along the way to buy more gold.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Thomas Ulick Burke - date unknown.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was on this return journey that he was intercepted by Searle & Ballan, whose intention it was to rob Burke and make off with the gold shipment. They carried out their robbery and Thomas Burke was murdered in the exchange. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Spurred to action, Joseph Ladd Mayes initiated a swift investigation into the murder and tracked down the gold shipment to Searle's Hotel at Break O' Day. Soon after, he arrested George Searle and Joseph Ballan and, following protocol, delivered the murderers into the hands of the Detectives at Ballarat.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It appears, however, that Joseph Ladd's efforts had ignited jealousies in fellow police officers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Officers Hill and Ryall of the Ballarat police had themselves, reportedly, invested much time and resources in trying to solve the Burke murders without success, and were so incensed that Joseph Ladd Mayes had instead brought the murderers to justice, that they tried to discredit him in the aftermath.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now imprisoned in Ballarat awaiting trial, Hill & Ryall forced a confession from George Searle, effectively taking credit for the investigation and arrest. They then blocked Joseph Ladd from giving evidence at trial - in which Joseph Ladd Mayes no doubt would have exposed Hill & Ryall as liars. His expulsion from the official record prevented Joseph Ladd Mayes from receiving the 500 pound reward on offer for the capture of the murderers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">During their trial, Searle admitted to the robbery but sought to have his charge of murder reduced because it was Ballan who had shot Burke. They were tried at Ballarat by Judge Redmond Barry, who convicted them both of murder and sentenced them to death. Searle and Ballan were hanged at the Ballarat Gaol on 7 August 1867 and buried in the grounds.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There was clear evidence that Joseph Ladd's efforts were crucial in bringing the Burke murderers to justice. His role was acknowledged by the Victorian government and from the Bank that was to receive the gold - he was awarded 25 pounds respectively by both institutions. The Break of Day mining company - upon hearing of Joseph Ladd's treatment by the Police in Ballarat - also took a collection from it's workers of a further 25 pounds which they presented to the Constable with gratitude.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"> Main Street of Ballarat from Marks Corner c.1880's (The Ballarat Historical Society).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Despite this Joseph Ladd did not have his role officially acknowledged at the time of the case. Even more troubling was the ongoing treatment of Joseph Ladd by the Superintendent of the district and the other officers. Joseph recalled during the 1882 Royal Commission that he and his family was persecuted to such an extent afterwards that he feared for his family's lives.</span><br />
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<i><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"When I found that Superintendent Hill and Mr. Ryall had such a down on me, I applied to leave the district forthwith". JL Mayes, 1882.</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He returned to the Richmond depot, effectively being reduced to the status of a trainee, for a period of six months. However he received a new posting, to the small settlement of Raywood just north of Bendigo - which was then known as Sandhurst.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">An unfortunate series of events happened during this transfer. When Joseph Ladd received his orders, he had asked a colleague to pack up his belongings while he prepared this family for the journey. The colleague mistakenly packed a pair of boots, belonging to a foot constable, into Joseph Ladd's trunk and the error wasn't picked up by anyone until after he had left for Raywood. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mistakenly believing an act of theft had occurred, a warrant was issued for Joseph Ladd's arrest and police were dispatched from the Richmond depot. Upon being confronted with the charge of theft in Raywood, Joseph Ladd Mayes was arrested and taken into custody - first at Sandhurst, after which he was transported back to Melbourne where he was held at the Melbourne Gaol, pending an appearance before a Magistrate. On the day of his court appearance, Joseph Ladd recalled that Mr. Ryall - his nemesis from the Burke murder case in the Ballarat - had been appointed to prosecute Joseph Ladd. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The affair was to have a swift resolution however, when the constable who'd packed up Joseph Ladd's trunk at the Richmond depot, realized what had happened and presented himself to give testimony. Joseph Ladd was exonerated of all charges against him and the matter was considered closed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The whole sorry saga had a significant impact on Joseph Ladd. Humiliated despite being cleared of the charges, he felt he was unable to return to the posting at Raywood - having been arrested so publicly and shamed by the incident. He implored his superiors, not to force him back there where he felt he would be doing a disservice to the image of the Force. Of greater concern to him though, was the effect it had on his wife Mariann. In giving evidence to the Police Royal Commission in 1882 Joseph Ladd describes the effect.</span><br />
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<i><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"The shock acted so on my wife that she broke down under it." JL Mayes, 1882.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He was convinced that these events contributed to a nervous breakdown that would "eventually kill her", even though Mariann was to live on for another 15 years after this episode. Reflecting on the events in 1882, Joseph seems to suggest that Mariann might not have recovered mentally or emotionally from the stress of that period, which is quite possible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Police Superintendent, Francis Hare - artist unknown).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The family remained in Melbourne after the court case, while Joseph Ladd awaited the processing of his application for a new posting. He wasn't to wait for long. Having friends in high places of the calibre of Francis Hare and Frederick Standish was a fortunate plus arising out of the Ballarat affair. They knew who Joseph Ladd really was and they trusted him implicitly. And sure enough, a posting arrived that would put Joseph Ladd right into the centre of one of Australia's most notorious periods...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://www.deanfromaustralia.com/2019/03/the-victorian-trooper-4-brush-with.html" target="_blank">Next: A Brush With A Bushranger...</a></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">DFA. </span>DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-82913184267109604472019-03-25T17:49:00.003-07:002019-03-27T09:20:51.552-07:00The Victorian Trooper #2 - Becoming A Lawman.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The colony of Victoria in Australia was undergoing a period of rapid expansion in the mid to late 1850's, owing to the gold rush that had first taken hold in the Ballarat Gold Fields. Prospectors and fortune hunters, eager to capitalize on the potential riches to be found, poured into the colony from all over the world.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Among these arrivals, the young Mayes family alighted onto the Melbourne docks, no doubt exhausted from their long sea voyage from the United States. One can imagine they were eager to take advantage of the economic boom resulting from the gold. For the first six months in Victoria, Joseph Ladd put his agricultural skills to use, working as a gardener under a Mr. Ferguson. Details about this period of time are scarce but settling into a new colony - a new city that was vibrant and alive as Melbourne was would no doubt have been exciting. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Melbourne panorama c. 1854 - artist Robert Russell.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The expansion of the colony also saw an attendant rise in criminal activity, ranging from horse stealing, coach hold ups, petty crime and murder. Following the establishment of a police force in 1853 the colony embarked on an aggressive recruiting drive to cement a law and order presence to counter the crime wave of the early 1850's. From anecdotal accounts passed down through family conversations, Joseph Ladd Mayes was a man of integrity and had a strong sense of morals and ethics. It is particularly evident throughout the latter half of his life in the various documents my father has uncovered in his own research. In any case, Joseph Ladd Mayes answered this call and on the 20th of December 1858, 6 months after arriving in Australia, he was sworn into the Victorian Police mounted constable - no. 1477.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHA-DoFFlriRhfeGyQvKf17uAB0rhSY_mMql1yWKeLYTYIhM6bZ0FAnIel_dGbSFH7EhKdJ0_8c_dbKs2V4NGGRmSeQzBpE1GOIKOR9MvTfXXVZ138uaVCcmHw0LhvtCYiOQo8_aZeV2_Q/s1600/JLMayes.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="444" data-original-width="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHA-DoFFlriRhfeGyQvKf17uAB0rhSY_mMql1yWKeLYTYIhM6bZ0FAnIel_dGbSFH7EhKdJ0_8c_dbKs2V4NGGRmSeQzBpE1GOIKOR9MvTfXXVZ138uaVCcmHw0LhvtCYiOQo8_aZeV2_Q/s1600/JLMayes.JPG" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(JL Mayes in police uniform - date unknown).</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />The Police Department certificate records this swearing in at 'the depot' - probably the police depot in the Richmond suburb of Melbourne. His initial salary was indexed at 9/6 per diem not including allowances. He supplied a 'Sir L.... Palmer as a referee.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.users.on.net/~banistersmind/police_certificate.htm" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="321" data-original-width="316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU3x_otoEyvdAH4Ee-_C3nOYFSvMH-yBqC2iLVX18B7oQHOlnmsRAh-UiWhnMdCPJzdv3tgx3oZY7WsabBQLTAU16fdmdR-1iUDLOFnq-phAA8TF8mgHHn2oFOv36mtXF6rY7RLQYDplwa/s320/JL+Mayes+Police+app+Mini.JPG" width="315" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Copies of JL Mayes' Victoria Police application certificate and physical examination. <u>Click on each to open </u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><u>a larger version</u>.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We can ascertain that Joseph Ladd spent at least 6 months at the Richmond depot where he would have received training as a mounted constable. The training itself was reportedly, grueling, with cadets required to complete regular drills, maintain their horses, saddlery, uniforms and firearms. The accommodations at the Richmond depot were basic, consisting of canvas tents that saw up to 8 cadets sleeping side by side in cramped quarters. Joseph Ladd's police record, which forms a part of our family collection, contains very little from this early period, save for a single entry in October, 1859 when he was cautioned for not having his police cap when turning out for gold escort duty. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(Mounted Police 1852 - S. T. Gill (1818-1880) Lithograph by Macartney & Galbraith; State Library Victoria Australia).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In giving evidence to the Royal Commission into the Victorian Police Force much later in 1882, Joseph Ladd Mayes made the statement that he believed the proper training of a mounted constable should take not less than six months during which time his services should be employed in the metropolitan area. Given this it is reasonable to assume that Joseph Mayes did spend a probationary period working in Melbourne. </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was to the gold fields of Ballarat however, that the Victorian Police Force were focusing their resources - given that it was the epicenter of the gold rush at that time and where, no doubt, a nexus of crime was located as well. Reports of highway robberies, thefts from stores and tents were coming in regularly. Horse stealing had ramped up to almost epidemic proportions and even murders weren't uncommon. The need for a motivated police presence at the gold fields was considered urgent.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Having completed his training and probation, Joseph Ladd, Marrian and their infant son Charles gathered up their belongings once more and were dispatched to Ballarat. It would be here, however, that the young Mayes family were experience significant hardship and untold tragedy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://www.deanfromaustralia.com/2019/03/the-victorian-trooper-3-early-trials.html" target="_blank">Next: Early Trials & Bitter Triumphs.</a></i></span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">DFA.</span>DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-46382561321917099232019-03-23T19:16:00.000-07:002019-03-27T06:11:08.669-07:00The Victorian Trooper - A History Of Joseph Ladd Mayes.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There's a story I'm keen to tell that falls outside of my current focus as a writer of fiction. It's the story of my family's origins - at least as it relates to the Mayes side of my family. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the early days of the Internet, one of my first attempts at setting up a website was a somewhat potted history of the Mayes family, whose origins have been traced back to 17th century Ireland. There is some anecdotal evidence suggesting their origins can be traced further back - to the Huguenots of North Eastern France but, to date, nothing concrete has been established. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One of the most interesting stories involves my great-great grandfather, Joseph Ladd Mayes, a man who has a not insignificant place in the history of the Victorian Police Force here in Australia. Joseph Mayes was involved in the hunt for one of Australia's most notorious criminal figures - Ned Kelly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />Edward "Ned" Kelly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Given the time since I first attempted that website, family history research and the ability one has to reach a wider audience has grown exponentially. So I thought it would be useful to retell the story of my family origins here. In doing so, I'm hoping to make new connections and perhaps fill in the many gaps that still exist in the family story. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What I'll present here and in subsequent posts, will remain liquid - as further information comes to hand, I'll update these entries. For now, I'll recall the details from my old website and push on. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So, where to begin?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The town of Headford, on the western coast of Ireland, is located approximately 20 miles north of Galway on the road to Ballinrobe (County Mayo) about 2 miles east of Lough Corrib. The town and its environs are a popular fishing destination and the area is steeped in a rich archeological and monastic history. It is the site of the ruins of Ross Abbey a Franciscan friary, constructed in 1357. Lough Corrib was considered a place of reverence by the early Christian monks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Ross Abbey ruins, Headford Galway).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Headford, County Galway).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My great-great grandfather Joseph Ladd Mayes was born in Headford, Ireland on the 20th January 1833, a child of market gardener Joseph Ladd Mayes (Sr). and Rebecca Lydon. It is unclear as to whether he was the youngest or oldest child - this remains a mystery.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Joseph Ladd Mayes - my great-great grandfather - date unknown).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Rebecca Mayes - nee Lydon - date unknown).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Not much is known of Joseph Ladd's early life as records have been almost impossible to track. One of the difficulties of Ireland's genealogical history is that due to disastrous famines that struck the country down notably the potato famine of the 1850's family records were often lost or destroyed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What is known is that Joseph's father was a successful market gardener. My family has in it's possession, a sterling silver medal that was awarded to Joseph Sr. in 1834 at a country show in Headford for growing the best strawberries. One can only guess at the pride this simple gardener felt which possibly made an impression on young Joseph. One of Joseph's first occupations - listed when he first joined the Victorian Police in Australia years later - was that of a florist and gardener. And yet, there is evidence to suggest that young Joseph did not know his father very at all, since Joseph Sr. was reported to have died in Ireland not long after Joseph Ladd was born. The time line here is sketchy as I write this but this entry will be edited as more concrete information comes to hand.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">While Joseph spent much of his early life in Headford, family's records show that Joseph and his mother (and possibly his siblings) made the decision to uproot their lives and cross the Atlantic Ocean to America in the early 1850's. The most tangible reason for this is the potato famine of the early to mid 19th century, which decimated much of the country and saw an exodus of Irish nationals to far flung countries like Australia and America. Many thousands of Irish immigrants left from bustling Irish seaports like Queenstown (Cobh) and we can guess such a seaport is where Joseph and his mother embarked on their long sea voyage.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Ellis Island Processing Center, New York - date unknown).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Ellis Island Processing Center - date unknown).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Herald Square, New York City - circa 1900).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is in New York City that reliable records of my great great grandfather can be found. It was here that Joseph met his first wife one Marrian Piquet. Marrian was an expatriate of Brassau, Switzerland the third daughter of a Churchman. There is tangible evidence that Marrian lived some of her early adult life in Boston and that she worked for the City of New York.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A certificate of marriage shows that Joseph Ladd married Marrian Piquet in New York on December 3 1855. They settled in Wilkes Barrie County and in 1857 welcomed their first child a boy named Charles. We know also that Joseph's mother died during their time in America is buried in Westchester New York. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Whether the passing of Rebecca Mayes was a catalyst for Joseph & Mariann to reassess their life in America, one can only guess. However, sometime in those years shortly after their marriage, Joseph and Marrian took the decision to emigrate to the far flung colony of Australia.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Shipping records show that on February 22 1858 Joseph and Marrian Mayes with their infant boarded the steamer Mini Har Har and sailed for some two and a half months before arriving in the Port of Melbourne, Victoria in Australia.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In my next entry, I'll chart Joseph Ladd's beginnings in the Victorian Police Force and how his career trajectory would put him into the center of one of the most notorious periods of Victoria's history - one involving the bush-ranger Edward "Ned" Kelly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://www.deanfromaustralia.com/2019/03/the-victorian-trooper-2-becoming-lawman.html" target="_blank">Next: Becoming A Lawman.</a></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">DFA.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-62281788895518081862019-02-05T07:36:00.000-08:002019-02-05T07:36:19.541-08:00I'm Going To Talk To You About Women.<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(Originally Titled - The Male Feminine.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A friend of mine once made the observation of my writing that I am able to grasp female protagonists really well. It hadn't actually occurred to me that there was anything especially remarkable about this but on reflection, it is clear that as an author, I have gravitated towards strong women characters in my work.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In my first novel, <a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Hambledown-Dream-Dean-Mayes/9781926760339?ref=grid-view" target="_blank">The Hambledown Dream (2010)</a>, I conceived a grieving young lawyer, Sonya Llewellyn, a fiercely independent woman who is left to pick up the pieces after the death of her true love. Hers was a character study in grief based, in part on my observations of my paternal grandmother, who lost her husband to cancer after 48 years of marriage. In <a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Gifts-Peramangk-Dean-Mayes/9781926760803" target="_blank">Gifts of the Peramangk (2012)</a>, I portrayed a complex Aboriginal matriarch in Virginia Delfey whose secret gift may or may not hold the key to her family's redemption. Here, I was influenced by my experiences as a community nurse, working with many Aboriginal families in the suburban fringes of Adelaide and noting how central and authoritative matriarchal figures are.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Casey Schillinge as portrayed by a stock photo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Recipient-Dean-Mayes/9781771680387" target="_blank">In my 2016 psychological thriller, The Recipient</a>, Casey Schillinge is a young heart transplant recipient who is introduced to us as her life hangs by a thread. At the eleventh hour, she is given a second chance of a donor heart. In the subsequent story, she is remade as a troubled young woman who sees her gift of this life saving heart as a curse that holds a dark secret. In this instance, there isn't so much a template for this particular character as there is an instinctual drive on my part to create a compelling female protagonist who, in the tradition of strong pop culture heroines like Ellen Ripley, Lisbeth Salander and, more recently, Imperator Furiosa, gets to kick some serious butt.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Australian actress Sophie Bloom was the inspiration for Isabelle Sampi in The Artisan Heart.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Artisan-Heart-Dean-Mayes/9781771681421" target="_blank">in my 2018 novel, The Artisan Heart</a>, I returned to my romantic roots with a gentle tome about a brilliant paediatrician, Hayden Luschcombe, who - having lost everything after a tragic event - returns to his home town in the mountain country of Southern Australia. There he encounters Isabelle Sampi, a struggling single mother who is trying to resurrect a moribund bakery in the town of Walhalla whilst raising her hearing impaired daughter. Isabelle is introduced as another independent, no nonsense woman who is driven to succeed as a business woman and mother and has no time for matters of the heart. Her secret past makes her wary of men in particular, until the handsome and damaged young doctor arrives in town and gradually dismantles her defenses. The story starts out with Hayden as the protagonist, but I like to think that Isabelle becomes the protagonist by the end of it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Where does predilection to write female characters come from? As a male writer, I have tended to occupy a space that many would argue is not suited to me. Well, I can say that it was never a conscious "thing" where I said to myself - 'I'm going to break through a gender wall and shake things up'. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It kinda just happened.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I simply enjoy writing women and, as my many readers have fed back to me over the years, they very much enjoy reading them, noting how fully realised, dynamic and believable they are.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The fact that I am a male writer who chooses to portray strong female characters doesn't make me unique but, I realise that it does place me into a fairly niche group - one that has been regarded with some antipathy in literary circles. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.thehairpin.com/2013/09/when-a-man-writes-a-woman/" target="_blank">In a 2013 article for The Hairpin</a>, blogger Ester Bloom bemoaned the apparent inability of male writers to accurately portray female characters. "Far too often...when you open up a book by a male writer—even a good male writer, and occasionally even a great male writer—you encounter ladies who are a variation on one or more of four themes: virgin, whore, mother, bitch."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Ellen Ripley *is* Woman.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bloom goes on to deride the mysoginistic tendencies of male authors in their depictions of women based on these four themes. Though, she does acknowledge some works where men have, sometimes, gotten it right...almost.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Putting aside the healthy dose of snark contained in the article, it illustrates the kind of antipathy I hinted at; the suggestion that men can't possibly hope to accurately portray women in fiction.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I say bollocks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I recounted to Australian romance author Georgina Penney on the Bookish Tarts Podcast, that in drawing my protagonists - regardless of who they are - I am,first and foremost, drawn to their humanity and how that humanity serves the story I'm telling. What are their goals? What are their motivations for achieving those goals? How do those goals serve the story? These things happen regardless of gender. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When it came to sketching the characters, having decided they were going to be women, I'm certainly not bound by arbitrary themes such those mentioned by Bloom - nor am I writing with an agenda. It comes down to observation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My own observational skills are keen. I am inspired by human behaviour and interaction and I reflect on the people who have influenced and inspired me. It happens to be the case that a lot of those people are women.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Central among these are my partner, my mother and my two grandmothers. These are women who have nurtured me and guided me in life, who I have communicated with and learned from. There are the colleagues I have worked along side as an Intensive Care Nurse - often in high pressure situations requiring a special kind of resolve. And there are my writing colleagues - my publisher and editor, fellow writers and artisans with whom I collaborate with and learn from. All of them are strong and independent women, filled with wonderful complexity and dynamism -from which I have mined enthusiastically for material.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Jean was as tough as Ellen Ripley...possibly tougher.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I admire and respect these women and they have enhanced my appreciation of what makes a strong, well drawn female character. It is perhaps, no accident that their character traits find their way into my fictional creations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There isn't any great secret to writing character - be it male or female. The key ingredient to any character is an ability to imbue them with and convey genuine humanity, one that invests the reader in the protagonist's journey. As a writer, I see it as essential to be able to observe and accurately reflect that humanity.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Oh, and women are really great.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">DFA.</span>DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786573611032564530.post-17337130425994338292019-02-03T17:13:00.002-08:002019-02-03T17:13:23.912-08:00The Shape Of Water - A Schwannoma Diary (#11).<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I saw my neurosurgeon last Friday for my 6 week post operative review. It's kinda hard to believe that six weeks have past since my surgery. Time moves in such elastic ways. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We reviewed my progress. It's been patchy. I'm not moving freely. Even with the physiotherapy exercises I've been doing, it's hard to loosen up. Walking is a chore for the most part and I can't tolerate walking long distances, say more than a kilometer. It's hard to get in and out of my car, my bed or chair. I experience pain at the surgical site and down into my legs, along with long bouts of pins and needles. Incontinence is still an issue but, so far I've avoided any significant accidents. This requires a regular toileting regime, forward planning - especially on outings - and a keen focus on what my body is telling me. I do get strange sensations, which I've attributed to warnings that I need to take heed of.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With the activity I've been maintaining however, I do believe things are improving. At the very least, I'm coping with them. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">My neurosurgeon prescribed some new medication that will hopefully, address the pain issues and the nerve irritation that is causing the pins and needles.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The one question I had for her during my review last Friday though was pretty much the only thing I wanted to get an answer for.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Can I get back in the pool?</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6hAgY8t32_EGtitt05As2jT4bP4XsGp_BZ5iuh2fNq9Mz7jgCyBEbWmeSXPg1ZrwlLVhJaMeIjGLkTdvQJ4ekQlqrUFLuFxtL18Pxf-qtYAyNqN9USrbbtltogx8YeAs9pCQ06ckjqaZF/s1600/Screenshot_20190204-113638_Instagram.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1072" data-original-width="1080" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6hAgY8t32_EGtitt05As2jT4bP4XsGp_BZ5iuh2fNq9Mz7jgCyBEbWmeSXPg1ZrwlLVhJaMeIjGLkTdvQJ4ekQlqrUFLuFxtL18Pxf-qtYAyNqN9USrbbtltogx8YeAs9pCQ06ckjqaZF/s320/Screenshot_20190204-113638_Instagram.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">When I had my original surgery back in 1989, my then surgeon was happy to allow me to get in the swimming pool after a similar time frame. As a result of this, not only did I discover a love for swimming, I became really good at it. So I knew going into this surgery that the pool was going to be my Holy Grail. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">My neurosurgeon this time around prohibited me from going swimming until she had reviewed me. Her primary concern was my wound. She wanted to ensure it had healed properly before exposing it to water and risking infection. I accepted this, but I was disappointed that I couldn't start as soon as possible. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">You can imagine how pleased I was when I put the question to her on Friday and received her answer. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">"Absolutely!" </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I felt like I was receiving a Christmas present - all over again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Unley Swimming Pool at Forestville here in Adelaide is a pool I've been swimming at on and off for twenty years. It's an Olympic sized pool and it's a friendly place. After dropping the kids off at school, I headed straight there. After 9AM, the early morning lap enthusiasts and competition swimmers tend to taper off so competition for lanes is minimal. I went for the recreation lane today. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I had an idea of what I was going to do once in the water but for this first session, I winged it a little. I adapted some of my 'on land' exercises to the water and set about constructing a regimen that ended up looking like this; </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Stationary calf stretches 10 reps x 10 seconds right leg.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Stationary calf stretches 10 reps x 10 seconds left leg.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Stationary side stretches 10 reps x 10 seconds right arm (down right leg).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Stationary side stretches 10 reps x 10 seconds left arm (down left leg).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Stationary leg kicking (against side of pool) 2x 1 minute.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Walking (strides) 25m x 10.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jogging steps 25m x 10.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Side strides 25m x 10.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Breast stroke (gentle!) 100 meters. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cool down walk 25m x2. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I won't go into deep explanations of each of these, but feel free to ask me about them in the comments and I'll try to explain them if you're interested. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The session took me about 45 minutes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Suffice to say, from the moment I entered the water, I felt amazing! Water and buoyancy affords the body so much freedom of movement and I was able to stretch so much more easily than I can on land. The exercises I chose were designed to achieve both a muscle stretch and a nerve stretch through my lower back and legs and I chose to limit them once I could feel them in my calves in particular. I felt that was good indicator. Curiously, I felt the stationary leg kicks and the breast stroke in my right buttock, close to the mid-line. On land, most of the pain I've been feeling has been centered around my left buttock and sciatic nerve. I'm not sure what the significance of that is but I'll bring that up with my physiotherapist when I see him tomorrow.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzALzLACvewYfile0Idx8ns2yqy_HxobfDMMBgLmUWNyuZ_zcQ9czCuevbdiFV0pAe4CON0sQu1ZkJXKzdu5QtcEXdsPEZy9xRXcJH0SMO1aUDMIvXRxU0kJsUV6Alfq3qNEwYOUDAfTQJ/s1600/Screenshot_20190204-113916_Instagram.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1341" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzALzLACvewYfile0Idx8ns2yqy_HxobfDMMBgLmUWNyuZ_zcQ9czCuevbdiFV0pAe4CON0sQu1ZkJXKzdu5QtcEXdsPEZy9xRXcJH0SMO1aUDMIvXRxU0kJsUV6Alfq3qNEwYOUDAfTQJ/s320/Screenshot_20190204-113916_Instagram.jpg" width="257" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Leaving the water after that first session, I felt a little shaky - but it was a good shaky. I felt like I had achieved something important and I felt a rush of endorphins - ones that have been in short supply lately. I'm well keen to do it again. But I know I need to pace myself. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is a big milestone for me. Since the surgery, I've been looking towards this moment. I've been thinking about it. Planning (loosely) what I would do once I got in there. I knew it would be good...and it was. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I love the shape of water. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">DFA.</span>DeanfromAustraliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com4